Ghislaine Maxwell’s former Bradford, N.H. hideout is back on the market, this time the 156-acre estate is selling for $2.495 million. Maxwell was arrested there in 2020. Boundless Estates photo
By RAY CARBONE, InDepthNH.org
BRADFORD – The latest information released by the US Department of Justice this week reveal new details about how Ghislaine Maxwell purchased a mountaintop residence here and what happened the day she was finally arrested.
Maxwell was the longtime associate of notorious financier and child sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein, who died of suicide in jail awaiting trial in 2019.
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Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking and other related offenses and is now serving a 20-year prison sentence and is seeking a new trial.
Authorities say that she was seeking to evade capture when she purchased the 156-acre estate in a sparely populated area of Bradford.
Documents released under the federal Epstein Files Transparency Act shortly after midnight Tuesday morning say that Maxwell bought the property under a false name; earlier information said that the deal was actually made using a limited liability company or LLC, a business entity that can protect the identity of owners or investors.
The new documents state that a local realtor met Maxwell and a male companion, who identified themselves as Scott and Janet Marshall. The couple had British accents and said Janet Maxwell was a journalist who highly valued her privacy.
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It wasn’t until after the arrest that the realtor recognized Maxwell’s face and notified authorities.
The documents also add some details about Maxwell’s arrest the morning of July 2, 2020. Authorities say they knocked on the door of her mansion on East Washington Road in Bradford around 8:30 a.m. but when no one answered, they forced it open. Maxwell then ran to an interior room where she was found and taken into custody.
A cell phone on a nearby desk was wrapped in tin foil, an apparent attempt to neutralize the exact tracking system that led investigations to her location.
Like most people in Bradford, Police Chief Ed Shaughnessy said he wasn’t aware of Maxwell’s stay in his town before the 2020 arrest. “Do you think that if I knew she was there, I wouldn’t have come up to get her,” he asked rhetorically, reflecting on her apprehension.
Shaughnessy may have been the only local person who was at the scene that day. He said he received a phone call at 4:30 a.m. that muggy morning telling him about the pending arrest and inviting him to take part in Maxwell’s capture.
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“I didn’t know a lot about her at the time,” he recalled. “Then I got up and googled her.”
Shaughnessy drove his cruiser eastwards to the Market Basket parking lot in Warner, where he met up with other law enforcement officials for a pre-arrest briefing. Then his vehicle led about 14 others in a caravan heading westward on the two-lane Rte. 103 about 30 minutes back into Bradford, up Center and West roads, and then left onto East Washington Road.
Shaughnessy said that when he arrived around 8:30 a.m., about 30 law enforcement aircrafts overhead. “I don’t know if they were small planes or helicopters,” he said, but the they were definitely related to the police activity and not to the media that flooded the town later that day.
The large police presence was likely related to court records showing that officials believed Maxwell had both the financial resources and social mobility to flee the country if she wasn’t arrested.
Much of what happened during Maxwell’s arrest wasn’t initially made public. Official reports said that she was taken into custody “without incident,” but later information said that she refused to open the front door and she was seen through a window fleeing into an interior room. Officers forced their way into the home and then into the room where they found Maxwell.
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Chief Shaughnessy said that his local department had no role in the arrest but he did see officers escorting Maxwell into a cruiser. She was held at the Merrimack County Corrections Facility in Boscawen for several days before being sent to New York where she stood trial for her crimes.
That morning, the chief also learned that members of Maxwell’s onsite security team were former British secret service personnel. They said she never left the Bradford property. “Her security team did the food shopping, ran the errands,” the chief recalled.
The former Maxwell estate is for sale again. This summer Four Seasons Sotheby’s International Realty-New Hampshire listed the property at $2,495,000. Maxwell purchased the residence in 2019 for $1 million in cash using a limited liability company, according to paperwork filed by federal prosecutors.
Town records recently listed the property assessment at $1,829,005 with an annual tax of $30,353. The asking price on the land was recently dropped $30,000 to $2,365,000.
The mountaintop estate is not visible from the road but a careful observer can find the dirt road entrance off East Washington Road, across from a modest brown home and adjacent to a utility pole.
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About one-quarter of the way up the incline a wire fence blocks traffic and announces that one should “Beware of Dog.”
A security keypad sits a few feet in front of the fence. The newly released documents say that there was a full security system in operation when Maxwell lived there.
On various real estate websites, photographs and descriptions depict an extravagant estate. One realtor called it a “privacy lovers dream.”
The main 4,365-sq ft. residence is a timber-framed two-story structure that includes a Great Room with a fieldstone fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows. A second structure is a 1800s cape house, with a barn and fireplace. Spectacular views abound and one description calls it the dream of a “hunter, farmer, horse lover, (or) hiker.”
This is not the first time Maxwell’s former residence has been sold. A couple purchased the property last year but later decided to resell it. One local woman said the couple from southern New England might have found central New Hampshire winters too severe.
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The newly released photos and documents have been made public because of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Trump signed into law last month.
One released photo of New Hampshire businessman and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, showed Kamen sitting with businessman Richard Branson and Epstein walking behind them. Another more recently released photo showed Kamen and Ghislaine Maxwell riding a Segway. Kamen has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the Epstein matter.
Kamen, the founder of DEKA Research and Development, told WMUR that he was a speaker at the TED Conference in Monterey, California a number of times, including February 2002 (https://www.ted.com/talks/dean_kamen_to_invent_is_to_give).
Kamen told WMUR: “If I had to guess, based in part on helpful reminders from friends, I would say that this photo was taken at that conference (or some similar conference) shortly after the launch of Segway where I gave I rides to many, if not most, of the TED conference attendees.
“Unfortunately, Jeffrey Epstein was a central figure in the TED community for many years. I have no specific memory of this photo or any other interaction with Ghislaine Maxwell and had only limited interactions with Jeffrey Epstein. I hope that it goes without saying that those interactions in no way involved any wrong-doing and, in hindsight with what I now know, I regret even those limited interactions. Again, I have no knowledge of any of the horrific actions of Jeffrey Epstein (or Ghislaine Maxwell) other than what I have learned from news reports,” Kamen said.
CONCORD – While Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has said she opposes increasing highway toll rates across the state, the Senate voted Thursday to increase rates for out-of-state license plate holders.
It now goes to the House for consideration.
This would be a $1 increase for those who have out of state plates going through the tolls at Hooksett, Hampton and Bedford for out-of-state plates, a 75 cent hike for those taking Hampton’s Exit 2 and on the Spaulding turnpike at Rochester, and a 50 cent hike for those taking the exit off I-93 to Hooksett.
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An analysis in the bill shows that this would increase toll revenue by $53.3 million in fiscal year 2027 and go up each year to generate $81.4 million a year in 2036.
Senate Bill 627 passed on a voice vote with two Republicans, Senators Regina Birdsell of Hampstead and William Gannon of Sandown opposing.
Senator Mark E. McConkey, R-Freedom, moved to take the bill off the table and offered an amendment. He said the last time there was a systemwide increase to the turnpike toll was 19 years ago.
“I am sure we could all agree the cost of operations…has continued to escalate when revenue is not rising with it,” and he noted that with an enterprise fund, the state can only spend what it takes in.
The state has just completed a 10-year highway plan and there was a $400 million shortfall in projects that could not be paid for under the current income.
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McConkey said the measure would not increase tolls for New Hampshire drivers with a state license plate.
“Why don’t we ask our neighbors,” to pay a toll increase. “We are getting the best of all worlds,” by passing the bill, he said, including “protecting our residents” and having resources for improvements to the turnpike system.
Sen. Gannon, R-Sandown, asked McConkey if there are any studies on impacts near the border on businesses.
If implemented, McConkey said the state will be the 27th lowest in per mile cost still. McConkey said the bill would also increase from seven to 14 days the amount of time for those with NH license plates to pay for a toll adding there are other states that also have different rates for out-of-state users.
The Hampton toll cost would go from $2 to $3, while Hooksett and Bedford would rise from $1 to $2 for out-of-state plates.
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New Hampshire currently has the lowest rate per mile among states with tolls roads. The governor said she does not support a toll increase.
“We are not going to put a burden on drivers for a toll increase,” Ayotte said. “Families are struggling.”
WILTON, N.H. (WHDH) – A woman died in a Wilton, New Hampshire, house fire Wednesday morning, according to the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At 9:08 a.m., Wilton firefighters responded to Burns Hill Road after a caller said their home was filling up with smoke. When they arrived, a single-family home was on fire and they found out two people were still inside on the second floor.
A man and a woman were both taken out of the house by firefighters and taken to Elliott Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead and the man is in serious condition.
Officials have not released the name of the victim at this time.
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At this time, investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and are trying to determine if a power outage in the area played a factor. The fire is not currently considered suspicious.
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