ComputerForensicsDigest.com

The simmering saga over missing emails from the employee mail account of Michael J. Kineavy, a close aide to Boston mayor Thomas Menino, was kicked up a notch yesterday by the revelation that an old computer of Kineavy's had been found in City Hall.

Controversy has swirled around Kineavy, who is considered a potentially important witness in the pending corruption investigation and prosecution of former state senator Diane Wilkerson for public corruption. Both prosecutors and journalists are eager to see what communications, if any, took place between Wilkerson and Kineavy around liquour licensing issues.

The existence of the computer and the timing of its replacement have raised serious questions about the Menino administration's handling of requests for copies of Kineavy's emails. The Boston Globe filed its initial request for Kineavy's electronic correspondence of April 1, 2009. The paper now reports that five days later, Kineavy complained that that his computer was operating poorly and requested a new one. The replacement was installed on April 24.

City officials and attorneys had said that Kineavy's computer had not been replaced in over two years. However, when a state-ordered forensic exam of Kineavy's hard drive turned up fragments of emails from another city employee's account, the City Hall IT department determined that Kineavy in fact had been given a refurbished unit in the spring. City Hall IT chief William Oates then searched for and located the computer taken from Kineavy's office in April. Oates told the paper and state officials that the computer has not been used since.

The older hard drive, which was in use during the period covered by the public records request, has been turned over to StoneTurn Group for analysis. StoneTurn was hired by City Hall to do the initial review of Kineavy's drive. Company officials report that they have billed $25,000 so far for their work, and estimates for a thorough email-by-email retrieval run as high as $250,000.