Columbine
Fuselier got the call: Most scenes involving Agent Fuselier were drawn from interviews with him; his wife, Mimi; and their two sons. Much of it was corroborated by police reports, his published work, and research by other journalists. I questioned Agent Fuselier more than fifty times between 2000 and 2008.
CHAPTER 16. THE BOY IN THE WINDOW
Mr. D arrived in the hallway: The account of Mr. D's rescue of the girls' gym class was based on interviews with him and some of the girls in the class.
John and Kathy Ireland knew: Most scenes involving the Ireland family and their earlier life were drawn from my interviews with them. Additional sources are noted in later chapters.
CHAPTER 17. THE SHERIFF
The SWAT teams: I am indebted to the Rocky Mountain News, whose wonderful piece "Help Is on the Way" provided the basis for much of my description here. Kate Battan added and corrected details.
Lead investigator Kate Battan: Accounts of Kate Battan's involvement were drawn from my interviews with her, police reports, and the excellent "Inside the Columbine Investigation" series, led by investigative reporter Dan Luzadder and published in the Rocky Mountain News in December 1999. I also discussed Luzadder's findings with him, and I am grateful for his generous support.
At 4:00 P. M., Jeffco went public: Quotes and descriptions from this fateful press conference were based on my observations and the audiotape I recorded. I spent most of the late afternoon near the command post in Clement Park. Stone and Davis spoke regularly. Students kept wandering through to provide their evolving perspectives.
"We ran for our lives": Several quotes from Tom and Sue Klebold--lincluding this one and the ensuing statement by their lawyers--were made to David Brooks in 2004. He reported them in his New York Times column.
CHAPTER 18. LAST BUS
Brian Rohrbough gave up: Most of my accounts of Brian Rohrbough and Sue Petrone were based on numerous interviews with them. I also used their TV interviews and countless news reports quoting them. My accounts of John and Doreen Tomlin came from Wendy Zoba's book Day of Reckoning, which was based on her interviews. The descriptions of the Red Cross volunteer Lynn Duff came from my interview with her. Details involving DA Dave Thomas and the coroner came from police reports and news accounts, particularly Luzadder's "Inside the Columbine Investigation" series.
CHAPTER 19. VACUUMING
Marjorie Lindholm had spent: Marjorie Lindholm's reflections came from her memoir.
CHAPTER 20. VACANT
There is a photograph: The Rocky Mountain News did an outstanding job in capturing the pain of this tragedy visually, and won the Pulitzer for those photos. Fourteen of the most iconic can be viewed at the Pulitzer Web site.
the survivors had changed: Virtually all accounts of students' reactions that week came from my observations and conversations with survivors. I spent most of that week in Clement Park, area churches, and student hangouts. I interviewed perhaps two hundred students during that time, and observed hundreds more. The depiction was also informed by media accounts I absorbed at the time and revisited later.
Light of the World seats eight hundred and fifty: This scene was drawn from my observations and audiotape. The event was not announced to press, and the major news outlets were asked not to go inside. I was told about it by students in Clement Park. As a freelancer, I got no notice not to avoid it, and no signs were posted. I saw TV crews outside and assumed that cameras were forbidden but reporters were allowed. Consequently, to my knowledge, this scene has not been depicted in print, except in my profile of Frank DeAngelis a few months later in 5280, Denver's city magazine.
It's shocking: Quotes from the Rocky Mountain News.
the crime of the century in Colorado: For depictions of the police investigation I relied heavily on thousands of pages of police files and my interviews with Agent Fuselier and senior Jeffco officials, including Kate Battan and John Kiekbusch. Luzadder's "Inside the Columbine Investigation" series was extremely helpful for corroboration. Dan spent months working on the series and was generous and candid in discussing his observations and perceptions with me.
30,000 pages of evidence: This figure includes approximately 4,000 redacted pages.
CHAPTER 21. FIRST MEMORIES
It didn't start: Information on Eric and Dylan's childhoods and activities during their final years came from a wealth of sources, including hundreds of pages of their writings, appointments in their day planners, their videos, extensive police interviews with their friends, television interviews with those friends, my interviews with investigators who examined all the evidence, news accounts by trusted journalists (particularly Lynn Bartels), and my interviews with some of their friends, including Joe Stair, Brooks Brown, and several kids who had known them earlier. Some of their closest friends chose not to cooperate with me but gave detailed statements to police detectives. Tom and Sue Klebold provided a wealth of details about Dylan's childhood in their police interview. Bartels and Crowder's Rocky Mountain News profile "Fatal Friendship" was particularly helpful; I relied heavily on it. Other key profiles were Simpson, Callahan, and Lowe's "Life and Death of a Follower," Briggs and Blevin's "A Boy with Many Sides," and Johnson and Wilgoren's "The Gunman: A Portrait of Two Killers at War with Themselves."
"I just remember": The quotes from childhood friends and neighbors of Eric's in Plattsburgh and Oscoda were drawn from the Jeffco Sheriff's Office Final Report and the profiles cited above. The accounts were remarkably similar and fairly unrevealing: Eric seemed like an average kid prior to high school. This corresponded to both Eric's depictions of his younger self and friends' accounts to police.
Major Harris did not tolerate: My characterizations of Wayne Harris's parenting style came from several sources: his own twenty-five pages of notes in a steno pad he labeled "Eric"; Eric's frequent complaints about his dad's punishment in his writings; eight-and ten-page questionnaires about the family filled out by Eric and his parents for entrance to Diversion; Eric's statements to his Diversion counselor, which were recorded in his file; and statements by Eric's friends, primarily in their police reports but also in interviews with me and in some TV interviews.
"Fire!" Eric screamed: Most of the scenes in this chapter came from Eric's school assignments, recalling his youth. I chose material he returned to repeatedly.
CHAPTER 22. RUSH TO CLOSURE
Ministers, psychiatrists, and grief counselors cringed: The Denver Post headline was merely the most appalling example of early proclamations of healing. They were everywhere. I interviewed a great number of ministers, psychiatrists, and grief counselors during those first weeks, as well as over the following nine years. From the beginning, virtually all thought the premature assessments were a terrible mistake.
a throbbing teen prayer mosh: I was present for the mosh, which went on for several minutes. The Rocky Mountain News featured a giant photograph of the incident. Whenever possible in this book, I checked my observations against photographs, television footage, and news accounts by other journalists.
"I smell the presence of Satan": I attended the worship services where Reverends Oudemolen and Kirsten are quoted. I obtained additional information by interviewing them, attending services periodically for months, listening to cassettes of other sermons by Reverend Oudemolen, and enrolling in Bible study at West Bowles Community Church, with the consent of Reverend Kirsten, who led the class.
Most of the mainliners: I interviewed a few dozen local ministers, as well as countless attendees of local Sunday services during the first few weeks of the aftermath. A powerful consensus developed against active recruitment in most congregations and among most ministers. The scene described by Barb Lotze came from my interview with her and was confirmed by many students attending.
The kids kept pouring into the churches: Huge numbers of students described meeting up at the churches that week.
They turned the corner: DeAngelis and Fuselier independently described this scene in separate interviews with me.
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They traced Dylan's TEC-9: Information on the TEC-9 ownership came from the search warrant for Manes's bank records. The relevant descriptions are on JC-001-025739.
Detectives interviewed Robyn: Robyn's interrogation was documented in great detail in her police report. It devoted twenty single-spaced pages to the back-and-forth of the questioning. The passages in italics are paraphrases of her statements. This same report laid out her activities the previous day and her admissions about what she knew and when she suspected Eric and Dylan's involvement. Eventually, she confessed to strong suspicions early in the shooting, so there was little reason to doubt her.
CHAPTER 23. GIFTED BOY
By third grade: Many sources cite Dylan as starting in second grade, but he did not transfer to Governor's Ranch Elementary School until third. Tom and Sue Klebold provided many of the details of Dylan's early life in their report.
Judy first saw him: The creek bed scene was described by Judy Brown during my interview with her and her husband. Dylan's quote was from her recollection. The incident matched many relayed by reliable people who knew Dylan as a boy and through high school. I chose this one because it encapsulated much of Dylan's early experience and fragile psyche.
They celebrated Easter and Passover: Tom and Sue described their religious and family background in their police report. Reverend Marxhausen filled in details during interviews with me. Dylan's writings and videos provided more.
Tom described Dylan: Tom's quote came from his police report. He also described Dylan as being sheltered in the CHIPS program.
CHAPTER 24. HOUR OF NEED
He organized a vigil: Depictions of the vigil and the funeral came from my interviews with Reverend Marxhausen. Additional information came from his statements in news reports.
CHAPTER 26. HELP IS ON THE WAY
when the first shot hit him: Dave Sanders's four-hour ordeal was painstakingly documented before I covered that aspect of the story, so I corroborated existing accounts with sources from both sides of the eventual lawsuit, as well as the 911 tapes released by Jeffco. On most points, they concurred. The police issued voluminous reports documenting the department's take, and for the Sanderses' side I relied most heavily on Angela Sanders's legal team, which researched the case for months and eventually prevailed. This included interviews with lead attorney Peter Grenier, his excellent thirteen-page summary of the case after it was over, and the forty-two-page complaint filed in April 2000. The report by the governor's review commission and the accounts in the Rocky and the Denver Post were extremely helpful in providing additional details, especially the Rocky's "Help is on the way: mundane gave way to madness..." In interviews, Linda Sanders and several friends of Dave's provided their perspective on what happened.
hurl a chair: This incident comes from the Sanderses' lawsuit and the case summary by their attorney Peter Grenier. It is consistent with other accounts.
CHAPTER 27. BLACK
He started shopping: The killers' friends gave fairly consistent accounts of their style of dress, in police interviews and media interviews. These are corroborated by videos the killers shot of themselves and by details scattered throughout their writings--for example, Eric mentioned that he had taken to shopping at Hot Topic and the surplus store.
For Halloween: Police believe Dutro got the first duster, but reports conflict, because no one was really tracking it at the time. Other accounts have Thaddeus Boles kicking off the trend. Boles was an acquaintance of the killers.
CHAPTER 28. MEDIA CRIME
We remember Columbine: To gauge national print coverage, I analyzed every news story published in the first two weeks, as well as hundreds of later stories from the following papers: the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, New York Times, Washington Post, and USA Today. I also studied a large number from AP, Reuters, and other sources. The two local papers each created a special Columbine archive online, recording all their stories, which allowed me to gauge the frequency of their coverage for the next several years and ensure that I did not miss anything.
The killers were quickly cast: The scenes in Clement Park in this chapter and all related quotes came from my observations and audiotapes. Much of it was published in my stories that week for Salon. The stories concerning "the rumor that won't go away" were by me.
Salon published: "Misfits Who Don't Kill" was produced by YO! (Youth Outlook).
There's no evidence: Mr. D's quotes are from my interview with him July 4, 1999, and were published in the August/September issue of 5280, Denver's city magazine. The pierced-out girl was Jo-Lee Gallegos, a senior I interviewed in June and quoted at greater length in the same story. I talked to hundreds of students in the months after the tragedy, and Gallegos was one of the few I could find with a negative impression of Mr. D, though the killers' friends were lying low. Gallegos joined the majority in praising DeAngelis's behavior after April 20. "He really made it a point to reach out to everyone after that," she said.
CHAPTER 29. THE MISSIONS
The mischief started as a threesome: Most of the details and the quotes about the missions came from Eric's postings on his Web sites. They were corroborated by a large number of people who got involved at the time, including Randy, Judy, and Brooks Brown, who called the police several times, after which officers filed reports; a Columbine dean who got involved and talked to parents, including Wayne Harris; and Wayne Harris, who documented conversations with the dean, the Browns, and another family in his journal.
Eric got mad at Brooks Brown: For the showdowns between Eric and the Browns, I relied on several sources: Wayne's journal; Brooks's memoir; my interviews over a period of years with Randy, Judy, and Brooks; Eric's numerous statements about it; and Agent Fuselier's assessment of what took place, based on all the evidence presented to him by the detective team. The Browns and Harrises saw the underlying conflict very differently, but they were pretty consistent on the details of the incidents relayed here.
Wayne came home: Wayne documented his responses and many of his opinions about the feud in his steno notebook, which was seized by Jeffco and released years later. Eric's version of Wayne's behavior also provided a fairly close corroboration.
Dylan was miserable: Dylan didn't even mention the missions until much later, in passing--as an adventure he shared with Zack, rather than Eric.
CHAPTER 30. TELLING US WHY
Guerra would finally confess: Guerra made that statement to the attorney general's investigators.
Chris agreed to a wiretap: The FBI transcribed the full conversation. It ran twenty-two pages.
On Sunday an ATF agent: Details of the ATF interviews with both Duran and Manes, and the full history of purchases, came from the warrant to search Manes's bank records.
CHAPTER 31. THE SEEKER
Dylan's mind raced: Virtually everything from this chapter comes from Dylan's journal, where he expressed his thoughts vividly. He repeated a handful of ideas relentlessly, and I focused primarily on those. I wove much of Dylan's vocabulary and expressions into the paraphrased sections--for example, "that asshole in gym class," and "eternal suffering in infinite directions through infinite realities" are his words, woven into my sentences.
CHAPTER 32. JESUS JESUS JESUS
Afterward, the crowds trekked: The account of the memorial service was based on my observations there, as well as on my review of live television coverage I recorded.
Pastor Kirsten proclaimed: Quotes and descriptions from Kirsten came from my observations of his sermons, his recounting of passages at Bible study, and his interviews with me. Quotes from Oudemolen came from services I attended and audiotapes of his sermons.
Much of the Denver clergy was appalled: I interviewed a large number of local clergy about the dispute that week. Reverend Marxhausen's remarks were made to the Denver Post. I discussed them with him later.
One thoughtful Evangelical pastor: He was Reverend Deral Schrom of South Suburban Christian Church. He spoke with refreshing candor, and shared his
wisdom about this tough dilemma for his peers. I thank him on both accounts.
Craig Scott was: The preponderance of evidence pointed heavily to the martyr story having originated with Scott.
He had hidden: All depictions of shooting inside the library were based on an examination of all witnesses' accounts, consultation with investigators who had access to the enhanced 911 tape, and a wealth of physical evidence. Kate Battan was especially helpful. There was pervasive agreement on most significant details, aside from the ones discussed in the narrative.
her mother was unsure: Brad and Misty discussed the evolution of their responses in various TV interviews, as well as in Misty's memoir. Journalist Wendy Murray also graciously gave me access to her interview notes with the family.
CHAPTER 33. GOOD-BYE
He got excited: He noted his license day in his day planner. That and his other writings provided additional insights into his mental state.
CHAPTER 34. PICTURE-PERFECT MARSUPIALS
Patrick Ireland was trying: Patrick's story is based primarily on my numerous interviews with him and his parents. It was supplemented and corroborated by video footage, televised interviews, news accounts and photographs, my observation of him giving speeches and attending events, and photo albums of his youth, graciously provided by his mother.
Something was missing: The account of the crosses came from my observations in Clement Park, interviews with most of the principals, live news coverage, news photographs, print news accounts of these events and the carpenter's earlier work, and a few hours of video provided by the carpenter to journalist Wendy Murray, who generously loaned it to me. The latter included video a friend shot of him returning with the new crosses, ongoing commentary from him, shots of his home life, and numerous TV appearances. His name was intentionally omitted.