An Italian woman who became one of the earliest public accusers of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein vanished from New York for nearly a fortnight before being located alive by Italian law enforcement authorities this week.
Elisabetta Tai Ferretto, 50, had not been heard from since 22 April, after her daily calls with her family suddenly stopped, according to multiple Italian outlets including La Stampa, one of Italy's oldest and most prominent national newspapers. The disappearance triggered a formal cross-border investigation involving Italian prosecutors, the Carabinieri, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and American authorities, before concluding with the news that Ferretto had been found.
The Disappearance: Two Weeks of Silence
Ferretto is originally from Montagnana, in the province of Padova, and has lived in the United States since 2001, building a career in both fashion and, more recently, New York real estate. Her family in Veneto had maintained daily contact with her, particularly her mother, and there were no reported warning signs when she briefly returned home.
She had travelled to Italy's Veneto region in early April to visit family before returning to Manhattan. After her return, contact with relatives ceased entirely. Her family reported that she had not responded to calls and that her social media accounts appeared to have been deleted or deactivated. According to Italian reports, her phone may have been disconnected after she returned to the United States.
The case was reported to Italian authorities as a missing citizen abroad. However, the New York Police Department stated there were currently no formal complaint reports on file related to her disappearance. That disconnect between Italian and American official responses drew attention, particularly given the high-profile nature of her past accusations.
The family filed a missing persons report with the Procura di Rovigo, which opened a case file as the matter involved an Italian citizen abroad. The notification was subsequently forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Located Alive: The International Search Ends
The alarm that had gripped Ferretto's family and reverberated across Italian media resolved on 5 May 2026, when the Carabinieri confirmed she had been found.
The Carabinieri of the Compagnia di Este confirmed that Ferretto had been located in the United States and was in good health. The news was communicated to her family on the morning of Tuesday, 5 May. The searches, activated through diplomatic and international cooperation channels, concluded with the location of the woman in the United States.
The communication of her being found arrived from the Carabinieri of the Este Compagnia, in the lower Padovano, following searches activated through international cooperation channels. The notification had subsequently been transmitted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
No explanation for her two-week silence has been provided publicly. The circumstances surrounding why she cut off contact, and why her social media accounts were deactivated, remain unaddressed by authorities or her representatives.
The 2004 Encounter: What Ferretto Alleged
Ferretto's name first reached an international audience in July 2019, when Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges. She told the New York Post that she had visited Epstein's Manhattan residence in 2004, when she was 21, and narrowly escaped after the wealthy financier stripped naked and asked her to perform a sexual act.
Her booking agent had given her the address for Epstein's Upper East Side townhouse approximately a month after her arrival in the United States, telling her that Epstein was 'in charge of Victoria's Secret' and could secure her a modelling contract with the lingerie company's catalogue. Epstein had, at the time, a well-documented financial and personal relationship with Leslie Wexner, the founder of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret.
After being introduced to Epstein and beginning to discuss her modelling background, she noticed a massage table near his desk. As she continued speaking, Epstein moved towards the table and began undressing. 'I thought he was preparing to have a massage, and that someone was about to come into the room and give him a massage,' she said. Epstein then told her to come closer and handed her a vibrator. 'I froze,' she said.
Ferretto said she grabbed the object and threw it at his head before running from the room. 'I mean, I don't know where it landed, I just blacked out, and then I ran as fast as I could out of the room,' she said. She claimed she struggled to find her way out of the property and was briefly stopped by Ghislaine Maxwell, who told her she could not leave and that Epstein was 'important.'
The woman, whom Ferretto said resembled Epstein's alleged madam, told her: 'She said that this man is important, that he is a friend of President Clinton.'
Ferretto said she never spoke to anyone about what happened to her in Epstein's mansion. 'I was too scared to tell anyone,' she said. 'I was too shy and scared that someone would come after me to blackmail me or maybe worse.' She did not come forward until 2019, when Epstein's arrest prompted a wave of women to speak publicly. In an interview with Il Mattino di Padova, she described the encounter as 'a wound still open.'
The Epstein Context: A Network That Targeted Models
Ferretto's account was consistent with the pattern prosecutors described in the federal indictment against Epstein, filed in the Southern District of New York in July 2019. An anonymous former Manhattan-based modelling agent told the Post that Epstein used his role in Wexner's company to traffic underage girls by portraying himself as 'the back door' of Victoria's Secret.
Ferretto's disappearance and swift recovery arrives as broader interest in the Epstein case remains politically and judicially active. The release of court documents, ongoing civil litigation, and fresh congressional scrutiny have kept the case in public discourse well beyond Epstein's death.
Her silence of nearly two weeks, and the circumstances that ended it, remain unexplained.
