Elisabetta Tai Ferretto, the 50-year-old former model and early accuser of Jeffrey Epstein who was reported missing in New York, has been located safe.
After a period of intense concern from her family in Italy, authorities confirmed that she is currently in a detention facility in Florida. The search began after Ferretto’s daily communication with her parents and brother in the Veneto region abruptly stopped on April 22, shortly after her return to the United States from a family visit.
The sudden silence, combined with the deactivation of her social media accounts, led Italian prosecutors and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to activate diplomatic channels with American officials.
While New York law enforcement initially had no record of a local missing persons report, international coordination eventually traced her to a detention center, as confirmed by the Carabinieri on May 7.
Ferretto gained international attention in 2019 as one of the first women to publicly detail a harrowing encounter with Jeffrey Epstein.
She alleged that in 2004, under the guise of a professional meeting regarding potential work with Victoria’s Secret, she was sent to Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse. She famously recounted how, when Epstein approached her on a massage table and handed her a vibrator, she “threw it at his head” and fled the room.
Her family had expressed deep fear that her disappearance might have been linked to her past as a high-profile witness and survivor, though officials have not yet publicly released the specific reasons for her current detention in Florida.