Adam Lanza's Pedophilia Interest Revealed In New FBI File

NEWTOWN, CT — The blurry portrait of Adam Lanza may never fully shift into focus, but 1,500 pages of investigative documents released by the FBI this week add some clarity to the man who perpetrated the deadliest crime in state history.

The FBI papers, released weeks before the five-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, offer new details on Lanza, the reclusive son of a “gun nut” who spent the final year of his life plotting a crime that devastated the Newtown community. The documents describe Lanza as an unstable “recluse” fascinated with pedophilia who meticulously researched mass murders and had a strained relationship with his mother, Nancy Lanza.

“The shooter had a complex background featuring many problematic bio-psycho-social issues,” The FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) analysis said. “Historical, clinical and contextual factors contributed to the shooter’s extremely rigid world view.”

The additional details found in the heavily redacted FBI documents fail to determine Lanza’s definitive motive for murdering 20 first graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary on Dec. 14, 2012.

According to the FBI papers, he had been planning the killings as early as March 2011, the BAU determined Lanza’s obsession and attention to detail with mass killings was “unprecedented” after a forensic review of his computer usage.

“The shooter did not “snap,” but instead engaged in careful, methodical planning and preparation,” according to the BAU analysis. “There is evidence that the shooter began contemplating the attack as early as March 2011.”

Watch: FBI releases 1,500 pages of documents on Sandy Hook shooter

Some information found in the FBI documents seems to contradict findings previously reported by Danbury State’s Attorney Stephen Sendensky.

Sedensky concluded that Lanza did not discuss his plot with anyone. Federal investigators, however, spoke to a man who said he called Newtown Police in December 2008 and warned that he overheard Lanza threatening to shoot his mother and children at Sandy Hook School, the FBI papers show.

Police told the man that Lanza’s mother owned the guns and that there was nothing the department could do about it, according to the man’s interview with FBI investigators. Newtown Police Chief James Viadero said the man referenced in the report never

"Newtown PD has been working closely with the FBI on verifying information on the referenced report," Viadero said in a statement. "A comprehensive search of our records indicate that the person named in the report is not on record as ever contacting the agency in 2008 or subsequent to that date."

A Mother Blinded By Devotion

Adam and Nancy Lanza lived an isolated existence at 36 Yogananda St. Neighbors interviewed when FBI agents canvassed the area said they had never seen the mother and son before. One neighbor even told investigators he wouldn’t have recognized the family even if he saw photos of them.

A woman who was friendly with the Lanzas described Nancy Lanza as a “gun nut,” who loved the feeling and power of a gun in her hand. She would frequently take Lanza to the gun range, where he earned his NRA safety certification, documents show.

A neighbor told investigators Nancy Lanza had purchased weapons for her son, including rifles and a single-barrel shotgun.

Nancy Lanza was intensely protective of Lanza, not letting anyone come in to her home. The Yale Child Study Centerrecommended extensive educational supports, consultation and rigorous therapeutic support when Lanza was in the ninth grade, but the recommendations went largely unheeded. The psychiatrist urged anti-anxiety medication, but Lanza refused. She wrote that Lanza’s constructed social and education world was concerning.

“He was living in a box, [the psychiatrist] said, and that box was only going to get smaller over time if he didn't get treatment,” according to a report from the The Connecticut Office Of The Child Advocate (OCA). The organization oversees public and private agencies charged with the protection of children

The OCA report said Nancy Lanza felt horrible during the Yale interview process and that her son was frustrated, angry and anxious and that she felt that he was being tortured.

FBI investigators showed up to the 36 Yogananda St. home when Lanza was in the ninth grade after he hacked through two levels of a government security system, the woman told investigators.

“Nancy had to convince the authorities her son was just very intelligent and was challenging himself,” Investigators wrote of the woman’s interview.

Nancy Lanza once failed to RSVP to a party “because there was no return address on the envelope she thought there was anthrax in it,” the documents indicated.

She would dote on Lanza’s every whim and need, according to one interview subject whose name was redacted. Often blaming his behavior on his asperger’s syndrome, she continued her devotion to her son until she was murdered.

A friend of Nancy Lanza’s told investigators she had a boyfriend, but spent her days caring for Lanza and meeting his needs. She had even planned to put the home on the market, and the documents revealed Lanza wanted to move to Seattle because it was dark and gloomy.

Lanza spent his final months secluded in his room, not even allowing Nancy Lanza to enter. After months of seclusion, Nancy Lanza purchased her son computer parts to build because she was worried about her son, according to the documents. A friend could tell Nancy Lanza was worried after his car battery died from not being used in months.

An Obsession With Mass Murder

Barricading himself in the bedroom of his home heavily armed with high-capacity magazines, knives and guns, Lanza spent his days focused on mass murder and spree killings. He conducted meticulous research on the subject, recording details of mass killings on a spreadsheet, and communicated with others on the subject of mass human slaughter.

The new documents detail an FBI interview with a woman he connected with on the website columbinesupermassacrerpg.com, a game set during the Columbine High School shooting of 1999. The woman who befriended Lanza told investigators she was speaking to Lanza monthly, but never learned his real name.

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She described Lanza as “the weirdest person online,” telling investigators he would wallow in spats of depression and sleep for 12 hours or more at a time, lacking effective coping skills. He was singularly focused on killings, devoting all of his internet activity to researching and discussing mass murder. However, she never saw anything in Lanza’s communications that indicated he himself would carry out such an attack, FBI investigators wrote of the interview.

Lanza referenced other mass shooters in past usernames on Tumblr, which he used to describe vivid dreams of murder. He deleted the posts around November of 2012.

Three days before the shooting Lanza wrote an email about mass shooters and said that he didn’t understand why the Aurora movie theatre shooting was considered a big deal. He wrote that using pistols felt “just right” as opposed to other methods of murder.

"While granting that modus operandi really isn’t that important, I just can’t get into vehicular slaughterers,” Lanza wrote in an e-mail referenced by the The Connecticut Office Of The Child Advocate’s report. “It seem too mediated, like using remote explosives (too hot). And knives stray too far from the whole “mass” aspect (too cold). The aesthetic of pistols tends to be just (sic) right.”

While investigators found several video game consoles in his bedroom, the Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded Lanza did not view the shooting as a video game or contest.

Pedophilic Interests

The state’s attorney’s report referenced “materials regarding the topic of pedophilia and advocating for the rights of pedophiles,” but the victims’ families were told by members of the BAU that Lanza exhibited behavior that “could be characterized as pedophilia,” but no evidence suggesting he acted on it.

Lanza’s online friend said the shooter believed teachers and other authorities were improperly controlling children, and the adult-child relationship could possibly be beneficial to both parties. A file on Lanza’s computer advocated for the rights of pedophiles and the liberation of children,” FBI investigators wrote, but the material was not child pornography. The nature of the file was not discussed further.

“In his writings Lanza expressed a lot about his view of the world. For the most part, Lanza was angry and resentful about society’s structure,” Investigator’s wrote of their interview with the friend Lanza met online. “Lanza thought of those who were successful in society as selfish, cruel and controlling.”

His friend said Lanza likely believed he was “saving” children from the “harmful influences” of adults when he gunned down 20 first graders inside their classrooms.

She described Lanza as “more f***ed up than I thought,” the documents show.

The Heavily-Redacted Documents

Most of the 1,500 pages released by the FBI are heavily redacted, with numerous pages completely blank. While large chunks of information were also redacted from the final Connecticut State Police report in 2013, a clear redaction index was provided explaining the purpose of the redactions.

FBI New Haven Spokesman Charles Grady declined to comment on the documents and the reasons for the redactions.

"The FBI's release of investigative information on the Sandy Hook tragedy was made through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provision as required by law," FBI Special Agent In Charge Patricia Ferrick. "However, I understand that doing so renews the anguish for the victims' families as well as for our community. Even though the documents are meant to stand on their own, I want to assure the community that all information received and allegations made before, during, and after the tragedy were thoroughly investigated."

Devin Janosov, who represents the estates of victims Noah Pozner and Jesse Lewis in a wrongful death lawsuit against the Town of Newtown, said his law firm filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the FBI to receive an unredacted copy of the documents.

While he could not say why there were so many redactions, Janosov said they affect his clients’ case because they can’t identify subjects that could possibly be spoken to or subpoenaed. Janosov added that the FBI is unlikely to release an unredacted copy of the documents it published.

“I’m just going to have to accept the reality that it is never going to happen,” Janosov said.

Editor's Note: This story has been updated with comments from the Newtown Police Department.

Image: The Connecticut State Police via Getty Images

Rich Scinto, Patch Staff contributed to this report