Internal FBI documents obtained by independent journalist Breanna Morello via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, suggest the agency’s Behavioral Analysis Unit-1 (BAU-1) was enlisted by the FBI’s Memphis Field Office to assist with its investigation into Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale on March 30, 2023, just three days after Hale, who identified as a transgender man at the time of her death, claimed the lives of six at the Nashville school she once attended on March 27.
The documents, which are heavily redacted and pertain to evidence gathered by the FBI’s field office in Memphis and BAU-1 pursuant to the Covenant investigation, were provided to The Tennessee Star on Thursday.
One of the documents, dated March 30, 2023 is titled “Case Referral for BAU-1 Operational Assistance,” and was written by an agent at the FBI’s Memphis Field Office.
“On March 27, 2023, subject Audrey HALE entered the Covenant School,” where the document notes the killer “opened fire and students on staff,” killing three students and three faculty members before she was slain by police.
The document then confirms, “Memphis Field Office – Nashville RA is requesting BAU-1 deployment to Nashville, Tennessee, to assist Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) in their post-incident investigation.”
BAU-1 is the same obscure FBI unit that authored the controversial “legacy tokens” memo sent to MNPD Chief John Drake in May 2023, which “strongly” advised against releasing the writings left by Hale.
The memo was sent just days after state and federal lawsuits were filed by Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, which demanded the FBI and MNPD release Hale’s writings.
An FBI document defines “legacy tokens” as any artifact left by a mass killer to offer an explanation of their actions, and according to the May 2023 memo from BAU-1, releasing such materials risks creating “the false narrative that the majority of attackers are mentally ill,” allowing the spread of other “false narratives and inaccurate information,” leading “pontificators” making claims that could lead to “further confusing or potentially inflaming” of the public, especially those who are “more vulnerable or open to conspiracy theories.”
The concept of “legacy tokens” first appeared in a 2014 scholarly book, and later was incorporated into a 2018 FBI report. While the agency defined “legacy tokens” as “a communication prepared by the offender to claim credit for the attack and articulate the motives underlying the shooting,” neither the 2014 book nor the 2018 report included the guidance to suppress “legacy tokens” included in the May 2023 memo to MNPD.
A separate FOIA request seeking information about legacy tokens, filed by The Star, was recently denied by the FBI under Director Kash Patel.
Leahy and SNDM have offered to drop their lawsuit against the FBI in exchange for Patel dropping the agency’s opposition to the release of Hale’s writings, something he suggested former Director Christopher Wray should have done during a December 2023 interview.
In the state lawsuit, Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ruled in favor of MNPD on July 4, 2024, when she determined the agency would not be required to release case files related to Covenant or Hale until the conclusion of its investigation. MNPD concluded its case and published a final report on Wednesday.
Myles also allowed a group of parents, calling themselves the Covenant Children’s Trust, to intervene in the lawsuit with claims they own the intellectual property rights to Hale’s works. Myles also ruled in favor of this claim.
Leahy and SNDM announced their appeal to Myles decision last year, and Leahy stated he expects to win in a higher court.
While The Star legally obtained the killer’s 2023 journal last June, and subsequently published it in September, the document contained just roughly 90 of the 1,299 pages MNPD reported Hale left across more than a dozen journals.
Asked if MNPD would release the rest of Hale’s materials on Thursday, Public Affairs Director Don Aaron told The Star, “MNPD cannot release any of the records without a court order.”
– – –
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 “FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit” by FBI.
We cannot outwit ourselves into thinking that people who knowingly hide information about why this heinous crime occurred actually have our best interest in mind.
Yep. The whole MNPD and the TBI are complicit. They have been infested with Liberals.