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No Data Retrieved From Lanza's Smashed Hard Drive

Effort to do so was ultimately unsuccessful

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Dec 18, 2012 1:03 AM CST | Updated Dec 18, 2012 1:55 AM CST

(Newser) – A computer found at Adam Lanza's home had been smashed and the hard drive damaged with a hammer or screwdriver, and investigators now say they have been unable to recover data from it that could shed light on the motive for the Connecticut school shooting, reports the New York Times. The computer was among large amounts of evidence seized from the home Lanza shared with his mother as part of a painstaking investigation that is expected to take months, ABC reports.

Experts had earlier told ComputerWorld that the recovery effort would depend on whether Lanza knew enough to break, scratch, or puncture the drive platters. "If the drive's platters aren't smashed they can put them into another drive and read them," the CEO of forensics data recovery firm Kessler International says. "But if he broke the platters, the likelihood of data recovery is slim to none." "It looked like he took steps to damage it—he smashed it," confirmed an official to the Times.

This undated photo circulated by law enforcement shows Adam Lanza.
This undated photo circulated by law enforcement shows Adam Lanza.   (AP Photo/NBC News)
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Were there any early indications that he was getting ready to act these fantasies out? In some cases there are and in some there aren't. - Marc Rogers, chair of the Cyber Forensics Program at Purdue University

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 57 comments
reallybig
Dec 18, 2012 5:58 PM CST
MY THEORY? --- Adam couldn't "feel" pain, nor "feel" emotions, and tried to inflict pain on himself, as described by some who knew him. --- THINK how Adam must have felt by not "feeling" any pain, fear, hate, happiness, or sadness, etc. -- HE FELT NOTHING -- The curiosity of not having these emotions, led to Adam using a weapon on the women and children, to somehow try to understand what emotions others "felt" (like fear, anger, hate, and death) when being shot and killed, all those things he could never experience. --- The killings by Adam, weren't caused by any of his feelings or emotions, but were caused by his lack of having any feelings and emotions, and trying to understand what was missing in him. -- IF YOU DON'T FEEL ANYTHING, THE DEATHS OF CHILDREN MEAN NOTHING -- Guns didn't cause these deaths, any weapon Adam could have used, would have brought unemotional death to someone. --- Multitude gunshots in the victims mean Adam was  trying to understand those "feelings and emotions," and in the end tried one last time, to experience it on himself. --- "DEXTER" on TV, he's that type person. ------- REALLY
793tango
Dec 18, 2012 3:31 PM CST
They still might be able to find out a few things from web sites and searches he did. Might not answer all the questions but could answer some.
reallybig
Dec 18, 2012 12:08 PM CST
When Genius and Madness are combined, who can foretell if it's Madness and not Genius, who will act out at anytime? --- The genius will sound like a madman, and the madman like a genius, and the genius and madman won't recognize themselves. --- The acts of a genius sometimes are called mad, and the acts of a madman recognized as genius. --- Madness overcame genius in Adam's mind, and it was madness that killed the innocents. -------- REALLY

 
FBI • school shooting • hard drives • Sandy Hook Elementary School • Newtown • Connecticut school shooting • Adam Lanza

 
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