Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale received medical diagnoses for five mental disorders, her parents Ronald Hale and Norma Hale told Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) investigators on July 12, 2023, according to a transcript of the interview obtained by The Tennessee Star from a source familiar with the investigation.
Ronald Hale and Norma Hale, with the assistance of their attorney, provided the list of mental disorders after MNPD investigators questioned whether Audrey Hale was formally diagnosed with autism.
Attorney David Raybin seldom spoke during the two-hour interview, but at one point referenced his notes to explain, with the help of Norma Hale, that Audrey Hale was diagnosed with anxiety disorder, social phobia, dysthymia disorder, major depressive disorder, and autism spectrum disorder in approximately 2011 when she was a high school student at the Nashville School of the Arts.
Individuals with an anxiety disorder could “respond to certain things and situations with fear and dread” or “experience physical signs of anxiety, such as a pounding heart and sweating,” according to the Cleveland Clinic, which similarly explains that social phobia causes “fear and anxiety” when “around people in social situations.”
Dysthymia disorder is also known as persistent depressive disorder, which the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) explain “is characterized by chronic low-level depression that is not as severe, but may be longer lasting than, major depressive disorder.”
Major depressive disorder, according to the NIMH, “is diagnosed when an individual has a persistently low or depressed mood, anhedonia or decreased interest in pleasurable activities, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, lack of energy, poor concentration, appetite changes, psychomotor retardation or agitation, sleep disturbances, or suicidal thoughts.”
The NIMH describes autism spectrum disorder as a “developmental disorder,” where symptoms usually appear within the first two years of life and are characterized by restricted interests, repetitive behaviors, difficulty communicating and interacting, and “symptoms that affect” academic and professional abilities.
Ronald Hale and Norma Hale told MNPD investigators that Audrey Hale was given the diagnosis after a series of tests were administered by an individual who appears to be employed by Vanderbilt University and affiliated with Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where police documents revealed Audrey Hale was a 22-year mental health patient prior to her March 27, 2023, attack on the Covenant School, where she claimed the lives of six before she was heroically shot by police.
In addition to his employment at Vanderbilt University, this individual is mentioned as an investigator on two different VUMC web pages and appears to practice in Brentwood, Tennessee.
According to her parents, Audrey Hale was twice evaluated for commitment at VUMC after she experienced suicidal ideation and avoided commitment a total of three times prior to her death.
Star News Digital Media, Inc., which owns and operates The Star, and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy are plaintiffs in the ongoing lawsuits which seek to compel both MNPD and the FBI to release Audrey Hale’s full writings, including those sometimes called a manifesto.
Last month, The Star published an FBI memo sent to MNPD Chief John Drake, which “strongly” advised against releasing “legacy tokens” from killers like Audrey Hale. An FBI definition suggests both the approximately 80 pages of Audrey Hale’s writings obtained by The Star and those sought in the lawsuits are considered unfit for public release by the federal agency.
While the FBI declined to confirm it sent the memo in a statement to The Star, it confirmed it sends such “products” to local law enforcement.
Since it obtained Audrey Hale’s writings and a portion of police documents, it has published more than 60 articles that reveal the killer’s own words or provide new details about the Covenant investigation.
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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].
