The Octopus Murders: What Netflix’s new documentary doesn’t tell you about the chilling case

There are so many theories

2 months ago

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders is a mysterious new Netflix documentary about the death of investigative journalist Danny Casolaro in 1991, which has had us all hooked for the past week.

However, the four-part series doesn’t answer every question about Danny’s death or whether the DC tech business Inslaw still exists. So, in case you’ve still got questions, here’s everything you need to know about the Octopus Murders, which Netflix’s documentary doesn’t tell you:

The Netflix series’ director freaked out during filming over his own safety

Credit: Netflix

Director Zachary Treitz and his filmmaker friend Christian Hansen spent seven years investigating the Octopus murders. But once it got down to filming, even they got nervous for their safety. Zach said he felt like he’d “lost his mind” agreeing to the project and admitted he entered into a period of paranoia knowing about people who’d died after looking into the case.

“In terms of physical safety, it’s hard to say how much is real and how much is imagined but I was at various times worried, of course, that somebody was going to reach out and not like what we were doing when we’re talking about various unsolved homicides and other crimes, and when you’re linking them together in some kind of way you get worried that people don’t want you to solve these things or look into activities,” he told the Mirror.

There are still loads of unanswered questions surrounding Phillip Arthur Thompson

Credit: Netflix

Director Zach has also revealed he’s “haunted” by the lack of information available about the FBI informant and serial killer Phillip Arthur Thompson because a man of his description was spotted with Danny before he died.

“It’s circumstantial story, but I think that his son kind of told us in a succinct way that his dad was a military intelligence officer specialising in psychological warfare,” he said. “he was a guy that got shit done. Him hanging out with Danny talking randomly, chewing the fat, meeting up with him multiple times talking about his story, I just don’t buy it at all. He wouldn’t need to talk to Danny. He’s got plenty of interesting things that go on in his own life.”

Inslaw is still running and William names himself as President on LinkedIn

Credit: Netflix

After watching The Octopus Murders, many viewers had the same question: “Does Inslaw still exist?” And it turns out the computer software company at the heart of the Netflix documentary does still have a presence online.

William Hamilton, who set up Inslaw with his wife Fancy, still lists himself as the company’s President on LinkedIn and Inslaw’s website still appears to be fully operational.

“Inslaw has been the leading vendor of case management software products in the United States for over 42 years,” it reads. “It pioneered the use of software customization tools to meet specific customer requirements without the need for conventional programming changes.”

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders is available on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops, quizzes and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.