Vanderbilt Silent on Possible Transgender Treatment for Covenant Killer Audrey Hale

The Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) is silent about whether Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale sought transgender drugs, surgeries or other gender affirming treatment following the revelation she was a 22-year mental health patient of staff at VUMC.

VUMC has not replied to multiple requests for comment from The Tennessee Star following the revelations, which include confirmation that Hale was prescribed at least four medications from VUMC and was treated by mental health professionals associated with VUMC since April 2001.

According to the affidavit submitted by a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) detective to obtain a search warrant for VUMC records, which was published by The Star on Friday, Hale was a 22-year patient of mental health professionals associated with the hospital.

The affidavit explained that Hale’s mother told detectives after the shooting, “Audrey Hale was receiving psychological treatment at Vanderbilt Hospital and has been for some time.”

MNPD then located medical records the detective wrote established, “Audrey Hale has been receiving psychological treatment from Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital since 2001.”

Medications prescribed to Hale were discovered by The Star after it obtained the results of the MNPD search warrant, which was served on VUMC in June 2023.

Police learned Hale was prescribed four medications from the hospital, including two anti-anxiety drugs, the common antidepressant Lexipro, and a nasal spray designed to moisten nasal passages.

The search warrant additionally obtained information from VUMC that confirmed Hale experienced both suicidal and homicidal ideation, including fantasies of killing her father and enacting a school shooting.

VUMC communications staff did not respond to a comment request from The Star that sought to establish whether Hale informed her psychiatrist or therapist that she desired to transition from her biological female gender to become a transgender man.

The hospital likewise did not respond when asked if it acted based on a request for transgender healthcare by Hale.

The Star additionally asked the Program for LGBT Health at VUMC whether Hale ever attempted to make an appointment or otherwise seek treatment for gender affirming services or other LGBTQ specific care, but did not receive a response prior to press time.

Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy, are both plaintiffs in lawsuits which seek to compel the MNPD and the FBI to release Hale’s full writings, including those some have called a manifesto.

The Star published an FBI memo last week, addressed to MNPD John Drake, which appeared to “strongly” advise police against releasing any written materials left by Hale.

Last Wednesday, The Star confirmed it obtained dozens of pages of Hale’s writings that police recovered from her vehicle at the Covenant School from a source familiar with the investigation.

Since then, The Star has published more than a dozen articles that include excerpts of Hale’s own writings.

Hale wrote extensively about struggling with her gender identity. In one journal entry, she vented her frustration after allegedly being misgendered and her desire for a “boy body.” In another, Hale declared herself the “most unhappy boy alive,” and wrote that she “will be of no use of love for any girl if I don’t have what they need: boy’s body / male gender.”

In another entry, Hale declared, “I need a trans doctor,” and wrote, “this female gender role makes me want to not exist.”

She also wrote in this entry, “My therapist now is the best I could get 4 help. My autism,” next to a drawing of a boy crying.

A third journal entry about Hale’s gender is titled “My Imaginary Penis,” and in the text, Hale wrote about acting out sexual fantasies with her “stuffed boy doll” and another stuffed animal.

Hale also wrote a political rant, in which she claimed the United States has failed to acknowledge the rights of transgender people, gun owners, and non-binary people.

In multiple journal entries, Hale wrote negative statements about her father, including one entry that confirmed the MNPD findings claiming Hale expressed a desire to kill her father.

“Well guess what? Your [sic] a loser. I hate your (life, you). I don’t care if you die. I want to kill you,” Hale wrote.

Potentially highlighting Hale’s desire for medical help, she also claimed to call a number identified as the National Suicide Prevention Helpline five times in one day in a journal entry written just over two months before her attack.

Hale claimed in her final journal entry, dated the day of her attack on the Covenant School, that she “could have been caught” numerous times while preparing, but, “especially back in the summer of 2021.” In another entry, Hale claimed she planned the attack for five years, until her devastating plot was “near perfection.”

It has also been reported that Hale first considered attacking a school when she was a middle school student.

Hale claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults working at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023 before she was fatally shot by police.

– – –

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].
Photo “Vanderbilt Medical center North” by Vanderbilt Hustler/Hallie Williams and “Onlooker” by Pexels.