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Columbine Killers' Basement Tapes Destroyed
Westword ^ | February 2, 2015 | Alan Prendergast

Posted on 03/18/2015 5:53:28 PM PDT by re_tail20

They were the most notorious yet least-seen artifacts from one of the worst school shootings in American history -- roughly four hours of home videos made by two teenage killers-to-be, shot in the last weeks of their lives and offering glimpses into the methods and motives behind the 1999 attack on Columbine High School that killed thirteen people and seriously injured two dozen more. The so-called "basement tapes" of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold have been the subject of intense litigation and media speculation, morbid curiosity and outrage, half-baked psychoanalysis and earnest requests from violence-prevention researchers to make them available for study.

And now they're history -- but not the way the gunmen thought they would be.

Law enforcement officials have always regarded the tapes as a particularly infectious form of toxic waste, a primer in mass murder that could inspire more violence and must never be released. That's no longer a problem: A spokesperson for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, the agency that took custody of the videos hours after the shootings, recently confirmed that every known copy of the basement tapes has been destroyed.

"I am not aware of any copies that are out there in anyone's hands," says Jacki Kelley, the JCSO public information director. "We actually held on to a lot of evidence from the Columbine investigation longer than our retention policies require."

Kelley says Sheriff Ted Mink approved the destruction of the tapes -- along with shell casings, weapons and other remaining Columbine evidence -- in early 2011. The obliteration of the videos was only acknowledged recently, though, after a private party filed an open records request seeking access to the basement tapes...

(Excerpt) Read more at westword.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: colorado; columbine

1 posted on 03/18/2015 5:53:28 PM PDT by re_tail20
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To: re_tail20

Not to worry. There is one copy left. It’s on Hillary’s email server.


2 posted on 03/18/2015 5:54:43 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The dog days are over /The dog days are done/Can you hear the horses? /'Cause here they come)
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To: re_tail20

Good. Lend them no immortality on this earth, which was their goal.


3 posted on 03/18/2015 5:55:59 PM PDT by Travis McGee (www.EnemiesForeignAndDomestic.com)
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To: re_tail20

Are they dead or up for parole soon?


4 posted on 03/18/2015 6:03:12 PM PDT by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Pope Francis)
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To: ClearCase_guy

They’ll be on youtube before the weekend.


5 posted on 03/18/2015 6:04:05 PM PDT by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Pope Francis)
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To: re_tail20

The FBI should have been given a copy. It’s important to study the behavior of psychos.


6 posted on 03/18/2015 6:06:41 PM PDT by windcliff
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To: 9thLife

Dead enough to have voted Democrat in every election since 1999


7 posted on 03/18/2015 6:21:48 PM PDT by digger48
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To: digger48
Dead enough to have voted Democrat in every election since 1999

That's dead, all right.

8 posted on 03/18/2015 6:22:54 PM PDT by 9thLife ("Life is a military endeavor..." -- Pope Francis)
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To: windcliff

“The FBI should have been given a copy. It’s important to study the behavior of psychos.”

Not much to study. They were just cold blooded killers, raised by animals, to be animals.


9 posted on 03/18/2015 6:24:24 PM PDT by Oliviaforever
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To: re_tail20

The conspiracy theory says one or both killers claimed to have been raped by members of the local police force.


10 posted on 03/18/2015 6:41:51 PM PDT by T-Bone Texan (The time is now to form up into leaderless cells of 5 men or less.)
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To: re_tail20
Law enforcement officials have always regarded the tapes as a particularly infectious form of toxic waste, a primer in mass murder that could inspire more violence and must never be released.

Incredible.

No words.

11 posted on 03/18/2015 6:55:29 PM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: re_tail20

Don’t expect to ever see a single clip from Newtown.


12 posted on 03/18/2015 7:01:58 PM PDT by The Toll
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To: Travis McGee

I concur.


13 posted on 03/18/2015 8:50:06 PM PDT by The_Media_never_lie (The media must be defeated any way it can be done.)
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