The death of Carolyn Andriano — a victim of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking ring whose testimony was vital to putting his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, behind bars — has left her family looking for answers, according to The Daily Beast.
Andriano was found dead at a hotel in West Palm Beach, Florida hotel room in May, although her death was not marked with an obituary or funeral service, the outlet reported Saturday.
Local police opened an inquest into her death but ended up accepting the medical examiner’s ruling that Andriano had died from an “accidental overdose.”
However, her mother is now questioning that verdict on the grounds that her daughter was starting to turn her life around.
“Nobody’s giving me any answers, and you know what? I’m over it,” Dorothy Groener told The Daily Beast.
Groener, who is embroiled in a legal battle with her son-in-law over her daughter’s will, said Andriano, a 36-year-old mother of five, had been “ecstatic” about moving to North Carolina and was “all set up for a whole new lifestyle.”
“Because this is my daughter and she deserves justice,” she said. “She got to a point where she was turning her whole life around.”
Carolyn Andriano, a victim of sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, has died. Cops are about to close the case, but her mother is demanding answers. https://t.co/OfKb77Vh50
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 15, 2023
According to police documents acquired by The Daily Beast, law enforcement officers were summoned to the West Palm Beach DoubleTree by Hilton on May 23 at approximately 7:45 a.m. in response to a report regarding an unresponsive woman who was feeling unwell.
Andriano’s husband, John Pitts, informed the authorities that she had been vomiting before losing consciousness, prompting him to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation efforts.
Pitts said his wife and the family had spent the night at the DoubleTree hotel, where they were living following the sale of their house. They were planning to move near Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
Police who were called to the scene found Andriano unresponsive but with a variety of hard drugs in her system, which were later confirmed as methadone, fentanyl and alprazolam.
The toxicology report was independently reviewed by Lewis Nelson, the chairman of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Division of Medical Toxicology.
“Her fentanyl use was very recent,” Nelson told The Daily Beast of the report. “My postulation is she is on methadone, takes a high dose, she took fentanyl and she died quickly.”
During her testimony at Maxwell’s sex trafficking trial, Andriano revealed that she had developed a substance addiction during her visits to Epstein’s Virgin Islands estate as a teenager.
She explained that she had consumed a range of substances, including marijuana, cocaine and alcohol, to numb herself from the apprehension of the abuse to which she was subjected.
Jeffrey Epstein victim’s mom demands answers after overdose death https://t.co/aPA3QqjqZi pic.twitter.com/rCByMRqWkD
— New York Post (@nypost) October 16, 2023
Andriano’s mother told The Daily Beast she won’t be able to grieve her daughter unless the case is reopened and her questions are answered.
“It shouldn’t be closed,” Groener said. “I begged them, I sent them numerous messages. I’ve asked them to make meetings, contact me and to no avail.”
