Family Demands Answers After Unexplained Death of Jeffrey Epstein Victim
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA — One of Jeffery Epstein’s victims was found dead in a Palm Beach hotel room in May. Her testimony was instrumental in convicting British publishing heiress Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking underage girls.
ACCIDENTAL OVERDOSE?
The family of Carolyn Andriano, 36, still has unanswered questions about a medical examiner’s finding that she died of an “accidental overdose.”
“Nobody’s giving me any answers, and you know what? I’m over it,” Andriano’s mother, Dorothy Groener, told the Daily Beast. “Because this is my daughter and she deserves justice.”
Andriano is the second Epstein survivor to suffer a fatal overdose in Palm Beach County. Leigh Skye Patrick died in 2017 at age 29. She was also found dead in a West Palm Beach hotel room.
During the Ghislaine Maxwell trial, Adriano testified that as a teenager, she became addicted to drugs at Jeffrey Epstein’s compound in the Virgin Islands. She told the jury that she took “marijuana, cocaine and alcohol” – anything that could “block out” what was happening as she was being abused by Epstein.
On the witness stand, Adriano explained that she was currently taking an antidepressant, Xanax, methadone and a drug for schizophrenia because she was scared that her kids would get kidnapped.
SUSPICIOUS CRIME SCENE DETAILS
Police records detail the morning of May 23 when cops were called to the DoubleTree by Hilton in West Palm Beach around 7:45 am because a woman was not “waking up” and had “been sick.” Adriano’s husband, John Pitts, told police she was “puking” before she became unconscious and he started CPR.
Pitts said Andriano seemed fine when she went to sleep at the hotel where they were staying with their two children the night before. But when they woke up, Andriano was naked and unresponsive in her bed, according to Pitts, who told police she had been using drugs.
Police later found a small baggie with white residue, a crack pipe and a needle in her purse. The toxicology report found Andriano had fentanyl, methadone and alprazolam in her system. Fentanyl and alprazolam – which both restrict breathing – are a deadly combination.
“Her fentanyl use was very recent,” Dr. Lewis Nelson, who independently reviewed the toxicology report, said. “My postulation is she is on methadone, takes a high dose, she took fentanyl and she died quickly.”
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
Groener – who is currently in a legal battle with her son-in-law over Andriano’s will – told police that her daughter was at a point where she was turning her life around.
“She was all set up for a whole new lifestyle,” Groener said, revealing text messages she received from her daughter about being free of drugs and alcohol.
Groener’s son Joey – Andriano’s brother – said he still has questions about the night before her death. He said he called his sister that morning, but Pitts told him she wasn’t feeling well.
“I said, ‘If she’s so sick, why don’t you call the ambulance bro? Do something – you gotta take her to the hospital,” Joey recounted. “He said, ‘Oh no, she’s alright.’”
“A couple times I talked to her on the phone, she just sounded real out of it, like groggy, and he was doing most of the talking for her,” Joey added. “She was never like that.”
Groener said documents from the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office stated the couple moved back to Palm Beach County from North Carolina “because their methadone clinic was not providing the amount of methadone they were asking [for].”
But Groener and her son dispute the report, saying details remain suspicious. According to Groener, police found vodka bottles in the hotel room, but her daughter had no alcohol in her system. She also noted that her daughter was “ecstatic” about creating a new, drug-free life in the days leading up to her death.
“It shouldn’t be closed,” Groener said of her daughter’s case. “I begged them. I sent them numerous messages. I’ve asked them to make meetings, to contact me to no avail.”
Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted in 2021 on multiple charges, including sex trafficking, conspiracy and transportation of a minor for illegal sexual activity. Maxwell is serving 20 years in prison for the commercial sex trafficking scandal.