In 2024, The Tennessee Star reported multiple revelations about Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after obtaining the killer’s journal and a selection of documents related to the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case from a source familiar with the investigation in June 2024.
The Star first shared on June 4 that a retired MNPD lieutenant said police knew Hale was a patient at Vanderbilt University Medical Center immediately after searching her family’s home in March 2023, and on June 19, confirmed it obtained an internal police document labeled “Vandy Psych” that appeared to include investigative notes about the killer’s time as a mental health patient.
Through investigative documents and the killer’s writings, it was ultimately reported in June by The Star that Hale was a 22-year mental health patient at the time of her attack on the Covenant School. She entered therapy at just six-years-old, and continued to receive psychiatric care until her death.
Other revelations from the journal include the killer’s obsession with transgenderism, including entries where she wrote about her “imaginary penis,” and declared herself a “boy that has no penis.” Hale explicitly referenced transgenderism in more than a dozen entries that were written between January and March 2023.
It was also reported in 2024 that Hale used federal Pell Grant money to purchase the firearms used in her attack.
The release of information about Hale came despite a lack of progress in the 2023 lawsuit filed by both Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, and Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, who sued to force MNPD to release Hale’s complete writings, including around a dozen journals in total.
After The Star began reporting the contents of Hale’s journal upon legally obtaining it from a source, Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles demanded Leahy and his attorney appear in court to explain why he should not face contempt charges over the reporting. In court, the judge changed the purpose of the hearing to a “landscape” meeting, but did not the eliminate the possibility of criminal charges against Leahy.
Myles ultimately ruled on July 4 that not one page of Hale’s writings would be release, citing the intellectual property arguments made by parents of Covenant School students, who claim to own the rights to the killer’s writings. Leahy and SNDM quickly confirmed their appeal of Myles’ decision.
In addition to her order sealing Hale’s writings, Myles also ruled that MNPD would not be required to release its investigative files about Hale until the conclusion of the investigation. MNPD spokesman Don Aaron previously indicated detectives had the “goal” of finishing their investigation before January 1, 2025, but later stated there is no firm date for completion.
After obtaining legal representation, The Star published the killer’s entire 2023 journal in September. Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy stated at the time, “We have had a First Amendment right to publish these documents from the moment we legally obtained them in June 2024.”
Both Leahy and SNDM remain plaintiffs in the ongoing federal lawsuit that seeks to compel the FBI to release Hale’s full writings. They recently invited the Department of Justice (DOJ) to drop its objections to releasing Hale’s writings, citing the forthcoming return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House.
– – –
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].
