Las Vegas Shooting Probe Roadblock: Shooter's Laptop Missing Hardrive

Investigators looking into the October 1 shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 dead and hundreds wounded have hit a roadblock in their efforts to determine a motive for the attack, according to sources familiar with the probe who were not authorized to discuss the probe publicly. One of the laptops found in the room from where Paddock opened fire was missing its hard drive.

Officials believe that he removed the drive, whose disappearance was first reported by ABC News, before he opened fire. It has not yet been recovered.

Officers have searched the property of the Mandalay Bay resort where Paddock was ensconced on the 32nd floor, looking not only inside but out in case he had thrown it out one of the windows he broke so he could fire his rifles.

While officers recovered other laptops and electronic devices in the room, the information recovered from them has been minimal and not given them a stronger sense of why Paddock opened fire.

Paddock is far from the first person responsible for a mass shooting to destroy at least some evidence that might have given investigators insight into their actions.

Ten years ago, Cho Seung Hui, who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech, removed the hard drive from his laptop and it has never been found. Five years ago, Adam Lanza, who killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, destroyed the hard drive to his computer.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas and Clark County are getting a stronger sense of the financial cost of the shooting.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has racked up close to 50,000 hours in overtime since October 1, a stat with a $3.5 million price tag attached to it. The county calculates that its employees have accumulated around $400,000 in overtime costs.

Some of these costs will come from the federal government, which two weeks ago that it would direct $1 million in additional resources to the Nevada Department of Emergency Management to help with overtime costs.

On Tuesday, Governor Brian Sandoval and Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt announced that the state would direct $600,000 toward paying some of the investigative costs incurred by law enforcement.

"The State will continue to provide any additional resources necessary to assist the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department with its investigation and help ensure the tireless efforts of its officers are compensated," said Sandoval.

"These funds are an important step in those efforts."

Laxalt says that money comes from the settlement of a deceptive trade practices case from earlier this year.

“It should go without saying that I am humbled by the good work of the public servants in my Bureau of Consumer Protection who worked to obtain this settlement and make this funding opportunity possible," Laxalt said

More money may be on the way.

The county is working with the Justice Department to identify emergency grants for which they may be eligible. That process, though, can take years.

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