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 gallery_thumbnails_photo|photo-7229095|article-gallery-5936225|9 Photo: Contributed Photo Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close gallery_thumbnails_show|article-gallery-5936225|article-gallery-5936225|0 gallery_overlay_open|article-gallery-5936225|article-gallery-5936225|0 gallery_overlay_open_thumbs|article-gallery-5936225|article-gallery-5936225|0 Image 1 of 10 Randall Bell was hired by the Hudson City Savings Bank to negotiate the deal through which Newtown, Conn., took ownership of Nancy Lanza's Yogananda Street home. Photo: Contributed Photo Randall Bell was hired by the Hudson City Savings Bank to negotiate... Image 2 of 10 Crime scene tape surrounds the home of Nancy Lanza, Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2012, in Newtown, Conn. Nancy Lanza was killed by her son Adam Lanza before he forced his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Friday and opened fire, killing many others, including 20 children. Photo: Jason DeCrow, AP Photo/Jason DeCrow Crime scene tape surrounds the home of Nancy Lanza, Tuesday, Dec.... Image 3 of 10 The Lanza house on Yogananda St. in Newtown, Conn. Photo: Handout, Conn. State Police Via Getty Ima The Lanza house on Yogananda St. in Newtown, Conn. Image 4 of 10 Nicole Simpson condo in Los Angeles, CA Photo: Ron Galella, Ltd., Ron Galella/WireImage Nicole Simpson condo in Los Angeles, CA Image 5 of 10 This photo from the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows the driver's license of Nicole Brown Simpson, the ex-wife of former professional football player O.J. Simpson, who was slain along with a friend, Ronald Lyle Goldman, at her home 13 June 1994. Photo: STF, STF/AFP/Getty Images This photo from the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows... Image 6 of 10 O.J. Simpson Photo: AFP, Steve Marcus/AFP/Getty Images O.J. Simpson Image 7 of 10 The residence at 749 15th Street, where JonBenet Ramsey was murdered in December, 1996, is seen August 17, 2006 in Boulder, Colorado. A single red rose was placed near the entrance to the home in foreground. Photo: Doug Pensinger, Doug Pensinger/Getty Images The residence at 749 15th Street, where JonBenet Ramsey was... Image 8 of 10 Jon Benet Ramsey Photo: Contributed Photo Jon Benet Ramsey Image 9 of 10 A general view of the house where 39 young men and women were found dead in what is suposed to be a mass suicide in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. Photo: HECTOR MATA, HECTOR MATA/AFP/Getty Images A general view of the house where 39 young men and women were found... Image 10 of 10 'Master of Disaster' helps Newtown acquire Lanza home 1 / 10 Back to Gallery gallery_thumbs_close|article-gallery-5936225|article-gallery-5936225|0 gallery_overlay_close|article-gallery-5936225|article-gallery-5936225|0 
 
 NEWTOWN -- When it came time to decide the fate of the home once occupied by the Sandy Hook gunman and his mother, the bank that owned the property turned to the real estate expert known in the business as "The Master of Disaster." 
 
 Randall Bell had already shown a deft hand in helping owners dispose of the Boulder, Colo., home where Jon Benet Ramsey was killed and the Los Angeles townhouse where Nicole Brown Simpson was murdered, performing the delicate task of assessing values on properties stigmatized by crime and disaster. He has consulted on cases ranging from the World Trade Center after 9/11 to the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. 
 
 Bell, 54, was hired as a consultant by the Hudson City Savings Bank, which had taken possession in September of the Yogananda Street home where 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot his mother and armed himself for the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Dec. 14, 2012. 
 
 Bank officials asked Bell to consider a range of options for the two-story, 3,000-square-foot Colonial, from an open-market sale to a bank-sanctioned demolition. But he learned quickly that maximizing the bank's financial interest was not uppermost in their minds. 
 
 Meetings in the bank's New Jersey corporate offices were so emotional that top executives were sometimes in tears, Bell said. 
 
 "They were crystal clear (that) the town has been through enough," Bell said. "They wanted to do what the town felt was appropriate. No one was interested in money. Everything was about doing the right thing, and helping the community. That's just their leadership style there." 
 
 The bank began about six months ago talking to First Selectman Pat Llodra, whose overriding concern in the negotiations was to make sure the town could "control our own fate." 
 
 At the time of the death of Lanza's mother, Nancy, the home had an outstanding mortgage of more than $400,000, with only $64,000 in assets, according to probate records in Bethel. 
 
 When the bank took possession, it removed and destroyed the contents, It also maintained and secured the house and grounds, Bell said. The appraised value officially exceeds $500,000, but Bell and other real estate professionals agreed its market value likely would be far less. 
 
 In the end, however, the bank agreed to donate the property to the town. On Wednesday, the Legislative Council unanimously agreed to the deal. 
 
 A seemingly relieved Llodra was full of praise for Bell. 
 
 "He was quite a compelling expert, and a really genuine, very nice man who recognized that we need to control our own fate here," Llodra said. "And he advocated for that with the bank." 
 
 If the town had to buy the house, she and other officials said, the process would have been far lengthier and likely more contentious, considering the town faces another frugal budget year. 
 
 For Bell, the process was familiar. 
 
 He worked with the family of Nicole Brown Simpson to find renters for the Brentwood condominium where she and friend Ron Goldman were murdered in June 1994, and later arranged a sale. He also worked with the family of 6-year-old Jon Benet Ramsey, who was found dead in the basement of their home in Boulder on the day after Christmas in 1996, to sell at a diminished price so they could move. 
 
 In Newtown's case, Bell said he felt privileged to play even a small role in the ongoing recovery of the community. 
 
 "Every tragedy has emotional issues, and also practical issues," he said. "It is very satisfying to have a role in helping things get a little better. We all as human beings wish the tragedy never happened. ... We all just feel so bad and are so anxious to do what you can to help." 
 
 Hudson City Senior Vice President William LaCamalito said the company considered it important to help with the community's "healing process." 
 
 "We at Hudson City are deeply saddened by what Newtown has been through, and we take our responsibilities to be a good corporate citizen very seriously," LaCamalito said. "Since the tragedy, many corporations have donated time, personnel and resources, and this is kind of our way of doing our part for Newtown." 
 
 Bell said he took part in some discussions about the home, but declined to disclose them in deference to town leaders. 
 
 Although many in the community have called for the home's quick demolition, Llodra said the subject is too painful to discuss as the second anniversary of the shootings approaches. 
 
 "I want to hold off on discussions about the disposition until after the holidays," Llodra said. "I want to give the families and the community a couple weeks of peace around the anniversary and the holidays." 
 
 nhutson@newstimes.com;203-731-3332; 
 
 http://twitter.com/NTNanci 

 The bank that took control of the house where Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter Adam Lanza lived burned all the items left in the house to ensure that no one could sell them as murder memorabilia. 
 
 "There is nothing left but the light fixtures; we burned everything from the carpets to any personal effects left behind," said William LaCalamito, a senior vice president for Hudson Savings Bank of New Jersey, which turned the house over to the town of Newtown this week at no cost. "We didn't want anything from that house showing up for sale on eBay two years from now." 
 
 The Newtown Legislative Council approved the transfer of the property at 36 Yogananda St. from the bank to the town on Wednesday, ending a process that started several months ago when Ryan Lanza, the heir to his mother Nancy Lanza's estate, agreed to turn over the property for $1 to a limited liability corporation, which then transferred it to Hudson Bank. Town officials have been discussing the land transfer for about a month. 
 
 Nancy Lanza was the first person that Adam Lanza killed on Dec. 14, 2012, shooting her four times with a .22-caliber rifle while she slept in the house. He then drove to the Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot and killed 20 first-graders and six adults before killing himself. 
 
 State police took a number of items out of the house soon after the shootings. 
 
 The bank is absorbing a mortgage of nearly $400,000 that Nancy Lanza had on the 3,100-square-foot home. The yellow house was built in 1998 and is on 2.19 acres in a high-end residential subdivision. 
 
 "It is not common that a bank is driven by compassion and not by profits, but that was the case here," Newtown First Selectman Patricia Llodra said Thursday. 
 
 LaCalamito said people at the bank decided that the right thing to do was to give the property to the town and allow it to do what it wants with it. The first thing the bank did was hire California real estate expert Randall Bell, who has been involved in the sale or disposal of such notorious properties as the Sharon Tate home and O.J. Simpson's house. 
 
 Bell said Thursday that he toured the Lanza house several times, met with Llodra at least twice, and that there was a lot of high-end furniture left behind, as well as many of Adam Lanza's belongings. 
 
 "It was a sad situation. There was tons of stuff in that house. There were a lot of Adam Lanza's possessions still there and that stuff needed to be gone," Bell said. 
 
 Bell said that the house would have been difficult to sell, but not impossible. The house was assessed at more than $500,000 and had a fair market value of at least $360,000. 
 
 "It certainly would have been a hard sell, but it probably could have been sold eventually," said Bell. "But for this community, that was not the right thing to do." 
 
 Bank officials met with Llodra and Police Chief Michael Kehoe several times to discuss options. One of the key issues was security. When the bank took control of the property in late September, a new security system and lighting was installed. The yard was landscaped and someone was hired to cut the grass regularly. 
 
 Llodra said that despite the notoriety of the house, there was only one time when someone broke in. She said it was unclear if anything was taken and a new alarm system was installed immediately after that. 
 
 LaCalamito said he didn't have an estimate on what the bank paid for the upkeep of the house. 
 
 "We went the extra mile in this case because of the situation," LaCalamito said. "This was kind of us doing our part as a good corporate neighbor." 
 
 With the council approving the transfer, Hudson Bank is now done with the Lanza house. 
 
 "It's up to them to do whatever they choose," LaCalamito said. "We wish the town nothing but the best." 
 
 Llodra said she will begin discussions in January with the board of selectmen, victims' families and neighbors on what to do with the house. Llodra told Reuters that the town was "strongly considering" tearing it down. 
 
 "We now own the problem and can execute a solution ourselves rather than rely on an outside entity," Llodra said. "We're not as vulnerable."
– The house that once belonged to Newtown shooter Adam Lanza and his mother just changed hands, but don't expect to see any of their old belongings up for sale as creepy memorabilia. The bank that transferred ownership to Newtown at no cost made sure of that by burning everything inside, reports the Hartford Courant. "There is nothing left but the light fixtures," says an exec with Hudson Savings Bank of New Jersey. "We burned everything from the carpets to any personal effects," he says. "We didn't want anything from that house showing up for sale on eBay two years from now." Another unusual part of the transfer: The bank first hired a man known as the "Master of Disaster" in the real estate business to go through the house and help figure out what to do with it, reports the Stamford Advocate. Randall Bell earned that nickname by helping to sell the homes in the OJ Simpson and Jon Benet Ramsey cases. He says the bank probably could have sold the house eventually for somewhere under its $500,000 assessment, but "no one was interested in money" given the circumstances. Instead the bank gave it to the town, which will decide its fate—but not immediately. "I want to give the families and the community a couple weeks of peace around the anniversary and the holidays," says First Selectman Patricia Llodra. (A recent report detailed missed opportunities to help Adam Lanza.)