How long must the public wait for answers?
It is deeply troubling that journalists, including Our News Outlet, appear to have uncovered evidence that law enforcement agencies in several countries had not acted on sooner. The allegations against Thomas Markle Sr are grave, and he remains entitled to the presumption of innocence while the investigation continues.
The Mail’s discovery of Markle’s storage unit in Mexico last week, followed by its decision to alert the FBI, formed part of a sequence of events leading to Friday’s arrest.
Markle Sr was arrested by the FBI on Friday morning after investigators reportedly found additional alleged child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in two Los Angeles storage units linked to him. That followed an earlier cache reportedly discovered in the Philippines and material found by the Mail in Mexico. The developments raise serious questions: Who knew about the allegations, when did they know, and why was no action taken sooner?
On Friday, Markle Sr was charged with one count of possessing child pornography. The investigation remains ongoing, and the charge has not been proven in court.
When approached by a Mail reporter outside a senior care home in Lakeland, Florida, and asked whether he was a pedophile, Markle Sr replied: “No.” He did not respond when asked whether he had ever collected child pornography.
He has previously denied owning either the storage unit in Mexico or the material reportedly found in the Philippines.
The details released Friday by the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles are disturbing and graphic.
Markle Sr’s arrest by the FBI on Friday morning raises serious questions about who knew of the allegations, and when.
According to an affidavit supporting the US Attorney’s criminal complaint, Markle Sr allegedly kept the rental fees for both American storage units current, with the most recent payments made on October 14 and October 20. Investigators say the units contained the following:
“An image of an adult man wearing a white button-down shirt and blue jeans… A nude prepubescent girl is sitting on the adult man’s lap so that her back is against his left chest.”
The FBI special agent who described the discovery in the affidavit said the adult man in the images was believed to be Markle Sr, photographed when he was apparently in his 30s or 40s. That identification remains an allegation contained in the court filing.
Authorities in the Philippines have said they found more than 7,000 images of child sexual abuse on devices allegedly belonging to Markle Sr.
The affidavit concerning the Los Angeles discovery continues: “The adult man’s left hand is positioned on the girl’s left thigh…”
The remainder of the passage describes an alleged sexual assault and is too disturbing to repeat here. The affidavit also contains graphic descriptions of two other alleged images.
In his assessment, the agent wrote that “the child’s nudity, pose, and the adult man’s actions appear designed to elicit a sexual response from the viewer.”
More details are also emerging about how the FBI learned of the Los Angeles storage units.
The unnamed FBI special agent, who works in the Violent Crimes Against Children (VCAC) unit, wrote that the bureau was alerted in October by “different witnesses” who provided information about Markle Sr.
The Mail’s discovery of Markle’s Mexico storage unit last week, pictured above, was followed by its decision to alert the FBI.
“Witness 1 had signed an affidavit regarding their discovery of suspected child pornography among Markle’s possessions in the Philippines,” the document states.
The affidavit adds: “The FBI also interviewed Witness 2, who disclosed that Markle rented a storage unit at a particular location within the Central District of California.”
Who were those witnesses, and what information had they previously shared?
According to the affidavit, investigators searching the first storage unit found at least 27 items allegedly connected to child sexual abuse material.
The second unit reportedly contained 51 pieces of alleged CSAM.
The scale of the allegations raises an unavoidable question: Why did the investigation take so long to reach this point?
It is known that London’s Metropolitan Police received a letter in 2019 from Markle Sr’s former wife, Roslyn Loveless, who has since died.
Why was the information in that letter not passed to the FBI?
Loveless’s granddaughter and Meghan Markle’s niece, Noelle Rasmussen, has said she mailed the letter at Loveless’s request without knowing what it contained.
In an interview with The Telegraph published on October 27, Rasmussen said the allegations concerning her grandfather were “not a surprise.”
“Maybe it was a vibe that I subconsciously got… something’s not right about a person and you don’t actively register it. But your body tells you when something’s off,” she said. “It doesn’t surprise me. The more and more I think about it, it just doesn’t… I don’t know why it’s not a surprise.”
Her comments raise the further question of whether others may also have had concerns.
The Los Angeles storage units were reportedly rented by Thomas Markle Sr, now 82, for almost two decades. Research cited by the National Institutes of Health indicates that pedophilia does not typically first emerge in late life, or even during midlife. That fact does not establish what happened in this case, but it adds to the questions surrounding the allegations.
Thomas Markle Jr pictured in the Philippines in May 2025
Why did the Metropolitan Police not contact the FBI after receiving such an alarming report?
How long, if the allegations are substantiated, had Thomas Markle possessed child sexual abuse material?
And if the man shown in the image described by the FBI is Markle Sr, when was the image made and what circumstances surrounded it?
Were warning signs missed for years?
There are also questions about Thomas Markle Jr, 60, who authorities have identified as a person of interest in the investigation involving his father in the Philippines.
A senior Filipino official said there were “signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well,” while stressing that Markle Jr was not being treated as a suspect.
Authorities in the Philippines have said witnesses testified that underage girls were seen at Markle Jr’s home. He has said they were there only to make TikTok videos.
In an official statement released on the morning of November 6, Patrick Grandy, assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said: “This case highlights the importance of the involvement of the public, even if it’s a family member or close friend, to be vigilant and speak up if they have information on individuals they suspect may be preying on and exploiting our children.”
That message is clear: credible concerns about the safety of children must be reported, and authorities must ensure that such warnings are properly investigated.
