Nashville Police Claim Covenant Killer Investigation Still Underway, ‘Some Work’ Still Needed to Document March 2023 Attack

Covenant School shooting scene

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) told The Tennessee Star earlier this month that its investigation of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale remains ongoing, with “some work” still needed to document the March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three school staff members.

MNPD Public Affairs director Don Aaron told The Star the investigation is still underway and remains in a documentation phase in a November 1 email. The MNPD official wrote, “Considerable progress has been made, though there is still some work to complete,” and said there is not a specific date for completion.

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YouTube Censors Police Video of Jon Bon Jovi Talking Distraught Woman off Nashville Bridge During Music Video Shoot

Jon Bonjovi

A Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) spokesman confirmed to The Tennessee Star on Thursday that YouTube pulled its video of legendary musical artist Jon Bon Jovi talking a “distraught woman” off the ledge of a Nashville bridge, potentially saving her life.

MNPD Public Affairs Director Don Aaron confirmed to The Star the video was originally published to a YouTube channel operated by the police department, and that it was removed from the platform by YouTube. The platform did not impose additional punishment to the MNPD-operated channel beyond removal of its video, Aaron told The Star.

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Tennessee Coalition for Open Government Executive Director Deborah Fisher Says the Continued Withholding of Covenant Killer Materials Is ‘Disturbing’

Deborah Fisher, the executive director of Tennessee Coalition for Open Government, described the continued withholding of documents by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) relating to the case of the Covenant School killer as simply “disturbing.”

On Tuesday, The Tennessee Star published all 90 pages of the journal written between January and March of 2023 by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the 28-year-old biological woman who self-identified as a transgender man and who, on March 27, 2023, murdered three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School in Nashville before being subsequently killed by MNPD officers.

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Michael Patrick Leahy: Publishing of the Covenant School Killer’s Journal Offers Glimpse into How the Mental Health System Is ‘Destroying Children’

Aaron Gulbransen, executive director of the Tennessee Faith and Freedom Coalition, and Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, discussed The Star releasing  90 pages of writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale on Tuesday, both agreeing that the case is an example of how the mental health system is “destroying children.”

On Tuesday morning, The Star published all 90 pages of the journal written between January and March of 2023 by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the 28-year-old biological woman who self-identified as a transgender man and who, on March 27, 2023, murdered three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School in Nashville before being subsequently killed by officers with the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD).

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Statement by Michael Patrick Leahy on the Publication of the Covenant Killer’s Journal at The Tennessee Star

Michael Patrick Leahy, Hale 2023 Journal

At 9:30 am CT today, September 3, 2024, The Tennessee Star published all 90 pages of the journal written between January and March of 2023 by Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the 28-year-old biological woman who self identified as a transgender man and who, on March 27, 2023 murdered three 9-year-old students and three staff members at the Covenant School and was subsequently killed by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers. Later that same day MNPD obtained this journal and a spiral notebook from the vehicle Hale used to drive to the school. MNPD Chief John Drake initially described this journal and the spiral notebook as the “manifesto” of Hale.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale’s Suicide Note Was Discovered by an FBI Agent During Legal Search of Her Residence

An FBI agent is identified as the officer who found Covenant Killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s suicide note on the afternoon of March 27, 2023 at the residence of the house in Nashville where she resided with her parents, according to an inventory list of items seized from the house that day compiled by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) and legally obtained from a source familiar with the investigation by The Tennessee Star in June 2024.

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Nashville Man Charged in Shooting Judge’s Moving Vehicle Out on $125,000 Bond Ahead of Latest Arrest

Judge I'Ashea Myles, Divid Bush

The Nashville man arrested on Friday in relation to the shooting of a judge’s moving vehicle last September was out on bail for unrelated crimes at the time of his latest arrest, having previously been granted a $125,000 bond on attempted murder and reckless endangerment charges following a March arrest.

Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) confirmed the arrest on Friday, writing that law enforcement identified 23-year-old David Bush as their suspect using “ballistic evidence and cell phone data” recovered from the time of the shooting.

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Nashville Police Confirm Covenant School Shooting Investigation Remains Ongoing Despite Predicted July Finish

Audrey Hale

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Friday was unable to provide The Tennessee Star with an estimated time of completion for its investigation into the Covenant School attack, but spokesman Don Aaron stated the case “remains open and is largely in a documentation phase where the lead detective is writing his and the department’s actions, findings, etc.”

Police began investigating the attack on March 27, 2023, when Audrey Elizabeth Hale claimed the lives three 6-year-old students and three adult staff members at the Covenant School in Nashville.

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Metro Police Arrest Man Suspected of Defacing Rainbow Pride Crosswalk in East Nashville

Isaiah Tester

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) announced Tuesday that it had arrested and charged a 24-year old man for the July 2 vandalism of the rainbow pride crosswalk located at the intersection of 14th St and Woodland St in East Nashville.

Isaiah Tester was arrested at his Murfreesboro home and booked into jail on Tuesday evening on a charge of vandalizing government property, according to MNPD.

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Nashville Police Replace Internal Affairs Director Months After Retired Officer’s Complaint Sparked Investigation

Kathy Morante, Nashville City Hall

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Monday reportedly replaced the head of its internal affairs office in a decision that came months after retired Lieutenant Garet Davidson submitted a 61-page complaint naming the former official, prompting an investigation.

It was reported on Monday by Nashville Banner that Kathy Morante, the head of the MNPD Office of Professional Accountability since 2013, was replaced.

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Federal Grand Jury Indicts Nashville Man Accused of Shooting 18-Year-Old at WeGo Bus Station

Kenneth Johnson

A federal grand jury indicted a Nashville man accused of shooting an 18-year-old six times on the steps of a WeGo bus station in May, according to the Middle District of Tennessee U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Kenneth Johnson, 31, was arrested by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officers on May 16 after he allegedly shot the 18-year-old six times at the WeGo bus station located at the intersection of Rep John Lewis Way & MLK Jr Blvd.

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Covenant Killer’s Childhood Friends Changed Phone Numbers to Cut Contact, Her Mother Told Police

Audrey Hale

The parents of Audrey Elizabeth Hale told Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators during a July 12, 2023 interview that two of their daughter’s childhood friends changed their phone numbers to cut contact with the killer in the years prior to her attack on the Covenant School, where she claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three staff members, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by The Tennessee Star. 

Last month, The Star confirmed it obtained approximately 80 pages of writings left in a journal by Audrey Hale from a source familiar with the investigation, and reported the killer wrote extensively about the death of her middle school basketball teammate Sydney Sims.

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Nashville Police Point to Judge I’Ashea Myles When Questioned over Will Mentioned by Covenant Killer Audrey Hale in Suicide Note

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) referred The Tennessee Star to the court of Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles when asked if the department provided specific documents to Judge Myles before she declared in her decision that not one page of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale will be released, citing the copyright allegedly held by the parents of Covenant School children.

The Star asked MNPD Public Affairs director Don Aaron whether investigators provided Judge Myles with the document titled “Vandy Psych.” The document contains notes written by an MNPD investigator who received at least 75 pages of documents from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), where Hale was a 22-year mental health patient, after obtaining a search warrant in the wake of her March 27, 2023 attack that claimed the lives of six.

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Covenant Killer’s Parents Claimed She Left No Will, but Suicide Note Audrey Hale Wrote Demands ‘PLEASE READ MY WILL’

Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles last Thursday ruled that not one page of the materials written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale will be released to the public, citing the copyright claims raised by parents of minor students who claim to own the copyright to the killer’s works.

The parents of Covenant School students successfully claimed before Myles that they were assigned the intellectual property rights of the materials left by Audrey Hale before to her attack, and a probate court filing reveals Ronald and Norma Hale appear to have transferred the copyright to the parents of in June 2023.

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Tennessee Judge Rules Not One Page of Covenant Killer Writings Shall be Released, Cites Dubious Copyright Claims of Intervenors

Tennessee Chancery Court Judge I’Ashea L. Myles ruled in a decision released at 11:58 pm on Thursday that none of the writings left by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale shall be released to the multiple parties who sued Metro Nashville to secure their release, citing the copyright claims of the parents she earlier allowed to intervene in the lawsuit.

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Nashville Police Deny Chief Acknowledged Vanderbilt University Medical Center Staff Failed Duty to Warn Potential Victims of Covenant Killer Audrey Hale

The Metropolitan Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Wednesday denied Chief John Drake privately acknowledged staff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) knew Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale told mental health professionals she fantasized about killing her father and committing a mass shooting at a school, but failed to warn potential victims in violation of Tennessee Code 33-3-206, as was alleged by a source familiar with the investigation to The Tennessee Star on June 19.

MNPD Public Affairs director Don Aaron contacted The Star on Wednesday via email to state, “Chief Drake confirms that he DID NOT acknowledge what” The Star first reported in its June 19 article.

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Father Says His Teenage Daughter ‘Began Mentioning a Trans Lifestyle and Adopted a Male Name’ While Being Treated at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital

Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital

The distraught father of a teenage daughter contacted The Tennessee Star on Thursday and expressed his concern about the treatment his daughter has been receiving at Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, part of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).

The Star received the email after it published the notes taken by a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigator the department obtained at least 75 pages of documents from VUMC following a June 1, 2023 search warrant. 

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Reporter Tom Pappert: Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Connection to Covenant Killer Is the Most Significant Revelation of Entire Case

Tom Pappert MPL

Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said he believes Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s (VUMC) connection to Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, is the “biggest part” of the unraveling story.

On June 7, The Star was the first to report that Hale was a 22-year patient of VUMC from 2001 until the time of the horrific school shooting on March 27, 2023.

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Vanderbilt University Medical Center Responds Following Revelation Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Expressed Fantasies of Killing Father, Shooting School

Audrey Hale VUMC

The Tennessee Star received a response from Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) regarding its apparent treatment of Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale, which was revealed in a number of Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) documents obtained by The Star.

After The Star obtained a police summary describing 75 pages of notes retrieved from VUMC following a June 1, 2023 search warrant for information related to Hale’s treatment, and asked VUMC president and CEO Jeff Balser for comment, a spokesman said he was unable to confirm Hale’s treatment due to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability (HIPAA) Act of 1996.

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MNPD Review of Vanderbilt University Medical Center Records: Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Had ‘Thoughts of Killing Dad . . . Struggles with Mental Health. Recent Thoughts of Going into a School and Shooting a Bunch of People.’

The Tennessee Star has obtained a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) internal document labeled “Vandy Psych” which appears to be notes taken by an MNPD officer tasked with reviewing documents obtained via a search warrant granted for Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, part of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), on June 1, 2023.

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MNPD Confirms Authenticity of Covenant Killer Journal Obtained by The Tennessee Star

Audrey Elizabeth Hale

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) on Friday confirmed the authenticity of the 80 pages of writings from the journal of Covenant School killer Audrey Hale, which were obtained by The Tennessee Star last week.

A Friday morning legal filing by the police department involves a declaration by MNPD Lieutenant Alfredo Arevalo, who claimed to have information about the possible identity of the individual or group of people who provided the Covenant materials to The Star.

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MNPD Learned on Day of Covenant Shooting Audrey Hale Had Been Treated by Vanderbilt Psychiatric for 22 Years from 2001 Until Her 2023 Death

Covenant School Shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale

Metro Nashville Police Department learned Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale was a 22-year patient of mental health professionals at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) on March 27, 2023, the same day she orchestrated her devastating attack that claimed the lives of three 9-year-old students and three adults working at the school.

The Tennessee Star obtained the June 1, 2023 affidavit filed by an MNPD detective to obtain a search warrant for VUMC from a source familiar with the Covenant investigation.

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Covenant Killer Audrey Hale Used Federal Pell Grant Funds to Buy Guns She Used in March 2023 Mass Shooting at Christian School

Covenant School shooter Audrey Elizabeth Hale reportedly used funds from a federal Pell grant to buy the guns she used to perpetrate a mass shooting in March, 2023.

99.7 WTN afternoon radio host Brian Wilson reported Wednesday that Hale “took money from an education grant she received to purchase her weapons and to pay for training at a local gun range.”

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Man Accused of Choking Granddaughter at Nashville Public Bus Station in Latest WeGo Incident

WeGo Transit

A man pushed, grabbed, and choked his granddaughter at a downtown public bus station in Nashville in the latest incident related to criminal activity associated with WeGo, WSMV reported.

Metro Nashville Police Department arrested Kevin Figgins, 58, on Monday. He is charged with domestic assault with bodily injury, and his bond has been set at $1,000, according to Davidson County court records.

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Retired MNPD Lieutenant Says Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital Did Not Report Covenant Killer’s Violent Fantasies to Law Enforcement

Garet Davidson

Retired Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Lt. Garet Davidson told Michael Patrick Leahy, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Tennessee Star, that Audrey Elizabeth Hale, the Covenant School killer, received treatment from the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, where professionals failed to report her violent fantasies to law enforcement. Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital is a part of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center system.

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Reporter Tom Pappert: ‘Bone-Chilling’ to See 15-Year-Old Alleged Bellevue Killer Smiling After Crime

Tom Pappert

Tom Pappert, the lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said the photograph released by the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) that shows the 15-year-old arrested for the fatal Wednesday night shooting in Bellevue smiling after the incident is “bone-chilling.”

On Thursday, Pappert reported that MNPD confirmed the arrest of 15-year-old De’Anthony Osasosifo and named him as a suspect in the Wednesday night shooting in the parking lot of the Red Caboose Park in Bellevue that left a 13-year-old dead and his 16-year-old sister hospitalized.

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MNPD Silent on Allegation that Police Searched Practitioner’s Home, Office in Covenant Investigation

Metro Nashville Police Department declined to comment on allegations by a recently retired MNPD officer who claimed police searched the home and office of a “practitioner” involved in the Covenant shooting investigation.

Former Lieutenant Garet Davidson is skeptical the Covenant shooting investigation is still “active, open, and actually being worked” despite MNPD’s claim that the investigation is open, he said in an interview with 99.7 WTN host Brian Wilson on his afternoon drive radio show.

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Retired Officer Garet Davidson Tells WTN’s Brian Wilson MNPD Served Warrant on Medical Practitioner as Part of Covenant Investigation

Mike Hagar, Garet Davidson, and Chris Gilder

A 61-page complaint against the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) by a retired officer was obtained in full by 99.7 WTN radio host Brian Wilson and published on his website Thursday afternoon.

Wilson interviewed the complaint’s author — former MNPD Lieutenant Garet Davidson — Thursday on his afternoon drive time radio show.

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Newly Formed Community Review Board Holds Special Meeting on Allegations by Disgruntled Former MNPD Employee

CRB Meeting

Metro Nashville’s newly formed Community Review Board (CRB) held a special meeting on Tuesday about a series of allegations by a disgruntled former Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) officer.

The 61-page complaint contained allegations that high-level MNPD officers engaged in lobbying behind closed doors to pass a 2023 state law that banned the city’s Community Oversight Board (COB). The complaint also alleged that MNPD undermined the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA), MNPD’s internal affairs division responsible for investigating police misconduct.

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Man Arrested for Alleged Vanderbilt Sexual Assault a Sex Offender, Repeat Felon

Daniel Revette

The man police arrested for an alleged May 11 sexual assault of a woman outside a Vanderbilt Medical Center parking garage is a sex offender and a repeat felon, according to MNPD and court records about the suspect.

The suspect is Daniel Revette, 39. Before he was arrested, he already had outstanding warrants for attempted rape, sexual battery, and kidnapping, MNPD posted to X. Officers arrested Revette after he tried to be admission to a Nashville hospital for an evaluation.

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Inside Nashville Metro Council’s Decision to Deny Morgan Wallen Sign over ‘Aerial Encroachment’ and Past Remarks

Morgan Wallen

Metro Nashville Council Member Jeff Eslick provided an inside look of the council’s decision to deny a sign from being displayed on the exterior of country music artist Morgan Wallen’s downtown bar, explaining how the ordinance to deny such display dealt with “aerial encroachment” and was a “standard operating procedure” before members personally smeared the artist for his past actions.

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Gun Thefts from Cars in Nashville Decrease After MNPD Launches Initiative to Combat Gun Theft

Gun thefts from vehicles in Nashville have decreased compared to this time last year, according to numbers released by Metro Nashville Police Department on Wednesday. The fall in thefts came after MNPD started an initiative to combat car theft and related crimes.

MNPD said 305 guns have been stolen from Nashville vehicles so far in 2024, according to a Wednesday press release. Numbers from around this time last year recorded 477 gun thefts from vehicles, making for a 36 percent decrease.

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MNPD: Nashville Suffered 30 Overdose Incidents in Two Days as Overall Overdoses Decrease

Man with pills

Nashville suffered 30 combined overdose incidents across Sunday and Monday, Metro Nashville Police Department told The Tennessee Star about a recent spike in overdose activity in Nashville.

MNPD announced the recent overdose spike in a Tuesday press release, detailing the department’s efforts to fight overdoses in Nashville in response to the rise in overdose activity. For example, MNPD highlighted its detectives distributing kits of Narcan, a medicine that can treat drug overdoses in emergency situations, to about 40 homeless individuals.

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Drug Overdoses Spike in Nashville, MNPD Hands Out Narcan to Homeless

Metro Nashville Police Department handed out kits for Narcan, medicine that can treat drug overdoses in emergency situations, to about 40 homeless people on Monday in response to a spike in overdoses on Sunday and Monday.

Detectives are investigating the overdose spike, according to an MNPD press release. In only one incident downtown, eight individuals overdosed together, causing two fatalities while the other six were revived with Narcan.

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One Month After Announcing Transportation Plan Focused on More Busses, Nashville Mayor Requests Full Safety Review of City’s Public Bus Service Following Shooting

Freddie O'Connell

One month after announcing a transportation plan focused on more busses, Nashville Mayor Freddie O’Connell reportedly requested a full safety review of the city’s public transportation service, WeGo, after a man was shot six times on the steps of the bus station located at Rep John Lewis Way & MLK Jr Blvd, according to WSMV.

On Thursday, the Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) announced that a 31-year-old convicted felon was arrested for the shooting of an 18-year-old at the bus stop earlier in the day.

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MNPD Asks for Public’s Help in Solving Decades-Old Cold Case

Ricky Rydell Young

The Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) is asking for the public’s help in solving a decades-old cold case. 

“Do you know what happened to Ricky Rydell Young, 36?” asked a Thursday post on MNPD’s Facebook page. “On May 14, 1998, A resident on Greenwood Avenue in East Nashville was walking his dog when he discovered Ricky suffering from a gunshot wound to his chest in a nearby driveway. There were no witnesses to his murder. Someone knows what happened to Ricky Young.”

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