Tag: Covenant Killer Manifesto

Nashville Selectively Cites Court Order to Justify Continued Denial of Covenant School Killer Writings Despite Tennessee Supreme Court Loss

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Metro Nashville selectively cited portions of a February ruling by the Tennessee Court of Appeals in a response filed Monday in the Covenant School killer public records lawsuit brought by The Tennessee Star, through its parent company Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, to justify its continued refusal to provide copies of the killer’s writings.

The lawsuit by Leahy and SNDM was originally filed against Metro Nashville in May 2023 in order to compel the release of the writings left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. Davidson County Chancellor I’Ashea L. Myles ruled against Leahy, SNDM, and other plaintiffs suing Metro on July 4, 2024.

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Exclusive: Transgender Covenant School Shooter’s Writings Reveal Years-Long Attack Plan Unseen by Family, Doctors Despite Warning Signs

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

More than three years have passed since The Tennessee Star began lawsuits against the FBI and Metro Nashville to obtain the manifestos left by the transgender school shooter Audrey Hale, who killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

Last year, the FBI under Director Kash Patel agreed to release the killer’s handwritten journals in order to settle this federal litigation, which has since resulted in the release of about 1,830 pages of the killer’s writings.

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Tennessee Star Wins Covenant School Shooter Manifesto Lawsuit After State Supreme Court Denies Nashville’s Appeal to Block Public Release

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

In a major victory for The Tennessee Star, the Tennessee Supreme Court declined to accept an appeal from Metro Nashville, the Covenant School, and a group of Covenant parents challenging a February ruling from the Tennessee Court of Appeals in the Covenant School killing-records lawsuit.

The denial issued last week leaves intact the appellate court’s decision reversing Tennessee Chancery Court Chancellor I’Ashea Myles’ broad order withholding the records, and sends the case back to Davidson County Chancery Court for further review.

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Two Law Firms that Opposed Release of Covenant Manifesto Hired by Nashville Electric Service to Prepare Report on Power Outage Debacle

Tom Pappert
Nashville Electric Service

The Nashville Electric Service (NES) on Wednesday named the two law firms who will oversee the completion of an independent report from a third-party contractor over the response by the municipally-owned power company to Winter Storm Fern.

Despite NES acknowledging its transparency-related communication shortcomings during the storm, both of the law firms enlisted by the municipally owned utility were notably retained in efforts to prevent the documents left from the Covenant School shooter from being released to The Tennessee Star and other news outlets. 

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Court of Appeals Gives The Tennessee Star Major Victory in Covenant Manifesto Case

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Tennessee Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted a major victory to The Tennessee Star in the lawsuit to obtain the writings left by the Covenant School killer, reversing much of the trial court’s July 4, 2024 ruling, and paving the way for the eventual release of redacted versions of the killer’s writings, as well as files from the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigation.

In an opinion released nearly three years after Audrey Elizabeth Hale killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, the panel of judges determined Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles incorrectly determined the killer’s writings could not be released due to copyright and school safety exemptions.

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Covenant School Shooter Listed Guns Used in Popular Movies, Emphasizing ‘Bourne’ Franchise

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Covenant School killer Audrey Hale dedicated two pages of her 2021 journal, which was recently released by the FBI, detailing “guns used in movies,” with a particular focus on firearms depicted in two films within “Bourne” franchise.

Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian elementary school she once attended on March 27, 2023, claimed to list the weapons used in “The Bourne Identity,” “The Bourne Supremacy,” “Fargo,” “The Dead Zone,” and “Stand By Me,” in a two-page journal entry written pages apart from wish-lists of guns and accessories for her secret arsenal and transaction records that show how she used federal Pell Grant money to cover the transactions.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Resumed Secret Purchases with Grant Money After Parents Learned of Hidden Guns: New Writings

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale - Covenant shooting

Writings by the Covenant School killer, released this week by the FBI, confirms she resumed using federal student aid to purchase and hide firearms at her family residence immediately after agreeing to sell the guns following a confrontation by her parents. 

The manifesto writings published on Monday contained dozens of pages devoted to financial transactions related to guns and accessories purchased or sold by Audrey Hale, the 28-year-old who identified as a transgender man until her death on March 27, 2023, when she killed six at the Covenant School.

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New Writings by Trans-Identified Covenant School Killer Show Desire to Kill White People Lasted Years

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Transgender-identified school shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, in a journal entry released this week by the FBI, shows that the killer cited the race of the predominantly white student body at the Covenant School as early as 2021.

An entry from one of the killer’s later journals, but first published in 2023, suggested she maintained the racial animosity until shortly before killing six at the Christian elementary school she once attended on March 27, 2023. 

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Trans-Identified Covenant Killer Worried Canceled Plan to Attack ‘Black School’ Would Inspire ‘White Shooters’ in Newly Released Writings

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI released journal entries on Monday that show the Covenant School killer wrote a list of “advantages” and “disadvantages” regarding a scrapped plan to attack the Nashville middle school she once attended, revealing she harbored several race-based concerns over attacking the predominantly black student body.

In an entry written sometime in 2021, and located one page after Audrey Hale listed her hatred of religion as an “advantage” to attacking the Christian elementary school where she killed six on March 27, 2023, the killer specifically expressed her concerns about the effect of a potential attack at I.T. Creswell Middle School would have on black people.

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New Covenant Manifesto Writings Show Trans-Identified Killer Listed ‘Hate Religion’ as Reason to Attack Christian School

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI on Monday released new writings by Covenant School killer Audrey Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023, revealing the killer listed hatred for religion as reason to attack the Christian elementary school she once attended. 

Hale included the motivator in a list of “advantages” and “disadvantages” the killer titled, “The Covenant School – Alternate Target / 2nd Choice,” which also noted her past history at the school, her knowledge of its layout, but also listed that it was a “bigger school,” and a “private school,” as well as a “school/church,” which meant “more revenue real estate.”

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Latest FBI Release of Covenant School Manifesto Files Appears to Confirm Trans-Identified Killer Bought Guns with Pell Grant Money

Tom Pappert

The FBI on Monday released another 230 manifesto pages written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man on March 27, 2023, when the 28-year-old killed six at the Covenant School in Nashville, the Christian elementary school she once attended. 

This latest journal appears to have been written sometime in late 2021, and includes lengthy sections about the weapons the killer planned to use to commit a mass shooting at a school sometime that year.

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Third-Party Review of Nashville Police Misconduct Claims Concludes Without Interviewing Former Lead Detective on Covenant Case

Tom Pappert
Nashville Metro Police Department

The independent law firm appointed to review the allegations against Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) completed their investigation earlier this month, determining the claims raised last year by retired member of the police department either were not borne out by evidence or did not rise to the level of a policy violation or official misconduct.

Enlisted by Mayor Freddie O’Connell last year to investigate the whistleblower complaint submitted by retired MNPD Lieutenant Garet Davidson, the law firm Butler Snow announced on December 18 that it completed its report, which was published December 22 by Nashville Banner. 

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Court of Appeals Oral Argument in Covenant Case: Attorney for Tennessee Star Says Trial Court Decision Citing Copyright Claim Creates Legal ‘Black Hole’

Tom Pappert

A panel of three judges on the Tennessee Court of Appeals on Thursday heard oral arguments for the lawsuit brought by Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Tennessee Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy, which seeks to compel Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release the complete writings of Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. 

Leahy and SNDM initially sued in May 2023, after Metro Nashville refused to comply with a Tennessee Public Records Act (TPRA) request seeking the voluminous writings left by the killer, citing the ongoing nature of the investigation. Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles later allowed a group of Covenant parents to intervene in the lawsuit, as they claimed to own the copyright to the killer’s written works, and claimed that the government could not release them without the permission of the copyright owners.

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Tennessee Appeals Court to Hold Hearing on Tennessee Star Lawsuit Seeking Full Release of Covenant Killer Manifesto

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

A panel of three judges on the Tennessee Court of Appeals Middle Section on Thursday will hear oral arguments for the lawsuit brought by Star News Digital Media, Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Tennessee Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy. 

Leahy and SNDM first sued in May 2023 to compel Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) to release the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six at the Christian elementary school she once attended, after authorities initially claimed they would not release the manifesto until their investigation was complete.

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The Tennessee Star’s Coverage of Covenant Killer, Kilmar Abrego Garcia Nominated for 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism

Kaitlin Housler
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

The Young America’s Foundation’s (YAF) National Journalism Center and the Dao Feng and Angela Foundation have unveiled the finalists for the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism, with The Tennessee Star securing two spots in the Best Local Journalism category.

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Transgender Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Included President Donald Trump in ‘Fantasy Murder List’

Tom Pappert
Trump in office

The FBI on Monday released to The Tennessee Star more pages from the journals written by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023. The newly released pages feature an entry where Hale included President Donald Trump on a “fantasy murder list.” 

Containing just four names, including two that were redacted by the FBI prior to their release of the journal, Hale included Trump as the first name in her second column of those who she would like to kill, potentially suggesting she added the name after writing a subsequent journal entry.

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Trans Covenant School Killer Complained About Money One Year Before Using Pell Grant Funds to Buy Guns

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

In a journal entry released to The Tennessee Star last week by the FBI, transgender Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote that she struggled to save money, often with less than $200 in her bank account. The killer wrote the entry more than a year before she would use funds from a federal Pell Grant to purchase weapons before killing six on March 27, 2023. 

The 2019 journal entry adds context to Hale’s decision to use the grant money, as the killer seemed to connect her lack of funds with suicidal and homicidal plans. 

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Trans Covenant School Killer Wrote That Her Gender Identity Drove Her to ‘Cut Rope’ from Christianity

Tom Pappert
person praying

A newly released journal entry written by Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, made public last week by the FBI to The Tennessee Star, reveals that the killer viewed her sexuality, and specifically her status as a self-identified transgender person, as an opposing force to her Christian faith. 

Written more than three years prior to her March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School, where she killed six, Hale dated the entry May 6, 2019, and while she began by discussing religion, she concluded by writing about school shooters. 

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Reporter Tom Pappert: New Covenant School Killer Writings Show Years-Long Mental Decline Ignored by Authorities

Kaitlin Housler
Audrey Hale

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, argued that the newly released journals of deceased 28-year-old Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale reveal a disturbing and progressive mental decline over nearly two decades.

Last week, the FBI released a new series of writings by Hale, the transgender shooter who claimed the lives of six at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

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Trans Covenant Killer Wrote About Father’s Interest in ‘Dumb Politics’ and Donald Trump in Newly Released Journal Entries

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, complained in two newly released journal entries about her father’s interest in “dumb politics” and President Donald Trump.

Though Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) determined the killer was sane and motivated by a desire for fame in its April report on the Covenant investigation, the journals seem to suggest that Hale’s mental state deteriorated over years, including the weeks prior to her 2019 evaluation for commitment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where MNPD documents obtained by The Tennessee Star last year revealed that Hale told a staff member she fantasized about killing her father. 

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Nashville Police Say ‘Nothing Additional to Add’ After New Journals Show Trans Covenant Killer Claimed to Hear Voice of ‘Imaginary Boy’

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) said it has “nothing additional to add” regarding its conclusions regarding the March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School, where Audrey Elizabeth Hale, then identifying as a transgender man, killed three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Christian elementary school she once attended.

The department’s Friday statement to The Tennessee Star came despite the release of new journal entries, written by the killer as late as June 2019, in which she claimed to hear the voice of an “imaginary boy,” which demanded to “express himself,” including through a romantic interest in women, for more than a decade.  

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Trans Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Feared Commitment at Mental Hospital Following Evaluation at VUMC, Newly Released Journal Shows

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale VUMC

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian school she once attended on March 27, 2023, wrote a journal entry to mark her evaluation for potential commitment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) in 2019, as revealed new entries released by the FBI to The Tennessee Star last week. 

Though The Star last year broke that Hale was evaluated for possible commitment at VUMC, during which time police notes indicate she told a medical professional that she fantasized about killing her father, this entry is the first which reveals how the killer experienced the evaluation in her own words. 

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Trans Covenant School Killer Wanted Society to ‘Accept School Shooters’ in Journal Entry

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale wrote in a newly released journal entry that the world was too hostile to school shooters, arguing the public should have greater empathy for them, as many suffer from various mental illnesses. 

The FBI released more than 450 pages written by Hale on Wednesday, nearly a year after The Tennessee Star published the killer’s 2023 journal, with much of the new entries dated to years prior to her March 27, 2023 attack where she killed six.

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Transgender Covenant School Shooter Began Considering Attack as Early as 2019, Newly Released ‘Manifesto’ Pages Show

Tom Pappert
Covenant School Shooter Hale

Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023 at the Christian school she once attended, began considering attacking a school as early as 2019, journal entries released to The Tennessee Star by the FBI on Wednesday reveal. 

In a journal entry written months after Hale determined she was attracted to other women, and just days after she wrote a written confession of her attraction to a former classmate, the killer seemed to express frustration upon realizing her feelings toward a specific individual were unrequited. 

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Trans Covenant School Shooter Credited Media’s Support for ‘LGBT Movement’ for Help Understanding Voice Inside Her Head

Tom Pappert
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

Nearly 500 pages of journal entries written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale were released to The Tennessee Star by the FBI on Tuesday, and with many of the entries dated as far back as 2018, these journals offer insight into the killer’s state of mind in the years before she killed six at the Christian school she once attended in Nashville. 

Within these journals, Hale seemed to claim that she first experienced same-sex attraction as the result of an “imaginary boy,” which she experienced as a voice inside her head, which expressed a desire to “express himself,” including through romantic relationships with girls, from the time when she was a fourth grade student at the Covenant School. 

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Newly Released ‘Manifesto’ Pages from Trans Covenant School Killer Show Audrey Hale Claimed Father ‘Possessed’ by ‘Demon’

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI on Wednesday released new files from the journals written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who killed six on March 27, 2023, including an entry in which the killer appears to accuse her father of demonic possession.

Audrey Hale, whose parents told police was diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses over her 22-year history as a mental health patient, appears to have written the entry sometime in 2018, based on the dates assigned to preceding entries.

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Trans Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Claimed to Hear Internal Voice of Boy Demanding to ‘Express Himself’ in Newly Released Journal

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The FBI on Tuesday released to Judicial Watch a new series of writings by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the transgender shooter who claimed the lives of six at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023, including an entry, apparently dated to 2018, in which Hale claimed to have heard a male voice inside her head. 

In an entry titled, “Is What I Feel A Mistake,” the killer wrote about the anguish she experienced related to “the truth about myself as to who I really am,” before claiming to have heard a male voice in her head for years. 

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Newly Released Emails Reveal FBI Spent Weeks Ahead of Covenant School Shooting Discussing Catholic Extremism

Tom Pappert
Rosary

Internal government emails released by U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) show individuals at multiple FBI field offices were assisting with the drafting a report identifying opportunities to mitigate the violent threats posted by “radical-traditionalist Catholics” during the weeks preceding the March 27, 2023 attack on the Covenant School in Nashville by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she claimed the lives of six. 

Grassley, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday published internal FBI emails that show the agency in February 2023 was drafting a Strategic Perspective Executive Analytic Report (SPEAR), which was titled, “Interest of Racially or Ethnically Motivated Violent Extremists in Radical-Traditionalist Catholic Ideology Almost Certainly Presents New Mitigation Opportunities.”

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Congressman John Rose Says ‘No Good Justification’ for FBI to Block Release of Covenant Killer Manifesto After Reviewing 2,000 Pages

Tom Pappert
Rep John Rose

U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) on Thursday said there is “no good justification” for the FBI to block the release of the writings left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she attacked the Covenant School and killed six on March 27, 2023. 

In a statement provided to The Tennessee Star, Rose announced that he was given access to “more than 2,000 pages” of documents from the FBI roughly two years after he contacted former FBI Director Christopher Wray to call for the documents to be released.

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FBI Hands Judicial Watch Small Portion of Covenant School Manifesto Pages as Tennessee Star Lawsuit Continues

Tom Pappert

The FBI on Friday gave Judicial Watch a small portion of the 1,299 pages left by transgender Covenant School shooter Audrey Hale, who killed six on March 27, 2023, with heavy redactions on portions of the killer’s full 2023 journal that was already published in full by The Tennessee Star last year. 

The Star last September published about 90 pages that were written by Hale in her 2023 journal, which was recovered by law enforcement in her vehicle after the attack, alongside a spiral notebook that reportedly contained an operational plan for the atatck. In 2023, conservative comedian and pundit Steven Crowder published two pages from the spiral notebook.

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House Intelligence Committee Silent After FBI Reportedly Gives Trans Covenant Killer Manifesto to Congress

Tom Pappert
Audrey Elizabeth Hale

The U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) did not respond to multiple press inquiries from The Tennessee Star after the committee reportedly received the 1,299 pages of journals written by transgender Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale from the FBI under Director Kash Patel. Shortly after the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) concluded its investigation into the attack at the Covenant School, where Hale killed six on March 27, 2023, independent journalist Megyn Kelly reported on April 7 that the FBI allowed her to analyze and report the contents of Hale’s writings, while restricting her from publishing the pages. The Star published Hale’s full 2023 journal last September, releasing about 90 pages of her writings from the months before her attack on her former Christian school. Kelly also stated that the FBI, in an effort to engage in transparency, provided the documents to HPSCI so that Congress might review their contents. The Star contacted HPSCI and its chairman, Representative Rick Crawford (R-AR-01), but did not receive a response from the chairman or his committee to its April 8 inquiry. Inquiries to the committee’s vice chairman, Representative Trent Kelly (R-MS-01), and to committee member Representative J. French Hill (R-AR-02), made by…

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Parents of Trans Covenant School Killer Audrey Hale Linked Anti-White Bias to Nashville Public School Years: Police Transcript

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Reports surfaced on Monday claiming that Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man during the March 27, 2023, attack where she killed six, harbored hatred toward white people, following news that the FBI conditionally released her writings to an independent journalist, barring publication of the actual pages.

This release came months after The Tennessee Star obtained Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) case files, which revealed that Hale’s parents attributed her feelings on race to her years in Metro Nashville Public Schools.

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Department of Justice, Nashville Police Left in Dark on Covenant Killer Manifesto Release to Third Party amid Lawsuit, FBI Silence

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Department of Justice and Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) both indicated to The Tennessee Star on Tuesday that they were unaware of the FBI’s apparent decision to conditionally release the 1,299 pages of writings left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, to independent journalist Megyn Kelly last week.

Kelly on Monday stated that the FBI provided the killer’s writings to her with permission to analyze and report their contents over the weekend, but that her team was restricted from publishing the materials in their entirety. Excerpts shared by Kelly appear to match the killer’s 2023 manifesto, which The Star legally obtained last June and published in September 2024. 

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Tennessee Star Seeks FBI Explanation for ‘Significant Abuse of Process’ After Covenant Manifesto Released to Third Party amid Lawsuit

Tom Pappert
Kash Patel

The law firm representing The Tennessee Star in its federal lawsuit demanding the FBI release the complete materials left by transgender Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale on Monday contacted the FBI to request an immediate explanation for the agency’s reported decision to release the killer’s writings to independent journalist Megyn Kelly.

Kelly has reported that the FBI gave Hale’s written materials to her organization over the weekend, and in a Monday podcast shared details purportedly from the manifesto left by the killer, who killed six at a Christian school in Nashville on March 27, 2023, that match Hale’s 2023 manifesto. 

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FBI Provides Covenant Killer Manifesto to Megyn Kelly amid Silence on Tennessee Star Lawsuit Demanding Full Release

Tom Pappert

The FBI reportedly provided last week the 1,299 pages written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Nashville school she once attended, to independent media personality Megyn Kelly.

Kelly’s release of the materials, which began on Monday, appears to contain some of the same writings The Tennessee Star legally obtained last June and subsequently published in their entirety in September 2024, suggesting the materials obtained by Kelly are authentic.

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Metro Nashville Police Say Mysterious Seventh Gun Owned by Audrey Hill Actually Belonged to Covenant Killer’s Father

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Just days after the attack committed by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) stated publicly that the killer legally purchased seven weapons over the course of her life.

However, the final report MNPD released on Wednesday only accounted for six firearm purchases made by the killer, and MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron on Friday told The Tennessee Star that the seventh weapon actually belonged to the killer’s father, and was apparently mistakenly included in the total count of firearms owned by Hale.

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Police: Trans Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Left ‘Will,’ Instructions for ‘Distribution’ of ‘Possessions, Thumb Drives, Writings, and Artwork’

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed through the report published upon the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School shooting that Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six on March 27, 2023, left a “will” that contained specific instructions for the “distribution” of key personal items, including her “possessions, thumb drives, writings, and artwork.”

This fact seemingly contradicts the previous claim made in probate court by the killer’s parents, Ronald and Norma Hale, whose attorney stated in a June 2023 court filing that their daughter did not have a will and died intestate. 

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FBI Documents Suggest BAU-1 Group Behind ‘Legacy Tokens’ Memo Enlisted in Covenant Killer Investigation Days After Shooting

Tom Pappert
FBI Behavioral Analysis

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 Friday. 

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Detectives ‘Abandoned’ Effort to Get Mental Health Records of Trans Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Months After Attack

Tom Pappert
File room

Homicide detectives with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) “abandoned” efforts to obtain the complete mental health records for Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023, after internal case files were obtained by The Tennessee Star and “Louder with Crowder” months after the attack. 

MNPD closed its investigation and released its final case file on Wednesday, more than two years after the attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School, which revealed that law enforcement “abandoned” efforts to obtain medical records from Hale’s final therapist, as well as those from an eating disorder clinic where the killer attended an intensive outpatient program in 2017, over unspecified leaks to the media.

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Police Report: Transgender Covenant School Killer Left 1,299 Pages of Writings in Notebooks Originally Called ‘Manifesto’

Tom Pappert

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) report published following the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School killings by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man prior to the March 27, 2023 attack, revealed the killer left behind 1,299 pages of written materials spread across more than a dozen notebooks, in addition to videos and drawings.

When The Tennessee Star obtained the killer’s 2023 journal from a source familiar with the investigation last June and published it in its entirety four months later, it learned that Hale produced as many as 1,000 pages in other journals over the course of years.

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Metro Nashville Police Concludes Investigation on Covenant School Killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, Releases 48-Page Report

Tom Pappert

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Wednesday concluded its investigation into the Covenant School attack committed on March 27, 2023 by 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, who identified as a transgender man prior to killing six at the Christian school she once attended, sharing key findings about the investigation in a 48-page report.

Despite needing more than two years to complete its investigation, MNPD confirmed that “Hale acted alone during the attack itself,” and no one around the killer had knowledge she was planning the attack. 

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FBI Deputy Director Bongino Says Agency Tackling ‘Transparency Issues’ amid Questions over Covenant Manifesto, Epstein Files

Tom Pappert
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino

FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino on Sunday said that he and Director Kash Patel are moving to address the “transparency issues” that have plagued the federal agency in recent years, urging the public to give them time to produce tangible results.

Bongino, who was selected to serve as the FBI’s second in command by President Donald Trump in February, delivered the update in a post to the social media platform X, where he said he will “be posting regular information updates” about the agency’s transparency efforts.

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Nashville Police Expect Announcement on Covenant Shooting Investigation in ‘Near Future’

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) expects to make an announcement regarding the conclusion of its investigation into the Covenant School shooting sometime in the next two weeks, the agency told The Tennessee Star on Friday.

With the forthcoming announcement likely to occur in April, it seems clear any conclusion of the case will come more than two years after 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a biological female who identified as a transgender man, and killed three students and three faculty members at her former Christian elementary school on March 27, 2023. 

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‘Legacy Tokens’ Memo Suppressing Covenant Killer Manifesto Not DOJ Policy, but Guidance from Obscure Behavioral Analysis Unit

Tom Pappert
Nashville Police Chief John Drake

A review by The Tennessee Star of the original FBI materials containing the term “legacy tokens,” which the agency defined in 2018 as any item left by a mass killer to explain their actions, suggests the suppression of such materials is not a policy of the federal government, but instead is the informal guidance of one Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU), one of a collection of groups nestled within the agency’s National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime (NCAVC), which itself is part of the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG). 

So-called “legacy tokens” were the subject of the May 11, 2023 memo sent by the FBI’s CIRG to Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Chief John Drake, “strongly” advising against the release of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological female who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Christian school she once attended on March 27, 2023. 

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Tennessee Star Presses FBI for Answers on Agency’s ‘Legacy Tokens’ Memo Suppressing Trans Covenant Killer’s Manifesto

Tom Pappert
FBI Files with "Legacy Token" memo

The Tennessee Star on Thursday filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requesting the FBI provide all of its internal records regarding “legacy tokens,” including those related to the May 2023 memo that “strongly” advised the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) not to release documents like the manifesto left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.

Obtained by The Star last June, the May 11, 2023 memo was addressed to MNPD Chief John Drake and sent from the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit, part of the agency’s Critical Incident Response Group, from an address in Quantico, Virginia.

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Tennessee Star Urges New FBI Director Kash Patel to Order Release of Entire Covenant Killer Manifesto

Tom Pappert
FBI Diri. Kash Patel, Covenant Killer 'Manifesto'

The Tennessee Star on Friday sent a letter urging newly-confirmed FBI Director Kash Patel drop the agency’s opposition to the release of the full manifesto left by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School in Nashville on March 27, 2023.

Both Star News Digital Media Inc. (SNDM), which owns and operates The Star, and Michael Patrick Leahy, the editor-in-chief of The Star, are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit that seeks to compel the FBI to release Hale’s full writings. Hale reportedly left about 1,000 pages in journals that police recovered from the residence where the 28-year-old lived with her parents.

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn Says Trump Admin, Kash Patel Will End ‘Two Tiers of Justice,’ ‘Political Weaponization’ of FBI

Tom Pappert
Kash Patel and Senator Marsha Blackburn

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) predicted on Thursday that President Donald Trump and Kash Patel, who was confirmed the same day as the new FBI Director, will end the “two tiers of justice” and “political weaponization” of the FBI.

Hours before she would vote to confirm Patel, the senator told Newsmax TV’s “Wake Up America” that the public is “thrilled” to see the Senate confirming those nominated to cabinet positions by President Donald Trump.

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Police Silent on Unaccounted Firearms Purchased by Covenant Killer Audrey Hale amid Claim FBI Secretly Seized Evidence

Tom Pappert
Audrey Hale

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Monday declined to provide additional details to The Tennessee Star about the firearms legally purchased by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the biological woman who identified as a transgender man when she killed six at the Covenant School on March 27, 2023.

MNPD declined to provide the information just days after a source told The Star that a police captain ordered officers not to complete standard evidence documentation procedures during the search of Hale’s residence, and that the FBI absconded with certain evidence without no chain of custody documenting its transfer.

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