Campus killer got ammo on eBay
2007-04-22 14:28
Blacksburg, Virginia - The Virginia Tech killer went to the internet less than a month before Monday's massacre to get ammunition clips that fit one of the two handguns he used in the rampage, an eBay spokesperson said.
The eBay account demonstrates the prime role computer forensics and other digital information have played in the investigation into the worst mass shooting in modern US history. When the subject of an investigation is a loner like Seung-Hui Cho, experts say his computers and cell phone can be a rich source of information.
The online auction site lists the purchase date of the empty clips as March 22, about three weeks before the attack in which Cho, 23, killed 32 people and himself.
A day later, he made a purchase from a vendor named "oneclickshooting," which sells gun accessories and other items. Details on the purchase were unclear, and the seller could not be reached for comment.
EBay spokesperson Hani Durzy said the purchase of the clips from a Web vendor based in Idaho was legal and that the company has cooperated with authorities. "In looking at his activity on the site, we can confirm that at no point that he used eBay to purchase any guns and ammunition," Durzy said Saturday. "It is strongly against eBay policy to try to sell guns and ammunition."
A search warrant affidavit filed Friday stated that investigators wanted to search Cho's e-mail accounts, including the address Blazers5505@hotmail.com, which Durzy confirmed was Cho's.
Virginia State Police spokesperson Corinne Geller said investigators are "aware of the eBay activity that mirrors" the Hotmail account. Attempts to reach the Idaho dealer were unsuccessful.
Cho also used the eBay account to sell many books about violence, death and mayhem. Several of those books were used in his English classes.
Cho sold the books on the eBay-affiliated site half.com. They include Men, Women, and Chainsaws by Carol J Clover, a book that explores gender in the modern horror film. Others include The Best of HP Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre; and The Female of the Species: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates - a book in which the publisher writes: "In these and other gripping and disturbing tales, women are confronted by the evil around them and surprised by the evil they find within themselves."
Books by those three authors were taught in his Contemporary Horror class.
Experts say things like eBay transactions can be hugely valuable in trying to learn the motivation behind crimes.
An examination of a computer is "very revealing, particularly for a person like this," said Mark Rasch of FTI Consulting, a computer and electronic investigation firm. "What we find ... particularly with people who are very uncommunicative in person, is that they may be much more communicative and free to express themselves with the anonymity that computers and the Internet give you."
Authorities also are examining the personal computers found in Cho's dorm room and seeking his cellphone records.
One question they hope to answer is whether Cho had any e-mail contact with Emily Hilscher, one of the first two victims. Investigators plan to search her Virginia Tech e-mail account.
Authorities say Cho had a history of sending menacing text messages and other communications - written and electronic.
Cho's computer could hold a record of just about anything he has done, even of activities or communications he may have tried to erase. But Rasch said that likely will not be a problem, noting the way the gunman created a record of his thinking in videos, photos and documents.
"This guy wanted to leave a trail. He wasn't trying to conceal what he did," Rasch said.
- AP