According to a statement from the family's lawyers, the 25-year-old son of Norwegian diplomats Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen died by suicide during the night and was identified as Edward Juul Rød-Larsen. According to a report by the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, cited by Swedish tabloid Expressen, Edward Juul Rød-Larsen was listed as an heir to Jeffrey Epstein and was set to inherit ten million dollars. The family's lawyers later confirmed to Norwegian broadcaster NRK that the son was mentioned in the Epstein court documents, which have been unsealed as part of ongoing civil litigation related to sex trafficking allegations.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK has reported that Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen are under investigation by the national economic and environmental crime authority Økokrim, though the couple has consistently denied any wrongdoing, calling the probe unfounded and urging a swift resolution to clear their names. It remains unclear whether the investigation is directly linked to the Epstein documents or stems from other matters. In their statement, the couple's lawyers, John Christian Elden and Thomas Skjelbred, sharply criticized the media's conduct, accusing it of engaging in a suspicious, speculative, and often boundaryless pursuit that had turned the family's ordeal into a public spectacle.
Last night a son died. Today two parents are grieving. That should be enough for all of us to lower our voices.
They also stated that the relentless media coverage had severely affected the couple's children, who were involuntarily dragged into the public eye without regard for their privacy, and called for a more compassionate and measured public response.
Regardless of who you are, regardless of what life you have lived, regardless of what roles you have had in public, there is one pain that surpasses all others: to lose your child. It is a pain that cannot be measured, cannot be explained, and cannot be fully shared with others.
Yet this tragedy does not stand alone. It stands in the shadow of months of public scrutiny that long ago ceased to be critical, and instead has become suspicious, speculative, and at times without boundaries. A scrutiny that has not only affected two parents, but has also involuntarily drawn their children into the public's relentless machinery.
For conditions that emerged in so-called Epstein documents. Conditions that were outside his control. Conditions that date from a time when he was a minor.
But tragedies like this force us to see what we otherwise choose to ignore: That behind every case there is life. Behind every headline there are people who love, fear, and hope. And behind every child there are parents who never, ever stop being parents.