Gunman may have tried to hide motive
Investigators continue to dig for a motive to the Northern Illinois University slayings, but it appears the gunman took steps to hide his reasons for the rampage.
Before walking into a lecture hall on Valentine's Day with a shotgun and three handguns, Steve Kazmierczak hid a computer chip from his cell phone and the hard drive to his laptop, authorities say.
The laptop was found in the Travelodge hotel room where the gunman stayed near campus for three nights before the shootings.
"It does appear (the gunman) was taking steps to thwart the investigation as far as uncovering a motive," NIU spokeswoman Melanie Magara said.
NIU Police Chief Donald Grady will be holding a news conference at 3 p.m. today in DeKalb to release more details on the investigation.
Investigators still believe the 27-year-old gunman did not know anyone in the ocean science class at Cole Hall, where he shot five students to death and wounded 16 others before turning the gun on himself.
The gunman used to teach in the classroom as an NIU graduate student of sociology. His girlfriend, Jessica Baty of Wonder Lake, has said she had no idea her live-in boyfriend was planning the murders or was capable of them.
The shooter has a history of mental illness and started covering his body with bizarre tattoos and stockpiling weapons in the months before the assault. He told his godfather -- who said he was unaware that his godson had mental-health issues -- that he had recently broken up with his girlfriend and was "looking at girls at NIU."
Baty has said her boyfriend was not "crazy" but recently had stopped taking anti-depressants prescribed by a psychiatrist he saw once a month. She said he just got angry more easily after taking them. She disputes the assertion of authorities that he started acting "erratic."
Magara said the girlfriend's recent statements in the media regarding the shooter's state of mind conflict with what she told authorities in the hours after the shooting.
The two had dated on and off for two years and were living together in Champaign since the summer, when they both transferred from NIU to the graduate school of social work at the University of Illinois. The gunman was studying mental health and criminal justice.
The gunman's body has been taken to a funeral home in Elk Grove Village, according to authorities. His godfather, Richard Grafer, said the body would be cremated. Funeral service plans were not being made public.