In the fifth episode of True Detective: Night Country, the significance of the Wheeler case for Danvers and Navarro’s narrative is ultimately disclosed.
Even though William Wheeler isn’t mentioned in the first few episodes of True Detective: Night Country, there are indications that Danvers and Navarro are concealing something from each other. The season makes clear that the two collaborated until something caused them to break up, but it withholds the specifics of their disagreement.
True Detective: Night Country eventually brings up the Wheeler case and how it caused tension between the two detectives when Peter questions Danvers in episode 3 about what transpired between her and Navarro. It does, however, continue to obfuscate a few aspects of the enigma.
When the Wheeler case and its history eventually come to light, Danvers and Navarro are up against yet another obstacle as they work to solve the murder cases of Annie and the researchers.
Why William Wheeler Was Killed by Danvers and Navarro and Their Cover-Up?
In the third episode of True Detective: Night Country, Danvers discusses her relationship with Navarro. A flashback shows the real crime scene while she remembers the William Wheeler case. She recalls that William Wheeler’s wife would frequently phone them about domestic abuse, but she never filed charges against him.
Danvers claims that after another stressful call, they went to Wheeler’s residence and discovered the pair dead, with William having killed his wife and then taken his own life. The flashback shows that Danvers is lying about one important component of the crime as she recounts it.
When they arrived at the residence, Wheeler was not dead, indicating that one of them had killed Wheeler. The fifth episode of True Detective: Night Country reveals that Wheeler was shot by Navarro, who then staged his death to appear as a suicide.
According to Navarro’s past, her mother was abused by her father and was killed by an unidentified assailant not long after she separated from him. Wheeler’s murder was probably motivated by her memories of her mother’s untimely death and her violent father.
At the crime scene, Navarro also had a vision in which she saw Wheeler’s wife encouraging her to kill him by pointing in his direction.
Wheeler wasn’t carrying a weapon when they arrived at Wheeler’s residence, thus Navarro’s actions might have put her in grave legal jeopardy because law enforcement personnel like Danvers and Navarro are only permitted to use lethal force when they are in immediate danger.
Thus, the two cops covered up the crime to protect Navarro. Peter discovers Navarro is telling falsehoods regarding the Wheeler case. He so launches his inquiry to ascertain the truth of what transpired. But while he’s at it, Hank, his father, unlocks his laptop and discovers everything he’s collected to support the theory that Danvers and Navarro killed Wheeler.
After they meet Kate McKitterick at Silver Sky’s offices, Ted Connelly confronts Danvers because Hank even told him about it.
Danvers meets Peter in his office and discusses the matter with him after realizing that Ted might have only heard about it from Peter. Although William Wheeler was left-handed, Peter reveals that he found out that the gunshot wound that killed him was on the right side of his head.