The Columbine Guide
Evidence
(old format, pending redesign)
These sites provide either a raft of information of one specific type, links to other diverse material, or a key story on a key development:
r MAJOR RELEASE, JULY 2006: Here is a direct link to 1,000 pages released in July 2006 (mostly the killers' writings, and also Wayne Harris's journal), courtesy of the Rocky Mountain News. Beware: it's a it's 32 MB pdf download. Eric's infamous journal, "The Book of God," runs from pp. 84-99, with more diagrams and budgets immediately after. This is the single most important evidence ever released.
r The most thorough, meticulous, trustworthy site I have found anywhere is called @ 4-20-99. Just a wealth of raw data: well organized, but great detail. She specializes in materials left behind by the killers, which really helps make them into real people. Also On a page devoted to notebooks, journals and diaries, you can see blowups of schedules, maps and drawings in the killers' own hands. A page on Eric Harris includes such details as boyhood photos of him and photos of his house. Lots of police records, including the diversion program here, and a nice (partial) compilation of 'transcripts' of The Basement Tapes, by piecing together accounts in various news report. (Nothing like a complete transcript has ever been released.)
r Indexed scans of the full 11,000 pages of police files released by authorities in the fall of 2000. (They were scanned and stored by the Boulder Daily Camera, in 100-page increments.) The best material--sections dedicated specifically to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold--is toward the very end, starting on page 10,076.
r Two more indexes to those 11,000 pages of police files. One index is pretty comprehensive, but very broad categories. So I created my own list of very specific passages of interest.
r 10,000 additional pages of police files, released much later.
r A particularly interesting item from the first 11,000 pages is Dylan’s violent creative writing essay. Go to the url below, (you need adobe acrobat), and then pull the bar down to page 67 (65 to read his English teacher’s full comments on the story).
r The Jeffco Sherrif Department's Final Report. Here's the official word on most topics, though it leaves much unanswered. (In spite of all that's missing, it's still a treasure trove of info.) The Dpt released it on CD, as a jumble of different files, so it's presented the same way at the link (I linked to the RMN site; several other media also have it online). It includes mostly narrative, but you can listen to short bits of 911 tapes, see brief videos (including the killers in the cafeteria), etc.
r Salon's guide to the final report, which summarizes where the good stuff is in all that mess. The report contains a massive amount of reading, which you'll never get through, and it's organized in crazy fashion making it nearly impossible to find anything of use. This brief Salon piece highlights the most relevant findings and shows you where to look. Unfortunately, the links to the report no longer work, but use this as your guide and then follow the above link to the report itself. (I did not write this guide, but I chose which sections of the report to include. I culled through the report, found the good stuff and then Daryl Lindsey wrote it up. Bottom line, I can vouch for this one 100 percent.)
r The intro letter from that same final report runs 3 single-spaced pages and contains ten bullet points which will provide the much of the most common answers to the most-asked questions. IF YOU'RE JUST LOOKING FOR THE BASICS, START HERE, and you may get all you need.
r The Final Report Report of the Governor's Review Commission (May 2001, 207 pages).
r Several scaned pages from Eric's journal, some handwritten, some typed (by him). The longest passages leaked yet.
r The FBI Report: "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective." Few people even realize this report exists, but it is THE DEFINITIVE WORK on school shooters to-date, though Columbine was a very special case (an anomaly in many ways), so not all of it applies directly. It was organized shortly after Columbine by FBI Supervisory Special Agent Mary Ellen O'Toole, who all my sources tell me is one of the brightest minds in the world on crime psychology. She gathered several of the top shrinks in the world for a summit that lead to the 52-page report. Also, if you're looking for world-class experts on Columbine, the psychology of violence and or school shooters, see page 52, where the "Contributing Experts" are named, along with contact info. I have worked with many of these people, and they are a national (and international) treasure. But please only contact them if you're doing really hardcore research. (And the FBI always implores me to point out that the conference was already in the planning stages before Columbine, but that fast-tracked it. This is true.) There is also a CNN story summarizing the report and its release here.
