Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote in the journal police recovered from her vehicle an entry that appears to include instructions for the media about how to refer to the killer.
The Tennessee Star confirmed on June 5 it obtained about 80 pages of Hale’s writings from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.
Hale wrote eight lines in the undated entry, located in the journal just five days prior to her final, “Death Day” entry she claimed to author less than two hours prior to her March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adult staff members at the Covenant School.
Born a biological female, Hale identified as a transgender man at the time of her attack on the Covenant School, and her entry appears to give media outlets instructions for identifying her.
The killer wrote the words “For Media.” On the next line, she wrote the letter “A.”
On the following line, Hale wrote, “A.E. (legal initials),” and on the fourth line she wrote “Aiden (illegal name haha).”
Aiden is the name Hale began using in some settings after she started to identify as a transgender man. In another entry, Hale wrote about writing the name Aiden on paperwork despite her legal name remaining Audrey.
In that entry, Hale called her brain a “curse,” which “has its godliness” but is “prone to making” poor decisions.
Hale explained, “Like putting my Aiden name while filling out paperwork for Instacart [and] now my [background] check didn’t clear [and] I’m possibly not going to get the job.”
After Hale’s gender identity was reported by the media, transgender activists across Tennessee claimed they were concerned about backlash against other transgender people. A report nonetheless later suggested the majority of transgender people murdered in 2023 were “trans people affected by racism.”
Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Cief Michael Patrick Leahy are plaintiffs in active lawsuits seeking to compel Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and the FBI to release Hale’s full writings, including those sometimes called a manifesto.
Earlier this month, The Star published an FBI memo that “strongly” advised MNPD Chief John Drake against releasing “legacy tokens” from individuals like Hale. An FBI definition suggests the agency considers both the writings obtained by The Star and those sought in the lawsuits unfit for publication.
While the FBI declined to confirm it sent the memo in a statement to The Star, it confirmed it sends such “products” to local law enforcement partners.
Since The Star received Hale’s journal and a portion of police documents, it has published over 50 articles that include the killer’s own words or new details about the Covenant investigation.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
The public deserves to see Hale’s entire screed just like we all could see the Unabomber’s screed.