president's corner. so the jim, the congressman. but they happen slowly and then all at once. do we see people wondering if they will be a lot better off with president pence than trump? >> that does it tonight on kasie d.c. and now good night from new york. this is an msnbc special presentation. they told me to take my clothes off. in an instant, i knew what was happening. >> it's the explosive story nbc news has investigated all year. >> this was a very prolific sexual predator. >> the secret world of jeffrey epstein. >> there are six of you before me. how many vic similatims do you there would be. >> i was shocked at court how many there were. >> some speak out for the first

time on television. >> you would have to be with him several times a day. >> the sit was constant. >> and the police chief. >> this is the worst failure of the criminal justice system to modern times. >> how is it that nobody ever came forward? >> maybe they were scared. i mean, i'm still scared. >> jeffrey thought we were disposable and look who's still standing. >> a new front in this long battle for justice. i'm lester hoellt. this is a special edition of dateli dateline. >> you're at home in australia and you get the news that jeffrey epstein has committed suicide in his jail cell. what did you think? >> it was such a shock to me. i mean, when i say shock, i didn't have the words. i was in mourning, not because the world lost a monster.

>> you weren't mourning him. >> i was not mourning him. i was not mourning the death of this man. i was mourning the death of my ability to hold this man accountable. >> the victims of jeffrey epstein say it is not too late for a reckoning. a notorious figure now, epstein was a wealthy new york financier with many estates and a private caribbean island. a friend to presidents past and future. he was also an accused sex trafficker and his victim's stories share a common thread. they were young and vulnerable. and they say he offered to use his wealth and power to help them, at least at first. back in 2000, she was a high school student living here palm beach, florida. >> my dad worked at march ra -a and he said, i could get you a summer job there. >> and what was the job? >> i was a locker room attendant

in the spa area. i loved the surroundings and the music and how calm everybody was. i was like, i know what i want to do now. i want to become a massage therapist. i want to work in a spa like this. >> then one day she says she was working at mar-a-lago reading a book on massage therapy when opportunity knocked. >> i get approached by this beautiful, well spoken, well mannered woman with an english accent, prim and proper. she says, it is so funny you're reading a book on that because i know this older gentleman who is looking for a traveling massage therapist. >> the woman whose alternately described as jeffty epstein's friend, companion and partner, the daughter of a wealthy british media baron. >> she said, if you are interested, you can come by the house tonight and go for an interview. >> and what did you say?

>> of course i said yes. i was excited. i mean, i told her, i was like, i have no training. don't worry about it, she said. he's got amazing abilities to help people out. that's what he likes to do. >> the story of the what happened on her visit is one virginia has told in lawsuits and court filings and is now telling on television for the very first time. >> so i followed her up the stairs. through jeffrey's bedroom and then to a bathroom and there is this man laying naked on a green massage table in the middle of the room. >> that's the first time you laid eyes on jeffrey epstein. >> it is the very first time. and they looked at each other, and i call it the chessire cat grin because he nodded as in like approval. >> did they try to get your background? >> absolutely. >> virginia told them about some

of her difficult past. she was sexually abused by a family friend starting at age seven. by 12 she says she was a run-away who was also abused by strangers. she now reveals some of this made her easy prey in that first meeting. >> and for the first while it did -- it really did look normal. i mean, she gets the lotion and then she's like, okay, you just follow what i do. okay, that sounds good. we're going all the way through the back, the neck and the head. and then he turns over. and that's when they told me to take my clothes off. in an instant i knew -- i knew what was happening, that this wasn't the first time i had been abused. i expected men to do this at this age. this just was normal for me now. >> you thought this is how the world works. >> this is how the world works.

it kept going on. they told me to completely strip down, and i left my undies on. they said, no, take your undies off first. but before they did that, they both look at my undies and snickered and said, oh, you still got little girl undies. >> to be direct about it, did they ask you to have sex with jeffrey epstein. >> they asked me to lick his nipples and give him oral sex and she was doing the same things that she asked me to do for him while touching me in my private areas as well. and then at the very end, they instructed me to get on top of epstein, and that's how the night ended. >> virginia says epstein gave her $200 in cash and his butler drove her home. epstein invited her to come back the next day. >> why did you go back?

>> that answer is so complicated. i could have run. i should have run. i wish i ran. fear was one. >> fear of? >> fear of what happens if ipiss these bad people off. i know they're powerful. >> when we come back, another powerful man enters the picture. >> she said, you're going to meet a prince today. >> her story behind that infamous photo of prince andrew. >> she said i want you to do for him what you did for epstein. >> of course they deny that this ever happened. outdated. the paperwork... the calling for everything. the searching for id cards... it's like you're stuck in the 90s. that's why esurance makes it simple with an app that has everything you need because that's how we live nowadays. rad. your id card is on a bodacious tiny future tv. wow! you're really committed to this whole 90's thing, aren't ya? no, i'm just saying what's in the script. that's true. everything we're saying's in the script.

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the day she says jeffrey epstein assaulted her, virginia went back to epstein's home. she said she thought they had a job for her. >> what did they promise or tell you what would happen if you stayed with them? >> i would get educated and i would become a real masseuse. that was the promise. >> i had been so abused by that time, if this is what it was taking me to get a life away from abuse and get away from it like working at a spa at mar-a-lago, that was a necessary evil. >> she quickly found herself part of epstein's lex luxurious

life. she went to parties like this one for naomi campbell and he said her more money than she ever had. but she says it all came at a terrible price. >> jeffrey's life revolved around abuse. >> virginia says she was expected to be on call for epstein at all times. >> so sometimes you would have to be with him several times a day? >> several times a day. >> another young woman said in a deposition epstein told her his sexual appetite was biological. he needed to have three or gas ms a day. >> it was constant. in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, while you are watching a movie, while you are in the airplane. it was everywhere. >> was there pressure on you to look a certain way or to maintain a certain physical

appearance. >> i had to pretend like i was happy. you couldn't just be depressed around jeffrey. you had to pretend, like i told you, he wanted all of us to be his little lolita. >> things took a turn when epstein instructed her to have sex with other men. she was 17 when she flew to london. >> what happened? >> gillan woke me up in the morning excited, and she said, you're going to meet a prince today. >> maxwell was talking about prince andrew, again elizabeth's second son. she describes her first encounter with the prince. it began, she says, when they all had dinner with prince andrew and then went to an elite london nightclub. >> prince andrew was like, let's dance together. he was a hideous dancer and he was sweating profusely all over me and i just remember like, oh, you need a shower. that's disgusting.

that night ended and i hop in the car with gillin and jeffrey. she said he's coming back to the house and i want you to do for him what you do for epstein. i couldn't believe it. >> she says they returned to maxwell's london home. >> so we get upstairs. i used to carry around these little kodak disposable cameras. jeffrey is like let me get a picture of you and andrew together. that's the picture that everyone sees. that's the second story in the townhouse. >> she went with prince andrew into a bathroom and their sexual encounter began. >> the abuse went on for a little bit in the bathroom and then it continues to the bedroom. he wasn't rude or anything about it. he said, you know, thank you. >> she says the next time she saw the prince was at epstein's new york home. she remembers she and another girl were instructed to sit on

the prince's lap. a person who was there told nbc news she remembers that incident. >> and then he groped one of our breasts. i'm not too sure exactly who. and gillen took a picture. us girls were just toys really at the end of the day. >> virginia says she was also directed to have sex with the prince on epstein's private island. >> you seem to have a very specific memory of those occasions. have you thought about why that stands out to you so much? >> he was a prince. he was like -- he was famous. he's royalty. and it just stuck out in my mind. i grew up watching disney just like most girls grew up watching disney and princesses and princes were the good people of the world and he wasn't. >> prince andrew of course denies that this ever happened. >> he denies that it ever happened, and he's going to keep denying that it ever happened. but he knows the truth, and i

know the truth. >> buckingham palace issued a statement saying it is emphatically denied that the duke of work had any form of sexual contact or relationship with virginia roberts. any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation. virginia admits during her time with epstein she was free to come and go, but says it didn't always feel that way. >> you are getting in deeper and deeper. how is it that you didn't feel like you could go away? >> jeffrey and gillen's way of keeping us under his thumb, under his rule, under their rule were invisible chains. and it was that constant, we own the police, you can't run, you can't tell anybody, we'll never be held accountable for this. >> coming up -- >> everybody was a piece of the puzzle. everybody played a role. >> deep inside the epstein

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how many girls would you say were there on any given day? >> anywhere between -- sometimes between five. sometimes 15. sometimes 20. >> in a day? >> in a day. >> could you please give us your name. >> jeffrey epstein. >> over the past year, nbc news spoke with nearly two does women who say they were abused by jeffrey epstein. we have poured over thousands of pages of court documents and police records. and what we have learned is this. epstein had a highly organized operation to bring him underaged girls, starting with his team of paid recruiters. >> you were at school one day, and someone walks up to you and starts talking to you. >> yeah. >> jennifer says she was 14 and standing on the sidewalk outside her new york city school when a

young woman introduced herself. >> he was definitely trying to get to know me. trying to find out, you know, where i was from, where i grew up, who i lived with. >> jennifer says she told the woman her dad had died and money was tight. she also shared her dreams of acting on broadway. the woman suggested jennifer complete jeffrey epstein. >> she was saying he's very power, he's wealthy, he's a great guy, almost like a fatherly figure for her, which had meaning for me at that time because i was maybe longing for that, which i was. >> jennifer says she visited epstein several times in his new york city home. then when she was 16, jennifer says epstein raped her. >> i was terrified and i was telling him to stop. >> you told him to stop. >> i did. >> did he stop? >> no. >> she was 22 and an inspiring

masseuse when she got recruited. just like virginia, her recruiter was maxwell who invited her to epstein's home to give him a massage. >> i remember she saying do whatever he likes and you will be fine. >> after three or four sessions, she says epstein raped her on his private island. >> what he did was destroy my wife. >> maxwell was one of epstein's most effective recruiters. >> jeffrey was very particular in the kind of girls he wanted. first off was the younger the better. >> he said. >> maxwell said that, too. maxwell during the training and telling me how to do it, you always have to go for the youngest looking ones. >> epstein paid some of his victims to bring him new girls. virginia says she did reluctantly. >> can you still see the faces of some of those girls. >> some of them, yes. yeah. it will always haunt me. >> in a sworn deposition, a

butler who used to work at epstein's palm beach home said maxwell kept contact information and photos of the girls on her computer. other assistants helped with logistics. >> the secretary would contact me. >> and say? >> are you free? can you come by? epstein would like to see you. >> everybody was a piece of the puzzle. everybody played a role. >> this is her first interview about her experience with epstein. she says he abused her over many years from the time she was in her late teens. she remembers that epstein's homes were filled with his staff, chefs, drivers, butlers, maids. >> you know, if you're a young person walking into a mansion or someone's island and all the people who are present are acting as though this is okay and you're the only one who thinks it's weird, it's hard to

say something. >> some people might say, if all those people were seeing something, how is it that nobody ever came forward? nobody ever reported it. they might find it hard to believe because of that. >> i know a lot of the house staff had to sign things called nondisclosure agreements. maybe they felt entrapped by that. maybe they were scared. i'm still scared. >> our reporting points to another person who helped bring young girls into his world. the owner of an international modeling agency. >> jeffrey personally told me he slept -- he abused -- he said slept because he likes to naturalize it. but he abused over a thousand women that brunel brought in. >> epstein told you that? >> epstein told me that. >> this former police detecttive and private investigator was

hired by several victims. >> they had eight agents, talent scouts for this modeling agency flying in jeffrey's plane down to brazil and actually recruiting underage girls off the soccer fields, bringing them here as potential models. but they were put in a house and all they were was taken back and forth to jeffrey's home. >> a bookkeeper for the modeling agency said epstein lent the company a million dollars. virginia suspects it was all about one thing. >> were there occasions where you were expected to have sexual relations with some of these girls and epstein and brunel? >> absolutely. a lot of the time. sometimes there is 15 girls in the room and they don't even speak english. the abuse would just go on and on and on. >> virginia has alleged in court filings that in addition to

brunel and prince andrew, she was directed to have sex with several other prominent men in epstein's orbit, politicians, business leaders and academics. nbc news has not confirmed those accounts and the men have all denied wrongdoing, denied knowing her and challenge her credibility. >> virginia stands by her accounts. but in our interview she acknowledged being unclear about some details of her past. for example, her age when she first met epstein. she initially told people she was 15, but now says she was likely 16 going on 17. >> you say you were on drugs, drinking. there are going to be people who say maybe your memory is not serving you well. maybe this is all in your imagination. maybe it didn't happen the way you say it happened. what do you say to that?

>> i say when you are abused, you know your abuser. i might not have my dates right. i might not have the times right and sometimes even occasions, like the places might not even be right. but i know their faces and i know what they have done to me. >> coming up -- >> this was a very prolific sexual predator. >> the police chef on epstein's trail more than a decade ago gives his first in depth television interview. >> did you feel that you had a strong case? >> oh, absolutely. i've been diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration, which could lead to vision loss. so today i made a plan with my doctor, which includes preservision. because it's my vision,

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richard lui with your hour's top stories. >> president trump says he wants to meet the whistleblower. the unidentified person is reportedly under federal protection after receiving threats. and the saudi crown prince says in a tv interview that he takes full responsibility for the murder of jamal k. but denies allegations that he ordered it. for now back to "dateline." in 2002, virginia says jeffrey epstein sent her on a trip without him to take a massage training class in thailand. there halfway around the world she saw an opportunity to break

free. she met robbie, the man she would marry and told him her story. >> nobody ever said, you should tell somebody. you should do something about it. and robbie did. he said, you know, you don't have to live like that. come move to australia with me. >> she did, while epstein continues to recruit and abuse girls unchecked. most of the women we talked to said they never even considered going to the police. >> i was too scared. i didn't really want to go public with it. i didn't think about going to the police. >> jeffrey epstein's money, power and connections could seem intimidating to his victims. >> he was always bragging about his relationship with donald trump. it was never a question of how powerful he was. >> so it was hard to imagine anything bringing down the epstein empire until authorities

in florida got an opportunity to try. it was palm beach, march 2005. police got a call from a distraught mother of a 14-year-old girl. >> she said my daughter is having sex. she's a minor and she's having sex with an adult and lives in a mansion in palm beach. >> michael is the former chief of the palm beach police. this is his first in depth television interview detailing what happened inside his department's investigation and the monumental failures that followed. his detectives took the case seriously from the start. >> our sense was that this is something we have absolutely got to get on. >> the interview with that first girl led to another. >> was it that you were told you would have to do. >> give a massage. >> and then another. >> i have no problem telling you everything i know. >> all of them telling police strikingly similar stories of

abu abuse. >> what else happened? he pulled out this vibrator thing. >> within a month of beginning the investigation, we realized that this was basically a way of life for epstein. it didn't take too long to realize that a lot of people were involved in this. this was a very prolific sexual predator. >> they began watching epstein's house, went through his trash, and they found phone messages like this one. she's wondering if 2:30 is okay. she needs to stay in school. and this one from the model agency owner about a girl. she is two times 8 years old. investigators believe that was code for 16. >> and what are those phone messages? what are they talking about? >> they are about making appointments for girls to come and visit epstein for massages and sex. and it isn't just the phone messages. epstein had flowers delivered to one of the victims who was in a

performance at her high school, congratulating her at the end of the performance. we found in the trash the report card from one of the victims. and any thoughts that this didn't happen, this kind of physical evidence drives home that -- that it did. >> he used to tell some of the accusers, i own the palm beach police department. >> that is ridiculous. i'm sure he thought that he owned the palm beach police department because, frankly, he tried to set us up. >> rider says epstein made donations to the police department and must have thought that would give him influence. >> he judged wrong? >> absolutely. i mean obviously. >> but as they built a case against epstein, odd things began happening. six months in detectives took a video camera and searched epstein's home. the chief believes ep steep had been tipped off. >> the place had been cleaned

up. there was still photographs on the wall, phone messages and so on. but the video computer was gone and all the wires were left hanging there. >> then he says something changed. the state prosecutors at the time in palm beach county told him the witnesses were problematic and the prosecutors seemed dismissive of the case. this former state attorney has not responded to comment and previously said his office acted appropriately. >> did you feel that you had a strong case to bring to trial? >> oh, absolutely. >> the chief also says he was surprised by how much epstein's defense team knew about the investigation before it was public. >> we believed that the content of our probable cause affidavit eventually some time after we presented to the state's attorney office ended up with the defense attorneys because minute details that nobody else knew that were in those

documents were being refuted and contrary information provided by the defense. and it really cripples the case. >> coming up -- like i don't get to go? why am i not going to court? >> jeffrey epstein makes a deal. >> is that a sweetheart deal? >> i've never seen anything like it. >> when "dateline" continues. >> when "dateline" continues or delicious... or fun. ♪ but since you need both car and home insurance, why not bundle them with esurance and save up to 10%. which you can spend on things you really want to buy, like ah well i don't know what you'd wanna buy cause i'm just a guy on your tv. esurance. it's surprisingly painless.

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>> in 2006 the palm beach police chief was frustrated with how local prosecutors were handling the epstein investigation. he asked the state attorney to remove himself from the case. when that didn't happen, the chief turned his evidence over to the fbi. >> they said this is an easy case. this was a horrific situation. we'll put him away for the rest of his life. >> and then that's when the assistant u.s. attorneys told us as well. >> virginia was raising a family on the other side of the world in australia. she said she didn't know

anything about the investigation until her phone rang one day. >> i was in shock. and she said, listen, have you heard about this investigation going on about epstein? >> i said, no, i don't follow the news. i watch the wiggles most days. she said, are you going to talk? i said if i don't know about any investigation going on, how am i going to call. >> the next day there was a call. this time it was epstein with an offer. >> he goes, okay, we'll take care of you if you don't talk. i said i don't want your money. i really don't. i'm living with good life over here. i just want to be left alone, guys. >> back in florida, the police chief rider was getting frustrated again, this time by lack of progress in the fbi case. so he went to see the prosecutor in charge, who would later be named secretary of labor by president donald trump. >> he basically said the defense in this case has successfully

delayed and frustrated their investigation and their prostitutipro prosecution of the case. >> still, he says, acosta told him his office was moving forward. >> i left that meeting thinking this guy is going to hopefully do his job. he's telling me he is. >> but then he decided not to charge epstein in federal court and sent the case back to the local prosecutors, the very same office that rider says dropped the ball in the first place. now epstein made a deal, pleading guilty to two counts related to prostitution. >> they're calling the victims prostitutes. >> that's right. >> it's not prostitution. >> no, it's not. it was a horrendous and in some cases violent criminal act victimizing our most vulnerable. >> epstein had to register as a sex offender. he served 13 months but most days he was allowed to leave the jail to go to his office. >> the deal that epstein

ultimately got, was that a sweetheart deal? >> well, i have never seen anything like it. i'm not a lawyer. i'm not a prosecutor. i was a police chief. i think police chiefs know the difference between right and wrong. and this case was clearly to us a very prosecutable case. >> perhaps the most unusual part of the deal, federal prosecutors agreed they would not charge any potential coconspirators. for rider none of it made sense. >> how is it possible the system could have failed on so many levels at all the same time? how do you explain that? >> there is no explanation. i didn't believe it back then. i don't believe it now. >> alex acosta has said the u.s. attorneys office he headed in florida handled the case appropriately. virginia first heard about the deal in 2008. she was in australia, far away from epstein when she got a

letter from law enforcement saying she had been identified as a victim in the now closed case. as she learned more, she started to get angry. she felt cheated. >> i don't get to court? why am i not going to court? they said, no, there has been a deal arranged with the government between him. i was so mind boggled by it. i didn't understand it. >> in the aftermath of that deal, epstein's victims filed a slew of civil suits against him. virginia filed her own suit and received a financial settlement from epstein. virginia sued. in 2011 virginia decided to talk to a british newspaper and got $160,000 for her story and that photo of her with prince andrew. >> you sold a story to a tabloid story and received a payout. you have a book manuscript that some say you want to sell.

what do you say to those who today say this is someone who is trying to sell a very salacious story and benefitting financially from it. >> that's the way i thought it was done. i didn't know you are supposed to say no. every single interview after that i have never taken a dollar for. >> after her story appeared in the press, fbi agents flew to australia to interview her. she says they seemed to focus on the people around epstein. >> they showed you pictures of people. >> they showed me a whole big binder of people. i told them i know this person. i know what they have done. and what can we do from there? i thought we were going to get far. >> but again federal prosecutors did not bring charges. virginia says she later spoke to one of the agents on the phone. >> i said where is this going? he said, i'm sorry. my hands are tied. >> he told you the investigation is over. >> he told me there is nothing more he can do.

>> little did virginia and other victims know that everything would change this year. >> coming up -- >> where do you think this case is going now? >> there are still people out there, people that were enabling epstein. >> can these women still get justice? >> they failed us before. don't fail us again.

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>> reporter: after serving thirteen months in jail, jeffrey epstein was a free man by the summer of 2009. he spent time flying to his various properties in the u.s. and around the world. he was still in contact with some of his famous friends including prince andrew. and, despite his sex offender status, the financier spent time with renowned scientists, and gave money to institutions including mit. in palm beach florida, chief reiter had retired. did you think about this case

often after you left? >> this was the case that never really left me. >> reporter: did the justice system fail these victims? >> not only in my opinion, but in the opinion of others that have worked a long time in the system, this is the worst failure of the criminal justice system that i or they are aware of in modern times. >> reporter: it turned out reiter wasn't the only person in south florida who hadn't forgotten jeffrey epstein. in november 2018, the "miami herald" published an explosive series about epstein's sexual abuse and the deal that led to that short jail term. and, that same month, the u.s. attorney for the southern district of new york quietly began a new federal investigation. it's likely epstein never saw what was coming. >> jeffrey epstein arrested after flying in from paris expected to face federal charges related to sex trafficking. >> i was crying tears of joy. and i was, like, screaming,

"he's in jail. i'm so excited!" you don't -- i mean we celebrated. >> reporter: when he was arrested this summer. >> when he was arrested, i was like, "wow." >> reporter: in july epstein was charged with sex trafficking and conspiracy. he pleaded not guilty. but in august the elation of epstein's victims became disbelief. >> there is breaking news at this hour. >> nbc news has learned that disgraced financier jeffrey epstein is dead. >> reporter: when you heard that jeffrey epstein had committed suicide in jail, what was your reaction? >> i had a nervous breakdown. i started vomiting blood and was ambulanced off an airplane in barcelona, spent two days in a hospital. >> reporter: the women we'd interviewed were joined by two more women who say epstein abused them, rachel benavidez and marijke chartouni. all say epstien's suicide was a gut-punch. >> i felt a lot of conflicting emotions, and i think the overriding one was sadness.

>> reporter: do you feel let down that that's the way it ended for him? >> for sure. >> i felt cheated out of the opportunity to face him in court. i mean, i felt sorry for all of us really. >> reporter: the criminal case against epstein was dismissed, but, in an extraordinary move, a federal judge gave the women a day in court, and heard impactful statements from 23 women. >> reporter: what did it mean to stand up in court, to meet each other, to hear other stories? >> it was such a powerful moment to stand in court-- knowing how we all had this common experience, and we didn't know each other, but we did, you know? there's an intimacy to that. >> an unspoken bond. >> it's like communal grieving. >> it was profound moment for me. i felt really, really empowered. i really did, and these are like

my sisters now, in my mind, you know? really, you guys really are just so brave, my gosh. >> reporter: with that bond came something else, a shared hope. attorney general william barr announced that the trafficking investigation did not die with epstein. any. >> any co-conspirators should not rest easy. the victims deserve justice and they will get it. >> reporter: after the suicide, the fbi searched epstein's private caribbean island. in france, a source tells nbc news authorities are looking for jean luc brunel. he has not been charged, and denies wrongdoing. and in new york, the investigation continues. >> reporter: do you feel let down by the justice system? >> i don't know if you girls feel the same, but i feel let down. >> they failed us before. don't fail us again. >> yeah, exactly. >> that's all we're asking. take us serious. we matter. >> reporter: where do you think this case is going now?

>> i think that there should be still some accountability for a lot of the people that were enabling epstein. you know, there are still people out there, like ghislaine maxwell. >> reporter: in recent years, maxwell had emerged as an environmental activist. >> so the ocean is the next frontier. >> reporter: she even spoke at the united nations. >> a social network around the ocean. >> reporter: but virginia feels maxwell is as culpable as epstein himself. >> jeffrey had the sickness, but they worked together as a unit. i was brought in by ghislaine, and at that time she was the main procurer for jeffrey. >> reporter: i've actually read her depositions, ghislaine maxwell denies ever procuring you, recruiting you. ghislaine maxwell denies ever having any kind of sexual contact with you. ghislaine maxwell says she barely remembers you. what do you say to that? >> i say follow the facts. you don't have to take my voice and believe everything i say. follow the facts.

look at the flight logs. ghislaine, she doesn't wanna be embarrassed. she's a socialite. she doesn't wanna be held accountable for this. and in her mind, i believe she doesn't think that what she did was wrong. that's the kind of evil monster she is. >> reporter: in addition to virginia, two other women have publicly accused maxwell of sexual abuse, incidents detailed in an affidavit. maxwell, who has vanished from public view, has not been charged with any crime, and denies any wrongdoing. as for prince andrew, after epstein's suicide he said in a statement, "at no stage during the limited time i spent with him did i see, witness, or suspect any behavior of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction." he also reiterated that it was a mistake for him to see epstein after he was released from jail. and both federal and state authorities are looking into how prosecutors in florida handled the first epstein case. as the investigations move

forward, retired chief reiter says there is value in looking back. >> some good has to come out of this case. laws need to be changed. someone in authority in both the state of florida, the united states government, has to apologize to the victims and their families for the way that they were treated by prosecutors in south florida. >> reporter: the women we brought together here persevere. they're strengthened by a new sisterhood, a solidarity forged by their shared survival. >> this was something that happened to me when i was very vulnerable, very young, and it doesn't define me as a person. >> it's solidifying just how twisted and secretive that this whole thing has -- has been, and is not anymore. >> hopefully, this is a conclusion, a new chapter for us, to move on cause we deserve that. >> jeffrey thought that we were disposable, and he threw us all

away, and look who's still standing. >> that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm lester holt. thanks for joining us. they came out of the desert, promising death and destruction to all those who oppose them. they established a caliphate that ruled over millions of people. but their five-year reign of terror was short-lived. >> isis is a death cult. it's a death cult. >> we are the victorious group. >> and now the caliphate is