Death of Danny Casolaro

Danny Casolaro, an investigative journalist from Fairfax, Virginia, was found dead on August 10, 1991, in a Martinsburg, West Virginia hotel room with deep slashes to both wrists. Casolaro had been investigating connections between the Inslaw software case, Iran-Contra affair, October Surprise allegations, and various other government scandals, which he believed were linked in a vast conspiracy he called “the Octopus.”

The death was officially ruled suicide, but family members and colleagues questioned this conclusion due to several suspicious circumstances. Casolaro’s briefcase containing his research notes disappeared, no suicide note was found, and he had told multiple people he was close to a breakthrough in his investigation. The wounds were unusually deep, and Casolaro was reportedly optimistic about his research progress just days before his death.

Casolaro’s investigation focused on claims that the Justice Department had stolen PROMIS software from Inslaw Inc. and modified it for intelligence gathering purposes, distributing it to foreign governments and financial institutions. His death occurred two days before a scheduled meeting with a source who allegedly had evidence of government wrongdoing. While official investigations found no evidence of foul play, the case remains a touchstone for theories about the elimination of inconvenient journalists.