One of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, whose testimony was instrumental in convicting heiress Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking, died earlier this year — and her family is now questioning the circumstances surrounding her fatal overdose.
Carolyn Andriano, 36, was found dead in a Palm Beach, Florida hotel room in late May, but her family said they still have questions about a medical examiner’s ruling that she died of an “accidental overdose.”
“Nobody’s giving me any answers, and you know what? I’m over it,” her mother, Dorothy Groener, told the Daily Beast.
“Because this is my daughter and she deserves justice,” Groener — who is currently involved in a legal battle with her son-in-law over Andriano’s will —said, noting: “She got to a point where she was turning her whole life around.”
Police records obtained by the Daily Beast show cops were called to the DoubleTree by Hilton in West Palm Beach about a woman who was not “waking up” and “has been sick” at around 7:45 a.m. on May 23.
Her husband, John Pitts, also said she was “puking” before she became unconscious and he started CPR.
He told police on the scene that he, Andriano and their children went to sleep the night before at the DoubleTree, where they had apparently been living after selling their house.
When they woke up, Andriano was naked and unresponsive in her bed, Pitts said, according to the Daily Beast.
Police later found a small crack pipe, a small baggie with white residue and a needle in her purse.
An ensuing toxicology report also found she had methadone, fentanyl and alprazolam in her system — and Pitts told them Carolyn had been using drugs.
It was independently reviewed by Lewis Nelson, the chair of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School’s Department of Emergency Medicine and director of the Division of Medical Toxicology.
He said fentanyl and alprazolam are a deadly combination — as both restrict breathing.
“Her fentanyl use was very recent,” Nelson told the Daily Beast of the toxicology report. “My postulation is she is on methadone, takes a high dose, she took fentanyl and she died quickly.”
The low levels of a metabolite of fentanyl also suggests she died before her body had time to metabolize the drug, Nelson added.
But Andriano’s brother, Joey, said he has questions about what he observed at the DoubleTree before her death.
He said he called his sister that morning, but Pitts told him she wasn’t feeling well.
Carolyn also briefly answered the phone and told him the same, the Daily Beast reports.
“I said, ‘If she’s so sick, why don’t you call the ambulance bro? Do something. You gotta take her to the hospital,’” Joey recounted.
“He said, ‘Oh no, she’s alright.”
In another call, he said Carolyn’s voice was nearly inaudible.
“A couple times I talked to her on the phone, she just sounded real out of it, like groggy, and he was doing most of the talking for her,” Joey said. “She was never like that.”
Groener also claimed police found vodka bottles in the hotel room, but her daughter did not have any alcohol in her system.
She noted her daughter was “ecstatic” about creating a new, drug-free life in the days before her death.
Carolyn and Pitts had recently bought a property in North Carolina, and were planning to move there and raise their kids there.
They sold their Florida home, and had been living in the hotel since May 18.
“She was all set up for a whole new lifestyle,” Groener said, revealing text messages she received from her daughter about being free of drugs and alcohol.
“It shouldn’t be closed,” the grieving mother said of her daughter’s case.
“I begged them, I sent them numerous messages. I’ve asked them to make meetings, contact me and to no avail.”
But documents from the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office said the couple moved back to Palm Beach County from North Carolina “because their methadone clinic was not providing the amount of methadone they were asking [for].”
Carolyn had also testified at Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial that she became addicted to drugs while visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s Virgin Islands compound as a teenager, saying she took “marijuana, cocaine, alcohol, anything that could block out for me to go to the appointment.”
She also said she took methadone, an antidepressant, Xanax and a drug for schizophrenia because “I am scared that my kids are going to get kidnapped.”
Pitts’ sister now says Groener’s assertion that Carolyn’s death was “suspicious” is “ridiculous.”
“Right now our family is grieving the loss of Carolun and prioritizing the care of her children,” Serena Pitts told the Daily Beast.
“At this time, we kindly appreciate space and privacy.”