Telling Daniel's story

Evidence from Columbine Massacre
A few Photos from the evidence vaults of the Sheriff's Office

In March of 2004 the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office put on display all the evidence that's been collected from the Columbine investigation. It's part of its cooperative effort with the offices of State Attorney General Ken Salazar and local District Attorney Dave Thomas to try to release all the evidence from the case--a response to charges that evidence was being hidden from the public. One evening they put the materials on display for just the parents of the victims; the next day they were on display for the public. That was their only showing.

The new Sheriff wanted to demonstrate that everything they had was being made available. It was pretty overwhelming. They had to use the County fairgrounds for the showing. There were two rooms full of materials--everything from propane tanks to bomb and bullet fragments, the infamous trencoats the killers wore, shot-by-shot (literally) diagrams of the crime scene, bullet casings, videos, and much more. We could look but we could not touch (there was lots of security on hand.) Written volumes of reports were displayed but could not be read. Some marterials are closed by court order.

So could this mean some materials could still be hidden from us? Yes. But it's clear that the new Sheriff, Ted Mink, wanted to do all he could to signify he wanted to be open to the parents and the community, unlike former Sheriff John Stone, who "Stone-walled" us about many pieces of evidence.

It was a tough evening for the parents. In some evidence areas there was just silence as parents struggled with what they saw.

There's too much to show, but I have selected only a few sample photos. Many, many thanks to Brad Bernall, father of Columbine victim Cassie Bernall, for taking these photos and sharing them with me!

Real typical of what we saw--lots of tables with evidence.

The infamous "1 bleeding to death" sign that was placed by students in a classroom window to tell the authorities about teacher Dave Sanders' condition.

Just one set of bombs used to divert the police.

These are bullets, fragments and shells just from the library, where ten of the students were killed.

Go to next page of photos...

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