GRACEPOINT: Who Killed Danny? The Clues And Suspects So Far



Episode 3 of the thrilling crime drama Gracepoint airs tonight on Fox in the USA and Global in Canada. The new limited series stars David Tennant and Anna Gunn and follows the hunt for the killer of a young boy in a small town in California. 

In the second episode of Gracepoint the clues and suspects were turning up thick and fast. At this stage in the investigation into the murder of twelve-year old Danny Solano there’s bound to be more questions than answers, and in the small town where anyone can be a suspect that’s soon going to get confusing. To help you out as you try to guess who the killer might be, here’s the second of our run down of suspects and clues. Beware of spoilers if you haven't caught up yet.

And don’t forget, Broadchurch fans, even if you saw the original series, from now on the plot is going to start to take some new directions, and it’s all going to lead to a different killer!

The Murder

  • Danny Solano’s body was found on the beach at Gracepoint below cliffs.
  • The body was arranged to look like he had fallen. Forensic evidence later revealed that he had been placed there after his death
  • Danny was killed at the Harvey Ridge hut. His body was then moved 2 miles to the beach
  • The cause of death was a blow to the head. Danny was facing his killer.
  • The time of death was between 10pm on the Thursday night and 4am on Friday morning.
  • Danny was last seen at home at 9pm on Thursday night
  • CCTV picked up Danny riding his skateboard down the main street of Gracepoint a few hours later
  • Neither the skateboard nor his cellphone have so far been recovered.


The Clues

  • Whoever killed Danny moved the body two miles down the coast without being spotted
  • Mark Solano’s fingerprints were found at the murder scene, the only set found after the hut had been thoroughly cleaned following the murder
  • Susan Wright has the keys to the hut and cleans it
  • Mark told everyone that he was out on a plumbing job on the night of the murder, but he was spotted on CCTV waiting for someone at the clifftop lookout
  • Mark says he cannot remember the name of the person he was out with on Thursday night
  • Susan Wright has a skateboard that could be Danny’s stashed in her closet.
  • $500 was found stashed under Danny’s bed. Chloe Solano claims that this has nothing to do with the cocaine found in her own room.
  • Jack Reinhold says that he saw Danny chatting with an unidentified backpacker up on the cliffs a few days earlier
  • Tom Miller deleted messages from Danny and the contents of his laptop’s hard drive when he heard about Danny’s death
  • Phone engineer Raymond Connelly said that the murder involved water and a boat and claims he received the information psychically.
  • Danny’s journal revealed that he had possibly uncovered a secret and that he was scared his dad would kill him.
  • Emmett Carver previously failed to solve the Rosemont case involving the disappearance of three children.


The Suspects

You can vote for your top suspects on the FOX TV Suspect Everyone site. Here’s the main suspects that you’ve voted for as the murderer ranked by vote.

1. Mark Solano
(Michael Peña)
19% Vote
Local plumber Mark is outwardly grieving his son’s death, however his actions do not seem to be supporting the investigation and are putting him further into the frame. Mark initially claimed to have been on a job until the early hours of Friday morning but CCTV places him at the clifftop lookout, waiting for someone by his pickup. The CCTV cuts out before the other person arrives. Mark says he met a friend and went for beers and food but then says he cannot recall the friend’s name. Mark’s prints are the only ones found at the murder scene, the Harvey Ridge hut, one set by the sink. The hut had been thoroughly cleaned after the murder took place.
Mark usually checks on Danny every night before he goes to bed. On Thursday night he failed to do so.
Danny kept a journal and in it he revealed that he thought he had uncovered a secret about someone. She also worried that his dad was going to kill him – just a turn of phrase or a sign of something more serious?
Mark went after Paul after the local minister had appeared on TV, pinned him against the door of the church and warned him to stay away from Beth – a sign that Mark has a bit of a temper.

2. Tom Miller
(Jack Irvine)
19% Vote
Twelve-year old Tom, the older son of Ellie and Joe Miller, was apparently Danny’s best friend. As soon as he was alone after learning about Danny’s death he deleted Danny’s texts from his phone and cleared his computer’s hard drive. He appears more worried than upset over his friend's death. He has already asked Ellie if the police would need to talk to him and begged her to conduct the interview. He seems always on the point of telling either Ellie or Joe his secret. Tom has been quiet and withdrawn since the murder and had been reluctant to engage with his peers, and he has had nightmares about Danny. However, could Tom have moved Danny’s body to its resting place without help?

3. Joe Miller
(Josh Hamilton)
13% Vote
Former EMT turned house-husband Joe supports wife Ellie’s career and looks after their two sons Tom and Dylan while she works. He was on the point of talking to Tom in the playground about something that they hadn’t had the opportunity to discuss yet – but then they were interrupted by Ellie. It’s possible that Joe knows what was going on with Tom and Danny that caused Tom to clear his text messages and laptop hard drive. Could he be protecting Tom from the police investigation?

4. Paul Coates
(Kevin Rankin)
10% Vote
Paul Coates is the local priest. He has recently returned to the town to take up a position at the church. His congregation is fairly small still but he is hoping to build it up.
Paul missed the kids’ soccer game due to a mysterious ‘something’
Paul, Beth and Mark all knew each other a long time back. Paul and Beth seem to have a special connection: she confided in him about her pregnancy, and her mum said to him that he was always good for her. Whatever it is, it is enough to pique Mark Solano’s temper after he saw Paul’s television appearance talking about the murder and the family.

5. Vince Novik
(Stephen Louis Grush)
8% Vote
Vince is the apprentice in Mark’s plumbing firm. He has access to Mark’s van. On the morning of Danny’s murder he was late to pick Mark up.

6. Susan Wright
(Jacki Weaver)
6% Vote
Susan Wright lives on her own with her dog in a trailer. She is secretive and reclusive, but always seems to be sniffing around. She was present at the murder scene when Emmett Carver first viewed Danny’s body. Susan seems keen to stay out of the way of the police, even doing an about turn to avoid Carver when she encounters him while walking her dog.
Susan works as a cleaner and one of her contracts is the Harvey Ridge hut, where Danny was killed. The hut was cleaned thoroughly after the murder. Susan has the keys for the property.
Susan has a skateboard that looks very like Danny’s stashed in her closet.

7. Detective Emmett Carver
(David Tennant)
4% Vote
Newcomer Emmett Carver makes no secret of his dislike of his new posting. His manners don’t seem to have improved much and he is still dismissive of his colleague Ellie Miler. Carver arrived in town under somewhat of a cloud following the failed Rosemont investigation which also involved children – the disappearance of three girls. He is not at all pleased to see journalist Renee Clemons in town. She covered the Rosemont case and has collected information about Carver. Carver has a health problem that is serious enough to require some sort of emergency medication that he injected directly into his thigh. What the condition and the drug are is not revealed. It could even be an illegal narcotic, but it seems unlikely that a senior police detective would walk into a police station with a drug stash in his pocket. Carver was also seen taking pills in his hotel room. He is keen to keep his health issue secret from his colleagues.
Carver carries a photo of a young girl in his wallet and when apparent psychic Raymond Connelly told him “She forgives you about the pendant”, he was visibly affected.

8. Dean Iverson
(Kendrick Sampson)
3% Vote
Dean is Chloe Solano’s older boyfriend. He works in a restaurant in the town. Chloe is keen to keep him a secret from her family. Dean managed to obtain cocaine when Chloe needed some for guests at Gemma’s hotel, although dealing is not something that he does regularly. However he is horrified when Chloe informs him that the police found the stash and seems more worried about the police coming after him.

9. Jack Reinhold
(Nick Nolte)
3% Vote
Jack is one of the older residents of Gracepoint. A single man, he runs the kayak rental shop and a nature observation group for the kids of the town. Danny was a member of this group and was due to attend on the morning of his death. When Danny didn't show, Jack did not contact anyone to find out why, assuming that the boy was sick, even though he had never missed a session before.
The day after the initial interview, Jack called Detective Carver back to inform him that he remembered seeing Danny up on Osprey Point a couple of weeks before,  talking to a backpacker. Danny seemed more interested in the stranger than he was on his wildlife observations. There are no other witnesses and nobody else seems to recall seeing the backpacker around town.
Jack was also seen hanging out near the kids’ playground where Ellie was harassed by locals trying to find out whether other children were at risk.

10. Owen Burke
(Kevin Zegers)
3% Vore
Owen is a junior reporter on the local newspaper. Far more used to covering small local events, such as the school field day, he is staggered to discover a major story breaking on his doorstep. Owen is the nephew of Ellie Miller and uses his connection to extract information from his aunt. He then puts his own ambition first and makes information about the murder public. Owen sees the scoop as a way out of Gracepoint, begging the question of how far he might go for professional success. Owen has since made contact with Renee Clemons, the San Francisco Globe reporter and is feeding her information, although he was blocked from getting her a desk at the Gracepoint Journal office. Owen’s editor Cathy Eaton forced him to apologise to Emmett Carver for breaking the news and is keeping him under a tight rein.

11. Beth Solano
(Virginia Kull)
2% Vote
Danny’s mother Beth was frantic with worry and searching for him when he appeared and was one of the first people to see his body on the beach. She was also the last person to see Danny at home, according to the statements that the police have at the moment. Since then she is torn up with her grief. She insisted that Mark handed Ellie a list of their own suspects which included their friends and people who worked with Danny.
Beth’s big secret is that she is pregnant. The only person she has told so far is the town minister, Paul Coates. It is implied that Beth and Paul had some sort of relationship in the past: their friendship stretches back over 20 years and Beth’s mum tells Paul he was always good for her. Whatever this might be, it was enough for Mark to warn Paul away.

12. Chloe Solano
(Madalyn Horcher)
2% Vote
Chloe was apparently home on the night of the murder. She too is in emotional collapse after the news of her brother’s death. An amount of cocaine was found in Chloe’s room when the Solano house was initially searched. Chloe begged Ellie not to tell her parents and under pressure revealed that she was holding it for Gemma Fisher, the owner of the inn, for whom she works occasionally. What Chloe didn’t tell Ellie was that it was her secret boyfriend Dean Iverson who obtained the stash for her. At the same time a sum of money was found in Danny’s room. Chloe denies that this had anything to do with the drugs.

13. Hugo Garcia
(Darcy Laurie)
2% Vote
Hugo and his team have uncovered key points of evidence. They found the drugs and money in the Solano house, recognised that Danny had not fallen from the cliff top to his death and identified the murder scene, also finding Mark Solano's prints. As CSI on the murder case, Hugo would be perfectly placed to tamper with, create or lose evidence. But what would be his motive?

14. Detective Ellie Miller
(Anna Gunn)
1% Vote
Local detective Ellie is still finding it hardest of all to accept that any member of the Gracepoint community might be guilty of the murder of Danny. She is horrified that the list of suspects that the Solanos give her which includes their friends and neighbours. Ellie is struggling with Carver’s insistence that she should become less emotional about this case and start to look at everyone as a suspect. She is still fighting him over this but it seems like new developments may force her to accept that it could be someone close to her.
It was Ellie who accidentally revealed Danny’s identity to Owen Burke who then released the information to the public and caused the influx of press.
Ellie is also the mother of Tom, Danny’s best friend, who seems to be acting suspiciously since the murder. Was Ellie aware of a situation between Danny and Tom?

15. Gemma Fisher
(Sarah-Jane Potts)
1% Vote
The English-born hotelier is struggling financially as tourists cancel their bookings following the murder. However, she remains publicly supportive of the Solano family, signing the condolence book and sticking up for them when others are bemoaning the impact on their own businesses.
When a couple from Seattle staying at the Crestview Inn wanted to get their hands on some cocaine, Gemma asked her occasional employee Gemma to help her out. By the time Chloe turned up with the drugs, the guests had gone so Gemma gave the coke back to Chloe. She says that she never met the dealer and has no idea who he is. She is keen for the whole incident to be dealt with quietly.

16. Renee Clemons
(Jessica Lucas)
1% Vote
The ambitious big city reporter has recently started working on the San Francisco Globe after time on the local paper in Rosemont, where she first encountered Emmett Carver. She sees Owen’s post about the murder as an opportunity to prove herself and was the first outside journalist to arrive in Gracepoint. Her first action was to remove Danny’s stuffed chimp toy from the crime scene which Chloe had left to set up an impromptu memorial. She used this to make contact with Chloe.
An encounter with Carver has shown that there is no love lost between them. She revealed to Owen Burke the details of Carver’s previous case, implying that not only did he fumble the case he was now involved in another case involving a child.
Renee lied about knowing Kathy’s old editor to get a place to work at the Gracepoint journal, but Kathy saw through her and refused. Renee has lied to and used a lot of people to get onto this story, and could even be stalking Carver. If she has big issues with him, how far would she go to discredit him?

17. Kathy Eaton
(Alisen Down)
1% Vote
Kathy is the editor of the local paper in a town where very little happens. Kathy seems to have been a well known reporter once, working on a major paper, but has stepped back to run the local journal in a sleepy little town. A big murder story could certainly raise her profile again, but at the same time she seems keen to keep the major press away. She certainly sees off Renee Clemons.
Kathy wants to do right by the town and the Solano family – she set up the condolence book and she just wants to make sure that the story is all covered properly.

18. Raymond Connelly
(Adam Greydon Reid)
Telephone engineer Raymond was working at the police station and would have had plenty of opportunity to see evidence surrounding Danny’s murder. He approached Detectives Carver and Miller with a message that he said had come from Danny himself. He claims that the death involved water and a boat, which isn’t a piece of evidence known so far, but considering the town’s coastal location and where the body was found, it would not be much of a guess. Carver insisted on interrogating Raymond and let him off with a warning, but Raymond’s parting message about a pendant hit home with Carver. The question is whether Raymond really does have psychic abilities or whether he has another reason to have information about both this case and Carver’s past.


You can vote for your number one suspect on the Fox TV Suspect Everyone page. Cast your vote and check the results in the online poll – and you can vote as many times as you like, so you can change your mind when new evidence arises. The site will soon allow you to examine evidence and vote for important clues. Don't rule anyone out!

Episode 3 of Gracepoint premieres tonight on Fox in the USA and Global in Canada at 9pm ET. Viewers in Australia can watch on the Universal Channel at 8.30pm, Friday 10th October.




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