Investigator’s Family Believes He Was Murdered : Probe: Officials have ruled that his death was probably a suicide, preceded by drinking and bouts of despondency.

Joseph Daniel Casolaro woke from a night of barhopping Aug. 8 and left home for MartinsburgVa. The trip, the Fairfax, Va., writer told friends, was to meet with a key source in his probe into a ring of government corruption.

Two days later, shortly before 1 p.m. on Aug. 10, Casolaro’s body was found in his room at the Martinsburg Sheraton in a tub of bloody water.

A retrace of Casolaro’s final days indicates that his time in Martinsburg was marked by frequent drinking and moments of apparent despondency and included a meeting with a source that may have been disappointing.

West Virginia authorities--while continuing their investigation--have issued a preliminary finding that Casolaro committed suicide. Casolaro’s family disagrees, believing that he was murdered by someone seeking to stop his attempts to establish links between several explosive scandals, including charges that the U. S. Department of Justice stole several million dollars in computer software from the Washington-based INSLAW Co., and “October surprise” allegations that Ronald Reagan’s associates helped him win the 1980 presidential election by arranging a delay in the release of hostages from Iran.

The Martinsburg trip would help prove the connection, Casolaro told his brother, Anthony, and others. A source there would help him break the case open, he told them.

William Turner, a Virginia-based engineer, said he met with Casolaro and gave him a sheaf of papers alleging corruption at a local defense plant. If he was the source Casolaro went to meet, Turner must have been a letdown; his material related only vaguely to Casolaro’s probe, according to the description Turner gave the Washington Post.

Anthony Casolaro thinks his brother went to Martinsburg to meet someone in addition to Turner. But West Virginia investigators said they have been unable to identify any other contact Casolaro had there.

West Virginia officials have provided some answers to one mystery: why no alcohol was found in the body, even though Casolaro was seen drinking on several occasions during his visit. Sandra Brining, Berkeley County medical examiner, said that if Casolaro stopped drinking by Friday afternoon, his blood would have been cleansed of alcohol by Saturday morning, when it is believed he died.

Traces of codeine from Tylenol III--a prescription painkiller--and of an antidepressant drug were found in blood, urine and other samples taken from Casolaro’s body, according to James Frost, West Virginia deputy chief medical examiner. This information suggests that he might have been under treatment for depression, Frost said. Frost said there were not enough drugs in Casolaro’s system to have knocked him out. There was also no sign of a struggle in his hotel room, West Virginia authorities said.

Anthony Casolaro, an Arlington, Va., physician, said his brother was not depressed and that his medical records showed that he had not been prescribed medication for depression by his regular doctor. Anthony said his brother was in good health.

Before leaving his three-bedroom house Aug. 8, Casolaro, 44, called Benjamin Mason, an old friend with whom he had been barhopping the evening before. “He was upbeat,” Mason said in an interview. “He was enthusiastic about his source in West Virginia.”

Much of Casolaro’s time in Martinsburg has not been accounted for, even by police. His whereabouts on Friday, Aug. 9, for example, remain publicly foggy. Hotel workers have been ordered not to discuss Casolaro.

Police refuse to discuss details.

A key moment of Casolaro’s visit came about 2 p.m. on Friday, when he spoke with Turner.

Turner said he gave Casolaro papers documenting several cases of alleged mismanagement, including one at Hughes and another case involving a Navy officer at the Pentagon. Turner said he also told Casolaro of his own dilemma, which involves charges by the Veterans Administration that he had improperly received benefits, which he denies.

The meeting lasted about 45 minutes. “He seemed enthusiastic, and said this all fit into the other things he had uncovered,” Turner said.

Casolaro apparently went to the Stone Crab Inn shortly after his meeting with Turner. A bartender said Casolaro arrived sometime before 2:30 p.m. and started drinking bottles of Bud Lite. He stayed until at least 5 p.m., the bartender said. Casolaro seemed lonely and introspective, the bartender said.

“He was a man with something to say. He was just like, ‘Take a minute and talk to me,’ ” the bartender said. “He told me to keep smiling.”

After he left the Stone Crab Inn, there are few reports of Casolaro’s whereabouts. His mother said he called from Interstate 81 at about 6 p.m. Friday to say he would be late for a family dinner and might not show up at all. “When the phone rang, we knew it would be Danny,” his brother, Anthony, said. “It was like him to show up late or not at all.”

A clerk at a convenience store near the hotel told police she sold Casolaro a cup of coffee sometime after 10 p.m.

Casolaro’s body was discovered in the bathtub by a hotel maid Saturday shortly before 12:51 p.m., when rescue workers were called. His wrists had been slashed numerous times.

A note was found on the breakfast table next to the bed. It was four sentences long. “It said: ‘To those whom I love the most, please forgive me for the worst possible thing I could have done,”’ according to a rescue worker. “And the last sentence was: ‘I’m sure God will let me in.’ ”