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Del. Kelly Convirs-Fowler said she recently came into possession of a personal laptop that belonged to the man who carried out the 2019 mass shooting in Virginia Beach, and is questioning whether investigators missed a potential piece of evidence.
The delegate, a Democrat who represents District 21 and sponsored legislation that formed the Virginia Beach Mass Shooting Commission, issued a news release Monday indicating she received the laptop from a former city employee who had access to the gunman’s residence after his death.
The FBI has previously said, and the Virginia Beach Police Department’s final investigative report concluded, that neither federal investigators nor police had located, seized or were aware of the existence of a personal laptop belonging to the shooter.
The Virginian-Pilot has not been able to independently verify whether the laptop belonged to the gunman. Convirs-Fowler did not respond to multiple interview requests Monday and Tuesday. The FBI deferred comment to the police department.
Virginia Beach Police reiterated in a statement Tuesday that investigators were not aware of the existence of a personal laptop or desktop computer belonging to the shooter. The department said no laptop was recovered during a search of the shooter’s home, although investigators recovered other devices, including “tablets, thumb drives, cameras, SD cards, and two cell phones.”
“No laptop was recovered from the residence at the time the search warrant was executed, nor has the VBPD been made aware of such laptop over the past three and a half years since the tragic incident,” the department said in a statement. “The tablets that were recovered were subjected to forensic analysis for any evidence that may be contained within.”
Police Chief Paul Neudigate asked Convirs-Fowler’s office to turn over the laptop “so that a complete forensic review can be conducted to determine the device’s authenticity and relevance to the 5/31/19 mass shooting,” the department said.
The release from Convirs-Fowler includes an email from a former city employee, Beth Mann, in which Mann describes how she came to possess the laptop and why she gave it to Convirs-Fowler. The delegate said she shared Mann’s full, lengthy email “in the interest of transparency.”
Mann explained in the email to Convirs-Fowler that she obtained the laptop from Debbie Borato, the sister of shooting victim Missy Langer. Borato obtained the shooter’s Virginia Beach condo in summer 2022 after winning a $2 million judgement in a wrongful death suit against the executor of the shooter’s estate, according to court documents obtained by The Pilot, which have not been previously reported.
Mann said she found the laptop while helping Borato prepare to sell the condo. When she heard others knew of the laptop, Mann said she feared for her family’s safety, prompting her to give the laptop and “all the mass shooter’s property” to Convirs-Fowler.
Mann confirmed to The Pilot that she turned on the computer, a silver ACER laptop, and saw a profile for the shooter, but was unable to access any files.
“I only turned the computer on and saw his name and other profiles. I am not that computer savvy and cant figure out how to bypass passwords,” Mann said in an email to The Pilot. “Not only do I NOT know what is on any of the devices, I do NOT have any duplicates. Kelly was able to access the computer with some assistance, and I wasn’t present for any of it.”
The disgruntled city employee, Dewayne Craddock, went on a rampage at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center on May 31, 2019, fatally shooting 12 people before he was killed by police.
Mann confirmed to The Pilot that she gave Convirs-Fowler permission to share her entire email. She said she turned over the computer to Convirs-Fowler out of concern of retaliation against her if people found out she was in possession of it.
Mann declined to speak about the other accusations of misconduct she made in the email to Convirs-Fowler due to her pending litigation against the city for wrongful termination.
In the release that included Mann’s email, Convirs-Fowler framed the existence of the laptop as another in a series of missteps in the investigation into the shooting.
“Although the City of Virginia Beach and the FBI adamantly denied the recovery of any personal laptop belonging to VB May 31st Mass Shooter, DeWayne Craddock, DeWayne Craddock’s personal laptop was recovered from his previous residence and entrusted to Delegate Kelly Convirs-Fowler to ensure this vital evidence is brought to the public,” the statement read.
“Who searched the shooter’s residence?” Convirs-Fowler asks in the release. “The public and the families deserve a proper investigation.”
The families of the victims have been frustrated with the investigation into the shooting for years, in part due to the amount of time it took for law enforcement to determine the suspect’s motive. Last month, The Pilot reported that the commission tasked with conducting an independent investigation lost 10 of its 21 members in recent months amid concerns that it is failing to conduct a thorough review.
Convirs-Fowler cited the police department’s final investigative report, issued in March 2021, in her release. The report states “neither the FBI nor the Virginia Beach Police Department located or seized a laptop computer belonging to the shooter. Neither agency is aware of the existence of a personal laptop or desktop computer belonging to the shooter.”
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The report also says while investigators made forensic backups of numerous electronic and digital devices — both personal devices and those belonging to the city, including at least one laptop — that were collected from the crime scene and from the shooter’s home, they only found a tablet belonging to the shooter.
“Of the items recovered from the suspect’s home, one tablet was password protected and as of this date cannot be accessed,” reads the report. “The FBI and the Virginia State Police were consulted and also were unable to access the data.”
Krystal Kawabata-Bonin, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, deferred questions about specific evidence recovered to the police department, but explained the FBI’s role.
“Typically, our local law enforcement partners are the primary responding entities to an incident, but it is standard practice for the FBI to assist our local law enforcement partners if we have a tool, tactic, or technique that could benefit their investigations,” Kawabata-Bonin said in an email. “The FBI is always poised to assist if we do receive requests from our partners for help on investigative matters, including the Virginia Beach Police Department.”
Gavin Stone, 757-712-4806, gavin.stone@virginiamedia.com