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The Supreme Court ruled unanimously this week in favor of the Hartford Courant, who previously attempted to have the items made public, though that decision was overruled by a lower court judge. It has not been disclosed when the 35 items will be released.
Connecticut State Police investigators had previously rejected media requests to view Lanza’s belongings that were seized following the shooting, citing privacy rights.
The Courant appealed to the state’s Freedom of Information Commission, which ruled in 2015 that state police should release the documents. That ruling was later overturned by Superior Court Judge Carl Schuman a year later.
According to reports, the state’s attorney general’s office, which represents state police, could have the Supreme Court reconsider the ruling. There may also be an appeal with the United States Supreme Court.
Connecticut State Police have declined comment this week.
The items set to be released include a spreadsheet ranking mass murders and a notebook with the title “The Big Book of Granny,” which includes disturbing stories Lanza wrote years before the massacre in Newtown. There is also a second document, which was described as “detailing relationships, ideal companion, culture, voting, personal beliefs, describes doctors touching children as rape.”
Other items include hand-drawn pictures and stories about unique characters, documents detailing his mental health issues; notes about his family and more original stories about a range of topics.
Lanza killed his mother in Newtown on Dec. 14, 2012, before fatally shooting 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He then turned the gun on himself as police arrived at the school to intervene.
No motive has ever been made clear, though that picture may make more sense once the new information is released. A report from the Connecticut Child Advocate said Lanza’s severe and deteriorating mental health problems, his preoccupation with violence and access to his mother’s weapons “proved a recipe for mass murder.”
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