No Data Retrieved From Lanza's Smashed Hard Drive

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. (More Adam Lanza stories.)