Trans Covenant School Shooter Credited Media’s Support for ‘LGBT Movement’ for Help Understanding Voice Inside Her Head
August 7, 2025 - Tom Pappert
Nearly 500 pages of journal entries written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale were released to The Tennessee Star by the FBI on Wednesday, and with many of the entries dated as far back as 2018, the writings offer insight into the killer’s state of mind in the years before she killed six at the Christian school she once attended in Nashville on March 27, 2023.
Within these journals, Hale seemed to claim that she first experienced same-sex attraction as the result of an “imaginary boy,” which she experienced as a voice inside her head, which expressed a desire to “express himself,” including through romantic relationships with girls, from the time when she was a fourth grade student at the Covenant School.
By September 2018, Hale claimed this “imaginary boy” helped her understand that she was attracted to other women, and in an undated entry titled “This is Me Pt. 4,” wrote about the changing perceptions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people at the time.
“It’s been frustrating lately with my imaginary boy now fully aware of his presence by me,” wrote Hale. “I’ve been used to denying, lying, and kidding myself that I heard no such thing.”
She wrote, “I remember how much he used to nudge me, convince me, hammer me into the nailing reality that I am him in the past, [and] it seemed the older I got, his image began to develop progressively.”
The killer then turned her thoughts to the “LGBT movement,” and credited its mainstream success to the media’s support.
“The LGBT movement has grown move involved in society over the past few years,” wrote Hale. “The media has expanded this movement from movies, to TV, to even music videos or music.”
She opined, “Groups of LGBT are thriving [and] flourishing in communities making it more accessible. Gay rights and acceptance toward workforce, colleges, and even churches have provided un-descrimination [sic].”
Notably, this appears to be the first journal entry where Hale connected her then-ongoing obsession with members of her middle school basketball team to a romantic interest in the same sex, and acknowledged writing about these fantasies when she was as young as 12.
“I understand why I feel now how I feel from some girls I’ve fallen in love with,” wrote the killer, “I get why I wrote about my romantic fantasies (that I denied as something other than that) in my journals in middle school (6th grade) to high school (9 – 12 grade).”
Later in the journal entry, Hale seemed to suggest that while she was attracted to male characters from fiction, the “imaginary boy” expressed a clear preference for women.
Hale, who was about 24-years-old at the time she wrote the entry, explained, “I do love boys like Arnold on ‘Hey Arnold,’ Roxas from [Kingdom] of Hearts: 358/2 Days, and Simba from the Lion King,” but that her “imaginary boy” expressed little interest.
She wrote, “He’d rather look at Skylar Diggins photos on the internet, a world famous pro basketball player [who is] female of course.”
Despite her realization, Hale nonetheless suggested that her parents, who she wrote were not politically liberal, would not accept a child with an LGBT identity. Both parents later expressed ambivalence about the subject during a later interview with Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) detectives.
After discussing her consumption of various media featuring gay and lesbian artists, Hale once again expressed gratitude for its existence, before questioning the response of her family.
“Although these media have helped me explore, I still have no preparation to announce the news as to what I found,” she wrote.
Hale concluded the journal entry by writing about the “imaginary boy” whose voice she heard.
“He never goes away. Neither do these senses in early stages of my consciousness.” She concluded the entry, “I can’t ever be alone. We’re both stuck together.”
The Star and its editor-in-chief, Michael Patrick Leahy, filed the first lawsuit over the Covenant investigation against the FBI in May 2023. After more than two years of litigation, The Star settled its lawsuit in June, when the FBI pledged to release redacted versions of the killer’s writings.
MNPD concluded its investigation in June, when it determined the killer was sane at the time of her attack.
This latest release comes nearly one year after The Star published its legally obtained, unredacted version of the killer’s 2023 journal last September.
August 7, 2025 - Tom Pappert
Nearly 500 pages of journal entries written by Covenant School killer Audrey Elizabeth Hale were released to The Tennessee Star by the FBI on Wednesday, and with many of the entries dated as far back as 2018, the writings offer insight into the killer’s state of mind in the years before she killed six at the Christian school she once attended in Nashville on March 27, 2023.
Within these journals, Hale seemed to claim that she first experienced same-sex attraction as the result of an “imaginary boy,” which she experienced as a voice inside her head, which expressed a desire to “express himself,” including through romantic relationships with girls, from the time when she was a fourth grade student at the Covenant School.
By September 2018, Hale claimed this “imaginary boy” helped her understand that she was attracted to other women, and in an undated entry titled “This is Me Pt. 4,” wrote about the changing perceptions of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people at the time.
“It’s been frustrating lately with my imaginary boy now fully aware of his presence by me,” wrote Hale. “I’ve been used to denying, lying, and kidding myself that I heard no such thing.”
She wrote, “I remember how much he used to nudge me, convince me, hammer me into the nailing reality that I am him in the past, [and] it seemed the older I got, his image began to develop progressively.”
The killer then turned her thoughts to the “LGBT movement,” and credited its mainstream success to the media’s support.
“The LGBT movement has grown move involved in society over the past few years,” wrote Hale. “The media has expanded this movement from movies, to TV, to even music videos or music.”
She opined, “Groups of LGBT are thriving [and] flourishing in communities making it more accessible. Gay rights and acceptance toward workforce, colleges, and even churches have provided un-descrimination [sic].”
Notably, this appears to be the first journal entry where Hale connected her then-ongoing obsession with members of her middle school basketball team to a romantic interest in the same sex, and acknowledged writing about these fantasies when she was as young as 12.
“I understand why I feel now how I feel from some girls I’ve fallen in love with,” wrote the killer, “I get why I wrote about my romantic fantasies (that I denied as something other than that) in my journals in middle school (6th grade) to high school (9 – 12 grade).”
Later in the journal entry, Hale seemed to suggest that while she was attracted to male characters from fiction, the “imaginary boy” expressed a clear preference for women.
Hale, who was about 24-years-old at the time she wrote the entry, explained, “I do love boys like Arnold on ‘Hey Arnold,’ Roxas from [Kingdom] of Hearts: 358/2 Days, and Simba from the Lion King,” but that her “imaginary boy” expressed little interest.
She wrote, “He’d rather look at Skylar Diggins photos on the internet, a world famous pro basketball player [who is] female of course.”
Despite her realization, Hale nonetheless suggested that her parents, who she wrote were not politically liberal, would not accept a child with an LGBT identity. Both parents later expressed ambivalence about the subject during a later interview with Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) detectives.
After discussing her consumption of various media featuring gay and lesbian artists, Hale once again expressed gratitude for its existence, before questioning the response of her family.
“Although these media have helped me explore, I still have no preparation to announce the news as to what I found,” she wrote.
Hale concluded the journal entry by writing about the “imaginary boy” whose voice she heard.
“He never goes away. Neither do these senses in early stages of my consciousness.” She concluded the entry, “I can’t ever be alone. We’re both stuck together.”
The Star and its editor-in-chief, Michael Patrick Leahy, filed the first lawsuit over the Covenant investigation against the FBI in May 2023. After more than two years of litigation, The Star settled its lawsuit in June, when the FBI pledged to release redacted versions of the killer’s writings.
MNPD concluded its investigation in June, when it determined the killer was sane at the time of her attack.
This latest release comes nearly one year after The Star published its legally obtained, unredacted version of the killer’s 2023 journal last September.
