New developments in the Aurora shooting case are pointing in the direction of the 'brilliant-scientist -gone-mad' theory.

In pursuit of a career in neuroscience, James Holmes seemed to have impressed a great bunch of people; with one reference describing him as having a 'great amount of intellectual and emotional maturity.'

The accused in the Aurora massacre was once a gifted honors student who had a 'great amount of intellectual and emotional maturity,' according to newly released reference letters accompanying his application to an Illinois graduate program.

Materials submitted in 2010 by Holmes, 24, while seeking admission to a neuroscience doctoral program at the University of Illinois' Urbana-Champaign campus were furnished to Reuters by the school Friday under a state Freedom of Information Act request.

The package of academic records, along with his own application essay and glowing recommendations from several references, paint a picture of Holmes as a dedicated, if not eccentric, young scholar.

Holmes was admitted to the highly competitive program and offered an annual $22,660 stipend, plus the waiver of all tuition and fees after he impressed the University of Illinois faculty with his 'truly outstanding' personal and professional qualities, according to a copy of his acceptance letter.

As part of his application, Holmes submitted a picture of himself standing next to a llama. It's unclear whether he submitted the photo as a way to make his application stand out, but it seemed to work as members of the admission board jokingly referred to him as 'llama' after seeing the picture, according to email correspondence released by the University.

Holmes' University of Illinois application, in which he describes himself as an 'aspiring scientist,' also shows that the San Diego native was ranked among the top 1 percent of undergraduate honors students at the University of California at Riverside, where he earned a 3.94 grade-point-average, out of a 4.0 scale, and a bachelor's degree in neuroscience.

"James is an extraordinarily gifted student who is very dedicated to his academic pursuits," one individual, whose name has been redacted, wrote in one of three reference letters obtained by Reuters. "He is passionate about a career in science and seeks out opportunities to learn as much as possible about his chosen field of interest, and how he can positively contribute to the world."

In his own personal essay, Holmes wrote: "Rational people act based on incentives for self-fulfillment, including fulfilling needs of self-development and needs of feeling useful and helpful to others."

"I have always been fascinated by the complexities of a long lost thought seemingly arising out of nowhere into a stream of awareness. These fascinations likely stemmed from my interest in puzzles and paradoxes as an adolescent."

Some of the application materials were first published by an Illinois newspaper, the News-Gazette, which obtained them under an earlier Freedom of Information request and posted them online.

Holmes, who ended up briefly pursuing a graduate degree at the University of Colorado rather than Illinois, has been charged with 24 counts of first-degree murder and 116 counts of attempted murder.

Holmes' defense lawyer said Thursday during a court appearance that his client suffers from a mental illness and tried to get help before the shooting, hinting at going for insanity plea.