Explore a Decade of Dave Cullen's Research
This page enumerates all Columbine evidence released. It's well over 30,000 pages, in 29 batches, over six years, mostly by court order. Most is online. You can also get any of it from Jeffco for a small fee: see Get Copies.
Most of this evidence was released by Jefferson County Sheriff (Jeffco), items 1-23. Below that are items A-F, released by other agencies, such as the DA. (The FBI and other federal agencies released no evidence directly. It all came through local law enforcement. However, the FBI and Secret Service did excellent school shooter reports.)
​
The first paragraph on each item below comes directly from Jeffco's site, including their item numbers and description. The italicized paragraph is my commentary on what's actually there, and how useful it is to most readers, and why. The numbers here were assigned by Jeffco, and will help if you choose to order that item. I believe the items listed as VHS have all been converted to DVD now. The prices may also have changed.
​
The most interesting items are 1-4, 6, 9, 17, 18, 22, 23, A, E, F.
​
​
Evidence released by the Jeffco Sheriff's Department
​
(1) $15.00 Sheriff's Office Final Report on the Columbine High School shootings on CD (Released May 15, 2000).
​
Comments from Dave: This report is infamous for what it left out rather than what it included, but don't miss it. This was not half the report it should have been, and it's terribly organized, so information can be buried in maddening little pockets, yet there is a massive amount of information here. The timelines to the massacre are especially useful, with minute-by-minute accounts, and maps showing who was hit when and where. (Follow all the links on the timelines.) There are also brief overviews on Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. These are only a fraction of what they should be, but they do hit several key high points.
​
For most people, this will be the second-most valuable item on this list (after #23).
​
(2) $10.00 Littleton Fire Department video and raw helicopter footage by Channel 4 on VHS tape (Released April 26, 2000).
​
Comments from Dave: This is nothing like the description suggests. It is called "Littleton Fire Department video" because a fireman compiled it. It's video footage of the bloody wreckage in the library, set to music—Sarah McLachlan singing "I Will Remember You." Yes, seriously. There is a lot of blood, with post-it notes identifying where each victim was. It was extremely hard for me to watch. It only lasts a few minutes. The aerial footage is unrelated and basically worthless.
​
(3) $30.00 Cafeteria surveillance on DVD (Released June 7, 2000).
​
Comments from Dave: This is actual footage of Eric and Dylan in the cafeteria, shooting at the big bombs trying to detonate them. It's tough to watch, too.
(4) $10.00 "Rampart Range" video VHS tape (Released October 21, 2003). The video contains graphic language.
Comments from Dave: This is Eric and Dylan out with friends practicing firing their weapons shortly before the murders (at a place called Rampart Range). It' long and tedious, with lots of shocking moments where Eric and Dylan say some horrible things, like a bowling pin exploding like someone's head.
​
(5) $10.00 "Crowd" video VHS tape (Released February 26, 2004). Approximately 38 minutes of crowd footage filmed by JCSO Crime Lab outside Columbine High School after 1 p.m. on April 20, 1999.
​
Comments from Dave: Not a lot here. You'll see Eric and Dylan's friend Chris Morris questioned briefly, and then put in a squad car. And you get a sense of the mass confusion while parents and students waited for the attack to end.
(6) $10.00 Klebold/Harris footage VHS tape (Released February 26, 2004). Miscellaneous footage of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold retrieved from school or given to JCSO by citizens. Segments dubbed onto master tape: 94 minutes long.
​
Comments from Dave: Some of this was surprisingly enlightening.
(7) $25.00 Two CD-ROM set of the Jefferson County 911 and dispatch audio (Released August 7, 2000).
​
Comments from Dave: self-explanatory.
​
(8) $25.00 Denver dispatch cassette tapes containing 7 1/2 hours of communication (Released March 6, 2003).
Comments from Dave: self-explanatory.
​
(9) $30.00 11,000 pages of investigative files on one DVD (Released November 21, 2000). Main release of reports.
Comments from Dave: There is tremendous information in here, but the order is semi-random.
​
(10) $15.00 Additional investigative files (Released August 8, 2001) on one CD containing:
-
Additional ancillary reports (tips, Internet, threats, and connected reports)
-
Audio cassette of Jefferson County 911 dispatch tape (missed side of tape from previous release)
-
Two large crime scene diagrams (from CD)
Comments from Dave: Much less valuable than #9.
​
(11) $15.00 Printout of evidence log on CD (Released April 2001). This is only 200 pages long and duplicative of the evidence books released later.
Comments from Dave: for hard-core sleuths only.​
​
(12) $15.00 Evidence books on CD (Released May 11, 2001).
Comments from Dave: for hard-core sleuths only.
​
(13) $15.00 Crime Scene Processing Team reports and sketches on CD (Released June 19, 2001).
(14) $15.00 FBI Crime Scene Processing Team reports and sketches on CD (Released September 5, 2001).
​
Comments from Dave: for hard-core sleuths only.
(15) $3.00 Colorado Bureau of Investigation laboratory report, 5 pages (Released May 31, 2000). Note: This report is included in the 11,000 pages of investigative files that were released later.
​
Comments from Dave: for hard-core sleuths only.
(16) $15.00 CBI laboratory report on CD (Released February 6, 2002).
​
Comments from Dave: for hard-core sleuths only.
​
(17) $15.00 Misc. items on CD containing the following:
-
Draft search affidavit (Released April 10, 2001)
-
CD (audio) of the shoot team interviews (Released April 10, 2001)
-
Written transcript of an interview with Columbine High School Community Resource Officer Neil Gardner, and the executive summary of the library investigative team (Released April 10, 2001)
Comments from Dave: A hidden gem.The Draft search affidavit is fantastic!
​
(18) $15.00 Warrants book on CD (Released June 9, 2003).
Comments from Dave: This is surprisingly enlightening in places, too, especially the April 20 warrants to search the Harris and Klebold homes. Each of those runs several pages, quoting extensively from Eric's website, and documenting that before the bodies were found in the library, the cops knew a great deal about these killers--i.e., had been warned.
​
(19) $15.00 Tracking sheets, investigative index and other Columbine documents on CD (Released January 8, 2003).
Comments from Dave: for hard-core sleuths only.
​
(20) $15.00 Fifty-seven pages of documents that show slight differences from previously-released originals, and documents that were inadvertently unreleased
on CD (Released 2003).
​
Comments from Dave: for hard-core sleuths only.
(21) $15.00 FBI report of interview with Randy, Judy and Brooks Brown on CD (Released May 22, 2001).
Comments from Dave: Interesting.
​
(22) $15.00 Additional pages/Harris Web site: 1997 memo and Web pages on CD (Released October 30, 2003).
​
Comments from Dave: Bombshells. It was shocking to find out how much the cops were warned two years ahead of time.
(23) $15.00 936 pages of documents seized from Harris and Klebold residences/vehicles on CD (Released July 6, 2006). Pages are in PDF format on a single CD.
Comments from Dave: It took seven years, but this is the single most important release ever, by far. There is incredible information here, mostly from Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold themselves. The main problems are 1) finding the good stuff buried there (among page after page of daytimers, for example--which are occasionally-revealing, but mostly not, and 2) reading their damned handwriting. See the journals / writing section for the best material and links to clusters of pages.
​
​
Evidence released by other agencies
Contact the agency directly for information on obtaining copies.
(A) Grand Jury Investigation Reports. (Note: there are 2 reports)
Comments from Dave: The Colorado attorney general impaneled a grand jury to investigate allegations of a Columbine cover-up by the Jeffco sheriff's department. On Sept 17, 2004, the grand jury released a scathing report, expressing distress at "troubling" activity. It said it no indictments were made, because it could not connect the activity definitively to any one individual.
​
Note that with one exception, everything on this page is listed on the Jeffco sheriff's site, including the items to get from other agencies. This items is the exception. "Coincidentally," it's the item highly critical of the sheriff's department. More than a decade later, they still refuse to post it, leaving visitors there unaware that it exists.
Despite the irony of Jeffco attempting to hide this report on its cover-up, you can read the full rand jury report here, titled: Columbine Grand Jury Report: Investigation of Missing Guerra Files. A separate report from the Colorado attorney general is here, titled: Report of the Investigation into Missing Daily Field Activity and Daily Supervisor Reports Related to Columbine High School Shootings: Supplemental Report. (Both are PDFs.) They are pretty damning.
(Note. Those documents are no longer posted at the state of Colorado site, but I found these sites hosting them in 2017. If these links go bad again, try googling the full title of each.)
​
(B) Autopsy summaries (Released February 6, 2001). Contact Jefferson County Coroner's Office, 800 Jefferson County Parkway, (303) 271-6480. Must pick up in person. $1.25 per page.
​
Comments from Dave: self-explanatory.
(C) Klebold autopsy reports (Released February 23, 2001). Contact Jefferson County Coroner's Office, 800 Jefferson County Parkway, (303) 271-6480. Must pick up in person. $1.25 per page.
Comments from Dave: self-explanatory.
​
(D) El Paso County Sheriff's Report (Released April 10, 2002). Contact El Paso County Sheriff's Office: 719-520-7144.
​
Comments from Dave: An investigation into the death of Danny Rohrbough. This came after the Jeffco Report, and supersedes it. (Jeffco got Danny's killer wrong. It is corrected here.)
(E) Juvenile Diversion program documents (Harris); (Released November 4, 2002). Contact Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, 500 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO 80401. 303-271-6800.
​
​Comments from Dave: Items E and F are extremely revealing.Diversion is the program Eric and Dylan were accepted into for the breaking into the van and stealing electronic equipment in January 1998 (multiple felonies). The files have some great stuff. Each boy and his parents filled out an 8- and 10-page questionnaire, and they revealed a lot. There are also notes every two weeks from their counselors, etc. Very good stuff.
​
(F) Juvenile Diversion program documents (Klebold); (Released November 22, 2002). Contact Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, 500 Jefferson County Parkway, Golden, CO 80401. 303-271-6800.
​
Comments from Dave: Same comments as E.