Collegiate Times

A timeline of events involving the missing mental health records.

Gov. Tim Kaine's spokesman said the Virginia Tech governor's review panel would not be reconvened, a request of many families of the April 16 shooting victims following the discovery of gunman Seung-Hui Cho's mental health records.

Over 60 family members signed a petition urging Kaine to revise the state's official report after former Cook Couseling Center director Robert Miller located and returned Cho's files.

"While we appreciate the hard work of the Virginia Tech Review Panel, the report issued by the Panel contains grave errors, misinformation, and glaring omissions," the statement said.

However, Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said TriData, a private information systems management company that aided the Governor's Review Panel in the initial investigation, would expand upon the report.

Hickey said Kaine invited families and university personnel to submit new facts and information they think should be added to the report during meetings last fall. He said information related to Cho's records would be included should the documents be released to the public.

Cathy Read, whose daughter Mary Read was killed in Norris Hall, submitted an extensive compilation of proposed corrections to the governor's office, according to e-mails obtained by the Collegiate Times.

After receiving those documents, Kaine offered the opportunity on July 7 for the university and victims' families to submit proposed corrections and additions. Submissions are due Aug. 19, at which time TriData will revise the report.

Additionally, Hickey said Kaine would meet with the families two more times before leaving office.

The settlement signed by all but two of the families provided that Kaine would meet with the families three times, including once in "early 2009" and once more before leaving office. He has already met with the families once, in fall 2008.

He has not yet met with the families in 2009.

Suzanne Grimes, whose son Kevin Sterne was injured in Norris Hall, said families have been motivated to seek a revised version of the panel's report.

"I don't understand why the families, especially families of the deceased, have to spend countless hours trying to figure out what happened," Grimes said.

Grimes also attempted to submit information for the report. She said her revisions were originally handed to Kaine's former legal counsel Larry Roberts at the October 2008 meeting of families and state personnel.

However, those papers were lost, and she sent new information this week.

She said the families felt it was important for an outside source to examine information related to the shootings.

"We need a neutral party, unlike officials from Virginia Tech," Grimes said.

The governor's panel, which consisted of officials who volunteered to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shootings, convened in April 2007 and published its report in August of 2007.

Grimes said the panel did not have adequate information at the time.

"We've discovered a lot of new information that the panel wasn't given," Grimes said. "That raises more questions."

No family members were interviewed during the initial investigation.

Kaine does not plan to reconvene the panel.

University spokesman Larry Hincker released a statement Tuesday afternoon, stating that a decision on the panel should be made only after viewing the files.

"The decision to involve the Massengill Panel in future deliberations belongs to Governor Kaine. At this point, the only new information is the discovery of the counseling center records. We believe that their contents should drive a decision. It is for that reason that we strongly urge the Cho estate to approve release of the files," Hincker said.

University personnel did not interact directly with the panel investigation. All requests for statements or interviews were handled through specially appointed liaison Lenwood McCoy. Confusion arose in June 2007 over the whereabouts of Cho's mental health records, as all university information was filtered through McCoy.

McCoy, formerly university controller, returned to the university from retirement, and now serves as associate vice president for special initiatives.

In a May 16, 2007, e-mail, Steger instructed all university employees to contact McCoy to "clear and coordinate all responses to requests for information relative to the events of April 16, including those that originate from individuals or groups other than the Panel."

The e-mail said in the event of receiving requests for information, university employees should "not respond directly; rather, forward the request to Mr. McCoy."

While university spokesman Mark Owczarski said last week that Miller was interviewed in the university's internal investigation, the Governor's Review Panel did not interview him during its investigation.

The panel requested Cho's records in June 2007, but did not receive any detailed mental health reports.

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