Adam Lanza’s Body Claimed for Burial

Spokeswoman for the Connecticut coroner will not say who claimed the body

Nearly half a month after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., an unidentified person has claimed the shooter’s body for burial, the New York Times is reporting. A spokeswoman for the Connecticut chief medical examiner’s office declined on Sunday to identify the person who claimed 20-year-old shooter Adam Lanza’s body. Family members for Lanza were not reachable on Sunday night. A funeral service for Lanza’s mother, Nancy, whom he shot in the head while she slept, before carrying out the massacre at Sandy Hook on Dec. 14, took place days after the shooting. Adam Lanza fatally shot 20 school children and six adults before turning the gun on himself. The massacre sparked international mourning and reignited a serious debate over stricter gun control in the U.S. (NY Times)

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Conn. Shooter Thought Mom Loved Students More: Neighbor

Adam Lanza also angry because mother wanted to commit him, Newtown resident says

The man who shot his mother before going on a rampage at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, killing 20 children and six educators before killing himself, thought his mom loved students she cared for more than him, a neighbor says. Joshua Flashman, 25, of Newtown, says Nancy Lanza, the mother of Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman Adam Lanza, sometimes worked with kindergartners at the school as a volunteer. In addition, Flashman says that Adam Lanza, 20, also was angry that his mother was taking him to see a psychiatrist and wanted to have him involuntarily committed. Flashman's account to media outlets and investigators may prove to be the elusive motive in the Dec. 14 massacre that has outraged the nation and led to calls for tougher and more comprehensive gun control. (NewsOne)

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Lanza Destroyed Harddrive, Cut Ties with Dad Before Shooting

Killer covered tracks prior to massacre

Before Adam Lanza, 20, opened gunfire at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. killing 20 first-grade kids, six adult school officials and then himself, he destroyed his computer hard drive. The FBI’s computer-analysis response team is still trying to put its pieces back together. According to the Hartford Courant, Lanza had used the computer to play a violent videogame in which life-like characters participate in bloody battle scenes, but there is currently no other evidence of what else he did with it. Still, a law-enforcement said, "The kid knew what he was doing. This was a planned event. There is no question about it.”

Adam also killed his mother Nancy at their home, shooting her four times in the head while she was likely sleeping, but the relationship with his father hasn't been as widely reported on. Peter Lanza, a successful finance executive at GE, separated from Nancy in 2001, but still saw Adam every week. In 2009, the Lanzas officially divorced and, by 2010, Peter was dating a new woman, whom he later married. Adam cut his dad off then, and Peter hadn't seen or heard from him since, despite fully supporting them with monthly payments of more than $289,000 in alimony and also volunteering to pay for Adam's college, car and medical insurance. When a local reporter showed up at his Peter's doorstep to break the news, "his expression twisted from patient, to surprise, to horror. It was the first time that he considered a loved one could be involved," said Maggie Hogan of the Stamford Advocate. (Daily Beast, Today)

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Adam Lanza's Former Babysitter, Others Speak Out

Ryan Kraft says killer could have attacked him, remembers warnings by Lanza's mother.

Fifteen years ago, Ryan Kraft baby-sat for Adam Lanza, who grew up to commit one of the nation's worst mass shootings. Now, almost a week after Lanza gunned down 20 children and six educators in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, Kraft is speaking out about the signs he saw that Lanza was troubled from a very early age.

Kraft says Lanza's mother, Nancy, whom Adam killed before he headed to the school Friday, gave him troubling instructions. “[She told me] to keep an eye on him at all times…to never turn my back, not even to go to the bathroom,” Kraft said. “I haven’t processed it,” Kraft says of the tragedy, adding, “...15 years ago it could have been me.”

Others who knew the gunman, described by family as somewhat socially awkward but bright, have begun to come forward as well. Olivia DeVivo, a former classmate, says that she saw signs but didn’t want to vilify someone simply based on casual acquaintance. ““He was very different and very shy and didn’t make an effort to interact with anybody—but you can’t say every shy person would do something like this,” she said. (NewsOne)

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