During a Tuesday livestream with The Texas Tribune, Texas politician Don Huffines made a vague claim that the New Mexico Department of Justice investigation at Zorro Ranch was inconclusive.
The almost hour-long interview mostly focused on Huffines’ plans if he is elected as Texas comptroller but Texas Tribune Editor-in-Chief Matthew Watkins did ask Huffines if he would make the ranch, formerly owned by sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, available to investigators. Huffines said he has cooperated with investigators, saying, "I want answers." The NMDOJ announced in February that it was reopening its investigation after receiving an anonymous unverified tip about bodies buried near the estate. The federal government urged the NMDOJ in 2019 to close an investigation it was conducting at Zorro Ranch at that time.
"The Attorney General's Office is out there and done their investigations," Huffines said. "I wasn't there, but it's my understanding they haven't found anything.”
Huffines also reiterated his plan to turn the estate, now called San Rafael Ranch, into a Christian retreat center.
"We decided to buy it and turn a place of darkness into a place of light," Huffines said. "They assured me that the revenue and the money they were getting would go to the victims, and it did. I was happy to help them out.”
The proceeds from the sale of Zorro Ranch went into a fund called the Epstein Victims Compensation Program. Some victims opted out of the program because it required them to agree not to sue Epstein’s estate if they received funds. Huffines and his family bought the ranch in 2023.
On Monday public records released to The Santa Fe New Mexican confirmed that drones and cadaver dogs were among the assets investigators used in the search.
The New Mexico Department of Justice has not yet responded to a request for comment on Huffines’ claim.
