Laptop taken in campus shooting probe is missing hard drive

DEKALB, Illinois (CNN) -- A laptop computer seized from a DeKalb motel and believed to be connected to Thursday's deadly shooting at Northern Illinois University had no hard drive, federal officials said Saturday.

DeKalb Travelodge manager Jay Patel said police confiscated a Toshiba laptop computer from Room 105.

Steven Kazmierczak, 27, killed five students and himself Thursday in a lecture hall on the university campus in DeKalb, west of Chicago.

The motive behind the shooting spree remains unknown. Watch a profile of the victims »

As the university mourns, school officials on Saturday announced classes will resume February 25.

A memorial service for the victims is scheduled to take place the day before, university spokeswoman Melanie Magara said.

Faculty and staff will return to work Tuesday and will receive training on how to help students when classes resume, Magara said.

On Friday, a bomb squad swept the Travelodge room where the laptop was found for explosives, a source close to the investigation said.

A DeKalb police source said a duffel bag with shotgun ammunition and regular ammunition was found in the room and confiscated. No note was found, the source said.

Patel said a white man named Steve -- his last name was illegible on the motel registry -- checked in to the room Monday, paying cash.

The DeKalb source confirmed Kazmierczak was the same "Steve" who stayed at the Travelodge.

On Tuesday, a housekeeper asked the man if he wanted the room cleaned, and he declined, according to Patel. The guest wasn't seen after that, Patel said. His checkout day was Friday. Watch how the shooting has affected security on the Illinois campus »

Patel said the man wore sunglasses and they saw each other for only about two minutes.

Patel said police called the motel Friday and spoke to his wife, asking if anyone had found a laptop. She sent a maintenance man to check some of the rooms, and he found the computer in Room 105, Patel said.

Police came to the motel to pick up the laptop, and the room was searched. Patel said he gave police the man's receipt.

After police left, a pile of men's clothes was found on one of the beds, as well as three opened cans of Red Bull energy drink, a black wallet and a small black suitcase on the dresser.

There were also two small bottles of Gorilla Glue, some Gold Bond lotion and a partially burned red candle.

Authorities believe Kazmierczak checked in and out of another hotel closer to the NIU campus, said Dana Nichols, assistant special agent in charge for the Chicago office of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

However, police do not think Kazmierczak stayed in the room. Nichols could not confirm when Kazmierczak was there or the name of the hotel.

But the DeKalb police source said it was a Best Western hotel a few doors down from the Travelodge.

On Thursday night, at least one weapon was removed from Kazmierczak's apartment in Champaign, Illinois, police said.

Meanwhile, the AP reported that Kazmierczak's parents had placed him in a Chicago psychiatric treatment center after high school. A former employee of the center said Kazmierczak habitually cut himself and wouldn't take his medication, according to the AP.

The ex-employee, Louise Gbadamashi, told the AP she could not recall Kazmierczak being violent during his stay of more than a year at the Thresholds-Mary Hill House in the late 1990s.

"He never wanted to identify with being mentally ill," she told the AP. "That was part of the problem."

As an undergraduate at Northern Illinois in 2006, Kazmierczak wrote a paper called "Self Injury in Correctional Settings: 'Pathology' of Prisons or Prisoners?" Former professors said he had a keen interest in prison social work.

The AP also reported Kazmierczak briefly had a job as a prison guard in 2002 before failing to show up for work.

He also told a friend that he was given a psychological discharge from the Army after six months in the service in 2001-2002, according to the AP.

The guns used in the campus killings were purchased in August, December and February, according to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Kazmierczak had a valid state-required firearm ID card. The application form asks whether the applicant has been treated for mental illness within the past five years.

University Police Chief Donald Grady said Friday that there were no "red flags" suggesting Kazmierczak was dangerous or disturbed.

People close to him have told police he was taking medication but had stopped and had become "somewhat erratic" in the last couple of weeks, Grady said, not specifying what the medication was.

A statement posted on the door of the Urbana, Illinois, home of Kazmierczak's sister said his family was "shocked and saddened" by the shooting incident, according to the Chicago Tribune.

"In addition to the loss of innocent lives, Steven was a member of our family. We are grieving his loss as well as the loss of life resulting from his actions," the statement said, the Tribune reported.

Police in Florida have questioned his father, Robert Kazmierczak, but did not say if any information was provided. E-mail to a friend

CNN's Don Lemon and Mike Ahlers contributed to this report.

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