The US state of New Mexico will reopen a criminal probe into a ranch once owned by Jeffrey Epstein, following allegations that surfaced in justice department files on the convicted sex offender.
State prosecutors said they would seek full access to unredacted Epstein files relating to the Zorro Ranch, held by federal investigators in Washington DC.
They also pledged to work with a so-called Epstein truth commission set up this week in the state.
New Mexico shelved its initial investigation into the ranch in 2019 upon request from federal prosecutors in New York. Epstein, who died in a Manhattan jail in 2019, faced no charges in New Mexico.
Attorney General Raúl Torrez said on X that his office "will take a broad and comprehensive" look at the Zorro Ranch.
He said they would work with an Epstein truth commission, set up by state legislators on Tuesday.
The bipartisan, four-member panel is investigating allegations that the ranch might have facilitated sexual abuse and sex trafficking.
One of the state legislators on the panel, Andrea Romero of Santa Fe, told the BBC: "We are learning that there may have been reports to the FBI, back in 2019 or prior to, of bodies being buried, of folks being trafficked."
On Wednesday, the state said it was investigating a 2019 email from the recently released tranche of files that alleged Epstein had ordered the bodies of two foreign girls be buried outside the ranch, Reuters news agency reported.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said last week he was seeking an unredacted copy of the email, which came from an anonymous sender.
Lawmakers on the commission also want to know why Epstein did not register as a sex offender after having pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl in 2008.
While Epstein did not face any charges in New Mexico, prosecutors in the south-western US state confirmed in 2019 that they had interviewed possible victims who visited the property.
A number of women have previously alleged they were recruited and abused by the convicted paedophile at Zorro Ranch, which they said was integral to his sex-trafficking operation.
Congresswoman Teresa Leger Fernandez of New Mexico told the BBC: "In Zorro Ranch, it was very isolated, very beautiful landscape.
"We have heard very disturbing reports of some of the activity going on there."
She added: "We know that there are horrible things that occurred at that ranch."
There are thousands of references to the ranch, located south of Santa Fe, in the millions of documents released in late January by the US justice department.
It boasts a 21,000sq ft mansion on a hilltop overlooking nearly 10,000 acres (4,000 hectares) of desert. Nearby was a private airstrip and helipad.
Epstein bought the property in 1993 from former New Mexico Governor Bruce King.
According to Reuters, he leased around 1,250 acres of state lands around the ranch that same year.
But the New Mexico State Land Commission cancelled the leases in September 2019 after the office determined that Epstein had used the tract as a privacy buffer - not for ranching or agriculture.
Zorro Ranch is now owned by former Texas state Senator Don Huffines, who purchased the property from the Epstein estate in 2023 with proceeds from the sale reportedly going to the late sex-trafficker's victims.
