Jeffrey Epstein case: Virginia Giuffre’s death marks third loss, expert says predators need to be 'punished'

This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Jeffrey Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre died by suicide over the weekend, making her the third person allegedly abused by the billionaire to die.

Giuffre, 41, died in Neergabby, Australia, where she had been living. Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while inside a New York City jail cell after he was federally charged with sex trafficking.

"It is with utterly broken hearts that we announce that Virginia passed away last night at her farm in Western Australia. She lost her life to suicide, after being a lifelong victim of sexual abuse and sex trafficking," Giuffre's family told Fox News. "Virginia was a fierce warrior in the fight against sexual abuse and sex trafficking. She was the light that lifted so many survivors. Despite all the adversity she faced in her life, she shone so bright. She will be missed beyond measure."

VIRGINIA GIUFFRE, JEFFREY EPSTEIN AND PRINCE ANDREW ACCUSER, DEAD AT 41 BY SUICIDE: REPORT

Giuffre is the third Epstein accuser to die since 2017.

Carolyn Andriano, who testified against Ghislaine Maxwell during her sex trafficking trial, died May 23, 2023 after an accidental drug overdose.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Andriano died as a result of an overdose of fentanyl, methadone and alprazolam in a West Palm Beach, Florida hotel room.

In 2021, she testified that she had an addiction to "pain pills and cocaine," which she took to "block out" the sexual abuse of Epstein. Andriano said that Epstein abused her at his Palm Beach mansion beginning in 2001 at the age of 14.

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The West Palm Beach Police Department said at the time that the overdose was accidental.

Leigh Skye Patrick died at the age of 29 after a drug overdose in West Palm Beach, Florida in 2017.

Authorities said that Patrick was found inside a hotel room in West Palm Beach, adding that the overdose was accidental.

Kathryn Smerling, a psychologist and therapist in New York City, told Fox News Digital that the type of abuse Epstein's victims had to suffer was "very difficult to traumatically process."

"It's post-traumatic stress … and you're being objectified. It's not like there is anything about you that's special. You are just an object in which you are probed, pushed, touched, manipulated. And the objectification is very traumatic because you don't feel as though you're worth anything. And that's where the shame comes in and the shame is very hard to escape. And unless you have the proper therapy and the proper family support, it will be a very tough go for you," she said.

Smerling said it's common for individuals who have been sexually abused to resort to substance abuse.

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"Because there's got to be a way to numb the pain, whether it's heroin or alcohol or any kind of other drugs or cutting yourself or starving yourself. Any one of those aspects of coping with traumatic stress is inevitable, and I shouldn't say it's inevitable, but it's more than likely to occur, without the proper support and family structure," Smerling said. "So if you don't have an attachment figure to a healthy person, you'll go to someone who is unhealthy, which was certainly Jeffrey Epstein and all of his cohorts."