Fact Checking “Nobody Died At Sandy Hook”, Chapter Seven

“Nobody Died At Sandy Hook”
Chapter Seven
By: Allan Powell and Kelley Watt

Let’s say you’re the kind of person who enjoys magic shows. So you gather up the family one Friday night and head on down to the… well, wherever it is a magician would perform. You splurge a bit on front row tickets and take your seat, excited for a night of family-friendly entertainment. The magician finally takes the stage and kicks the night off by pulling a rabbit out of his hat. It’s an old trick, but the kids are impressed and everyone seems to be enjoying themselves anyway. The magician then spends the next hour and a half repeatedly performing the very same trick, pulling the same rabbit out of the same hat, over and over and over again. You’d be pretty pissed, right? Because that’s the situation we find ourselves in with Fetzer and his crew pulling the same dumb trick yet again: presenting photos out of order as well as out of context.

The structure for this chapter’s debunk is going to be a little different: rather than break it down on a claim-by-claim basis, I’m going to address a page or multiple pages at a time, highlighting certain areas. It’ll be much easier to follow if you not only have a copy of Fetzer’s book (which I certainly hope you didn’t pay for) as well as the files available through Connecticut’s final report, which I will be referencing frequently.

Page 118

The bottom photo on this page is how investigators initially found Adam’s bedroom when they arrived at the Lanza home late in the evening of the 14th. It’s only page 188 of 472 in “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, which is presented in chronological order. According to “Sec 4 – Primary Digital Report.pdf”, this particular group of photos were taken between 9:30PM on December 14th and 8:34AM on December 15th. The “messy” photo – the top photo – was taken after investigators had already torn the house apart, looking for additional evidence. It’s from Book 2, “00195358.pdf”: the secondary digital photography report. On the 2nd page of that report, it reads “The following photographs were taken on December 20, 2012 as part of processing the residence.” That’s six full days after the first set of photos were taken and it makes them the last available photos of the scene at Yoganada Street.

Items on the bed can be seen in Adam’s closet in earlier photographs of the closet:

Page 119

“Note the glider pad under the leg of the headboard in order to move the bed around for picture-perfect staging.”

No other heavy furniture has glider pads underneath; only the beds in both bedrooms. Even then, Nancy’s bed does not have a glider pad under all four legs of her bed. You can see one missing from at least the top-right leg on page 457 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf” and even more clearly on pages sixteen and seventeen of “Sec 4 -Scene Search Day 3.pdf”.

But maybe the fact that Adam weighed 112 pounds and lived alone with his mother is a better explanation for why they would need these pads under anything.

“There is no blanket or electric blanket on bed despite 28 degrees outside.”

You do know that they’re not sleeping outside, right? Inside the house, where they actually slept, was probably somewhere between 64 and 70 degrees inside. Actually, it was extremely likely that it was somewhere between 64 and 70 degrees inside. How do I know this? Because crime scene investigators took a picture of the home’s thermostats, showing that the upstairs thermostat, where the bedrooms were located, was set to 64 (though the actual recorded temperature at the time was closer to 70). Meanwhile, the downstairs thermostat shows it to be about 68 or so on the first floor, as seen on page 152 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”:

This is corroborated by page 4 of “Sec 4 – Primary Digital Report.pdf”, which specifically mentions the temperature:

“There is no bulletin board, sports memorabilia, ipads, ipods, headphones, stereo equipment, trashcan, trophies, pictures, magazines, caged pets (such as a snake or hampster[sic]) plants, shoes or shirts, video games or flat screen TV. These items are typical in the room of a 21-year old.”

This may come as a shock, but Adam was not a typical twenty year-old (he was twenty, by the way – phenomenal research here, once again). So what if he didn’t own a bulletin board? Did typical twenty year-olds own bulletin boards in 2012? And hamPster? Did anyone bother to proofread this garbage?

Anything that was of any real interest to Adam was located in the computer room (such as his headphones, which Allan Powell must have seen as he specifically points them out on the very next page) or basement, which were both full of video games, computers, books and televisions. There’s even a television here, but it’s not a “flat-screen”, so I guess it doesn’t count to Powell.

As for sports, Adam played Little League Baseball in the third and fourth grades:

While a former teammate would describe him as “not a good player”, Adam did enough to warrant a brief mention in the May 18th, 2001 edition of The Newtown Bee:

TAUNTON PRESS 11, BOB TENDLER REAL ESTATE 4: Brian Kuruc and Robbie Phillips powered the offense and helped lead Taunton Press to the win. Evan Barreto and Adam Lanza were stellar in the field while Trevor Todd and Michael Coates had fine pitching performances. For Tendler, George Zaruba pitched well and led the offensive attack. Matt Iassogna and John Metcalf held the defense together.

So while it’s highly unlikely that he ever received a trophy for his efforts, it’s even more unlikely that, as a twenty year-old obsessed more with school shootings than sports, they would ever be located anywhere other than a box in the basement.

In regards to clothing, according to everyone who knew him, Adam exclusively wore blue polos with tan khakis or cargo pants, and you can see a large number of them hanging in his closet on page 353 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”. His shoes – black shoes nearly identical to those found on his corpse – were stored in the garage, on the stairs leading into the house. You can see them on page 5 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 2.pdf”:

Not surprisingly, the author makes no mention of Nancy’s extensive shoe collection.

While discussed on the next page, there are no evidence markers here because these photos represent Adam’s bedroom as it initially appeared to investigators, before it was searched for evidence (as shown in the bottom photo) and then again long after most of the evidence had been removed. The evidence markers would have appeared and disappeared between these two photos.

According to page 13 of “Sec 6 – Scene Sketch Report.pdf”, only three pieces of evidence were taken from Adam’s bedroom: an external USB drive, a hard drive platter, and a white plastic bag. All three items were located in his closet and can be seen with the appropriate evidence markers on page 356 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”.

Now on to the computer room photos…

The top photo is that one that was taken first. It is page 43 in “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, while the bottom photo is page 658 (of 667) of the same document. The white cord running across the floor is an Ethernet cable. Using the crime scene photos, you can literally trace it from Adam’s PC, down the stairs, through the living room, and into the basement, where it was plugged into the home’s router:

This cable can be seen coming into the computer room from the hallway in Adam’s faux suicide photos, which date back to 2010 (you know, when the house was allegedly abandoned or whatever Powell and Watt are claiming here):

With their router located in the basement, the wireless signal (and speeds) available in the computer room wouldn’t have been sufficient for an avid online gamer like Adam, so he simply ran a very long cable. The computer was taken apart so that Adam could destroy his hard drive, which can be seen (sitting next to an empty box of Paltor “Blasts” earplugs, made specifically for the “range”, “hunting”, and “military”) in numerous crime scene photos, most notably on page 23 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”:

The two bowls and “white cloth” – otherwise known as an ordinary bath towel – are visible in both photos, so I’m not sure what its significance is. It’s entirely possible that the legs of the chair aren’t very dusty, but maybe someone actually cleaned them seeing as how there’s a vacuum just outside of this room, out on the landing. The chair is clearly very well-worn, as seen on page ten of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, and dust is visible on the sides of Adam’s PC case (page forty-three of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”) as well as on his console collection (page thirty of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”).

The claim that the papers you see in most of the later photographs (from page 446 on in “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, page 646 in “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, and every page in “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 2.pdf”) are an “evaluation form for those managing the arrangement” is repeated over and over and over again with zero evidence. Probably because it’s not true. These papers are often front and center in these photographs, making the idea that their inclusion is a mistake totally ludicrous. How could someone be so sloppy as to leave these papers in such a prominent, visible location in nearly every later-stage photograph?

The best look we get at these papers is on page 468 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”:

This is simply the search and seizure warrant. Compare the paper to page 9 of “00194593.pdf” in Book 4, and you’ll see that it’s an exact match, right down to the signatures:

The presence of the search and seizure warrant in these photos is corroborated by pages 5 and 8 of “Sec 4 – Primary Digital Report.pdf” and “Sec 5 – Back-Up Digital Image Report.pdf”, respectively:

What even is an “evaluation form for those managing the arrangement”? Not only has Allan Powell invented an entire occupation (professional crime scene stager), but now he’s making up paperwork and processes for this wholly imaginary job. Maybe next we’ll get a detailed breakdown of their benefits package.

Page 120:

The top photo is page 500 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”. It was taken on December 14th, 2012, sometime after 9:15PM as Adam’s custom-built PC had already been taken as evidence. The bottom photo was taken three days later and is page 105 of “Sec 4 – Scene Search Day 3.pdf”. By that point in the investigation, much of the house had been disturbed and a number of items confiscated, which is why the PC, hard drive, and ear plugs are all missing. Their inclusion as evidence is corroborated by Book 3, “00025726.pdf”.

At this point, I’m honestly beginning to wonder whether Allan Powell mistakenly believes that crime scenes must remain static and untouched forever. But if that were the case, then it would be physically impossible for investigators to actually discover and collect evidence. The truth is that after a scene is photographed (as seen in the early primary and backup scene photos) and sketched (as seen in CFS 1200705354, “Sec 6 – Scene Sketch Report.pdf”), investigators are free to be as intrusive as they need to be in order to get their job done. That’s why they take those initial photographs.

From page 102 of “Practical Crime Scene Analysis and Reconstruction” by Ross Gardner and Tom Bevel:

The act of searching is very intrusive, taken only after the primary scene context is documented. The function of any search is to ensure that all evidence and details are noted.

And that is not medication; they’re very clearly vitamins or other supplements:

What kind of prescription medication comes with a gold label or a purple top? Or in anything other than a prescription pill bottle? It’s well-known that Adam was a vegan, as well as extremely underweight, so odds are he was supplementing his diet with vitamins. Even if he didn’t like the mind-altering aspect of medication, vitamins would not have presented any sort of problem for him. These bottles were likely located in a desk drawer – probably the open one – and removed to be examined and documented. They would not need to be entered as evidence in this case, because they’re just vitamins. Similar bottles – including ones with similar gold and green labels (Pioneer brand) or purple tops – can be seen in a kitchen cabinet (page 182 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf” and seen above).

Page 121:

This time it’s the bottom photo that was taken first. The top photo is page 174 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf” and represents what the boiler room area looked like shortly after investigators arrived, before they pored through all of those boxes in order to look for anything of any relevance. The bottom photo is page 413 of the same document, taken quite a bit further along in that day’s scene processing. Remember that these photos are presented in chronological order.

By this point, investigators had already shuffled things around a bit. And while it’s not visible in the tiny, low-quality photograph available in Fetzer’s book, the Hoover box, portable storage unit, and black mesh bag were all moved to the side in order to provide access to the “brown/black canvas pistol carrying case found within box” (evidence item #46 – tag #35 – in CFS 1200705354, “Sec 6 – Scene Sketch Report.pdf”). The painter’s paper on the floor gets torn up a bit by foot traffic, but is still visible in the last of the Yogananda photos, which is Book 2, “00195358.pdf” (page 28, visible under the moving boxes).

Page 122:

The top photo is page 657 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf” while the bottom photo is page 461 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, which means that they were both taken late in the initial processing, very close to one another. As such, they depict they exact same scene as captured by two different photographers.

“The question then arises of what will explain the existence of  different settings of the boiler room?”

Moving things.

“Training for creating misleading evidence is the only answer I can think of.”

Then you are an absolute idiot. Why in the world would “they” need different configurations for what is essentially a room full of boxes? More importantly, why would they leave all of these allegedly incriminating photos in documents released to the public? Especially when a large number of these photos have already been redacted.

Page 123:

The bottom photo (page 363 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”) was taken first, as evidenced by the fact that the clip is still in the gun. There are four more photos of the gun in this exact state and position in “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf” (pages 443-446).

As is standard procedure, the gun was photographed and recorded in the precise location that it was found, secured by removing the clip and checking to see whether it was loaded or not, and then returned to the floor in such a way that the residue (or “matter”) as well as an empty shell casing (marked with evidence marker 26 on page 378 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”) was now exposed. It was at that point that the top photo (page 375 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”) was taken. Obviously residue would not drip or fall to the side of an object like that. But, as we’ll see again shortly, gravity is a bit of a tricky subject for Allan Powell.

While blood is still plainly visible all over the nightstand, the wall, and the sheets, the goriest photos have of course been redacted. That’s what all of those black photos represent, Allan. Again, if you’re confused as to why something is redacted, simply check the redaction index.

Page 124:

“The Savage 22lr (long rifle) is boxed and cable-tied in this image before being used as a prop along with a magazine and (oddly) two expended cartridges. It looks like a factory boxed item. That is how the stagemanagers received the rifle from FEMA to use in the sham setting.”

Now this is total rubbish. These photos were taken from the firearms survey, which you can view for yourself in “Sec 15 – Firearm Survey – Savage.pdf”. According to the digital image report, they were taken at the Lanza residence on December 15th, 2012 at 1:23PM, a day after the shooting. What you’re seeing is standard procedure for weapons processing at a crime scene, with the rifle being placed in a cardboard evidence box, like the ones seen here:

From an article on packaging firearms at crime scenes:

“A sturdy box is used as the collection and packaging medium. Several slits are put into the bottom of the box. This allows flex-cuffs to be inserted through the slits in the box to create safety straps around the firearm to secure it in place during transport.”

Finally, Adam’s Bushmaster was also surveyed and ultimately stored in the exact same manner, in a cardboard evidence box, as mentioned in document “00057444.pdf”:

Pages 124-125:

“There’s pretend blood on the muzzle but it’s not very convincing.”

What is this even based on? How is it not convincing? Doesn’t “pretend” blood look identical to real blood? Isn’t that kind of the whole point? So how does the author differentiate between the two, based on these photos alone? Why wouldn’t the cops be able to obtain and use real blood for an operation of this magnitude?

Here’s what dried blood looks like on the blade of a knife, which looks identical to the dried blood seen on the gun:

Page 125:

These bullets very clearly do not have uniform damage, as claimed by Powell. Again, readers are only shown a very small, low-quality version of this photo (which is page 21 of “Sec 8 – Autopsy.pdf”) and told what they should be seeing. Here’s a much higher-quality version of that same photo, so you can see for yourself:

It’s also on this page that we’re confronted with another common tactic of Fetzer and his merry band of bullshit artists: make the claim that a piece of evidence is missing, but when you’re later confronted with the allegedly missing evidence, simply dismiss it as a cheap forgery without providing any proof whatsoever. Powell utilized this tactic when he made the following claim back on page 123:

“Nancy didn’t bleed much according to the images for having four shots to the head. The general rule with headshots is that the heart keeps pumping blood because of which wounds evince a large quantity of blood.”

But now we’re shown an image from page 665 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf” where you can clearly see a large amount of blood that had obviously pooled underneath Nancy Lanza’s head. Powell shifts gears and makes the totally bizarre claim that this is not actually blood, but rather a “pomegranate-seed colored stain”. It’s never explained how the two differ visually, but we are told that “it is not the color of dried human blood”. The fact of the matter is that the look of dried blood can vary greatly depending on the amount of blood, the material containing the blood, and the lighting of the photographs. That said, the blood seen here is entirely consistent with similar scenes showing blood on white sheets. For instance, here’s blood from a white pillowcase, found in a Bronx motel:

There’s also a very good reason why there’s no “corpse wearing polka-dot pyjamas” in this photo: it had already been removed from the room. According to page 7 of “Sec 5 – Back-Up Digital Image Report.pdf”, the body was removed at some point between pages 567-568:

This picture – again, picture 665 of 667 – was taken very late in scene processing. Why would they leave the corpse there for so long? It’s ridiculous.

The claim regarding the reflection of the bed is a baffling one. Powell seems to be suggesting that this is some sort of vampire blood, completely invisible in mirrors. Unfortunately for him, that’s not the case. What we’re actually looking at here is the bottom of the bed, not the top.

Page 126:

More bullshit claims regarding an “evaluation form” (which is still just the search and seizure warrant) and “electric blankets”, despite a thermostat set to 64 and the obvious presence of regular blankets on Nancy’s bed.

Next we’re shown a small, low-quality version of the photo from page 240 from “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf” and told that if we “magnify” it, we won’t be able to see any “blood or brain matter”. Well, no shit. First of all, we’re looking at a picture that was taken from 2nd floor landing, looking into a dimly lit bedroom, of maybe the bottom 75%-80% of Nancy’s bed. As she was shot in the head, the blood is behind her, on the wall, on the nightstand, and underneath her (mostly underneath her), examples of which we’ve already seen. Those areas are of course out of view here.

As for why this photograph even exists: part of the investigator’s job is record the scene as they discovered it before they begin their disruptive search for evidence. That includes taking pictures of things such as doors, entryways, etc. The investigator tasked with taking these photos is undoubtedly well aware of Nancy’s corpse in the master bedroom as the tactical unit had already discovered it. Furthermore, numerous photos were taken of the body, as corroborated by the primary photo report (page 4 of “Sec 4 – Primary Digital Report.pdf”):

As well as the back-up photo report (page 7 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Digital Image Report.pdf”):

Page 127:

“The Central Vacuum hose and toilet cleaner in the foreground suggest that a Maid Service has already been called”

Yes, a maid service has been called, yet there are no vacuum lines on any of the home’s carpet, and there are a number of dirty dishes in the kitchen sink (as seen on 111 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”).

Or – hear me out – Nancy Lanza owns a vacuum (all of which is visible on the landing, not just the hose) and toilet cleaner, kinda like everyone else on the planet. And toilet cleaner next to the bathroom? Who has ever heard of such a thing? Obviously something devious is afoot!

We’ve already covered why there is no blood visible in these distant shots, but why are there no “polka-dot body in pyjamas is in sight”? Probably because people traditionally sleep under their blankets. Didn’t Allan just ask how the Lanzas stayed warm? Come on, man.

Again, this is all corroborated by the primary photo report Powell clearly chose not to read, which states that Nancy’s body was photographed “with and without bedding” (see above).

“From the lie of the coverlet, the fake corpse appears to have no feet.”

Except that there are definitely feet there at the end of the bed, visibly elevating the “coverlet”:

They’re much more noticeable here, in this still taking from the crime scene video walkthrough:

Why would they use a “fake corpse” that didn’t have feet? Does such a thing even exist?

“If the scarlet coloured material is intended to simulate blood, it has defied the law of gravity as a liquid and has failed to flow down on to the bedsheet.”

I’m admittedly a little confused here, but I suppose the implication is that authorities hastily applied the fake blood very shortly before these photos were taken, not allowing it ample time to run down the bed sheet… right? But if someone is lying in the middle of a relatively flat mattress, why would the blood pooling underneath of them flow off the sides of the bed? That’s not how gravity works! I challenge Allan Powell to spill his juice box in the middle of his bed and discover what happens to the liquid.

Page 128

“In setting up this room, as in all the other rooms, the participants were graded. The graders were dumb enough to leave their evaluation forms.”

As shown earlier, this is simply the search and seizure warrant that we’re seeing here. This is corroborated by the digital image reports. We’ve been over this! And while Allan Powell has repeatedly made the claim that it’s actually an “evaluation form”, this is the first time he’s spoken of the bizarre grading element. Even if such an absurdity existed anywhere outside of Allan Powell’s rather active imagination, why would authorities use something so high profile – a crime scene central to one of the most horrific crimes in American history – for a live training exercise? Only Allan Powell, who brings with him literally zero relevant experience, knows for sure!

As for the suggestion that these fictitious “graders” were dumb to leaving the forms in plain view, consider the fact that they would have had to have walked these forms into the center of each shot, placed them somewhere prominent, left them there while they photographed the scene, missed the forms while reviewing the photos – somewhere around sixty-five of them in total – and then posted the results online. They couldn’t even be bothered to edit them out, which is strange considering how technically inclined they are (remember all that green screen bullshit from Chapter Five?). The other possibility being that their inclusion is intentional, but of course that’s just completely insane.

The photo of the “dressing table” is from page 476 of “Sec 5- Back-up Scene 1.pdf”. The reason you can’t see a head or “red colouring” is because you’re only seeing a very small portion of the bed, right around where the blankets were folded over, just north (as in closer to the headboard) of the bed’s center. That area is clearly not flat, strongly suggesting a human form underneath. The stains shown in Powell’s “Exhibit 17” are only visible because Nancy’s body had been removed, and that was not done until somewhere around page 568. So it is still present for this photo.

“The colour and configuration of the bedframe and of the chest appear different to other images of them.”

This is not even remotely true. No examples are given, but I’m assuming Powell is not taking the light from the flash into consideration. All of the wood in Nancy’s room remains consistently dark and the configuration of the furniture never changes. I guess the implication is that they’re swapping out entire beds in between photos for some reason, which is pretty stupid, even for an already spectacularly stupid chapter.

The allegedly bloodless photo of Nancy’s bed is page two of “Sec 4 -Scene Search Day 3.pdf”, and it was taken on the third day of processing as investigators continued to scour the home for additional evidence. Nearly all of Nancy’s bedding had already been confiscated on the 15th, which was one day prior to this photo being taken. This is corroborated by “Sec 11 – Evidence Reports.pdf”:

The staining that remained is almost entirely concealed by the fitted sheet, which has been unsecured from the mattress and is bunched up on top of the bed. Despite this, you can still make out a couple of areas that line up perfectly with what has been seen previously:

“The job of a forensic photographer is to document images as they are originally found”

This is kinda true! So good job, Allan! But that’s only part of their job, and documenting the scene as it was originally found had already been done… two days prior to this photograph being taken. Literally hundreds of photos of the home as it was initially found exist, many of which are featured in this book (albeit deceptively).

Page 129

The top photo is page 452 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, which explains the presence of the search and seizure warrant. For what seems like the hundredth time at this point, it was intentionally included in nearly every photo after page 445:

The rest of this paragraph is nothing more than subjective speculation as to how someone else’s house should look. For instance, I guess it’s supposed to be suspicious that Nancy Lanza has an area rug in her “south living room” (ignored by Powell), but not in her dining room. Or that there are “no chair pads” in a room that was obviously more for show (and no, that is not synonymous with staged) than anything as Adam ate in his computer room, as evidenced by those two white bowls.

As for accusations that Nancy’s curtains and curtain rods are “cheap”, well there’s really no indication as to what this is based on. The curtains look like they could be silk or maybe satin, but what the hell do I know? Most of my furniture is from Ikea. Even if they are cheap (and again, Powell provides no evidence that they are), so what? Some people simply don’t care to spend a bunch of money on their curtains or curtain rods, myself included. Based on what’s in her closet, Nancy seemed more interested in spending her money on shoes.

The second half of this page is a real treat as Allan Powell provides further indication that he may not fully understand how mirrors work. Yes, if you take a picture in the direction of a mirror, your reflection will be visible in the resulting photograph. This is true of any reflective surface, as we see time and time again in the crime scene photos (I counted at least a dozen instances of this before I stopped paying attention):

But acknowledging the fact that these are crime scene investigators means that we’re looking at a crime scene, doesn’t it? And that obviously doesn’t bode well for this book’s wackadoodle narrative. So instead we’re told that these people are “stager managers”, who just so happen to dress exactly like crime scene investigators for some reason, but are presented with precisely zero supporting evidence. Likely because that’s not a real thing.

We’re even shown a second reflection (taken from page ninety-four of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”), but this one also clearly shows a crime scene investigator wearing the expected white coveralls, white latex gloves, and a protective mask:

Kelley Watt then makes the bizarre claim that there are “mattresses” stacked on top of one another in the dining room. I initially thought that this may have been some sort of weird spell-checking/autocorrect anomaly or something, but then I realized that if you don’t know what you’re looking at (as these people clearly do not), then you may possibly mistake the side of the couch that divides the “south living room” and dining room, as seen on page six of “Sec 5 – Back-up scene 2.pdf”, as a pile of mattresses:

It’s absolutely just a couch, washed out by the photographer’s flash. You can see where the seat cushions meet the back pillows.

This would’ve been painfully obvious had Kelley Watt simply gone to the next page of the same file, which depicts the other half of this space:

The couch mistaken for a “pile of mattresses” can be seen on the left.

This can be further corroborated by looking at Watt’s source, the couch in question (page fifty-three of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”), and then the layout of the house (“Sec 6 – Scene Sketch Report.pdf”):

Page 130

There’s nothing “odd” about the first photo and it certainly was not taken “from above”. That’s an extremely weird conclusion to arrive at, and it leads me to believe that Allan Powell has never actually seen the original, which can be found on page 428 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”. As this was taken by the backup photographer, what we’re actually seeing is the primary scene photographer – who is clearly bending over, which is why we are able to see the top of his head as well as his legs – around the corner in Nancy’s room:

“None of  them seem to be wearing protective gear, which suggests that they are not forensic experts but photographers”

No protective gear? How many photographers does Allan Powell know? Do they normally hang out wearing white Tyvek jumpsuits and disposable plastic gloves? This is very obviously your standard issue protective gear for forensic investigators:

The second photo is from page 453 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”. Allan Powell believes that this room is suspicious because there are no coffee table books, but there’s clearly one (“Country Ways and Wisdom”) underneath of the search and seizure warrant. You can see it totally unobstructed on pages 52-54 of the very same document. There are more books on the basket next to one of the chairs as well as the large book shelf:

While there are no obvious candlesticks, there are at least two candles in the room: one on the coffee table, in the blue holder, and another on the table in between the two chairs. There’s also a plant on that same table as well as a fern on top of the book shelf, which Powell believes should really be in the dining room (which contains a terrarium, for the record) for whatever stupid reason.

And no magnifying glass? By that metric, no one lives in my house either.

Yes, the doors in the “north living room” were breached by the tactical unit as were the front door, the garage door, and the inner basement doors. That’s how tactical teams operate:

So what does Allan Powell – who has zero experience in law enforcement, according to his own biography – realistically expect in this situation? They ran the plates on the Civic at the school and it came back as being registered to Nancy Lanza of 36 Yogananda Street. Keep in mind that they had not yet positively identified Adam as the shooter at this point. This is in addition to the theory – at the time – that there may be multiple assailants. So when officers responded to the Lanza home, they had absolutely no clue what to expect or what (or who) was waiting for them.

As discussed in the Connecticut Department of Safety report (Book 6, 00122995.pdf, page six), neighboring homes were evacuated, a perimeter was established, snipers were posted, and the bomb squad was called just in case the house had been rigged with booby traps, much like James Holmes’ apartment had been, just five months earlier.

I don’t know how they do things in Australia (which is where Powell is from, by the way, so it makes sense that he has a lot of strong opinions about how they do thing in Newtown, Connecticut), but when a mystery man slaughters twenty-six people at an elementary school, you don’t send a couple of cops to knock on their door and just wait for someone to answer. So Allan Powell demonstrates not only an ignorance of proper law enforcement protocol, but just an embarrassingly flimsy grasp on common sense.

Page 131

“The water bottles in the freezer compartment would have expanded to split the bottles if they had only arrive at least for three hours after Nancy had been shot.”

That’s the actual sentence, as printed in this book, which was at one point sold for twenty US dollars (thirty if you wanted it autographed). No lie, I’ve read it at least two dozen times now and I’m still not exactly sure what Allan is trying to say. My best guess is that he’s claiming water bottles will split if left in a freezer for more than three hours… which is kind of odd because I’ve accidentally left water bottles in the freezer overnight and while the water was frozen, the bottles themselves were fine. Regardless, sure, it’s a possibility… ? But maybe Nancy kept the freezer temperature at a lower setting, which is not out of the realm of possibility as this is a backup refrigerator and the freezer compartment seems to be utilized solely for water. And while the settings panel is visible in this photo as well as page 323 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, it’s a bit difficult to read. It does look like maybe it’s set somewhere in the middle.

More importantly, Allan Powell is either overlooking or ignoring the fact that the safety seals on these bottles are clearly broken, indicating that they’ve already been opened. That’s in addition to the visible condensation in some of the bottles, which wouldn’t exist if the bottles hadn’t been opened. I think it’s obvious that either Nancy or Adam opened the bottles and emptied out a bit of water before placing them in the freezer. I do the same thing before workouts so that my water is cold as shit.

“The  filling of the shelves in  both the refridgerators [sic] indicates that it was performed by a left handed person, being filled to the left.”

I never knew that there was a left-handed or right-handed way to fill your refrigerator. Seriously. I had no idea that was a thing. I’m still not convinced that it is. At least, I don’t believe that there’s any sort of physiological reason for the way people stock their refrigerators. Regardless, the claim has been made, so let’s talk about it for a minute (and no longer than a minute, because it’s very stupid).

Let’s start with the fridge in the kitchen, which Powell claims is “filled to the left”, but doesn’t bother to include a picture of it:

Well, huh. Everything actually looks pretty “balanced” here to me, especially all of that frozen edamame. Maybe the shelf with the large water bottles on it towards the middle is slightly heavier on the left, but the actual number of items is exactly the same on each side. If anything, it seems like if there is a preference, it’s to stock items away from the door. For example, on the freezer side, things seem to gravitate towards the right. This makes a bit of sense as A) keeping things close to the door would make them more difficult to access and B) you’re going to open the door with one hand (the right side with the right hand and vice-versa) and toss in an item with the other. But now let’s look at the basement fridge:

So the freezer is stocked about as evenly as it gets. The top row of the refrigerator is also pretty evenly distributed, with maybe a slight preference towards just left-of-center. Again, I personally feel as if that has more to do with accessibility of items in relation to the door itself. Since you don’t stock your fridge and then just leave everything in there forever, you’re probably going to open the door with one hand and then reach in and grab or return items with the other, and that’s a bit easier to do when they’re on that side of the shelf. Otherwise it’s a bit awkward. But what the fuck do I know? I’m not the refrigerator ergonomics expert Allan Powell clearly is. Anyway, sure, yeah, most of the items on the bottom shelf of the basement fridge sit somewhere towards the center or left of that. What a bombshell!

“Here’s the study with no laptop or printer and the evaluation form on the Chesterfied chair.”

The laptop and printer had already been confiscated as evidence by the time this photo was taken. The very next page includes a photo of the printer with an evidence marker on it! How could you not know that?

Page 132

“Ryan is wearing a graduation gown different to the one in his graduation video.”

You do know these things aren’t done on the same day, right? Obviously the graduation photos were taken at a studio before Ryan received his official cap and gown. This is evidenced by the fact that he’s not wearing the traditional gold tassel.

“Workman’s tools are on scene before evidence markers are laid down. This is another image which should not have been allowed to escape by the stagers to public scrutiny.”

These “workman’s tools” are literally a $20 claw hammer, a single screwdriver, a pencil, a $10 tape measure, possibly a drill, and some drywall anchors, and they are likely found in every home on the planet. It’s clear that they were going to be used to hang the hideous planter located on the floor directly next to them.

If these basic tools were evidence of scene staging, why would they even need to be photographed, let alone become the focal point of said photograph? And how did the person or people in charge of redacting these photos miss such glaringly obvious items?

“Stage managers’ bottles of water are caught in photos. My (Allan’s) guess is that there were three of them. * I (Kelley) think the house was being lived in as a security measure against anyone gaining access in pursuit of DNA or other evidence.”

These two can’t even decide on a narrative, which makes you wonder how and why they co-authored a chapter together. Embarrassing.

“The whole house has electricals from 2008 or earlier. A Dell Inspiron laptop Image 25 and a Brother MFC printer fax from around that era.”

The Brother MFC-J825DW came out in 2011. Literally all you had to do was Google it.

From the item’s Amazon listing:

Date first available at Amazon.com: September 1, 2011

There’s also an iPhone 4S box right there on the floor, in plain sight, to the left of the printer. The iPhone 4S was released on October 14th, 2011. Despite its relative prominence in the source photograph, it’s mysteriously ignored. The phone itself can be seen sitting on the white ottoman in the north living room (see pages 66, 77, and 78 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”):

This phone is confirmed as belonging to Nancy Lanza in “Sec 13 – Supplemental Reports.pdf”:

REVIEW OF NANCY LANZA’S CELLULAR TELEPHONE RECORDS

On Tuesday May 14, 2013 at approximately 1330 hours this writer reviewed Nancy Lanza’s cellular telephone records. The records were sent to me via email from Detective Alison Peters of the Western District Major Crime Squad for my reivew.

The records detail the activity on Ms. Lanza’s Apple iPhone Model 4-S with the telephone number: [redacted]

Additionally, there are a number of non-electrical items found around the house that are obviously from after 2008. For example, on page 161 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, we can see roughly half of the cover to the November 2012 edition of Smithsonian Magazine:

On page eighty-four of the same file, we can plainly see:

• Zagat’s guide to New York City restaurants from 2012
• A New Orleans guidebook from 2012, a city Nancy visited in December of that year
• A Paris guidebook from 2009

On page 667, we can see a copy of Bill O’Reilly’s book “Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever”, which wasn’t released until September 27th, 2011. I could go on.

Page 133

“The paper shredder is full. What would Nancy have had that required that much shredding? Those setting up the fake scene for a pretend murder, however, have a lot of paperwork they wouldn’t want seen.”

By that logic, what does anyone have that requires any amount of shredding? Why do they even sell personal shredders?

Nancy more than likely shredded the normal amount of shit that any normal person with a shredder would shred and didn’t empty it after every use. Kind of like everyone else on the planet. Personally, my shredder usually fills up to the point that it threatens the stability of the thing before I bother emptying it out.

Why would a “fake murder” generate this much paperwork anyway? In fact, why would it generate any? More importantly, why would they shred it all on location? Did they bring their own shredder or did they just assume Nancy had one? Why are they shredding so many documents while the alleged “fake murder” was still on-going? This picture was taken on the evening of the 14th, so there was plenty of time left in the investigation.

“Ryan has a Connecticut AAA card and lives in Queens”

At the time of the shooting, Ryan lived in Hoboken, NJ, not Queens, NY. He may still live there, I don’t know. He also used to live in Connecticut and he did not move out of the area until sometime after he graduated Quinnipiac College in 2010. Allan and Kelley should know this as they commented on Ryan’s graduation photos earlier in the chapter.

Ryan’s AAA Connecticut card is from 2009, while he was still living and going to school in the area, and expired in August of 2010:

“Adam has a New England AAA card and lives in Sandy Hook?”

First of all, it’s a AAA pre-paid American Express card:

Secondly, AAA Southern New England serves Connecticut. Don’t believe me? Go to AAA’s website, enter 06470 (Newtown, Connecticut) as your zip code, and see what happens. Spoiler: you’ll be redirected to AAA Southern New England’s site, which says “Serving AAA Members in CT, MA, NJ, & RI“. That’s the postal abbreviation for Connecticut, Allan.

“These plastic mats are in an unrealistic condition if Adam Lanza was on the computer all hours.”

What is “realistic condition” for plastic mats? Powell doesn’t provide metrics or examples. Less flattering photos of this allegedly brand new mat show plenty of fading, deep divots, and other wear consistent with long-term use:

Additionally, we’re expected to believe that the mat is too pristine to have been in use, yet Adam’s computer chair, visible in many of the same photos, looks like this:

“The room is too sparsely filled.”

Again, what does this even mean? How packed full of shit does a computer room need to be in order to convince Allan Powell of its legitimacy? And, like the school before it, is there a point at which a computer room becomes too full to be believable?

Regardless, Powell is being duplicitous; this photo is from page 105 of “Sec 4 -Scene Search Day 3.pdf”. It should go without saying as it’s right there in the filename, but those photos were taken on December 16th, 2012, which would’ve been the third day of the search. By this point, over twenty items had been confiscated from this room alone. Earlier photos – such as page 11 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf” – show a much less “sparse” room.

“There are no books in the bookcase for someone who supposedly shrinks from the world.”

Because they’re all in his bedroom closet:

“There are no super hero comics”

Not every twenty year-old reads “super hero comics”, and I’ve personally never heard anything about Adam Lanza being a fan. It’s like Adam Powell is basing his ideas of what should be found in the Lanza household on caricatures of fourteen year-olds from the 80s.

“The games are from 2008 and the machines from the same period.”

So the carpet saver is too new and the videogames are too old? Okay, got it.

While the computer room seems to be full of vintage games and systems (including a New-Style Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, etc), there are newer games are in the basement. And sure, some of them are a whopping four years-old, and nobody on the planet ever plays four year-old games, right? That’s why no one has played “Super Mario Bros.” since 1985.

But Powell is frantically grasping at straws here, and in doing so he ignores the fact that not only was Adam primarily a PC gamer but that his console collection also includes games from 2010:

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PSP)
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Xbox 360)

It’s also entirely possible Adam didn’t have many brand new games because his Xbox 360 was broken:

“No Spiderman, Star Wars; only a Matrix poster.”

Why is Spider-Man a separate category from “super hero comics”? And why Spider-Man specifically? This is not meant as a personal attack (although I have no problem personally attacking Allan Powell for writing one of the dumbest chapters possibly in his history of the written word), but I’d bet any amount of money that Allan Powell is older than time itself. There’s no other explanation. “WHERE ARE HIS SPIDERMANS?”

But no “Star Wars” you say?

The top photos show what are unmistakably VHS copies of (from left to right) “Return of the Jedi”, “Empire Strikes Back”, and the original “Star Wars”. The bottom photo includes the Star Wars trilogy DVD collection. So he owned copies of the original trilogy in multiple formats. Also, no love for Pikmin or Luigi’s Mansion, both of which are represented on posters in the basement? C’mon, Allan!

Page 134

“Adam was reported to have a huge spread sheet, where The New York Daily News reported that investigators discovered, “a chilling spreadsheet 7 feet long and 4 feet wide that required a special printer, a document that contained Lanza’s obsessive, extensive research —in ninepoint font—about mass murders of the past, and even attempted murders.” But none of the photos we have reviewed suggest any kind of research, much less a special printer or a spreadsheet of that size. If it had been in the home, surely it would have been the subject of photographs. But there appear to be no printer, no spreadsheet and no indications of Adam having done any research on mass murders or any other subject.”

There is zero evidence that this spreadsheet was ever physically printed out by Adam, or anyone else for that matter. This allegedly enormous document does not appear anywhere on the list of evidence seized from the Lanza home (Final report\Book 3\00025726.pdf). The sole source for this claim is Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News (wait, I thought they didn’t trust the mainstream media?), who repeats this now third-hand information from an anonymous “law enforcement vet” who allegedly heard of the spreadsheet’s existence from a Connecticut state police officer.

Look at the how this claim is worded in the Daily Mail (emphasis mine):

Connecticut State Police found the 4ft wide document in Lanza’s harddrive that was so big it required a special printer after the December 14 attack that left 26 people dead.

They found the spreadsheet on Lanza’s hard drive. Not in a box in the basement or a safe or anywhere else. On his hard drive. From the Review of Electronic Evidence (Book 4, 00194691.pdf):

While it was not included in the final report, the now mythical spreadsheet was eventually made public as a result of the Hartford Courant’s five year battle to obtain a number of Adam Lanza’s personal documents, a case which made it all the way to Connecticut’s Supreme Court:

At 401 rows and 17 columns, it is of course a far cry from the seven foot by four foot beast that required some sort of “special” printer alluded to by Powell and Watt. In fact, if one insisted upon printing the thing (and if you were a technically inclined twenty year-old, why would you?), if orientated correctly, you can see that it easily fits on a whopping four pages of paper.

Beyond the spreadsheet, there is plenty of other evidence that Adam did extensive research on mass murders. Like a lot. From the same Review of Electronic Evidence (which Allan Powell obviously has not read):

Page 135

The top photo is page 654 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, which was taken on the 15th. The middle photo is page 18 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 2.pdf”, which was taken on the 17th. Finally, the bottom photo is page 163 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, which was taken on the 14th. That means that these three photos were taken on three different days, with only the bottom photo representing the original state of the scene before investigators tore it apart in their search for evidence.

The couch was moved in order to photograph the cardboard target behind it. You can see this process unfold on pages 410-411 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”. It was back in place by page 458.

The grocery bags are from Mrs. Green’s market. According to a boyfriend of Nancy, she would visit the Westport, CT area – 35-40 minutes away – to shop at the “high-end” grocery stores. There is a Mrs. Green’s located in both New Canaan and Fairfield, which are just to the east and west of Westport.

Page 136

The two “moving fern” photos were taken five days apart. The top photo is page 455 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, taken on December 15th. The middle photo is page 19 of “Farr – house scene photos.pdf”, taken on December 20th. Chronologically speaking, our first look at these ferns is most likely page 318 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”. At this point, the ferns are sitting on the banker’s boxes to the right of the open washing machine. On page 456 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf”, the banker’s boxes have been moved and likely searched in the process (as they may have contained evidence). In order to access those boxes, the ferns were simply moved a few inches to the left, onto the lid of the washing machine. Again, this is how evidence is discovered and obtained. There’s nothing suspicious or out of the ordinary here.

“The tube of ointment disappears; a pen moves sideways; the phone and its battery rearrange themselves; the Science Club ID conveniently displays itself.”

The photo on the right – which is page 216 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf” – depicts how investigators initially found this area. That means that the “Science Club ID”, which is actually a “Newtown Technology Team” ID (again, incredible research), was already displayed. The photo on the left is page 525 from “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, which places it a bit further along in the crime scene processing. This is made clear by the presence of evidence marker #21, which represents six pieces of evidence: the LG cell phone, a memo pad, a folding wallet with miscellaneous ID, a USB device, a Honda key (likely a spare for the Civic), and Adam’s Capital One Visa.

As for the tube of ointment, who cares? It was of no relevance, so it was likely moved to the other side of the cabinet so that investigators could access the far more important wallet that was underneath of it. Again, that’s how this process works.

“Since when does a 20-year-old keep phone wallet, etc. in a bathroom cupboard at the lowest level?”

Who doesn’t have a junk drawer? Is this just an American thing? The LG is an old flip phone, unlikely to be anyone’s primary cell phone, just as the wallet is unlikely to be of any importance as it only carried “miscellaneous ID”. So who cares where it’s stored? There’s also a bunch of loose change, arcade tokens, and an old digital camera in there too.

By the way, it was less than twenty pages ago that Allan claimed Adam was twenty-one years old, which is incorrect. He can’t even keep his age straight!

Page 137

“The garage door on the right shows Adam Lanza didn’t drive the Honda out of that car space. There’s a box blocking the broken roller door which wouldn’t have raised or closed.”

So the door just remained open all of the time, because of a box?

The truth is no one knows whether or not Adam’s Civic was even in the garage that morning. There’s a good chance that it was, but it could have just as easily been parked in the home’s driveway. Not that it really matters because the box wasn’t moved there until later on in the investigation.

Our first look at the garage area comes at either page 137 of “Sec_4_Primary_Scene.pdf” or page 203 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, depending on which came first. Both photos conclusively show that the box was not there on the night of Friday, December 14th. There is absolutely nothing obstructing the door:

By comparison, Powell’s photos are page 93 of “Sec 4 -Scene Search Day 3.pdf”, which was taken on the 16th, and page 651 of “Sec 5 – Back-up Scene 1.pdf”, which was taken on the 15th.

“And of course the man who delivered the oil didn’t see the wrecked door even though he had to pass it to fill the oil tank. He didn’t investigate and did not call the  police.”

If the implication is that Adam simply drove through the door (which is not true), then it wouldn’t matter if the door could open or shut, would it?

But Adam didn’t do this to the garage; it’s one of the tactical team’s breach points. So of course the oil delivery man (who told police he visited the home sometime between 9:30-10AM) would not have seen the garage door like this. This chapter would’ve benefited greatly from at least one of its two co-authors actually reading the final report.

From CFS 1200705354, “Sec 1 – Initial Reports.pdf”:

“Neither wood lice nor earwigs stay in houses during winter. That is their mating season and they seek out the garden in which to mate and live. The image is fabricated.”

There’s no telling how long these dead insects have been here, trapped in that tape, but it looks like we’ve got an entomologist on our hands!

Woodlice will absolutely come inside during winter weather and will typically reproduce in the spring and summer. And I couldn’t find anything that says earwigs will not seek food or shelter indoors during the early winter months. I’d like to see Powell’s source on this.

“The faked oil bill has been placed in the letterbox early on a frosty morning as one more fake effect to create the impression that a family was living here, which the evidence presented here refutes.”

So the oil bill is fake too? What is this based on? Powell never says. But that “evidence”, though!

Next: Chapter Eight