True Detective Season 3 Ending: 4 Biggest Unanswered Questions (& 8 Actually Explained)
9. Answered: Who Killed Tom Purcell And Dan O'Brien?
Though we didn’t see Dan O’Brien (the uncle of Lucy and Will Purcell) die, we knew of its occurrence as it was brought up by Elisa to Wayne in 2015. When Tom Purcell ambushed him with liquor on his breath and a gun in his hand, every fan assumed they’d see the death, for the camera to leave O’Brien’s fate (in 1990) ambiguous.
Tom died of an apparent suicide in ‘90 (to Wayne’s skepticism and Roland’s dismay) though viewers knew that he was last seen with Harris James in “the pink room.” Since neither death was shown Pizzolatto shed some light on two separate occasions to fans; “Harris James killed Tom,” “Harris killed Dan.” We learned from Junius Watts in the last episode that James did the Hoyts' dirty work, so it’s nice that the viewers were able to assume. Well, till Pizzolatto decided it best to validate.