Forensic pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht claimed Friday that the fractures in Jeffrey Epstein’s neck could have happened “if he hurled himself off the top bunk.”
Wecht, a guest on “Your World With Neil Cavuto,” told guest host Charles Payne that a number of the details that had leaked with regard to the convicted pedophile’s autopsy report didn’t add up. (RELATED: Autopsy Results Reveals Epstein Hanged Himself)
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“Major breaking news,” Payne began, announcing on-air that the medical examiner had officially ruled Epstein’s death a suicide. “I want to go back to Cyril Wecht. Doctor, you really do not believe though, from what you know the idea that perhaps Epstein knelt, tied this noose around his neck from the bedsheets, knelt from the bedpost and created the injuries that we know about. You don’t think those two things are compatible.”
Wecht responded, “I do not believe that a kneeling position with the bedsheet tied to the bedpost, in the absence of force that would have been imparted from hurling himself from a top bunk, would have provided sufficient force to fracture the hyoid bone and fractures of the cervical vertebrae.”
Citing information leaked from the autopsy report, which noted a fractured hyoid bone and multiple other neck fractures, he added, “We don’t know and I’m waiting to see this report how many vertebrae, cervical vertebrae, there’s seven, come down from the back of your neck to the bony prominence at the base of your neck … We want to find out how many were broken. You do not get fractures of a cervical vertebrae and high up here under the mandible, the hyoid bone, without tying — there’s no force. There’s no velocity.”
Earlier reports suggested that the fractures could have been from the week prior, when Epstein had allegedly attempted suicide. It was also noted that hyoid fractures were more common in hangings when the person was older, but Wecht wasn’t certain Epstein’s age was a factor. “This business about brittleness. He’s not a 70, 75-year-old postmenopausal woman …” Wecht argued.
Payne then asked whether or not the injuries could have been the result of Epstein throwing himself from the top bunk in his cell, and Wecht agreed that lined up with the injuries.
“If he hurled himself off of the top bunk, that force would have made it possible to fracture the cervical vertebrae and the hyoid bone,” Wecht explained. “If they can show in reconstructing that scene that that’s what happened. I’d say that is a possibility. Still raises questions. I think it falls within the realm of physical possibility with that kind of force present in the scenario.”