The Octopus Murders on Netflix: What happened to Danny Casolaro?

Netflix's American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders is the latest true crime TV series, centred around a potential government conspiracy spanning decades.

Netflix's American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders introduces us to Christian Hansen, a journalist who became obsessed with the case of Danny Casalero. Danny, also a journalist back in the '90s, died under suspicious circumstances while investigating what he coined 'The Octopus'. 

The Octopus was a conspiracy theory that had the power to expose the wrongdoings of powerful men in government – and Danny's family believed the journalist was silenced right on the verge of a breakthrough. Fast-forward to the present day and Christian also senses something is going on beneath the surface of this harrowing tale, embarking on a 10-year investigation into The Octopus – and what really happened to Danny Casolaro. 

Netflix launched the series this week, with four episodes that unpack the historical case and Christian's research journey. This is what we know about what happened to Danny Casolaro in 1991, and how the new docuseries came about. 

What happened to Danny Casolaro?

Warning: references to suicide 

Danny Casolaro was an American journalist who began investigating what seemed like a run-of-the-mill intellectual property dispute in the early '90s, only to find something much more sinister going on. 

According to Netflix, his research led him to "the hidden underbelly of some of the shadiest stories of the 1980s," which included money laundering and cover-ups among former government officials. 

In the Netflix trailer, a voice-over explains. "These eight men, they're no longer government officials. But their tentacles can reach into any part of government, in almost any country. I've come to call this group: The Octopus."

Danny Casolaro was mysteriously found dead at the Sheraton Hotel in West Virginia in 1991, roughly a year after he began looking into what became known as The Octopus conspiracy theory. Danny had reportedly travelled to the hotel to meet with an unknown source to discuss his research, but was later found in a hotel room in the bathtub with his wrists cut. According to official records (via The Tab), his wrists were slashed between 10 and 12 times.

While Danny's death was ruled a suicide, rumours have swirled the journalist didn't take his own life, with suspicions of foul play. His own family has always insisted there's more to the story on how the journalist died. 

This is further implied by a statement from Benjamin Mason, a close friend of Danny’s and also the last person to see him alive. "He had been researching this thing for a long time and was very excited about the information he was finally getting,” Benjamin told The Washington Post. "He was in good spirits and very excited about the source he was going to see in West Virginia."

Christian Hansen, the modern-day journalist looking into the case and the person at the heart of the Netflix show, hopes that the documentary will encourage people to dive into past cases and seek the truth. "I hope that [the series] will inspire people to do real, heavy research and write [Freedom of Information Act requests] and really dive in if they want to know the answer to something," Christian told Netflix. "What we did, it was a fascinating and fun process, very rewarding."

Despite the new documentary providing further insights, the case remains unsolved to this day.

Netflix's American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders is available to stream on Netflix now