Nashville Police announced Friday their investigation into who leaked several pages from the Covenant School shooter’s personal journals has yielded inconclusive results.
The police department said they had “exhausted all available investigative avenues,” as the leaked writings remain at the center of an active legal battle regarding their release as public records.
On Nov. 6, conservative commentator Stephen Crowder published images showing three pages of shooter Audrey Hale’s journal, which was written prior to Hale’s attack on the Covenant School in March.
It’s still unclear who sent Crowder the images, which included a timeline for the March 27 attack — labeled “Death Day” — as well as a slur-filled manifesto about killing kids at “private fancy schools.” Hale, themself, had once been a student at Covenant.
The 28-year-old went on to kill three 9-year-old children and three adults at the Nashville-based private Christian elementary school, before being fatally shot by responding officers.
The victims included students Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, as well as the head of the school, Katherine Koonce, 60, custodian Mike Hill, 61, and substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61.
Hale left behind at least 20 journals, in addition to a memoir and a suicide note, according to court filings.
Police originally said they would release the writings after their investigation, but a group of Covenant School parents filed a lawsuit, arguing against the release for fear of traumatizing their children and the risk of inspiring copycat attackers.
However, someone was able to slip the images to Crowder illegally.
Investigators later determined that three cellphone photos were taken of the journals shortly after they were found in the shooter’s vehicle by two detectives from the Specialized Investigations Division.
But the investigation into the leak reached an impasse when one of the former detectives declined to be interviewed.
“The department does not have the ability to compel statements or cooperation from former employees,” a police statement said.
Authorities have since submitted a briefing to the director of Nashville’s Department of Law on their findings and forwarded the case to the district attorney’s office.
With News Wire Services
