‘True Detective’: What Did Annie Kowtok Find? Theories Explained

Episode 3 of ‘True Detective’ just aired, and it shed some light on the ongoing mystery for the season: the disappearance and murder of the Tsalal research station scientists and the murder of Annie Kowtok. We already discussed the possible mystery that the scientists discovered just prior to their deaths in a different post, but now we’re going to deal with the video that Liz, Navarro, and Peter managed to unlock at the end of the episode. Let’s see some theories on what Annie could have found underground that ended up in her dying.

What is on the video found on Annie’s phone?

The end of episode 3 of ‘True Detective’ packed several important moments in just 5 minutes of runtime. First, researcher Lund woke up from his coma and gave some weird cryptical statements about how “they woke her up.” He also wanted to creep out Navarro just before dying, seemingly being possessed by something, just at that moment that the chaos broke up in the hospital waiting room. Since we already discussed the possible “thing” that they’ve found, we’re not going to dwell on this further. You can read about it in a separate post, although ultimately, both of those things are connected. I’m certain of it.

We know that Peter Prior was working on unlocking Annie’s phone that was found in Clark’s trailer filled with spiral patterns and generally creepy almost occult stuff. One video raised the alarm, and we had the opportunity to see it. We can see Annie Kowtok exploring what appears to be an underground icy cave, she claims that she has “found it” “it’s here” just before someone or something attacks her.

Before being attacked however Annie states her name and starts stating the purpose of her visit to the cave, however she is interrupted. So, the obvious question is, what did Annie find?

Theory #1 Annie found something that would kick Silver Sky mine from Ennis

The most obvious theory here is that Annie has found something that would end in cease and desist for all mine activities in the area. Annie was a mine activist; she was arrested multiple times for vandalism, and seemingly everyone around town suspected that the mine had something to do with her murder.

There’s also the fact that her legacy lives on, as plenty of other natives and white newcomers are protesting the mine’s activities. Whatever the mine is doing in Ennis is not good. People are dying of cancer, the water is poisoned judging by what we’ve seen. There is talk around town of there being an unusually high rate of stillborn babies at the reservation, and it’s not something that happens out of the blue all of a sudden.

It’s obvious that the mine is making this part of Alaska a more dangerous place to live, but the catch is, the mine is what keeps Ennis on the map; it’s the reason why the town still exists, and this is why no one actually dares to do anything about it not even Liz Danvers or Navarro. Plenty of people in Ennis have nowhere else to go, and it’s in their best interest that the town stays on the map as long as possible.

In any case, Annie was probably snooping around, looking for some evidence that would kick the mine out of Ennis forever, and she found it at the cost of her own life.

This theory has problems as well; however, first, what was Clark doing at the crime scene, and why didn’t he report this piece of evidence to the police when Annie was originally killed? Also, why did Clark presumably cut off Annie’s tongue and keep it? He was mentally unstable yes, but it’s also possible that Tsalal is working with the mine, after all Peter Prior couldn’t find the source of funding for the research station, it was all a shell company after shell company, tied neatly into several NGOs.

It’s likely that the work of the Tsalal research station was funded by the mine; who would keep financing a project that leads nowhere year after year, seemingly forever? The researchers likely covered up Annie’s murder to keep their research afloat as well.

Theory #2 Clark killed Annie

The second theory was that Annie discovered something regarding Clark’s research and tied it to Tsalal’s research station, and she died for it. It’s likely that Clark has made some kind of a breakthrough, but whatever it was, it was shocking enough that Annie was scared breathless, and she was soon about to report to the authorities.

This would explain why Clark never assisted with the investigation, why he kept her phone and tongue. We know that he was mentally unstable, so there’s that he killed her in the fit of the moment to keep her silent, and it all went downhill from there. In the first episode, it was mentioned that Annie’s murder weapon was never properly identified; they simply don’t know what it is. She was stabbed 32 times (I think), and it’s quite possible that she was stabbed by the tools and drills made to extract ice cores from the ice. This is something that the Ennis police department would have no experience with, judging by the fact that they had no idea what Tsalal was working on in the first place.

Of course, it’s always possible that Tsalal wasn’t looking for the origin of life, that they were working on something dirty for the mine, and that this is what Annie uncovered.

It’s most likely that whatever Annie discovered was connected both to Tsalal and the mine, and she died for it so that it could be covered up. Since no one around town really has an interest in the mine leaving, they all joined in on the greatest cover-up that Ennis has ever seen.

What’s your theory? Let us know in the comment below!