by Jeff Kass
Also, http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/chivington.htm.
Joe B. Frantz, “The Frontier Tradition: An Invitation to Violence,” in The History of Violence in America, ed. Hugh Davis Graham and Ted Robert Gurr. (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), 148.
Chivington funeral comes from Alan Dumas, “The Agony and the Infamy—Historians Reevaluate the Civil War Hero Who Led The Bloody Raid on Sand Creek,” Rocky Mountain News, Sunday, 12 Oct. 1997.
Warring religions in Athearn, The Coloradans, 48-49.
Information on the Harris home when it was up for sale comes from the author’s walkthru and copy of the buyer’s brochure.
Also, Lynn Bartels, “Harris Home Up For Sale—Two Agents Critical of Family Can’t Show It,” Rocky Mountain News, Wednesday, 25 Aug. 2004.
And, Kieran Nicholson, “Family Home of Columbine Killer on Market—Agent’s Daughter Was in School Library,” The Denver Post, Thursday, 26 Aug. 2004.
The daughter of Harris real estate agent Jay Holliday, Jessica, is also the girl clutching her head in the famous Rocky Mountain News “Heartbreak” front page photo.
Three: Family
Information on discrimination against Leo as he grew up is from Mary Hoover, “Leo Yassenoff and the Yassenoff Foundation,” in Columbus Unforgettables, ed Robert D. Thomas. (Columbus: Robert D. Thomas, 1983), 39-40.
Leo’s activities in college and some other Yassenoff family history comes from Solly Leo Yassenoff, “The Family of Abraham Yassenoff” (A family history distributed to extended Yassenoff family members, dedication dated August 1999), 22-27.
Milton Yassenoff military information comes from U.S. military records.
“Sandra” comes from W. Hugh Missildine, M.D. and Lawrence Galton, Your Inner Conflicts How to Solve Them (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974), 24-26.
Author’s telephone conversation with Susan Klebold is 17 Dec. 2002.
Susan Klebold’s work in college, and beyond, is outlined in her resumes, employment applications, and other school information. Because she often worked for public universities in Wisconsin and Colorado, the material was obtainable through open records laws.
Information on death phobia, phobias in general, and personality disorders comes from: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th ed. TR, s.v. “personality disorders.”
The Encyclopedia of Phobias, Fears, and Anxieties, 2 Rev Sub edition (June 2000), s.v. “death, fear of.”
The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. 2nd ed., s.v. “Phobias.”
Tom Klebold’s Wittenberg photo is undated, but is from 1967, according to a university researcher.
Tom Klebold’s employment with Conoco comes from the company.
Four: Growing Up
Dylan Candyland incident comes from Cornell professor James Garbarino on the website mothersofamerica.com (“April 2001—News Archive”), and author’s 4 Sept. 2002 e-mail exchange with Garbarino.
Brooks Brown, No Easy Answers: The Truth Behind Death at Columbine (New York: Lantern Books, 2002) talks of Dylan growing up and playing with Lego and crawdads. School transcripts show Dylan enrolls at Governor’s Ranch from August 1989 to June 1993.
Columbine student Nathan Vanderau spoke for Investigative Reports: Columbine: Understanding Why. New York: A&E Television Networks, 2002. Television documentary.
Susan Klebold interview with police talks of Brooks and Dylan discussing writing a play in the year before Columbine.
Richard Pool’s military background comes from U.S. military records.
Background on Wayne and Kathy Harris comes from their high school yearbooks, Wayne Harris military records, and Lynn Bartels with Carla Crowder, “Goal of Harris’ Dad: ‘Raise 2 Good Sons’ ‘66 Englewood High Grad Mentioned Kids in Form for 20-year Reunion,” Rocky Mountain News, Friday, 4 June 1999.
Also, Carla Crowder with Dan Luzadder and Lynn Bartels, “Harrises Didn’t See a Monster in Their Midst—Friends Believe the Family Taught Kids Right and Wrong, Respect for Others,” Rocky Mountain News, Monday, 21 June 1999.
Wayne Harris driving the kids to Columbine football games comes from Lynn Bartels and Carla Crowder, “Fatal Friendship—How Two Suburban Boys Traded Baseball and Bowling for Murder and Madness,” Rocky Mountain News, Sunday, 22 Aug. 1999.
The lack of sibling rivalry between Eric and Kevin comes from No Easy Answers and Eric’s AOL profile. JC26859 (PDF 946).
Information on Katherine Harris from Robyn Anderson comes from Anderson’s deposition, p. 214.
Regarding Eric growing up:
Nora Boreaux in Lynn Bartels and Ann Imse, “Friendly Faces Hid—Kid Killers Social, Normal Teens Eventually Harbored Dark, Sinister Attitudes,” Rocky Mountain News, Thursday, 22 April 1999.
Pam Belluck and Jodi Wilgoren, “Shattered Lives—A Special Report; Caring Parents, No Answers, In Columbine Killers’ Pasts,” New York Times, Tuesday, 29 June 1999.
Kris Otten in Betsy Streisand and Angie Cannon with Joannie M. Schrof, Jeff Kass, Ben Wildavsky and Susan Gregory Thomas, “Exorcising the Pain—Littleton Buries its Dead and Tries to Understand,” U.S. News & World Report, 10 May 1999. (Otten’s first name is spelled “Chris” in the story).
Alisa Owen in Investigative Reports: Columbine: Understanding Why.
Terry Condo in “Fatal Friendship.”
Eric’s memories of Oscoda come from his essay found on page JC26772, (PDF 858).
Oscoda population in 1990 comes from
http://www.state.mi.us/msp/cjic/ucr/ucr_h03.htm
Official report says the Harrises moved from Plattsburgh to Littleton in July 1993; in his 1997 class essay Eric recalls Independence Day at Plattsburgh before the move.
Plattsburgh closing in 1995 comes from http://www.strategicaircommand.com/bases/Plattsburgh_AFB.htm
Eric enrolled at Ken Caryl Middle School in Littleton comes from summary of Wayne and Kathy Harris interview in the official Columbine report.
Michelle Hartsough, who worked at Blackjack Pizza with Eric, says his parents were “always grounding him.” JC10150.
Blackjack employee Angel Pytlinski said, “Harris was upset with his dad, because his dad accused him of using LSD.” JC10193.
Obfuscation on the Harris meeting with police is exemplified by author’s e-mail exchange with lead Columbine investigator Kate Battan on 29 Dec. 2004. She was asked if she could say when Wayne and Katherine Harris gave the information quoted in the official report to investigators. “No,” she said.
My followup question was, “‘No,’ meaning you don’t know? Or you know, but can’t say?”
“It just means no,” Battan wrote back in an email.
In the same e-mail exchange about the Klebolds, I asked:
“The Klebolds had a well-publicized interview with law enforcement, and the 11,000 pages contain a report on the meeting. They also spoke with detectives the day of Columbine. But were there other meetings with the Klebolds? Two cites lead me to that question. A Sept. 14, 1999 article in The Denver Post notes that, ‘Klebold’s parents, Tom and Susan, have spoken several times with detectives.’ And a Sept. 23, 1999 Salon.com article quotes Kate saying: ‘It really does begin with the family. But I’m here to tell you, I sat down and I’ve spent a lot of time with the Klebolds, and they’re nice people. It’s not like they’re these monsters that raised a monster. I mean, they truly are clueless about any warning signs that this was going to happen.’” Battan wrote back: “All reports of interviews have been released.”
I asked, “Are there other interviews that did not result in reports? If so, what were the circumstances of them?”
Battan: “I’ve provided the best answer I can.”
Various accounts put the high school renovation at $13.4 million, including Lori Tobias “School Has History of Excellence—Columbine Academics, Athletics Win Praise,” Rocky Mountain News, Wednes
day, 21 April 1999.
Eric and Dylan as freshmen comes in part from author’s interviews with Rich Long in 2007 and 2008.
Tom Klebold’s comments on Dylan in the days before Columbine come from what he told an officer who came to their house the day of Columbine (JC10522) and in the police interview ten days after the shootings (JC10507).
“Shattered Lives” reported that Kevin had an A-average and varsity letter, although it is unclear if it was in football. “Shattered Lives” and Eric’s diversion file say he saw his brother often after Kevin started at the University of Colorado.
The recounting of Eric’s sports comes from his own paper JC26567 (PDF 653). In the diversion file, he says he played for the Columbine Rush.
Eric calling Littleton hell and wanting to live on Doom’s Phobos and believing in aliens comes from his AOL profile.
“Both didn’t have a whole lot of friends, but people liked them,” as freshmen, according to classmate Kevin Hofstra in “Fatal Friendship.”
Rich Long says Eric did the web pages for physics and science departments.
Five: Rebels
Byron Klebold information comes from a Regis school document, Dylan’s diversion file, and news accounts including Lynn Bartels, “Klebold’s Brother Stunned When News Broke, He Rushed Home to Check on Dylan,” Rocky Mountain News, Saturday, 1 May 1999 .
Klebold interview with police talks about Byron’s living situation at time of Columbine. JC10507.
Six: Summer Dreams
People being shoved into lockers comes from No Easy Answers and Robert Perry interview at JC10852
Doom which “was an escape for him into a world he understood; it was a reality far preferable to the miserable existence of school,” according to No Easy Answers. “Eric found himself truly at home there.”
No Easy Answers talks of the different versions of Doom Eric created.
Various press accounts talk of the Wiesenthal investigation into Doom including Burt Hubbard with Lynn Bartels, “Researchers Say Harris Reconfigured Video Game—Boy Turned ‘Doom’ into School Massacre, Investigators Claim,” Rocky Mountain News, Monday, 3 May 1999.
Robyn Anderson told police Eric’s parents were conservative and he wanted them to leave him alone. JC10619.
The windshield story and aftermath comes from No Easy Answers, various accounts the Browns have given, and Report of the Investigation into the 1997 Directed Report and Related Matters Concerning the Columbine High School Shootings in April 1999.
Some description of the skits where Eric plays a teacher comes from Eric Veik at JC10908.
Aaron Brown and his parents don’t remember the August 1997 report, but there does not appear to be any reason to doubt the chain of events based on the thoroughness and honesty of the Colorado Attorney General investigation. The investigators were Attorney General investigator Michael Jones and Adams County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael McIntosh.
Eric says in his diversion file he got along better with men.
Eric’s assessment of his own writing comes from JC26548 (PDF 6345).
According to Eric’s diversion file when there was a family fight, the parents would “discuss the conflict, reasons. Usually wait a few days to impose punishment.” The fight was over “when we discuss the incident or situation and agree on the facts and punishment. Then he [Eric] has to accept responsibility for his actions and complete his punishment.”
Eric himself said he got punished for “anger, not doing chores.” When the family has a feud, “Dad yells (at me), or me and my brother yell at each other.” An argument was over “When my parents say so.”
Eric’s taste in music comes from JC26189 (PDF 272) and his hatred of some bands comes from JC26784 (PDF 870). His talk of the KMFDM song comes for JC26552 (PDF 638).
No Easy Answers indicates Brooks Brown and his friends “got to know” the Trench Coat Mafia in their sophomore year. The key point was that the Mafia “had chosen to take a stand against the bullying at Columbine.” “For the first time, [Eric and Dylan] were seeing a group of outcasts who weren’t taking the bullying lying down. For once they were seeing kids who dished it right back. Neither of them would forget that lesson.”
Eric and Dylan began wearing trench coats about one year before Columbine, Chris Morris believed, for self-protection. Harris’ relatively small frame made him susceptible to getting picked on, and he wore the coat to make himself feel tougher. Chris Morris police interview at JC10796.
Accounts of the Trench Coat Mafia come from police interviews of Thaddeus Boles (JC-10649) and Robert Perry (JC-10852).
Tom Klebold interview with police talks about Dylan and Trench Coat Mafia.
See also Regina Huerter, “The Culture of Columbine” (Submitted to governor’s Columbine Review Commission 1 Dec. 2000).
Anne Marie Hochhalter’s thoughts about Eric and Dylan comes from Lynn Bartels, “A Story of Healing and Hope—Faith and Friends Helped Paralyzed Student Overcome a ‘Very Dark Place’,” Rocky Mountain News Tuesday, 20 April 2004.
Reports of bullying and especially Eric getting bullied come from “Fatal Friendship,” police and media interviews with at least a half-dozen students, Tom Klebold and Kristi Epling police interviews, and No Easy Answers.
Also, Holly Kurtz with Carla Crowder and Lynn Bartels, “Columbine Like a Hologram— Life at School Depends on Angle of One’s View,” Rocky Mountain News, Sunday, 25 July 1999.
DeAngelis’ rebuttal of “rampant bullying” comes from Holly Kurtz, “Investigating Columbine—Principal Questions Notion that Killers Felt Alienated from School Environment,” Rocky Mountain News, Friday, 25 August 2000.
Robyn Anderson information on bullying comes from police interviews and her deposition.
Joe Stair information comes from his police interview at JC10889 and various Rocky Mountain News stories, including “Like a Hologram.”
Eric Dutro information comes from police interview at JC10684.
Rich Long in 2007 interviews with author says he noticed Dylan wearing a trench coat by his senior year. Dylan saw it as a solution, Long believes. “It was a way for Dylan to say, ‘I’m attached. I’m not this follower. I’m involved [in a group].”
Kim Carlin police interview at JC5238 and “Fatal Friendship” talk about Dylan being busted for pipe bomb at Blackjack.
Dylan not a morning person comes from Robyn Anderson police interview.
Seven: Junior Criminals
Harris suspension information comes from author’s interview with Horvath, Horvath’s police interview, and the document at JC26336 (PDF 420). Dylan’s diversion file indicates he got a five-day suspension.
Devon Adams 2007 interview with author talks about her part in being suspended for hacking into lockers.
Eric Harris essay “Guns in School” is from JC26150 (PDF 232).
Information on the van breakin and what the boys said comes from Deputy Walsh’s report at JC10561.
Trauma of the van break-in on Eric comes from his diversion file.
Information on Eric’s medication and visit to the psychologist comes from Peter Breggin Oct. 21, 2002 memo in the Solvay court file (1:01cv02076LTBPAC).
According to Eric’s diversion file, “After this incident [the van break-in] occurred, Eric expressed his feelings concerning the above items to a psychologist,” the parents wrote. “The doctor recommended antidepressant medication which seems to have helped. His mood is more upbeat. Eric seems to suppress his anger, then ‘blow up’ and hit something or verbally lash out. He hasn’t done this at home but has done it at school and work.” Counselor Andrea Sanchez indicated Eric had been on the antidepressant Zoloft for six weeks, and was feeling better. He saw his psychologist once every three weeks, and the family occasionally met with him too. Eric’s early diagnosis of his psychological treatment as “nice” comes from his diversion file.
Eric’s visit to Kevin Albert comes from Robert Kriegshauser deposition, Eric’s diversion file, and Breggin October 21, 2002 memo.
Diversion file indicates the van breakin was the most traumatic experience for Dylan. As to when Dylan got suspended for scratching the locker, it is possibly Sue Klebold who notes in the van break-in diversion file “He [Dylan] recently (within last month) received a one-day in-school suspension for scratching a locker belonging to a student he was mad at. He had to pay $70 to repair the locker.” Horvath remembers the incident as occurring in the spring of 1998.
Horvath thinks the design may have been a swastika. A page from Dylan’s day planner is a reminder to talk to one of the school deans: “Talk to Mikesell Buying locker front & moving fag away.” JC-26456 (PDF541).
The number of times JeffCo investigators called back Randy and Judy Brown comes from Lynn Bartels, “A Trail of Frustration,” Rocky Mountain News, Monday, 26 April 1999.
The year in Dylan’s diary entry regarding a killing spree is not legible, but following the order of the pages it would be November 3, 1997.
Brooks Brown being alerted to Eric’s web pages in March 1998 by Dylan comes in part from No Easy Answers.
Diversion counselor Andrea Sanchez reported that Eric went to the after-prom for the (junior) prom and had a good time.
Nate Dykeman friendship with Eric and Dylan and bomb information comes from Nate Dykeman interviews with police JC-8191 and JC-10693.
Zach Heckler at JC-10753.
On the basement tapes Eric says his parents found pipe bombs and took them away: Dan Luzadder, Kevin Vaughan and Karen Abbott with Lynn Bartels, “Killers Taped Chilling Goodbye Harris, Klebold Apologize, Brag in Videos Made Days, Minutes Before Attack on Columbine,” Rocky Mountain News, Monday, 13 Dec. 1999.
According to JC10379 it was one bomb.
Eric’s talk of turning over his weapons to his parents in his class paper “Good to be bad, bad to be good” is dated September 21, 1998 on JC26199 (PDF 282). After Columbine, Eric Veik told police Harris’ mom had found the bomb named “Atlanta” within the last year.
Accounts of deputies Mike Guerra, John Healy, and John Hicks, and Mark Miller and the Browns’ report come from the Browns themselves, Report of the Investigation into Missing Daily Field Activity and Daily Supervisor Reports Related to Columbine High School Shootings, and Report of the Investigation into the 1997 Directed Report and Related Matters Concerning the Columbine High School Shootings in April 1999.