Justice Dept. Report Says Journalist's Death Was Suicide p.

By: Debra Gersh

Internal investigation by special counsel discounts theories of foul play in the 1991 death of free-lance reporter Dan Casolaro
AN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION by the Department of Justice has discounted theories of foul play and concluded that free-lance journalist Joseph Daniel Casolaro committed suicide.
The conclusion comes as part of a 267-page report by DoJ Special Counsel Judge Nicholas J. Bua, who was charged with investigating allegations that the DoJ conspired with former United Press International owner Earl W. Brian and others to steal software known as PROMIS from a company called Inslaw.
Bua's report found "no credible evidence" that Brian and DoJ officials conspired to steal the software, nor did the investigation find evidence that DoJ officials improperly influenced Inslaw bankruptcy proceedings.
Casolaro was on the trail of the Inslaw story and had reportedly developed a theory of international conspiracy that involved what he called "The Octopus."
Casolaro had gone to Martinsburg, W.Va., in August 1991, reportedly to meet with an important source for the story when he was found dead in his hotel room bathtub, his wrists slashed. Authorities ruled the death a suicide, but many who knew the journalist point to a number of unanswered questions and still believe it was murder.
Previous investigations by Congress into the Inslaw affair addressed the Casolaro death in their reports, and the House Judiciary Committee went so far as to ask for an independent counsel to investigate further. That request was rejected by then-Attorney General William P. Barr (E&P, Oct. 24, 1992, P. 23).
During her confirmation hearings and in a subsequent speech at the National Press Club, Attorney General Janet Reno pledged to investigate fully the DoJ's involvement in Inslaw.
Comments and suggestions regarding Bua's report are due at the Justice Department by Aug. 1.
"Casolaro's death has attracted a great deal of attention in the press, at least in part because of the threat posed whenever a reporter investigating a story is found dead under questionable circumstances," the Bua report noted.
The investigation found "no evidence suggesting that DoJ exerted any influence on the investigation conducted by the local West Virginia authorities concerning Casolaro's death."
DoJ investigators further concluded that because a private citizen's death is outside federal jurisdiction, "we find nothing unusual in the fact that DoJ did not undertake to investigate Casolaro's death."
The report concluded that the physical evidence in Casolaro's hotel room "strongly supports the conclusion of the local authorities that the death was a suicide." It said:
? There was no sign of forced entry to the hotel room.
? There was no evidence that a struggle occurred.
? A note was found in Casolaro's room. The note stated: "To my loved ones, Please forgive me ? most especially my son ? and be understanding. God will let me in."
? There were no indications that the personal effects found in the hotel room had been disturbed.
? Although there were extensive pools of blood and blood stains throughout the room in which the body was found, there was no evidence, such as footprints, that others were present when Casolaro's wrists were slashed.
Additional physical evidence also corroborates the conclusion of suicide, the report stated, including in the list:
? Handwriting analysis of the suicide note confirmed that it was written by Casolaro.
? Fingerprint analysis of the bathroom and the pad of paper in which the suicide note was found revealed the prints of Casolaro and no others except for a single print on the bottom of an ashtray.
? The existence of Casolaro's prints, and the absence of others', supports the conclusion that Casolaro was alone and tend to negate the possibility that someone had "wiped down" the premises.
? Hair and fiber analyses conducted on items from the scene revealed no evidence that others had been present in the hotel room.
? An analysis of the blood stains and related physical evidence conducted by Dr. Henry C. Lee of the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory concluded that the evidence was consistent with suicide.
? The autopsy found that the cause of death was the hemorrhage from the multiple wounds to the wrists.
? No evidence from the autopsy or subsequent tests of blood and urine revealed any evidence that Casolaro was unconscious or debilitated when his wrists were cut.
? The autopsy revealed no contusions, lacerations or trauma to the body of the kind one might expect had Casolaro been involved in a struggle.
The Bua investigation also cited police interviews with those familiar with Casolaro's activities just before his death and noted that they "failed to develop any substantial evidence any other person had the means or opportunity to murder Casolaro."
In addition, Casolaro's financial situation ? he had a balloon mortgage payment due, his prospective publisher would not give him an advance on the book he proposed about "The Octopus," and he was dependent on his family for support ? was put forward by Bua as "ample reason to believe Casolaro had a motive to commit suicide."
The special counsel also dispelled questions about possible contamination of the crime scene, the hasty embalming of Casolaro's body before an autopsy was performed, the delay in notifying his next-of-kin and allegations that local police did not give enough credence to suspicions of foul play voiced by several people, including Casolaro's family and colleagues.
"The foregoing facts persuade us that Mr. Casolaro's death was fully and fairly investigated and that the conclusion of the local authorities that his death was a suicide was amply supported by the facts," the DoJ report said.
A prepared statement from Inslaw owners William and Nancy Hamilton was highly critical of the report, particularly the fact that it was prepared in "secret" and they had no opportunity to inspect or challenge the evidence.
The Hamiltons cited two examples of the report's lack of credibility, one of which was the Casolaro incident.
"The special counsel's investigation failed to contact or interview confidants and associates of Casolaro to find out if any of them could shed light on whom Casolaro was seeing in Martinsburg," the statement charged.
"Had the special counsel interviewed Casolaro's confidants and associates, he would have learned that Casolaro claimed to have obtained from sources in the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) sensitive documents on the sales of PROMIS to foreign governments and on the money trail through the Cayman Islands and Switzerland of the proceeds from at least one of the sales.
"Moreover, the special counsel would have learned that Casolaro was planning to meet in Martinsburg, W.Va., the night before he died with a relative of a key Justice Department figure in the Inslaw case," the Inslaw statement continued.
"Casolaro expected to obtain from the relative of the Justice Department official documents backing up claims that source had made to Casolaro in another West Virginia meeting that occurred a few days earlier. Casolaro had also planned to show some of his own sensitive Inslaw documents to the relative that night.
"These leads do not prove that Casolaro was murdered or that PROMIS has been distributed to foreign governments, but the failure to pursue such leads gives rise to obvious questions about the thoroughness and reliability of the special counsel's report."