Discovery of Cho’s records brings more questions
DEAN HOFFMEYER/TIMES-DISPATCH
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine said he wants to know why investigators had been unable to find the Cho mental health records.
Published: July 23, 2009
Updated: July 23, 2009
It was the prospect of talking to a lawyer -- not the efforts of Virginia police officers investigating the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history -- that apparently shook loose missing records about Virginia Tech killer Seung-Hui Cho from the former university employee who held them.
The former director of Tech's counseling center found the mental-health records, missing for more than three years, last week in his home, according to a memo yesterday from Virginia Tech's legal counsel, Mary Beth Nash.
The records are supposed to have information about mental-health treatment that Tech provided Cho about 16 months before he killed 32 students and professors on April 16, 2007.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday promised that the records will be made public as quickly as possible. He said the state will ask Cho's family to release the records. If the family declines, Kaine said, the state could take other steps.
Although state police officers received the records Tuesday morning, the counseling center's former director, Robert Miller, turned them over to university officials last Thursday.
Miller is one of several Tech and state officials named in lawsuits filed by families of two students Cho killed. Miller apparently found the records while preparing to be interviewed by the families' lawyers, one of the families' attorneys, Robert Hall of Reston, said yesterday.
Miller, who now teaches at the Edward Via Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine in Blacksburg, did not reply to an e-mail or calls to his office and cell phone yesterday. His lawyer did not return a phone call.
Hall said he has not seen the records.
When asked why police officers had not been able to find a critical piece of evidence, state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said: "We're still investigating the circumstances around their disappearance."
She said she couldn't comment on why police were unable to get the records, saying the matter is under investigation as a possible criminal offense, but she added that state police are confident that their investigation showed no lack of competence or efficiency.
Miller took the records from the counseling center about a year before the massacre, said Nash, the Tech general counsel. Miller had records of several other students in his home. State regulations require that licensed counselors keep records for five years and ensure that they are secure.
Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said Cho's records appeared to be complete.
But he said that because the records are confidential, he could not say whether they include information about whether the center knew a judge had ordered Cho to get mental-health care there in December 2005; whether they have information about how that order was followed up; or about other interactions Cho or his teachers had with the center about his disturbing behavior in the years before the massacre.
Soon after the massacre, when police discovered that the file was missing, Owczarski said Tech officials asked Miller whether he knew anything about the files. Miller told them he had no idea about their location, Owczarski said.
Kaine said the records would be entered into the archives for public comment and could be used to revise or correct any errors in the original report.
The governor said he wants to know why police were unable to find the records.
"I don't know that that is an aspect of an investigation, but that is a question that interests me," Kaine said.
Some parents of students Cho killed said the missing records make them wonder whether Tech and the state had been trying to dodge responsibility for their actions before the massacre.
"I am flabbergasted it has taken this long for these records to be uncovered. The fact that it only happened in response to discovery for pending litigation makes me sick to my stomach," said Peter Read, whose daughter, Mary, was killed April 16, 2007.
"This is the most vivid demonstration to date of what I have contended from the outset -- that leadership determines the climate and culture of an institution, and that the current leadership of the university obviously encouraged a climate and culture of fear, secrecy, and intimidation among the very employees who were most responsible for the safety and well-being of our children and their teachers."
Michael Pohle, whose son, Michael, died that day, said the belated discovery of the records calls into question much of the state investigation. He said the fact that they didn't surface for so long raises questions about how complete the records are, as well as the motivations of Tech officials after the massacre.
"It not only adds to the theory of a coverup but also leads to a question as to who VT or other state institutions might be covering for," said Joseph Samaha, whose daughter, Reema, also was killed that day.
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or
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Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or .
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Reader Reactions
Datony, I fully agree with your comments. Mental health issues are too much hid behind closed doors. And, our society is too quick to blame-shift everytime we have a tragedy. No one wants to have the finger pointed at them so they hurry up and point it themselves to distract from looking at them. What I’m wanting to say is that in addition to a decline in moral values and being unafraid to speak up or blame shifting, accountability has went the way of the Edsel. Too many are not held accountable for their actions. Too many want to blame too many for this tragedy. It was Bush, it was Kaine, it was Steger, it was Flinchum, it was the state Police, it was the professors, it was Cook Counselling, it was eveybody except the correct choice. It was Cho and Cho only. Yes, he was ill and yes, it wasn’t fully discovered until it was too late. Nonetheless, it could have also been a PO’ed boyfriend, etc. In the end, it was him and maybe he was a victim as well. But we don’t want to place him among the students he killed. He was a bad guy and must be held accountable. If he had lived, he would have been sentenced to an institution, I believe, and would be getting the treatment, hopefully, that he should have received before he lost it. Blame-shifting after the fact is the easy way out.
lol good point jh28, that wouldn’t be suitable at all,to go to face to face interviews for over 20,000 applicants, and then to place to blame on the doctor,could’ve, would’ve,should’ve, but didnt do it.. the fact is, i hope that people have learned from this…and columbine and the ever growing list of shootings that are occuring at our places of education, i have yet to see anyone actually mention the true reason, i mean, there are always going to be people with mental health issues, there are probably far more people with depression that everyone knows,but no one discusses it until something happens then they want to place the blame on everyone…...people just need to start treating people better, there is a serious erroding of morals in our country and has been for the past couple of decades…..we just need to get back to basics as a society and start taking care of each other….and im not drunk either lol…just stating what needs to be done..
I have said this over and over again and I still believe it with all of heart and soul…the only thing that would have changed the outcome here at VT on 4-16-07 is if the shooter had had a moment of clarity and changed his mind. Who could imagine the horror that was to follow? All of this 20-20 hindsight is good for policy making for the future but lets stop blaming other people for this. There is only one person to blame and he killed himself on that horrible day. And, until Dr. Miller has his say about why the records were at his house, lets give the guy a break. Yes, it’s wrong to have protected medical records at your home but maybe he gathered them up with other stuff to take home one evening and he never even realized that he had them. We don’t know. I love Virignia Tech. I come to work here every day. This Campus is moving on. We will never forget our Fallen Hokies.
I’ll say it again, since they keep deleting it. Why aren’t the cops investigating the COURTS who issued the order and obviously weren’t making sure Cho stayed in compliance with it??
Face to face interviews to get into college. yeah that would have caught his issue.
There were over 20,000 applications for entry to VT last year. You want to interview all 20,000 plus of them?
We had a tragedy. We lost too many valuable lives. There will never be a consensus of opinions. But, in all fairness and honesty, how can you blame anybody for the acts of a mentally ill person who perpetrated this act? The system was indeed flawed and sometimes it takes a tragedy to effect change. We didn’t have anything previous to compare it to even though other school shootings had occurred and will occur again, God Forbid! In order to have a free society with all the inherent freedoms we have, it brings with it a cost. No matter what was in place with gun laws, mental illness policies, university policies, security policies, etc, any one whether sane or not can go out and murder a whole lot of people before they can be stopped. One can get what they want in the way of weapons no matter what policies and laws are in effect unless we want to become a nation with no freedoms. I fully attempt to understand the grief and horror that the parents and all are undergoing but still there was nothing that could have prevented the tragedy from happening with what was in effect at that time. That doesn’t mean that it can’t be bettered or that it was intentionally inadequate. We couldn’t conceive of 4-16 any more than 9-11. I know answers are needed and they will be provided but never to the point where everybody will be satisfied. I believe we need to try as best as we can to never forget, be more diligent, and have faith that it won’t happen again here. Let’s bring all the closure we can to this and live on. I watch this campus everyday and it teems with young vibrant life hungry to learn and succeed and serve. Just as we honor our war dead, we honor our 4-16 dead and will forever.
I agree that a face to face interview prior to admission makes sense. However, in this and many other cases, a denial of admission,even if it was based on vaild concerns,would open the flood gates to screams of racial profiling. Too many bleeding hearts trying to “protect” the “rights” of the wrong people.
Tech’s application process definately contributes to the problem. When my child applied there was no personal interview, no references required. It was all about GPA + SAT - pure numbers game. If Cho had high grades and high SAT scores he was exactly the type of student Tech prides itself on accepting. Maybe they should reconsider the application process and sit down with applicants rather than relying on test results. Just a thought.
By hiding a number of student files in his personal residence, Dr. Miller behaved unprofessionally and unethically. His license as a medical practitioner should be reviewed and revoked as appropriate. As the head of Cook Counseling Center, it was his fiduciary duty to follow the HIPAA laws as well as to care for the mental health welfare of 27,000 students.
Tim Kaine appointed a commission to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding the worst shooting crime in Virginia history. He accepted the report of that commission.
Thank God the families of the victims were more diligent than the Governor and his commission or the full story of this monstrous crime might never be told.
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