Expert: Gunman's smashed computers could yield data

Updated 5:44 p.m. ET

In the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting that claimed the lives of 20 children and six adults, gunman Adam Lanza's destroyed computer is high on the list of potential clues to his motive.

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Connecticut State Police have handed the smashed hard drives found in Lanza's mother's home over to the FBI. CBS News' Bob Orr reports Tuesday that the hard drives were smashed into so many small pieces that the FBI lab has been unable to retrieve any data. And Cyber experts are not optimistic.

Flashback Data, which is not working on the case, is a company that specializes in data recovery and computer forensics. David McGroty, director of forensics operations, tells CBS News that it's not simply a matter of whether or not the hard drives were smashed. Where a computer drive is broken is crucial to data recovery.

"One of the things that cause data to not be recovered is to see if the disk can be re-aligned," McGroty said.

"Some electronics on the bottom could be smashed," McGroty said about the parts on the bottom of a drive, "but it could be matched and replaced to make the drive work."

The worst-case scenario, McGroty says, is if the "platters that hold the data either made of ceramic of metal. Ceramics struck with a hammer will shatter. Obviously that is a game over."

McGroty tells CBS News that the best-case scenario will be if the hard drive was hammered from the outside, but there was no damage on the platter.

Retrieving data from Lanza's computer might give insight into the gunman's behavior or plans, leading up to the shooting.

Lanza appeared to have left little to no digital footprint. He apparently had no easily searchable profiles on Facebook or Twitter. There is always the possibility that he used an alias for all of his online activities.

What has puzzled many is how a man who was reported as being into computers could have no trace online.

Paul Steinmetz, spokesman for Western Connecticut State University, told the Associated Press that that Lanza earned an "A" in a computer class.

According to the AP, Lanza also belonged to a technology club at Newtown High School that held "LAN parties." Short for local area network, a LAN party is a small network of computers, usually in one of the members' homes, that are hooked up to play video games.

"From a forensics standpoint, the biggest thing that comes up is that most teenagers or young adults watch Netflix, watch shows or play video games," McGroty said of Lanza's possible digital footprint.

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If investigators can find what service's Lanza used, they could potentially unlock his Web history. McGroty says, for example, if he was using an Android phone, police could subpoena Google to access his Gmail. There are some things that can't be erased because the data is held by a third party.

"It's difficult to live in a modern world without leaving footprints," McGroty says. "Even if you're clever, you're still going to eventually Google something. Over time you do leave these traces out there."

[lfreeman1111]

Even if he had, for example, a gmail account where he wiped out all his data (and gave Google time to permanently delete everything, which they claim they do), it might still be possible for Google to check their logs for ads that were sent to his IP address (they may have to coordinate with his ISP to find out which IP address he was allocated during different time frames). The ads often are correlated with key words in the mail. This MIGHT give a tiny clue into what was going through his mind. And not just Google, any cloud service that uses targeted ads might be able to help. Also the ISP itself would probably have logs of the web sites he visited (if in fact he visited any).

[eroteme2]

Need his computer data? For why? Lanza was a mentally defective killer. For such a person why should we be concerned about his motive? Will this make us all feel better? Or are we just hungry for more news about this celebrity we have created who does not deserve to be a celebrity.

[signseeker1717]

If they learn motives, they MIGHT be able to prevent a recurrence. Should authorities and news agencies just STOP investigating and everyone just fall back on speculation and ignorance because some wackos out there consider him a "celebrity"?! There's a big difference between "celebrity" and "notoriety".

[Echo238]

I work pretty hard to hide/lesson my online footprint. Nothing nefarious. I'm just trying to protect my privacy to some extent. But I'll be the first to admit that it's only minimally effective (sites like SPOKEO for instance that data mine public records prove to a large extent how pointless the effort is).

That said, the fact that Adam Lanza went to such extremes to destroy his hard drive, knowing that he was most likely going to commit suicide is disturbing to me. One of his former classmates (who coincidently lived just a few doors down) stated to CNN that "there was no doubt that Adam was a genius." His aunt said that Adam was a very, very bright kid...really smart. If I were the police, I would be seriously concerned that, while dead, Adam Lanza's final curtain call hasn't played out.

[LelandWilliams]

Did Lanza destroy his hard drive? Or did the FBI? Regardless, it can be resurrected by a special company in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Just contact the WISC research center at Univeristy of Wisconsin Whitewater.

[signseeker1717]

What on earth would the FBI's MOTIVE be for DESTROYING evidence in a high profile case such as this? Wouldn't that be rather STUPID when the story is so much in the spotlight right now?

[Samuel_Reich]

What difference does what twisted reasoning had make. The action was what most Americans classify as insane even if individual (like the mass killer in Norway and the trainers of child suicide bombers) was clinically sane and just had a violent ideology or culture. He did the act and we know there are millions of people who have an insanity that can turn violent and millions with a violent ideology. Both need to be registered if are to restrict them but we do not have such a registry, for example without it the FBI cannot tell gun dealer he cannot make a sale when the dealer calls. If some sane person is buying the gun for the trouble maker the registry will not work. In case the police said the gun belonged to the mother not the shooter.

The difference between them is one gets medicine the other we need bankrupt and keep from media that may be used spread the violent ideology. There may be too many of them to have them live in cities set aside for them.

[ipxg]

People, don't forget SSDs can not be destroyed like traditional hard drives.

[Vahlsing]

Gun violence will always present itself. We first need to look at the motive of a violent event. Next we need to look into if medication (drugs) were the cause (alteration) of an individual personality going berserk. We need to also look into if the individual's personality has been altered from being stalked. We need to ask ourselves why this individual couldn't relieve himself of the turmoil in his life. Why was he so sad and mad? ...Who is to blame? ... I would start with the pharmaceutical drug that this individual was using. I believe that it was his medication that caused this individual to go off the deep end; and that the pharmaceutical company behind his medication is liable for all those murdered and/or injured.

[eroteme2]

I do not see the value of spending effort to find what the motive might have been for this mentally defective killer. If his motive is learned shold this change anything? Do we suppose his motive for killing his mother matters? He killer her as well as the school children and teachers. Or do we expecd learning his motive will permit prevention of another mentally defective killing spree? It just might be that Lanza simply wanted to kill. Or do we arrive at a solution similar to everyone having to take their shoes off to board aircrafts because one sorry person had a bomb in his shoe with fuses sticking out?

[APatriot1]

What if he had an online accomplice? One who told him to do this? Don't you think that's imporant to know?

[Paul2351]

I find it so odd that he destroyed his PC. He presumably had already killed his mother and intended to head for the school to do what he did and take his own life as well. What could have been on the HD that he cared about so much? Weird.

[MomsHugs]

For all we know, his mother may have destroyed them & he killed her as a result. State/FBI investigation in forensics has yet to conclude anything.

[Paul2351]

MOMSHUGS

You think his mom, took his pc apart, and smashed his hard drives and ...went to bed where he killed her in her sleep...which is what they have released. ok. I'm good with waiting...

[lollyikens]

This is just so wrong to be posting comments bashing the news. We all know that the news sometimes makes news sensational to get readers interest. I could care less about what different readers in know how to erase data from a computer. I do not care about your skill at this, so stop bragging.

[meeeeeeeeeee1]

Why do people keep using the shooters name? ! The Best thing is to give no acknowledgment to that person. Perhaps it would help deter COPYCATS!
GIVE ABSOLUTELY no acknowledgment to the person by name! JUST SAYIN...

[ilikefidel]

Nonsense - people use real names to search for information. You might as well suggest we burn all books that contain ideas or material you find personally offensive.