Memphis man snuck onto Jeffrey Epstein’s island to expose ‘monsters,’ and what happened in a concrete dungeon sounds straight out of a horror film

A Memphis man who trespassed on Jeffrey Epstein’s private island, Little St. James, has shared disturbing details of what happened to him there. Benjamin Owen, 44, founder of the Memphis-based nonprofit We Fight Monsters, told CBS News that he was hogtied, blindfolded, and locked inside a concrete dungeon by people on the island, and that he feared he would not make it out alive.

According to The Daily Beast, Owen traveled to the island on April 24 along with Ryan Dalton and one other man, saying they went there to research Epstein and bring the disgraced financier’s crimes “back in the spotlight.” Epstein, the convicted sex offender who died in a New York jail in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex-trafficking charges, had purchased the island in 1998.

The island is now owned by billionaire Stephen Deckoff, founder of Black Diamond Capital Management, who bought it in 2023 through SD Investments with plans to turn it into a resort. Owen and the others allegedly made it to a hilltop structure known as the “temple” before being spotted by people on all-terrain vehicles.

The island’s security allegedly took matters into their own hands, and the details are deeply troubling

“The second we made it to the temple, we were spotted,” Owen told CBS News. While Dalton and the third man reportedly escaped by running down a cliff and swimming back to their boat, Owen said he stayed behind because he was afraid of triggering an asthma attack. He believed he would not be harmed since he had not damaged anything or hurt anyone.

Instead, Owen alleged that a group of men and a woman approached him screaming and tied his hands behind his back. He claimed he was taken to a dock, restrained with zip ties, and then transported uphill to a concrete room he described as a “dungeon” built into the side of a cliff. Owen has since reported that he is now being followed by mysterious vehicles since going public with his story.

“The roof is dirt on top of it. And it’s like this 10-by-20 cement room. There’s nothing in there,” Owen said. He alleged he was thrown inside, duct-taped at the ankles, knees, and wrists, and blindfolded. The room reportedly got so hot that he feared he might die before Virgin Islands police eventually arrived and arrested him for trespassing.

“I don’t believe I was supposed to leave that island alive,” Owen told CBS News. His allegations come as police charged island personnel in connection with other alleged incidents involving trespassers. On April 26, authorities arrested Ann Rodriguez, identified as Epstein’s longtime property manager who still appears to manage the island, in connection with a separate March incident involving another alleged trespasser who reported being hogtied and stripped naked.

The island’s holding company filed a civil lawsuit against Owen and his associates in early May, calling them “internet-fame seekers” and “conspiracy theorists” who acted with “wanton and reckless indifference.” Epstein’s name continues to surface in disturbing contexts, including how his island became linked to Roblox in a case where parents filed a lawsuit over deeply troubling content. 

A spokesperson for the island told CBS News there has been “an alarming increase of individuals trespassing on private property on Little St. James Island,” adding: “Accessing the property beyond the beach, including by entering or tampering with any of the island’s structures, as these intruders have been doing, is a clear violation of law and will be treated as such without exception.”