During Jeffrey Epstein’s tour of Baylor’s campus he couldn’t be bothered. All he seemed concerned with was making it to his meeting with Ken Starr in Pat Neff Hall.
Former Baylor President Judge Kenneth W. Starr’s long relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is well documented, but recent files released by the U.S. Department of Justice reveal their intimate and constant contact throughout Starr’s presidency — including a previously undisclosed tour of campus and meeting in Pat Neff Hall with Starr.
For instance, while Starr generally signed off his emails to others with “Best, Ken,” his messages to Epstein routinely ended with the signoff, “Hugs, Ken.”
The department’s newest release reveals Starr hosted Epstein — who was at the time convicted of solicitation of prostitution from a minor by the State of Florida — at a meeting on Baylor’s campus the morning of July 30, 2012.
Plans of the on-campus meeting emerged throughout the early months of 2012, just two years into Starr’s presidency.
“My friend, my brother – all is well. Come see me. Otherwise, I’ll come knoc=ing on your door,” Starr wrote to Epstein in March. They exchanged messages of a potential meetup in the following months — Epstein informing Starr of his plans to be in Texas and offering lunch, coffee, or dinner — until the two made plans to see each other on July 30.
“It was odd to me, even in the moment, as young as I was, that [Starr] had maintained a personal relationship with a former client who was accused of sexual misconduct.”
Jeff Wittekiend
The two men’s assistants — Jennifer Jarvis, who was Starr’s assistant at the time, and Epstein’s Lesley Groff — worked out the details of the meeting in a lengthy email thread. Epstein’s chief pilot, Larry Visoski, arranged travel and determined the airport at Texas State Technical College would be best for someone coming in on a private jet.
From TSTC, Epstein was brought to campus by two Baylor employees – both of whom served as Starr’s personal assistants, of sorts. The position, Special Assistant to the President, was offered each year to a set of recent Baylor graduates.
“I wouldn’t say this was ‘hush, hush,’ per se, but Judge Starr was definitely a little cagier about who this person was. Normally, he was very … talkative about these people that were coming to visit,” said Jeff Wittekiend, one of the assistants who helped transport Epstein to and from the airport and assisted with touring Epstein around campus. “And this was very much like, ‘Oh no, this former client is coming. I’m going to be with him for a little bit, and you’ll take him back to the airport.’”
The morning of their meeting, Epstein flew with four guests — including Karyna Shuliak, his 36-year-old girlfriend who became the prime beneficiary of a will he signed two days before his 2019 suicide — from West Palm Beach to the TSTC Waco Airport.
Per Starr’s request, Jarvis organized all transportation for Epstein and his party upon their arrival.
“We’ll meet Jeffrey at whichever airport, and get him to campus (not far, regardless of the airport choice), and zip him back. Not to worry about ground transportation,” wrote Starr in an email to Visoski.
Jarvis arranged for two drivers — Wittekiend and Angela Gray Oliver — to pick Epstein and his party up from the airport. Oliver could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Wittekiend said it was not uncommon for the assistants to transport the president’s guests and other high-profile visitors. But while escorting visitors was a routine part of the job, from the moment the two met Epstein, Wittekiend said they sensed something unusual.
“That was the strangest person we ever met,” said Wittekiend.
After picking him up from the airport, Wittekiend drove Epstein around the Baylor campus, giving him a tour and providing a brief history, but he could sense that Epstein was “clearly … impatient to get to the meeting.”
“He would ask these weird questions,” Wittekiend continued. “Not necessarily invasive, but he would drill down on random details you mentioned. He was asking us who we were, our connection to Judge Starr, and what we thought of Baylor. Often, I would answer one of his questions, and he would just stare at me, saying nothing for several seconds, as if he was sizing me up. It was very strange and off-putting.”
Unlike other meetings, where Oliver and Wittekiend were asked to sit in and take notes, this meeting happened behind closed doors in Starr’s office.
“That part was also unusual because usually when there was a meeting or whenever somebody came from out of town, Judge Starr was very insistent about bringing Angela and me in and introducing us,” said Wittekiend.
Wittekiend himself had no idea who he had been driving around until after work, when he looked up Epstein’s name. Once he knew Epstein’s background, the interaction seemed even more bizarre.
“It was odd to me, even in the moment, as young as I was, that [Starr] had maintained a personal relationship with a former client who was accused of sexual misconduct,” he said.
Epstein was only in Waco for half the day and, after his appointment with Starr, Oliver and Wittekiend drove him back to the airport at noon. From there, Epstein left for his New Mexico property, Zorro Ranch.
“Often, I would answer one of his questions, and he would just stare at me, saying nothing for several seconds, as if he was sizing me up. It was very strange and off-putting.”
Jeff Wittekiend
According to a statement from the University, “Baylor University is unable to provide additional information regarding the documents released by the Department of Justice. Jennifer Jarvis has not been employed by the University in nearly a decade, and former President Ken Starr passed away in 2022. Our prayers are with the survivors and others impacted in this heartbreaking situation.”
University spokesperson Lori Fogleman added, “there no longer remains any staff in the President’s office from the Starr era, which was a decade ago.”
The relationship between Starr and Epstein started far before Epstein ever set foot on campus. Starr, played an integral role in securing Epstein’s controversial 2008 “sweetheart deal,” which allowed Epstein to escape federal sex trafficking charges.
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