Mona Juul probe deepens after 25-year-old son dies by suicide
Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen’s 25-year-old son, Edward Juul Rød-Larsen, died by suicide in Oslo on Wednesday after being bequeathed $5 million by Jeffrey Epstein. The death lands while Norwegian and French police are already examining the couple’s alleged links to Epstein.
Oslo death and family fallout
Verdens Gang reported the death on Thursday. The couple’s lawyers said speculation about their financial ties to Jeffrey Epstein helped drive the pressure around their son, saying the family had endured “months of a public spotlight that has long since ceased to be critical, and has instead become suspicious, speculative and at times limitless,” and that it had become “A spotlight that has not only affected two parents, but has also drawn their children involuntarily into the relentless machinery of the public,”
That statement came after Norwegian and French police announced a joint corruption investigation into Juul and Rød-Larsen two days earlier. Juul was forced to resign as Norway’s ambassador to Jordan and Iraq in February because of the scandal, adding formal consequences to a case that had already moved beyond rumor and into official scrutiny.
Jeffrey Epstein files and Little Saint James
The case is tied to Department of Justice files that revealed alleged links between the couple and Epstein. Those files say the couple’s two children were bequeathed $10 million by Epstein after he died in 2019, and that Rød-Larsen was appointed executor of Epstein’s will in 2017 before that appointment was later revoked.
The files also indicate that the couple appears to have visited Epstein’s private island, Little Saint James, with their children in 2011. Edward and his twin sister would have been around 10 years old at the time. Rød-Larsen later thanked Epstein for the invite and described the island as “totally unique,” writing, “We all loved it!” and “Mona sends a kiss,” in the email.
Norway after February
Juul and Rød-Larsen, who were part of the group that facilitated the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s, have denied committing any offenses. In February, Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit also surfaced in the Epstein files after emails in which she said he “tickled” her brain, then later expressed “deep regret” over the relationship and acknowledged “poor judgment.”
For the family, the next public turning point is likely to come through the Norwegian and French investigation now under way, which has already brought the couple’s finances, travel and correspondence back into view. Edward’s death places a private tragedy at the center of a case that still sits inside an active criminal inquiry.
