Most discussions about Dylan Klebold focus almost entirely on Eric Harris. Over time, the narrative has narrowed Dylan’s world down to that one relationship, as if no other friendships carried real weight. But when you go back to the primary material, Dylan’s journals, FBI interviews, statements from classmates, and accounts from Zack’s own family, a different picture emerges. Long before April 20, and continuing through senior year, Zack Heckler was not just another friend in the background. He was someone Dylan described in his own words as “my best friend ever.”
It’s a reconstruction of that friendship using the documented records that I’ve attempted to compile.
Zachary Heckler DOB May 1st, 1981
Zack Heckler was a Columbine High School student and a longtime friend of Dylan Klebold. In the summer of 1997 he began dating Devon Adams, who also became a good friend of Dylans. He had known Dylan since freshman year. Zack’s statements contain minor variation regarding when the friendship began from Zack but multiple accounts confirm freshman year. In one summary, he is described as having been friends with Dylan since “at least the 8th grade.” In a more detailed account, however, he recalled first seeing Dylan on the first day of freshman year at Columbine High School and becoming closer during second semester when they shared a class. More on this later. Zack was described by multiple classmates as one of his closest, if not his closest, friends. Zack was involved in theater, computer activities, and late night online gaming sessions with nightly phone calls that continued into senior year. Law enforcement interviews following the shooting consistently referred to him as a “close friend of Klebold.” He cooperated with investigators and was not charged with any involvement in the attack.
Zack, Dylan and Brooks playing games together.
Dylan’s Journal: The 1997 Shift
By the summer of 1997, the friendship between Dylan and Zach had already been established. That same summer, Zack began dating Devon and, according to his own later statement, started spending most of his time with her. He also traveled to Pennsylvania for two weeks during that period.
Dylan’s journal entries from July, September, and October 1997 line up directly with this shift.
On July 23, 1997, Dylan wrote:
Transcript
My best friend ever: the friend who shared, experimented, laughed, took chances with, & appreciated me more than any friend ever did has been has been ordained…. “passed on”…. in my book. Ever since
[edited] (who I wouldnt mind killing) has loved him… thats the only place hes been: with her… If anyone had any idea how sad I am… I mean we were the TEAM. When him & I first were friends, hell I finally found someone who was like me: who appreciated me & showed very common interests. Ever since 7th grade ive felt lonely… when
[edited] came around, I finally felt hapiness (sometimes)… we did cigars, drinking, sabotage to houses, EVERYTHING for the first time together. & now that he’s”moved on” I feel so lonely, w/o a friend. Oh well, maybe he’ll come around——>… I hope. That’s All [arrow points to] for this topic…. maybe ill never see this again… [arrow points down]
“My best friend ever… we were the TEAM…”
“…when him & I first were friends, hell I finally found someone who was like me…”
He describes shared firsts drinking, cigars, vandalism and the relief of finally not feeling alone. The language is personal and exclusive.
By September 5, the tone changes:
Transcript:
my thoughts
oooh god i want to die sooo bad… such a sad, desolate, lonely, unsalvageable i feel i am….. not fair, NOT FAIR!!!! I wanted happiness!! I never got it… let’s sum up my life… the most miserable existence in the history of time…. My best friend has ditched me forever, lost in bettering himself, & having/enjoying/ taking for granted his love…. Ive NEVER knew this… not 100 times near this… they look at me
[Edited] like i’m a stranger;… I helped them both out thru life, & they left me in the abyss of suffering when i gave them the boost out. The one who I thought was my true love,
[Edited], is not. Just a shell of what I want the most… The meanest trick was played on me – a fake love… She in reality doesn’t give a good fuck about me… doesn’t even know me….. I have no happiness, no ambitions, no friends, & no LOVE!!!
[Edited] can get me that gun I hope, I wanna use it on a poor S.O.B. I know… his name is vodka, dylan is his name too. What else can I do/give… i stopped the pornography. I try not to pick on people. Obviously at least one power is against me.
[Edited]… funny how Ive been thinking about her over the last few days… giving myself fake realities that she, others MIGHT have liked me just a
bit…. my bad… I have always been hated, by everyone & everything, just never aware…. Goodbye all the crushes ive ever had, just shells…. images, no tutruths… BUT WHY? YeS, You can read this, why did you [incoherent scrawl]
“My best friend has ditched me forever…”
He ties that perceived loss to loneliness and despair. Whether the friendship had objectively ended (it hadn’t), Dylan experienced the change as abandonment.
By October 14, the jealousy sharpens:
Transcript:
Thoughtz
Me. sorry I didn’t write, A SHITLOAD in my existence mist. Ok… hell & back… ive been to the zombie bliss side… & I hate it as much if not more than the awareness part. I’m back now…. a taste of what I thought I want… wrong. Possible girlfriends are coming then [edited].. I’ll give the phony shit up in a second. want TRUE love…. I just want something i can never have…. true true I hate everything. why can’t I die… not fair. I want pure bliss… to be cuddling w.
[edited], who i think i love deeper than ever… I was hollow, thought I was right. Another form of the Downward Spiral… deeper & deeper it goes. to cuddle w. her, to be one w. her, to love; just laying there. I need a gun. This is a wierd entry… I should feel happy, but shit brought me down. I feel terrible. [Sketch of a “thought box” labeled ‘TB’] The Lost Highway apparently repeats itself. I want drink. now.
[edited] lucky bastard gets a perfect soulmate, who he can admit FUCKIN SUICIDE to & I get rejected for being honest about fuckin hate for jocks. From the wrong people maybe…
[edited] &
[edited].. Anyway… heres a 2 poems…
2 FUCK
me
Die
meAwareness signs the warrant for suffering. why is it that the zombies achieve something me wants (overdeveloped me). They can love, why can’t i? The true existence lives in solitude, always aware, always infinite, always, looking, for, his love. Peace might be the ultimate destination… destination unknown… i want happiness. Abandonment is present for the martyr. my thoughts exist in, want to existlive in. I want to find a room in the great hall & stay there w. my love forever. sadness seems infinite, & the shell of happiness shines around. Yet the true despair overcomes it this lifetime. How tragic too my
FUCKIN DUMASS SHITHEAD
I HATE SHIT motherfuckin
goddam piece of death
thought and nothin
FUCK
FUCK
FUCK!
No emotions. not caring.
yet another stage in this
shit life. suicide… Dylan Klebold
“[He] gets a perfect soulmate, who he can admit FUCKIN SUICIDE to…”
Here, the anger isn’t just about losing time with a friend, it’s about losing emotional closeness. He compares Zack’s relationship to his own isolation. That comparison shows how important that bond felt to him.
It’s also worth noting that while Dylan later mentions possibly losing Eric in another entry, the language there does not carry the same emotional intensity in my opinion. The earliest emotionally charged attachment language in his journal is directed toward Zack.
Transcript:
ThoughtS
Farther & farther distant… That’s what’s happening. me & everything that zombies consider real… just images, not life. Soon I will be at peace I hope..
Burn –> ♫ “with all yer life fucked up around you”. ♫ I get more depressed with each day… more shit…. & I CAN’T EVER STOP IT!!!! [illegible scrawl]
Some god i am… All people i ever might have loved have abandoned me, my parents piss me off & hate me… want me to have fuckin ambition!! How can i when i get screwed & destroyed By everything??!!!! I have no money, no happiness, no friends… Eric will be getting farther away soon… I’ll have less than nothing… how normal. I wanted to love… i wanted to be happy and ambitious and free & nice & good & ignorant…. everyone abandoned me…. i have small stupid pleasures,… my so called hobbies & doings…. those are all thats left for me. < clinging onto the smallest rocks… many people climbing up a never-ending vertical cliff….
[edited]&
[edited] found a plateau to exist on….they walked up me to get to it. Nobody will help me… only exist w. me if it suits them. i helped, why cant they?
[edited] will get me a gun, ill go on my killing spree against anyone I want. more crazy…deeper in the spiral, lost highway repeating, dwelling on the beautiful past, (
[edited] &
[edited] gettin drunk) w. me, everyone moves up i always stayed. Abandonment. this room sux. wanna die.
everything is as least expected. The meak are trampled on, the assholes prevail, the gods are decieving, lost in my little insane asylum w. the outhouse redneck music playing… wanna die & be free w. my love… if she even exists. She probably hates me… finds a [illegible] or a jock who treats her like shit. I remember details… nothing worth remembering i remember. I don’t know my love: could be
[edited], or
[edited], or
[edited], or
[edited], or anyone. I don’t know & im sick of not KNOWING!! to be kept in the dark is a punishment!!!
I have lost my emotions… like in hurt the song. NIN. People eventually find happiness. i never will. Does that make me a non-human? YES. the god of sadness…
[edited] church was so fun…. the rec thing w. marc…
While Dylan later referenced the possibility of Eric drifting away, the language is markedly less specific and less relationally focused than the earlier entries concerning Zack. The tone shifts from personal jealousy and exclusivity to generalized despair and anticipated loss.
Despite the anguish expressed in Dylan’s journal throughout 1997, the documented record shows that the friendship did not end.
Dylan putting Zack’s birthday into his 1998 year planner.
The Heckler Circle: Zach, Jocelyn, His Parents, and Devon
Zack and Dylan eating out.
Before looking at how others described Dylan’s friendships, it makes the most sense to start with Zach himself.
Zach Heckler gave two formal statements to investigators in the days following April 20th. These are the only direct accounts from him.
Zack was speaking to law enforcement in the immediate aftermath of a mass shooting. He was a close friend of both perpetrators, but especially Dylan. He knew they had engaged in illegal activity before. He had participated in some of it. Under those circumstances, self preservation becomes unavoidable. That does not automatically make his statements false, but it does mean that tone, phrasing, emphasis, and omissions are important.
We’ll begin with Zack’s first and second statements.
Then we’ll look at the statements from his sister Jocelyn, his parents, and Devon whose accounts are closely intertwined with him.
Only after that will we move outward to other witnesses.
The aim is not to accuse or defend Zack. It is to understand what his own words and the words of those closest to him reveal about his relationship with Dylan.
His first statement on 04/21/1999
Transcript:
On 04-21-99, at 1300, contact was made with Zachary Heckler, 05-01-81, a senior at Columbine High School. He noted being contacted at approximately 1145 by a school mate, Robyn Anderson, and advised that she had been asked to accompany Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to a gun show in December, 1998, at which time she had assisted them in purchasing 2 shotguns and a semi-automatic handgun. Anderson had advised him Klebold had purchased 1 shotgun and the other 2 weapons had been purchased by Harris. She was unable to provide him any other particulars about the weapons. She had told Heckler that she had confided in no one else regarding this information.
Calling his attention to his activities on 04-20-99, he noted arriving at school at 0730, parking his vehicle in its assigned spot, just west of the cafeteria, and meeting Robyn Anderson in the parking lot. He commented that Klebold has the assigned spot next to him, however his car was not parked there as usual. He and Robyn walked into the school, first meeting Nate Dykeman who was sitting in his vehicle, a white full sized pickup, listening to 9 Inch Nails on his car stereo.
He describes the day as being normal until approximately 1120 at which time, while in the choir room, a school mate, Brandon Riesbach ran into the room and yelled, “someone’s downstairs with a gun.” The teacher, Mr. Andres, had made the students exit the room, and he accompanied others out the north door of the school, eventually arriving in Clement’s Park, where they stayed until contacted by police officers.
Heckler stated he generally talked to Klebold on the phone every night, and had called him the night of 4-19-99. He noted the first time he had called, Klebold had been talking to someone else on the other line, and had asked Heckler to call back later. He had made a call back at approximately 2230, at which time Klebold had said he was tired and was going to sleep. He thought this odd. He described their phone conversations as normal, usually about happenings at school, and often times about the computer game “Quake.”
He went on to explain that his relationship with Harris had slacked off approximately 1 ½ years ago, when he (Heckler) had got into trouble at school for hacking into the school computer and obtaining locker combinations of other students. Harris had been involved in this incident, and as a result, his father had restricted them from being together.
Heckler noted being good friends with both Harris and Klebold since at least the 8th grade. He said they often did things together, and admitted that approximately 2 years ago, he had accompanied Harris and Klebold as they drove around Harris’s neighborhood and threw firecrackers in front of the houses of people Harris did not like. Heckler could not provide the identity of any of these neighbors, however.
Heckler acknowledged being loosely associated with the Trench Coat Mafia, but explained that the moniker really meant nothing. He described the members as generally computer-type kids who spent time together, and often wore long black trench coats. He noted never wearing such an item of clothing himself. He explained that the “jocks” had thought up the name his sophomore year, and it had hung on since. He noted neither Harris or Klebold ever expressing any anger towards the “jocks” as a result of this. He did, however, say that both suspects were very racist.
Active members of the TCM were identified by Heckler as:
- Tadd Bowles
- Nate Dykeman
- Chris Morris
- Joe Stair
- Robert Perry
- Brian Sargent
- Harris
- Klebold
When asked to describe the suspects, he described Klebold as quiet, a Chemical Brothers fan, and a member of the sound crew for various school plays and other functions. Whereas Klebold had wanted to go to college and study computer science, Heckler did not think he was smart enough. He identified his girlfriend as Robyn Anderson, but described the relationship as more of a friendship. He stated Klebold had a problem with alcohol, and as a result had been given the nickname, “Vodka.”
He described Harris as, in addition to being a racist, feeling superior to other people, and being frustrated with problems he was having at home. He said he had been told that Harris’s parents were very strict and did not approve of many things he was doing. Heckler explained that during the past summer, Harris had changed his manner of dress and the type of music he listened to. Heckler identified the German group Rammstein as being Harris’s favorite. He also identified a video game, “Postal,” as being a game Harris often played, and noted it involved nothing but killing. He said Harris did not have a steady girlfriend, and had asked Sabrina Cooley to attend the senior prom with him, but she had refused.
Heckler stated he regularly bowled with Harris and Klebold on Friday nights from 2330-0215 at Belleview Lanes, on South Federal. Monica Shuster and Robyn Anderson also bowled with them.
On 04-26-99, R/J was again contacted by Heckler and advised of additional information. He noted that he had heard “jocks” had been targeted, but he doubted this was true. He explained that the athletes generally sit at the same tables in the commons area of the cafeteria, and this is a well known fact. He explained that 4 security cameras are present in the cafeteria, and 1 is trained at this particular area. He surmised that if the athletes had been targeted, this particular area would have been singled out.
He also noted in his freshman year, he had been given the nickname “Kibbe” because of his bringing snacks to school. He eventually modified this to “KIBBZ,” which became his e-mail password. He noted during this freshman year, that password had been used by other friends of his. He identified Harris as using the password “REB DOOMER.” He noted on one occasion, Harris had asked him with assistance in setting up a web page from which various sound effects could be obtained. He noted that both Harris and Klebold made a number of videos. He also noted that an intro for RNN (Rebel News Network), showing a figure in a trench coat igniting the letters “RNN,” was made by Harris behind a Blackjack’s Pizza at which they had all worked for a time.
Heckler also alluded to one occasion where he had been told by Harris that his father had found a pipe bomb he had made, and he (Harris) and his father had gone out and ignited the device. Harris had explained his father had decided to ignite it following his determining he could not disarm it or bury it. Heckler estimated this as happening approximately 1 ½ years ago.
Heckler denies having any before hand knowledge of the incident.
Heckler consented to a search of his room, and recovered from his room were 2 CPU’s, plus a number of CD-ROMs, re-writeable CD’s and 3 ½” disks. 2 zip drives were also recovered from the residence. Heckler explained one of the drives contained items he had removed from his hard drive. The material removed included the anarchist cookbook. He explained he had removed this from his drive following the incident at CHS. These items were provided to CBI.
Dylan’s journals from 1997 leave little room for doubt about how he experienced the friendship. When he writes about abandonment, about losing his “best friend,” about being replaced by a girlfriend, the emotional weight centers on Zach. The entries are raw. He describes them as a “team.” He writes about shared firsts, shared risks, and then about the sudden shift when Zach begins dating Devon. The language becomes jealous, wounded, and deeply personal.
When Zach is interviewed in April 1999, the tone is understandably very different. He describes them as good friends since at least eighth grade. He says they talked on the phone most nights. Their conversations were about school and video games. He presents the relationship as pretty steady and normal. He mentions drifting away from Eric but notably he stays on good terms with Dylan.
There is no mention of tension. No mention of jealousy. No indication that the friendship ever ended.
That difference does not automatically imply dishonesty. Dylan was writing privately, often at his lowest points. Zach was speaking to investigators days after a national tragedy, fully aware of how closely he would be examined. Still, when the two accounts are placed side by side, the contrast is hard to ignore. Dylan’s writing suggests emotional dependence and Zach’s statement suggests closeness.
transcript: FBI Interview – 06/14/1999
Zachery Adam Heckler, white male, date of birth May 1, 1981, place of birth Albany, New York, residence 5880 West Quarles Drive, Littleton, Colorado 80128, residence telephone number (303) 978-0098, personal telephone number (303) 978-1322, Columbine High School student number 609951, 12th grader, employed part-time by the Great American Cookie Company, Southwest Plaza Mall, 8501 West Bowles Avenue, Littleton, Colorado 80123, work telephone number (303) 979-0400, employed approximately one and one-half months, was advised of the identity of the interviewing agents and the nature and purpose of the interview. Heckler was interviewed in the presence of his father, Mark Heckler, work telephone number (303) 556-6587, at Zachery’s place of employment.
Heckler was being interviewed based upon his known friendship with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, both members of the Trenchcoat Mafia (TCM), and to his knowledge of the Columbine High School incident that occurred on April 20, 1999. Heckler stated that he had been good friends with Dylan Klebold for years. In response to questions pertaining to his computers, he replied that he does own several computers and considers himself proficient in using computers.
He stated that he corresponds via the Internet on the World Wide Web via http://www.Concentric.Net/~kibbz. He further stated that he has played computer games with Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris. Heckler advised that Klebold did not maintain an e-mail address. Eric Harris was known to maintain an American On Line (AOL) account with the computer name of “REBDOOMER.” He stated that during the summer of 1997, he stopped being friends with Eric Harris for reasons not specified. He further stated he played the computer game known as “Quake” with Klebold, which is a game on the Internet that can be played on servers anywhere. Heckler stated he “never” played the game “Postal.”
Heckler advised that he maintains two computers in his home that he described as building in class while at CHS during approximately December 1996. He stated he downloaded information off of his computer on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, following the CHS incident. He stated he downloaded the “Anarchist Cookbook” and other information that was then placed into a coffee can and placed behind the furnace adjacent to Zachery’s bedroom. He stated he “hid” the computer disk because he was concerned with the information contained on the disk. Heckler willingly provided the whereabouts of the computer disks when asked directly regarding its content and whereabouts. He stated he did have the CHS locker combinations to all of the students maintained in his computer system.
Heckler advised that he did not have prior knowledge that Klebold and Harris were going to commit or execute such an act of violence at CHS. Heckler stated that he does not consider himself to be a member of the TCM.
Heckler stated he heard a rumor following the CHS shooting from friend, Katy Trojan, that [redacted] and 11th grader, and [redacted], a 12th grader, had knowledge “something” was going to happen. Heckler stated that he was told this from Trojan on April 22, 1999, at approximately 4:00 p.m. He stated he called [redacted] this morning between 10:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. reporting that [redacted] sounded unsure of what was going on. He stated [redacted] wondered about [redacted] and also wondered about where the guns used at CHS came from.
Heckler stated that he would have notified Neil Gardner, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department, School Resources Officer (SRO), assigned to CHS, if he would have known something was going to happen. He further stated he did not think anybody knew an incident was going to happen prior to the April 20, 1999 shooting.
Heckler provided consent to seize his two (2) computers and multiple disks from his residence while his father, Mark Heckler, was present. Both Zachery and Mark Heckler were cooperative during the interview.
Present for the interview were:
SA Mathew Hellman, FBI
Sergeant John Hicks, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department
Investigator Mike Russell, Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office, West Metro Task Force.
When placed side by side, the April 21 and June 14 interviews are not contradictory, but they are not perfectly aligned either.
In his first statement, Heckler said his relationship with Eric had “slacked off approximately a year and a half” earlier, linking the shift to the locker hacking incident and his father restricting contact. That would place the distancing in late 1997.
In the June 14 FBI interview, however, he states that he stopped being friends with Eric in the summer of 1997 several months earlier, and before the hacking incident.
The difference is not dramatic, but it is noticeable.
We also have Heckler’s decision to download and conceal bomb related material on April 20 suggests an immediate awareness of how closely he might be scrutinized. Whether motivated by panic, fear, or simple self protection, the act reflects a concern about proximity to it.
That context is relevant when reading his interviews. He was not speaking in a vacuum. He was a close friend of both perpetrators but mainly Dylan, aware that investigators were examining his role. Under those circumstances, it is reasonable to assume that self preservation influenced how he framed his account particularly regarding the extent and tone of his friendship with Dylan.
This does not mean he was dishonest. It means his statements were given in a setting where minimizing association and risk would have been instinctive.
At the same time, both statements are consistent on one poin. Even if his relationship with Eric deteriorated, he maintained that he remained good friends with Dylan.
Polygraph
Transcript
The subject was examined on June 16, 1999 at approximately 1456 hours. Standard polygraph techniques were utilized for this evaluation. Prior to the administration of the examination, the subject read and signed the Arvada Police Department Standard Polygraph Release form. The subject was advised of his rights per Miranda at 1457 hours. Subsequent to the advisement, the subject waived his rights and agreed to speak with this examiner.
A pre-test interview was conducted, during which time the subject stated his purpose for taking this polygraph examination was because he was requested to do this and that he hoped to clear his name of having any prior knowledge or assisting in that thing at Columbine High School.
In discussing with the subject regarding the issues surrounding the murders at Columbine High School, the subject stated that he recalled seeing Dylan Klebold the first day of their freshman year, but it was not until the second semester of that year that he had a class with Dylan Klebold. The subject stated that Eric Harris would come into the class from an adjoining classroom and talk to Dylan Klebold, during which time he was able to get to know Eric Harris also.
The subject stated that between his sophomore and junior year, he worked during the summer at Blackjack Pizza. The subject stated that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold also began working there during that summer. The subject stated that during that summer, he had met a girl identified as Devon and that the two of them spent a lot of time together. The subject stated that he went to Pennsylvania for two weeks during this summer and that during that time, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold had built their first pipe bomb.
The subject stated that this past summer, 1998, Eric Harris really didn’t like him for some unknown reason, but the subject stated that he was still good friends with Dylan Klebold. The subject stated that in February 1999, he attended a party at Robyn Anderson’s home and that Eric Harris was also at this party. The subject stated that the two of them had both been at each other’s throats for quite some time, but that at this party, Eric Harris approached him and asked him how he was doing. The subject stated that they then began talking about things and about their future plans. The subject stated that was the last time he talked to Eric Harris, except for passing each other in the hallways at school. The subject further stated that the last time he saw Eric Harris was at the “after prom,” but that he did not talk to him at that time.
The subject stated that he saw Dylan Klebold at the prom, but did not talk to him very much during this activity. The subject stated that he then saw Dylan Klebold and Robyn Anderson at the after prom, but again, did not spend much time with him.
The subject stated that he did the “phone thing” with Dylan Klebold Sunday night, April 18, 1999. The subject stated that he would telephone him later at night and play “Quake” or just be on the speaker phones with him, during which time they really did not talk to each other.
The subject stated that he recalls passing Dylan Klebold in the hallway on Monday, April 19, 1999, and then Monday night, he telephoned him at approximately 2230 hours. The subject stated that Dylan Klebold told him when he telephoned him that he really wasn’t in the mood to talk and just wanted to go to bed. The subject told Dylan Klebold that he would see him the next day. The subject further stated that he thought that this was kind of odd because Dylan Klebold normally doesn’t get off the phone until 0030 hours to 0100 hours on most nights. The subject stated that this was the last time that he personally talked with Dylan Klebold.
The subject stated that on April 20, 1999, he went to school and was in the choir room when the shooting began. The subject stated that his sister, Jocelyn, was in her math class during this same time period at 1115 hours. The subject stated that when the shooting began, he was able to escape from the building and did not see any of the suspects during his departure.
The subject stated that after leaving the school and during the afternoon of April 20th, he was at Clement Library, at which time it was mentioned that the shooters involved in this incident were members of the “Trench Coat Mafia.” The subject stated that he immediately thought of Eric Harris as being one of the suspects and then thought of Dylan Klebold as being another suspect. The subject stated that if there was a third suspect, his thought was that of [REDACTED].
The subject advised this examiner that Dylan Klebold never mentioned anything to him about being involved in making bombs or any other explosive devices. The subject stated that Dylan Klebold did “slip” once, during which time he told the subject that he had gotten something that was “really cool.” The subject stated that Dylan Klebold told him that this item was something that was in “Desperado,” a Quinton Tarantino movie. The subject stated that in the back of his mind, the thing that he thought that Dylan Klebold was referring to was a gun. The subject stated that Dylan Klebold made this comment to him in February of 1999.
The subject further claimed that he played no part in planning or participating in any way in this attack on Columbine High School. The subject further stated that he did not have any knowledge that Dylan Klebold was making bombs or was target practicing with guns in the mountains.
During the latter portion of the pre-test interview, the subject admitted that there were two things that he had not mentioned in previous interviews with the police regarding this investigation. The subject stated that the first thing was that Eric Harris had come to him and expressed an interest in making napalm. The subject stated that Eric Harris wanted to know if the subject knew how to do it, with the subject responding that he did not know how napalm was made.
The subject further stated that the second thing that he had not previously mentioned was that he confronted Dylan Klebold about his suspicion regarding Dylan Klebold having some type of firearm. The subject stated that Dylan Klebold had told him that he had obtained a double barreled shotgun and that Eric Harris also had a shotgun. The subject stated that Dylan Klebold further advised him that the double barreled shotgun was like the one in the previously mentioned movie, “Desperado.” The subject also added that Dylan Klebold told him that he had fired this weapon. The subject stated that this conversation with Dylan Klebold took place in February of 1999. The subject stated that after being told this by Dylan Klebold, he never brought this issue up again with him. The subject stated that it just scares him that Dylan Klebold had all of this self control and yet he did not.
The subject elaborated on the above statements by stating that Eric Harris and he had left Robyn Anderson’s party in March, at which time they drove in their own vehicles to King Soopers. The subject stated that after he had gone into King Soopers to buy a pop and a candy bar, and Eric Harris had gone into the store to buy a pop, the two of them met back at their cars, during which time they had a short conversation. The subject stated that besides buying a can of pop, Eric Harris also bought a box of bleach. The subject stated that he asked Eric Harris why he bought the bleach, with Eric Harris responding, “he was going to try it.” The subject stated that was all Eric Harris said, so he (the subject) did not ask him anymore about it. The subject stated that he did ask Eric Harris what he was going to do with the box of bleach, with Eric Harris responding that he was going to try to make napalm with it. The subject stated that he did not say anything further about the purchase of the box of bleach.
The subject further stated that he has never mentioned having these conversations with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold to anyone. The subject stated that is why, when it was announced that the “Trench Coat Mafia” members were the attackers in the school, he immediately thought of Dylan Klebold with a shotgun and Eric Harris trying to make napalm. The subject further stated that he had no prior knowledge about any of this catastrophe occurring at Columbine High School. The subject further stated that he also did not have any prior knowledge that either Eric Harris or Dylan Klebold had any explosives or other weapons, or that they were planning to commit this armed attack on the school. The subject further stated that he never asked Dylan Klebold if he sawed off the double barreled shotgun in order to make it very similar to the one that was used in the “Desperado” movie. The subject further stated that he does not think anyone else knew that Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were planning to commit this armed attack on Columbine High School.
There were no further statements made by this subject during the pre-test portion of the interview. The subject was then examined with an Axciton computerized polygraph system, which is periodically calibrated to insure its accuracy and reliability. The instrument was correctly calibrated and was in proper working condition when this examination was conducted. Four polygraph charts were administered on the subject.
RESULTS
Polygrams two, three and four contained the following relevant questions:
- Regarding Columbine High School, did you personally participate in planning that armed attack?
Answer: “No.” - On April 20, 1999, did you know for sure that an armed attack would occur at Columbine High School?
Answer: “No.” - Regarding Columbine High School, did you knowingly provide any of the weapons used in that armed attack?
Answer: “No.”
The subject’s psycho-physiological responses to the foregoing relevant questions were indicative of his answering the questions in an inconclusive manner.
DIAGNOSTIC OPINION
After careful analysis of this subject’s polygrams, it is the opinion of the examiner that the subject has answered the questions in an inconclusive manner and, therefore, no diagnostic opinion can be rendered.
James Vonderohe, Examiner
On June 16, 1999, Zachary Heckler underwent a polygraph examination. According to the report, he agreed to the test in order to clear his name of any suspicion that he had prior knowledge of, or assisted in, the attack at Columbine High School.
During the pre-test interview, Heckler repeated much of what he had already told investigators. That he met Dylan in high school, that Eric would come into the adjoining classroom to speak with him, and that he remained good friends with Dylan even after his relationship with Eric deteriorated.
However, the polygraph interview again expands the scope of what had previously been described.
He stated that in February 1999, Dylan had told him he had obtained a double-barreled shotgun similar to the one in Desperado, and that Eric also had a shotgun. He said Dylan told him he had fired the weapon. He further stated that Eric had asked him whether he knew how to make napalm, and that on another occasion, after observing Eric purchase bleach, Eric told him he intended to try to make napalm with it.
These details had not appeared in his earliest statement. The pattern is noticeable. With each interview, additional information about weapons and explosives surfaces. While he continued to describe his nightly conversations with Dylan as routine, school, video games, ordinary topics, the record now shows that their relationship also included discussions involving firearms and incendiary materials months before the attack which shows that their friendship wasn’t surface level.
Heckler denied participating in planning the attack, denied providing any weapons, and denied knowing for certain that an armed attack would occur on April 20, 1999.
The polygraph results were recorded as inconclusive. The examiner stated that no diagnostic opinion could be rendered regarding truthfulness or deception.
Jocelyn Heckler
Transcript:
Arvada Police Department
Supplemental Report
DET96 06/02/1999 060199/VONDEROHE/KK
The following supplement will be in reference to Arvada Police Department CR 99-12067 that will correspond with Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department CR 99-7625 regarding the Columbine High School shootings/murders that occurred on 04/20/99. Detective Jim Vonderohe is a member of the task force that was formed to investigate the Columbine High School shootings and as a result of this investigation, lead sheets are assigned to task force members. This supplemental report will be in regards to lead control #1604 in which a party identified as Monica Lobser spoke with a Jocelyn Heckler during a memorial service on 04/25/99. The information control sheet indicated that Jocelyn Heckler is presently a Columbine High School student and was formerly a student of Monica Lobser’s when Ms. Lobser taught at Ken Caryl Middle School. During her conversation with Jocelyn Heckler on 04/25/99, Jocelyn Heckler indicated to Monica Lobser that she was a close friend of Dylan Klebold and had witnessed several changes taking place with him in the days prior before the incident on 04/20/99.
On 05/26/99 IO responded to the Heckler residence, 5880 W. Quarles Drive in Littleton, Colorado, 80128, and met with Jocelyn Amanda Heckler, DOB 06/08/83. Jocelyn Heckler advised IO that she presently is in the tenth grade at Columbine High School and that their home telephone number is 303-978-0098.
Jocelyn Heckler advised IO that she has known Dylan Klebold since his freshman year, at which time she would have been in the seventh grade. She stated that she initially met him through her brother Zack Heckler and that Dylan Klebold in fact became a good friend of the entire Heckler family. She further stated that she knew who Eric Harris was but never really talked to him.
In discussing the changes that she observed in Dylan Klebold take place, she stated that the changes began at the beginning of his junior year, during which time she was a freshman at Columbine High School. She stated that Dylan Klebold began wearing a black trench coat but that he never really associated with the Trench Coat Mafia group. She also stated that Eric Harris normally wore blue jeans and a white t-shirt and that she saw him hardly ever wear his trench coat. She stated that she really never knew why Dylan Klebold began wearing a black trench coat other than he was becoming a rebel at that time. She stated that she did know that Dylan Klebold and Zack Heckler, her brother, began believing somewhat in the principles of anarchy. Jocelyn Heckler stated that Dylan Klebold then began getting deeply involved in computers and that he in fact took classes on how to build computers at Columbine High School. She further stated that Dylan Klebold was able to create his own computer program and that by the end of his junior year, he played computer games all the time. She stated that some of the computer games he played included “Wolfenstein” and the game “Doom,” which he played briefly. She stated that he then began playing “Duke Nukem” in which the player shot and blew people up. She further stated that a person is able to play these video games with other people on the Internet, which is what Dylan Klebold did.
She stated that by his senior year, he became very involved with the video game known as “Quake.” She stated that this game is similar to the video game “Duke Nukem” but in “Quake,” people that the player kills look more like people rather than like monsters in the other games.
Jocelyn Heckler advised IO that Dylan Klebold would telephone her brother Zack every single night at approximately 2100 hours. She stated that she personally would talk with Dylan Klebold for approximately five minutes if she answered the phone and then Zack would talk to him and play video games with him. She stated that Dylan Klebold never mentioned anything to her about blowing up the school or hurting or killing people. She further stated that he never was into making bombs that she was aware of. She did state, however, that she knew that even in 1996, that Eric Harris was deeply involved in making pipe bombs but had no knowledge of Dylan being involved in such activity. She further stated that her brother Zack was told by their parents for him not to hang around with Eric Harris because of his bomb making activities during October 1997.
Jocelyn Heckler advised IO that she never noticed anything unusual that really stood out in regards to Dylan Klebold just prior to the tragic incident occurring at Columbine High School on 04/20/99. She did state, however, that on the night of 04/19/99, Dylan Klebold did not call their residence so her brother Zack telephoned Dylan at approximately 2300 hours. She stated that Zack asked Dylan Klebold if he wanted to play the Internet with Dylan Klebold replying that he was tired, that he did not feel like talking and just wanted to go to bed. Jocelyn Heckler stated that this was very unusual for Dylan Klebold to say or do since he and her brother Zack would stay up until 0100 to 0130 hours every night and play the video games over the Internet.
Jocelyn Heckler stated that she was surprised on Tuesday morning in not seeing Dylan Klebold at Columbine High School because she always saw him every morning around 0930 hours. She stated that the two of them would briefly meet at the bottom of the stairs next to the commons area where they would chit chat for approximately five minutes. She stated that on the morning of 04/20/99, she waited around but Dylan Klebold never showed up. She stated that at that point she just assumed that he was sick since he did not feel like talking the previous night to her brother.
Jocelyn Heckler stated that on the morning of 04/20/99 at 1120 hours she was in her math class which is on the second level of the school and to the rear of the school. She stated that her teacher Miss Hazelwood was teaching the class, at which time the fire alarm went off. She stated that at approximately 1140 hours, other students were running out of the classroom and down the hallway yelling to each other to run for their life. Jocelyn Heckler stated that once her fellow students and she got into the hallway, they could hear the gunshots going off, with her believing that they were coming from the science halls based upon her estimation as to where the sounds were originating from. She further stated that she did not see any of the shooters during this incident. She further stated that no one she knows and including herself saw this tragic incident coming from either Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris. She stated that it was a complete shock to all of them, especially her family.
With Jocelyn Heckler being unable to provide any additional information regarding this investigation, the interview with her was concluded at approximately 0925 hours.
On June 2, 1999, investigators interviewed Jocelyn Amanda Heckler, Zach’s younger sister. She stated that she had known Dylan Klebold since his freshman year of high school, having initially met him through her brother. This fits with Zachs later account mentioning they got close during their freshman year. According to her, Dylan had become a familiar presence in the Heckler household and was considered a friend of the family.
She reported noticing changes in Dylan beginning around his junior year. She stated that he began wearing a black trench coat during this period, though she did not believe he strongly identified with the “Trench Coat Mafia.” She described him as becoming more involved with computers and increasingly immersed in video games, including Wolfenstein, Doom, Duke Nukem, and later Quake, which he played online.
Jocelyn stated that Dylan telephoned her brother Zach nearly every night at approximately 9:00 p.m. If she answered, she would speak with Dylan briefly before handing the phone to Zach, after which the two would play video games together online. She described this as a consistent routine.
She stated that Dylan never mentioned harming anyone, blowing up the school, or making bombs in her presence. She did note, however, that she was aware Eric Harris had been involved in making pipe bombs as early as 1996. We have to wonder where from, from her brother? Despite Zach saying they began summer 1997 when he wasn’t around. She stated she had no knowledge of Dylan participating in such activity.
Regarding the night of April 19, 1999, Jocelyn reported that Dylan did not call their residence as usual. Instead, Zach called Dylan around 11:00 p.m. She stated that Dylan said he was tired, did not feel like talking, and was going to bed. She described this as unusual, noting that Dylan and Zach typically remained on the phone or online until between 1:00 and 1:30 a.m.
On the morning of April 20, 1999, she stated that she expected to see Dylan at school around 9:30 a.m., as they would typically exchange brief greetings near the commons area. When she did not see him, she assumed he was sick. She was later in math class when the fire alarm went off and the shooting began. She stated that the incident was a complete shock to her and that she had no prior indication that Dylan or Eric would commit such an act.
Jocelyn’s account independently confirms the frequency and regularity of Dylan’s contact with Zack.
This stands alongside Zack’s own statement that he spoke to Dylan every night, suggesting that the nightly communication was not exaggerated in retrospect but observed by multiple members of the household.
Mark Heckler
I have cut this whole article down to the relevant statements.
Gunmen Lived Dual Existence In Class, They Were Bright Students. But Out Of Class, An Inner Darkness Bubbled To The Surface.
POSTED: April 22, 1999
LITTLETON, Colo. — They were excellent students – who built pipe bombs in their spare time.
(…)
“Even now,” said Mark Heckler, whose son, Zack, was one of Klebold’s best friends, “I keep asking Zack: `Was there a hint? Was there a hint?’ ”
In retrospect, said those who knew the pair, there were plenty.
They described boys who got high grades, who shone in creative writing and video classes, who came from seemingly stable families – but whose fascination with racism and violence was increasingly obvious.
(…)
Zack Heckler and Dylan Klebold became friends when both were freshmen at Columbine. Over that time, Heckler watched his son’s buddy evolve from “a very shy kid” into a 6-foot-3 youth who wore black military-style clothing under a long coat, and who let his friendship with Zack slide in favor of a new group calling themselves the Trench Coat Mafia, after the long dark coats they wore.
(…)
Mark Heckler said that over the years, he and his wife had become friends with Klebold’s parents. Because of that friendship, he refused to discuss them further.
Heckler said that, for some time, he had noticed that Dylan Klebold was becoming different.
“We watched the change in Dylan,” he said. ``He came around less and less.“
And yet: “When he came to visit us, he’d take the trench coat off and leave it in the car.”
It was almost as though a persona went along with the trench coats, one that was more apparent in school, where other students said Klebold and Harris wore the distinctive garb no matter what the weather.
(…)
Likewise, others searched their memories of contact with Klebold and Harris for any sign that the rampage was imminent.
The night before the slayings, Klebold and Zack Heckler spoke on the phone, as they did nearly nightly, despite their waning friendship, said Zack’s father.
“But Dylan said, `Zack, I’m kinda tired,’ and then he hung up,” said Mike Heckler. “Now, I put two and two together after this chaos … and I think Dylan was trying to protect Zack.”
His son never saw Klebold the day of the shooting, he said. “But when we heard trench coat and when we heard pipe bombs, Zack knew who it was.”
(…)
In the days immediately following the attack, Mark Heckler spoke briefly to the press. He described watching changes in Dylan over time, saying that he had “come around less and less.” At school, Dylan had adopted the long black coat associated with the Trench Coat Mafia, but Mark noted that when Dylan visited their home, he would leave the coat in the car.
Statements from the Heckler family suggest that contact between Dylan and Zack continued through senior year. Taken alongside the formal statements, the press comments from Mark Heckler reinforce a more complicated picture. The friendship may have shifted over time, but it had not disappeared.
Devon Adams
Her two interviews are below
Transcript:
On 05/13/99 at 1530 hours, Sgt. J. Webb and myself met with Devon Adams at Chatfield High School. At that time we informed Devon that we were doing follow up investigative work on the Columbine Incident and that we needed to talk to her to clarify some points that had been brought to our attention. Devon stated that she had no problem talking to us.
I asked Devon if she had ever been a part of the TCM and she stated that she had not been a member, but she had been affiliated with them all. I asked her whom they all were and Devon provided the following names:
- Michelle Boudreau
- Chuck Phillips
- Kelly Schwab
- Brian Sargent
- Chris Morris
- Joe Stair
- Nate Dykeman
- Kristen Theibault
- Eric Duro
- Tad Boles
- Marla Foust
- Zack Heckler
- Robert Perry
- Patrick McDuffy
- Robyn Anderson
I asked Devon what she knew about the TCM and she stated that the stuff on the TV where Joe Stair was talking about being the leader of TCM was not true, the real starter of TCM was Chuck Phillips, and that a lot of what they did was a result of some jocks calling them names when they wore their dusters. Devon then stated that Chris Morris was the first kid to wear a duster to school, but Phillips developed the TCM thing that stuck.
[Redacted paragraph]
I asked Devon what she knew about Eric and Dylan’s bomb making, and she stated that she did not know much except that Eric had named some of his bombs, like his first one was “Anasazi” and the second one was “Paizze” or something like that.
Devon stated that Eric and Dylan were very much into fireworks and that they did this thing at night called “Rebel Missions” where they went out and blew things up or just launched tons of fireworks. I asked Devon if she had been around them when they would shoot guns, and Devon stated that she doesn’t remember any real guns, but they did go to Zack Heckler’s house and shoot B.B. guns at targets in his back yard. (During this portion of the interview I noticed that Devon did not want to have eye contact with me as she had up to this point).
I asked Devon to elaborate on her relationship with Eric and Dylan, at which time she stated that she and Dylan had been very close through out high school, but she and Eric had been very distance since the freshman year. Devon stated that once after the computer thing, [redacted] during this same time he had also talked about blowing up the King Soopers store and had a thing about talking about guns. Devon then stated that at the same time she had received an e-mail from “LA VIDA X” [redacted], she later learned that this had come from Nate Dykeman.
I asked Devon where she sat in the lunch room and who she sat with, and Devon stated that she usually sat with Eric, Zack, and Dylan in the mornings at tables (refer to cafeteria diagram) P, O, Z, or Y and that at lunch they sat at L, M, or BB. I asked Devon where the rest of the TCM sat and she stated that Perry, Morris, Sargent, Boles, Ragle, and Stair (when he was there) sat at tables E or F for breakfast and at lunch they would sit at L, M, or BB. I asked Devon if she could point out where the Jocks sat, and she pointed out tables E, F, T, and S. I asked Devon if this was accurate and she stated that it was to the best of her knowledge.
I asked Devon if she could describe what Eric, Dylan and the others wore and she stated that Eric liked to dress like a commando most of the time, Dylan dressed formal to her, he wore T-shirts and Jeans, and that Morris liked to dress like a commando ALL the time. Devon stated that the others dressed what she called normal, but she remembers Duro was really weird, he dressed all over the board, but he always talked about wanting to be like Hitler, and wanted to commit Genocide on a grand scale. Devon then stated that both Eric and Dylan could quote all the lines from the movie “Natural Born Killers,” Devon thought that was strange.
I asked Devon who else was involved directly in the Columbine Incident, and she, without hesitation stated, [three names redacted]. I asked why she thought that, and Devon got quiet, and again looked down to the floor, then she stated that she just knew.
I asked Devon if I told her some of the nicknames on Eric’s hit list if she would know them. Devon stated that she probably did, and would be happy to try. Devon referred to the following juveniles:
- STUMPY – A kid named [redacted] who Eric thought was an idiot
- SCOOP – [redacted], he got all of us suspended, Devon dated him but the others wanted to beat him up
- PRETTY BOY – [redacted], from debate class, Eric and Dylan thought he was gay
- EXCALIBER – [redacted], Stage crew from the theater class, Eric and Dylan just made fun of him
I then asked Devon about a kid named Eric Veik, and if he was part of the TCM, Devon laughed and stated no, he wanted to be probably, but he was just the video guy in the school. Eric and Dylan liked him but he was kind of used by them.
I concluded my interview with Devon at 1700 hours; However, I believe that Devon needs to be re-interviewed for additional information about the bomb making and why she believes that the other three are directly involved.
JC-001-010615
Transcript
Re-interview of Devon Catherine Adams on 05/26/99
Devon Catherine Adams
DOB 07/25/82
7673 W. Quarto Ave
Littleton, CO 80128
(303) 979-2840
On 05/13/99 Devon was interviewed and made the statement to the question, if she knew anyone who would be involved in the incident Devon said it would be [redacted] and [redacted]. Devon also had some knowledge of Eric and Dylan’s bomb making.
Follow up interview with Devon was done on 05/26/99.
When Devon was asked about why she felt [redacted] might be involved with the incident, she said:
[redacted] had in the past threatened her on the computer over an incident at Columbine. She said she did not have any proof he was involved other than he gets mad very easy and likes to kick in cars. He last contact with [redacted] was over a year and a half ago.
When asked about [redacted], she said he liked to beat up his girlfriends and other people for no reason. She said her only reason for giving his name was that he scared her.
When asked about [redacted], she said he was on the Columbine debate team with her last year. During one meeting he was mad at someone and was looking for a pipe to beat them up with. Devon said he was a very violent person. She said he quit school one semester before he was to graduate. She did not understand why he quit school when he seemed to like being on the debate team.
Devon was asked what she knew about Eric and Dylan making bombs. She said both of them liked to explode and play around with fireworks. She said as she was leaving the school on the 20th and heard a bomb go off, she knew right away Eric was involved. Devon said she never seen either one with any pipe bombs.
Devon said that she had known Dylan for a long time and felt he was a follower and Eric was the leader. Dylan was at her birthday party last year and has been to her house several times.
JC-001-010618
Devon Adams’ statements place Zack and Dylan in consistent, ordinary contact during their senior year.
She stated that in the mornings she typically sat with Eric, Zack, and Dylan at cafeteria tables P, O, Z, or Y. At lunch, they sat at tables L, M, or BB. Zack and Dylan were part of the same visible group, sharing space after and during school hours.
Devon also confirmed that during earlier years, the group engaged in what they called “Rebel Missions,” which included fireworks and nighttime mischief. She noted that she had gone to Zack Heckler’s house and that BB guns were shot at targets in his backyard.
Devon and Zacks birthday card for Dylan
The klebolds
I’ve put below the relevant excerpts from their police interview, other news outlets and Sue’s book.
Excerpt:
When asked about different friends that Dylan had, the Klebolds said that Dylan had a circle of acquaintances and that it wasn’t necessarily a specific group, however, several groups of kids that knew each other. The Klebolds described Dylan’s friends as quiet and intelligent kids and maybe shy. The Klebolds said that Dylan’s friends were definitely not the most popular kids in school.
Dylan had three to four close male friends, who they named as Zach Heckler, Nathan Dykeman, and Eric Harris. The Klebolds also said that Dylan had mentioned Chris Morris’s name, however, they don’t believe that he had ever been at their house.
He also mentioned Dylan was involved in the Fantasy Baseball League with Kristin Theibault, and others who had been at the Klebold residence. Mr. Klebold said that Dylan was very involved in the Fantasy Baseball League on the Internet and stated that he had a pretty organized website regarding that. Mr. Klebold said that Dylan would pick players and they would draft different players and they had played for several years.
The Klebolds also advised that Dylan was involved in playing Midnight Bowling at Fun-Plex and would play every few weeks with his group of friends.
The Klebolds described Dylan’s friends, Nate and Zach, as extroverts, and Mrs. Klebold said that she had never met Chris (Morris). Mr. Klebold said that he had met Chris and described him as “serious.”
The Klebolds described Dylan as having “three to four close male friends,” naming Zack Heckler first among them. They characterized Zack as an extrovert and part of Dylan’s consistent social circle, participating in activities such as fantasy baseball leagues and midnight bowling. Their account reinforces that Zack was not peripheral to Dylan’s life but embedded in his everyday routines and family awareness. I want to point out for clarity that Tom named Eric Harris as Dylans best friend but not only friend.
A mothers reckoning: below is the parts where Zack is mentioned.
transcript of said excerpts:
Initially, Tom and I didn’t want a funeral of any kind for Dylan. It simply felt too disrespectful to his victims. I will be forever grateful to Martha and John, though, for convincing us to reconsider. They promised we would be able to keep the ceremony private both from the media and from enraged community members. Together, we planned a simple service, attended only by a few friends and family members. Byron would be there, of course, as would Ruth and Don, and the parents of Dylan’s two best friends, Nate and Zack. The pastor of the church we’d belonged to when Dylan and Byron were small agreed to officiate for us.
life flourished in high school. He had three close friends with whom he spent most of his free time. On any given weekend, one of them was at our house, or Dylan was at one of theirs. The four of them — Dylan, Zack, Nate, and Eric — had other friends too, but these were the kids we considered Dylan’s inner circle.
Dylan met his friend Zack freshman year. Zack’s dad was a university professor turned administrator, and his mom ran the children’s youth group at the church we’d attended when the boys were younger. Zack was friendly and outgoing, with a stocky build, a round face, and short brown hair. His house was ground zero for all kinds of zany activity — someone always seemed to be barbecuing or going boating or throwing a pool party — and Dylan spent a lot of time there. I was especially pleased by Dylan’s friendship with Zack, because of how gregarious and outgoing Zack was. He didn’t mind being the center of attention, which drew Dylan out a little.
Both Zack and Dylan were interested in technology. One summer, they hit rummage sales in Zack’s neighborhood for old telephone equipment, determined to build a portable telephone system. (This was before cell phones.) The boys were proud of the contraption they came up with — an old telephone bolted to a sprung suitcase — and they got it working well enough to cause some static on the phone system in our some static on the phone system in our house.
It was Zack who got Dylan interested in doing sound tech for theater productions at the end of their sophomore year. After watching a production of Bye Bye Birdie, I visited Dylan in the sound booth and was impressed by his command of the many switches and levers on the complicated board. Dylan loved it. He spent hours at rehearsals, and experimented with manipulating sounds on his computer to make an original soundtrack for a production of Frankenstein directed by his friend Brooks. People occasionally approached him to run the sound system for their talent shows, church events, and less formal after-school productions.
Zack was the first of Dylan’s friends to have a girlfriend. Dylan was jealous of his friend’s good fortune, but nonetheless became friends with Zack’s girlfriend, Devon. After Dylan’s death, Devon made a book of photographs and stories about him for me. What struck me was how much she trusted in and confided in Dylan. When her feelings were hurt or when she had conflicts with others, it was Dylan she turned to for support: “I would call Dylan on the phone or talk to him on the computer. It was the best therapy I could hope for. Dylan was the best listener I had ever met.”
Eric was the fourth member of the crew.
when he was around Tom and me. I don’t remember him asking me any questions, or volunteering ridiculous stories about Dylan, the way Zack and Nate did, but he was clearly smart, friendly, and funny.
Perhaps it’s significant I don’t have the same kinds of memories of connecting with Eric that I do with Dylan’s other friends. I wonder how much of that has to do with spending time with Zack and Nate after Dylan’s death, and the fact that I had the privilege of seeing them as they grew into adulthood. I still talk to Nate; he checks in with me at holiday time, and comes to visit when he’s in town. I do know that we did not perceive there to be anything unusual or unsettling about Eric, or about his friendship with Dylan prior to the trouble they had near the end of junior year, or Tom and I would not have permitted it to continue.
In high school, Eric remained small and relatively slight, while Dylan shot up in height. Eric was older, and got his license before Dylan.
Their friendship didn’t seem any more intense than Dylan’s relationships with other boys; if anything, I would have said that Dylan was closer to Nate. It did seem more private, somehow. I never felt as close to Eric as I did to Nate and Zack, although
When Dylan and his friends were old enough to work, his closest friends ended up working at Blackjack Pizza. Zack got a job there first; Dylan joined him a little while after, and Eric and Nate after that. Dylan bragged about his ability to make a great pizza quickly. When paychecks started rolling in, I helped him open checking and savings accounts at the bank
A number of them had come over to our house, bearing photographs and videos of Dylan, and cards he’d given them. Zack’s girlfriend, Devon, made a book for us of photographs and written memories, mounted on paper she’d made herself. There was Dylan — grinning while pushing Zack’s dad into the pool; sporting a Hawaiian shirt and a bunch of leis at a costume party Devon had thrown; clowning around with Zack and making a hokey thumbs-up sign for the camera. I spent hours poring over these artifacts, desperate for confirmation that the sensitive, fun-loving kid Tom and I remembered had been real.
he kept both his hurt and his infatuation closely guarded. I pushed back for years against the public perception of Dylan as an outcast, because he had close friends (not only in Eric, but also in Zack and Nate),
The summer Zack met and fell for Devon, Dylan and Eric started spending more time together. Eric’s name appears more frequently. Dylan writes about suicide many times that summer, as he did many times previously, but there are no homicidal comments in his journal until that fall. Even after the boys have begun making plans, Dylan reveals a secret in these most private pages: he believes he will be dead by his own hand before they have a chance to carry them out. After talking about the emotions of suicidal fantasies,
After I saw the dynamic between Eric and Dylan on the Basement Tapes, I found myself revisiting this episode in a new light. If Dylan didn’t want to go out with Zack or Nate or Robyn or any of his other friends, he simply told them so: “Nah, I can’t this weekend. I need to write this paper.” Only with Eric did he need me to bail him out. I never wondered about that or thought to ask Dylan: “Why can’t you just say no?”
FBI investigators found that Eric had tried to interest other boys in a plan of mass destruction, including Zack and Mark Manes. They didn’t bite. Dylan did.
network administration had led one of the teachers to ask if he and his friend Zack would help maintain the Columbine High School computer system. Digging around in the system, the boys discovered a list of locker combinations. Dylan opened and closed one or two locker doors to see if the list was current, then transferred the data to a disk and shared it with Eric. Zack took it a little further and left a note in the locker of his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend. The boys were caught, and an administrator at the school informed us that Dylan was to be suspended for five days.
He and Nate and Eric and Zack went bowling, played pool, or went to the movies. Occasionally there were supervised parties. Raising teenagers was not new to us, and Dylan faced the usual barrage of questions when leaving the house: “Where are you going? Who’s going to be there? Who’s driving? Will there be drinking? Will the parents be home? Leave us a phone number.” We checked often, and Dylan was always exactly where he said he’d be. The only time he ever came home late for curfew, he’d gone to the rescue of a friend stranded after a fender bender.
Dylan had agreed to go with Zack to an activity at his church that night, and the two of them planned to come back to our house for a sleepover afterward. Tom and I were listening to music together in the living room when the phone rang around 8:30 p.m. It was Zack’s dad, audibly upset. Zack had quarreled with his girlfriend and left the event with her. He’d gotten hurt, possibly after stepping out of a moving car, and wasn’t making much sense. It was all very confusing, but Zack’s parents wanted us to know the plan had changed. Dylan wasn’t with Zack; he’d left the church with Eric. He told me the story of his bizarre evening. After Zack left the church, he and Eric decided to go light some fireworks, so they drove to a parking area not far from our house where recreational cyclists stowed
As the fall approached, incoming seniors at Columbine High School were asked to submit pictures for the yearbook. A local photographer shrewdly suggested Dylan ask a friend to the session to help him loosen up, so Zack tagged along, and I loved the shots the photographer took of Dylan looking relaxed and happy among the pink rocks in the valley not far from our home. One of those photos would later be featured on the cover of Time magazine, under the headline “The Monsters Next Door.”
Dylan was proud of Frankenstein; he used a wide variety of unusual audio sources to develop the eerie soundtrack. The cast and crew recorded a surprise video to thank the drama teacher. In the video, Brooks, Zack, and Dylan clown around — saying they hope she’ll buy them beer, or pay them to pass down their senior year production know-how to the next crop of students. Judy Brown threw the wrap party, and took a picture of Dylan laughing at the video along with everyone else.
Some weeks earlier, I had asked Dylan about his friends’ plans. He said Nate, Zack, and some of the others were off to college; Eric was hoping to join the Marines. Before our dinner with the Harrises, I asked Dylan for an update on Eric’s plans. Joining the Marines had fallen through, he told me. Eric would be living at home, working, and attending community college instead.
Dylan’s vulnerabilities were probably the same ones that had made him so susceptible to Eric, another toxic influence. I was blind to it because I never perceived Dylan to be a follower. He was agreeable by nature; a typical younger sibling, he’d go along with Byron’s games when the boys were young, and Tom and I could generally get him to do what we needed him to do without pushback. But I had plenty of opportunity to observe Dylan with his friends, and those relationships were equally negotiated. I never felt Zack or Nate had the upper hand with him. If Nate had a hankering for pizza while Dylan was craving McDonald’s, they worked it out.
In Sue Klebold’s recollection, Zack is consistently positioned as one of Dylan’s core friends from freshman year onward. She describes Dylan as having three close male friends during high school: Zack, Nate, and Eric. Together, the four formed what she considered Dylan’s “inner circle,” though she notes Dylan may have been closer to Nate in some ways.
Sue recalls being especially pleased with Dylan’s friendship with Zack because of Zack’s outgoing personality. Zack was described as friendly, gregarious, and comfortable being the center of attention, qualities she believed helped draw Dylan out socially. He was a positive influence in her eyes.
Dylan spent significant time at the Heckler home. Sue characterizes it as a lively, social household, and Dylan was frequently there. She recounts shared activities: bowling, movies, sleepovers, church events, theater tech, computer projects, and later working together at Blackjack Pizza. The boys collaborated on building a makeshift telephone system from rummage-sale equipment and later became involved in school computer administration issues together. Zack obtained the job at Blackjack first, Dylan followed him.
Sue repeatedly emphasizes the regularity of their contact. On weekends, one of the boys was often at their house or Dylan was at theirs. Dylan called Zack frequently. Even the night before the van incident, Dylan had originally planned to attend a church activity with Zack and return for a sleepover.
Sue also recounts Dylan’s emotional response when Zack began dating Devon. She describes Dylan as jealous and hurt, and Dylan’s journal entries from that period reflect feelings of abandonment. The shift in Zack’s attention appears to have been deeply felt by Dylan, though the friendship continued.
One detail in Sue’s account stands out more than it initially appears to. During senior year, when it was time for official portraits, the photographer suggested that Dylan bring a friend along to help him relax. Just practical advice for a shy teenager who might stiffen up in front of a camera.
Dylan chose Zack.
Sue describes how much she liked the photographs that came from that session, Dylan looking relaxed, natural, even happy. What makes the moment meaningful isn’t the photo itself. Out of everyone in his life at that point Nate, Eric, coworkers, classmates, the person he brought to make him feel at ease was Zack.
This was senior year. Plans were already forming in the background. Dylan’s relationship with Eric had deepened. Zack had been dating Devon for some time. Dynamics had shifted. And yet, when asked to select someone who would help him loosen up, Dylan still turned to Zack.
Reading it in the context of everything else Sue writes and everything else we know, the years of weekends at the Heckler house, the tech projects, the sleepovers, the jealousy when Zack got a girlfriend, it suggests that whatever changes had taken place, Zack remained someone Dylan associated with comfort and familiarity.
It is a small moment, but it sits quietly against the larger narrative. If Eric had fully replaced Zack emotionally, that would likely have been the name attached to that afternoon. Instead, it was Zack.
Even after Dylan’s death, she maintained contact with Nate and Zack and reflects on their adult live.
Police interview with Susan and Tom Klebold
Mark Obmascik, Kevin Simpson and Stacie Oulton
Denver Post Staff Writers
Nov. 22, 2000 – POLICE INTERVIEW WITH SUSAN AND TOM KLEBOLD — 5-17-99When the news broke, Sue Klebold called the Heckler house to see whether they knew where Dylan was. By the time the Hecklers returned the call, sheriff’s deputies were already searching the Klebold place in Deer Creek Canyon. Zack Heckler, who was in the choir room when the carnage started, ran outside with a group of students and ended up in the Smokers’ Pit. Zack helped other students climb over the fence, then clambered over himself.
Moving Into Theatre
Up until now, most of what we’ve looked at has come from police interviews and close family accounts. That shows us who was in Dylan’s life and how often. But it’s all retrospective. The theatre department gives us something different.
Sound tech, rehearsals, the Frankenstein roast video, and statements from Sue Caruthers and Brooks show Dylan and Zack together.
This is also where the Yoshi situation comes up, the claim that Zack thought Dylan wasn’t good at sound and suggested replacing him. That gets used a lot to argue Zack wasn’t a good friend. So it makes sense to deal with that here too, in context.
Sue Caruthers
(…)She also had Dylan Klebold working for her on several play productions. She described him as being very efficient. She said that on one occasion she remembers that he didn’t show up for the production he was supposed to be at for rehearsal and that she asked a friend of his, Zack Heckler, where he was. Zack Heckler told her that Dylan Klebold had been in an anger management class. She asked Dylan Klebold about this when he came to the class and he didn’t wish to provide any details other than he’d done something wrong and he had to go to this class. She describes him as being very respectful and courteous, and never showed any disrespect for her or any other faculty while she was around (…)
Some gifs of Zack and Dylan in theatre, talking to Mrs. C. Shared by Randy brown.
Frankenstein roast
excerpt from Brooks Brown’s book, No Easy Answers:
”The seniors in our theatre troupe decided to produce a special video for Frankenstein. Not only was it a farewell project for the drama students, it was a farewell to Mrs. Caruthers, who had been one of our favorite teachers over the past four years.
For the first part of the tape, we did interviews with the cast and crew about their favorite memories of Mrs. Caruthers. We then added in footage from rehearsal, along with scenes from the movie Young Frankenstein.
Dylan, Zach Heckler and I were the three people who did “commentary” for the tape. The three of us sat down in the front row of the Columbine auditorium and set the camera down on the stage. Our job was to review all of the people in the Frankenstein program and offer both compliments and “inside jokes” that only those involved in the department would understand. Later we would inter-cut the footage with scenes from Young Frankenstein and show the finished version to other people in the drama club.
It was a lot of fun to make, and the camera caught a few moments of Dylan coming out of his quiet shell. We went backwards through the program, reading each name and offering a few observations. The first name Zach read off was Principal DeAngelis.
Dylan leaned in toward the camera. “Ha ha ha,” he said.
The three of us roasted each other as much as we could. Dylan, who had sat quietly through some of the early jokes, happily came out of his shell for ribbing on me.
Dylan gave special mention to the makeup crew. “Damn good job,“ he said. “Brooks, you were ugly as shit. And that’s hard to beat, with the way you look normally.”
“I was uglier than I even am usually.” I agreed.
“Don’t get fire within twenty feet of the pants,” Dylan warned, referring to my ‘Frankenstein monster” costume. “There were about thirty different chemicals put into that.” (This was true, actually. Dylan and I made the pants using an old pair of jeans that we soaked in gasoline and paint thinner to make them look as horrible as possible. After the final performance, we took them out to a field and flicked a cigarette at them. They immediately burst into flames.)
“Zach, how did this guy do on sound?” I asked, referring to Dylan.
“Oh, he sucked,” Zach replied.
Dylan threw his hands up. “Thank you!”
“And everybody was crying about it, because it was late,” Zach added. Dylan hadn’t finished preparing the sound cues by Mrs. C’s original deadline.
“Yeah, yeah,” Dylan said. “I’d like to bring forth attention to this, actually – for three years now, I’ve been doing this job. Just a guess here, but I think I know what I’m doing—“
“Okay, shut up,” I said. We all laughed.
That was how the video went. We picked out names, made a few good-natured jokes, then complimented the person and moved on. We had especially kind words for Mrs. Caruthers, whom all three of us were going to miss.
“You’re losing your entire sound and light crew,” I said to the camera. “This will be the last play we get to do with you.”
The three of us asked for bribes in exchange for passing along our knowledge to the next crop of students. “Hey, Mrs. C, next Saturday – big ol’ party,” Dylan said. “Heineken, Miller… We need you.” It was a running joke for theatre students to try and get Mrs. Caruthers to buy booze for us, because we knew she never would.
We offered our thanks to Mrs. Caruthers for her inspiration. “From the people who have been working with you the longest, we want to say, very beautiful job with all the plays,” I said.
“Very well done,” Dylan added. “All of these kids over the years – I don’t know how, but … you put the whole thing together.”
“You’ve taught us how to work on our own,” I said. “We really did this play on our own, and it was fantastic. And we owe it to you, Mrs. C.”
After the final performance that night, everyone from the show watched the video. My mom took pictures. There was Dylan, laughing and having a good time. Just like everyone else. ”
In the Frankenstein farewell video, the three of them sat together in the front row of the auditorium and filmed commentary. It wasn’t background work. They were leading the tone of the tape.
Brooks describes it plainly: “The three of us roasted each other as much as we could.” Dylan is quiet at first, then “happily came out of his shell” to tease Brooks. Zack jokes that Dylan “sucked” at sound. Dylan throws his hands up, pushes back, and everyone laughs. A few minutes later, Dylan is complimenting Mrs. Caruthers and reflecting on how long they’d worked together.
Nothing in that exchange reads like hostility or seriousness. It reads like familiarity. The teasing is reciprocal. Dylan mocks Brooks. Zack mocks Dylan. Dylan defends himself confidently. It’s theatre kid humor and inside jokes.
Yoshi
Yoshi Carroll
mentioned that Zack Heckler, a friend of Eric and Dylan’s, was in his first-period Psychology class at 7:30 a.m. Yoshi mentioned that (during this time period of spring ‘99)
he works the sound board in the auditorium at the school for the drama department and that Heckler works the lights, so they work in conjunction with each other.
He mentioned that they had finished work on the latest school play, ‘Smoke in the Room,’ in which Rachel Scott was in the starring role.
Zack Heckler stated to him, “Ya know, up until now I really didn’t like you, but now I think you are okay.” After which point, he and Heckler get along very well now. He then advised that he did not notice anything strange about Heckler on April 20th but he could not recall if he was in psychology class with him on that date.Yoshi had second period free and that he probably wandered the school some, went to the Tech Lab to do some work. He also recalled visiting the library for about an hour studying, during his free period.
Yoshi Carroll had known Dylan Klebold since the 8th grade when he’d newly moved to the area. He had been in Algebra class together with Dylan at Ken Caryl Junior High. He never saw much of Klebold in high school though, until their senior year. Yoshi advised that Klebold was the sound man for the school plays and often worked the soundboard. He said that Zack Heckler had told him that Dylan was no good at the job (though) but loved it. He believes that Zack Heckler told the teacher that Dylan was not very good as a soundboard man and suggested that Yoshi Carroll to take Klebold’s place.
During the previous school year, Klebold, Heckler and another student whom he believed to be Chris Tabaldo, maintained the school’s web server and web page. Yoshi advised that those three students had given themselves access to the web server and had sent e-mail bombs out to other locations and were hacking into the Jefferson County School District computers and that the three had lost their job administering the computers due to the hacking. At the beginning of the school year, Yoshi’s senior year, he went to teacher Mr. Rich Long, who ran the computer programs and asked if you could maintain the system to learn more about computers. He was granted the job by Mr. Long.
Yoshi advised that Zack Heckler has been over his house on numerous occasions since the incident at Columbine High School and that one of his friends, Devon Adams, had been coming to his house often since the incident occurred. He advised that on one occasion she received a telephone call at his residence and began crying after she hung up the phone.
Since the incident had occurred, numerous friends had been socializing at his house each day and helping each other out. A few noted socializing at his residence were: Zack Heckler, Devon Adams, Andrew Robinson, Eric Veik, Nick Baumgart and Sarah Bay.
Yoshi’s statement introduces the claim that Zack believed Dylan was not particularly strong at sound and may have suggested someone else take over. However, this assertion is framed as belief rather than confirmed action, and no other account, including Sue Caruthers’ statement where she states that Dylan worked very efficiently, references such a replacement taking place. Dylan remained involved in sound through senior year, and contemporaneous footage from the Frankenstein roast shows Zack and Dylan working comfortably together. In context, the remark reads less as anything serious and more as typical teenage criticism within an ongoing friendship.
Nate Dykeman
He was also asked if he knew of an individual by the name of Yoshi. Dykeman explained that Yoshi had to be Yoshi Carroll. Yoshi is a friend of Dykeman’s who came to Littleton, Colorado from Romania at approximately the same time that Dykeman came to Colorado in the 8th grade. Yoshi is a really nice guy who is involved in movies and the drama club. He is also a real smart math wizard. Dykeman did not know of any association between Yoshi and Dylan Klebold or Eric Harris. However, Klebold or Harris would not say anything derogatory about Yoshi in front of Dykeman because they both knew that Dykeman and Yoshi were friends. Andy Robinson is Yoshi’s best friend.
Nate Dykeman clearly stated he was unaware of any association between Yoshi and Dylan or Eric, and noted that neither Harris nor Klebold would say anything derogatory about Yoshi in front of him due to his friendship with him.
Expanding the Lens: Broader Statements and accounts
Now, it makes sense to widen the scope slightly and place that friendship within the larger network described by others.
Sydney Keating – School Campus supervisor
Sydney Keating’s statement adds another outside perspective. She described Zack and Dylan as spending “a lot of time together” and characterized Zack as highly skilled with computers. In a separate information control sheet, she also noted that Zack and Dylan were “very tight” and communicated via e-mail. That description doesn’t come from a friend trying to defend anyone, but from a school employee observing them from the outside.
Robyn Anderson
Excerpts relevant:
Excerpt 1
She also stated he really wasn’t like the person that committed this crime. She further stated that Dylan had some friends that were really close to him that he spent time with. She stated other than that he was content to be by himself and enjoyed playing a computer game. She further stated he was never the type to get a girlfriend and in fact believes he never did have a girlfriend. When asked who his closest friends were, she named Eric Harris, Zach Heckler, Chris Morris and herself.
Excerpt 2
She did not know that they had any type of explosives or handguns as was being reported. She stated Zach Heckler had told her that he knew they had been making pipe bombs in the past. He also told her that it sounded like something that Eric and Dylan would do as far as running down the hall and laughing while committing this act of violence. She further stated that Zach Heckler did not tell her that he helped them make any pipe bombs and she further stated that Zach does not own any type of gun. She stated the only association Zach had with Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold was in their use of computers. She stated that all three of the guys would play computer games against each other. Robyn Anderson continued by stating that Dylan would be in charge of the sound unit when they made plays at school and Zach would be in charge of the lights.
Excerpt 3
Robyn Anderson stated that Eric and Dylan were closer to Chris Morris and Zach Heckler but still maintained that Zach Heckler had no part in this event.
So what her statement adds is confirmation: Zack was close enough to be named among Dylan’s closest friends.
Marla Faust
Sarah Slater
Excerpt 1
Sarah Slater knew Dylan Klebold from helping out with lighting at school plays. She did not see Klebold nor Harris on Monday or Tuesday. The last time that she saw Klebold was the previous weekend at the prom. Klebold was with a date, but she could not remember who that was.
Sarah knows Zach Heckler fairly well. She had seen Heckler on Monday, 4/19/99 in the halls in school, but not on Tuesday. She also saw Heckler at the prom with his date, Devon Adams. Heckler hung out a lot with Dylan Klebold. Klebold and Heckler often got drunk together. They also played video games over the Internet. They played mostly shoot and kill games, with Doom being their favorite. Heckler was often times depressed due to social problems. He had trouble getting a girlfriend. He would cry in front of Sarah, and get very emotional. During her freshman year, approximately two years ago, Sarah used to talk to Dylan Klebold on the Internet. Klebold had a crush on Sarah, and wanted to date her. She did not want to date Klebold and told him no; he did not persist. Heckler also wanted to date her during this same time frame, but she had no interest in dating him either.
Later in the day, on 4/20/99, Sarah talked to Heckler. Heckler, after hearing that one of the shooters was Klebold, said that he was sure that it was true, but couldn’t believe that Klebold had done this, in fact did not want to believe it. Later that same day, Sarah spoke to Heckler’s sister, Jocelyn Heckler. Jocelyn told Sarah that Zach knew that Klebold and Harris had this incident planned, but that he never believed that they would carry it out.
Excerpt 2
Sarah stated she knew Zack Heckler and he had told her to go to Klebold and Harris’s Web site on the Internet.
Sarah stated from the way Zack talked, she gathered that he helped them make this Web site. Zack told Sarah that this was a hate site for Columbine High School. She stated that a lot of kids hated Columbine High School at that time, even she did. I asked her to clarify that if it was Columbine High School in particular or just going to high school period. She clarified that it was just going to high school. She stated Zack Heckler’s nickname was “Kibbz” and Klebold’s was “Vodka.” She did not know any other nicknames. She stated that there was an announcement that morning that it was going to be a very bad day. She also stated that it was the thought of the day. Sarah stated that toward the end of last year’s school year, the Friday feature was a video that the video production class had put together. Sarah couldn’t remember a lot of specifics about it, but it showed people going through the school shooting others with squirt guns. They also blew the school up.
When we look at Sarah Slater’s statement, what we get is simple: Zack and Dylan spent a lot of time together. Prom. Gaming. Drinking. Regular contact. That matches everything else we’ve seen.
Alex marsh
Alex stated that the TCM group was dead this year. She described the group as being tame last year, and the year before that they were more alive, which she further described as bad. She stated that she was completely clueless and baffled about the shooting that KLEBOLD and HARRIS did. She suggested that I talk with Zak Heckler if I wanted to get an idea about how completely surprised people were at this. She stated Zak worked with KLEBOLD in the sound room during a play, “Smoke in the Room.” She stated that even as close as Zak was to working with KLEBOLD, Zak was really surprised at this also.
Chris tibaldo
Excerpt 1
Tibaldo knew both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shooters in the attack on Columbine High School. Tibaldo did not know Harris very well, he only sat near Harris at lunch and saw him once in a while before school. Harris seemed to be fairly quiet. Tibaldo knew Klebold better than he knew Harris. Tibaldo, Klebold and Zach Heckler hung out in the computer lab together, putting together computers for the school. They also shared knowledge about the “Linux” operating system, though Klebold and Heckler knew relatively little about it compared to Tibaldo. Klebold seemed like a happy person and did not talk about killing. Klebold would give Tibaldo a ride home from school on occasion. Tibaldo had not seen Klebold for several months because Tibaldo quit going to school at CHS and hasn’t been there since around January 4, 1999.
Excerpt 2
On April 20, 1999, Tibaldo was awakened at home by his mother at approximately 2:30 P.M. She told him about the shooting that was going on at school. Tibaldo called his friend Zach Heckler and spoke to his mother who said that Zach was OK. He then called Heckler’s girlfriend, Devon Adams and spoke to her sister who said that Devon was OK. Neither Adams nor Heckler knew of Klebold’s whereabouts. Tibaldo had heard on the news that the shooters were wearing trench coats and was concerned about the people he knew. He called Adams’ house again around 6:00 P.M. and Heckler was there. Still, no one had heard from Klebold.
Excerpt 3
Tibaldo only knew by name Chris Morris and Zach Heckler as being associates of Harris and Klebold. There were others that Tibaldo did not know or talk to. Tibaldo feels that if there was anyone else involved with the attack, it may be [redacted]. He does not think that Zach Heckler was involved with the attack. Because Tibaldo has not attended CHS in the last several months, he has not seen Klebold or Harris for a long time. While attending CHS, Tibaldo never saw Klebold or Harris hanging around with anyone that wasn’t a student
Excerpt 4
Tibaldo knows that Klebold and Harris used the Internet but never saw any messages or use that was unusual. Tibaldo, Heckler and Klebold would communicate using Internet Relay Chat (IRC) on occasion. They typically talked about “Linux.” Tibaldo does not know if Klebold talked with anyone else on IRC. Chris did not play games with Klebold or Harris because games bore him. He does know that Klebold played a lot of “Quake.”
Excerpt 5
The only people Christopher knew that hung around with Dylan were Chris Morris and Zach. Zach was Dylan’s best friend.
Christopher stated the person he would say would be the last to be involved would be Zach. Zach would never be involved with anything like that. Anybody in their right mind would turn someone in if they were involved.
Christopher Tibaldo, who spent time with Dylan and Zack in the computer lab, described Dylan as normal and happy, and referred to Zack as Dylan’s best friend.
Robert Perry
ROBERT PERRY advised last year ZACK HELTON, a student at CHS located the student locker combinations on the computer; he loaded the combinations onto a disk and bragged to him about the discovery. ROBERT PERRY was certain HELTON had told CHRIS MORRIS about the locker combinations.
Sara Martin
Sara said she had Dylan Klebold in her French class during her junior year at Columbine High School. She said Dylan would get very angry in class with the teacher (Kathy Lutz) and the other students, and would start throwing things around. Sara said she got frustrated by these distracting actions of Dylan Klebold, and his inability to get along with others. She said another student by the name of Zach Heckler was in this class and caused similar problems as Dylan Klebold. She said Dylan Klebold and Zach Heckler were suspended, and since being suspended from the class, Zach Heckler changed the way he acted according to Sara. She described Zach as being “very nice” and said she did not see him wear a trench coat.
Dustin Gorton
Documents: 10733 onwards.
Eric Jackson
Eric JACKSON was interviewed at his home with both of his parents present. JACKSON stated his girlfriend, Krista HANLEY, is a member of the TRENCH COAT MAFIA. He stated the TCM is a group of kids not a gang. He stated the media is making them sound like a bad gang of kids. He stated the school’s jocks named the group the TRENCH COAT MAFIA and the group just accepted it. JACKSON stated he hangs out with the TCM but does not consider himself a member. He stated the members he knows are Eric HARRIS, Dylan KLEYBOLD, Chris MORRIS, Cory FREEZEN, and Zack HECKLER. JACKSON stated there is no leader of the TCM, however, KLEYBOLD was more dominant than HARRIS was. JACKSON stated HECKLER was good friends with both HARRIS and KLEYBOLD and he would know a lot about them.
Bob Kirgis
Rebel Missions and the “Yo Mamma” Page
Most of the digital material we have, including Rebel Missions and the “Yo Mamma” page, was hosted under Eric’s websites since these were Eric’s pages.
But participation is still visible. The insults on the “Yo Mamma” page were written together. And Rebel Missions were also together.
He made the mission logs first around February 1997, below is a transcript of said page. Eric is reb, Dylan is vodka and Zack is Kibbz;
NEXT MISSION=aaaah whenever.
Ok, people, im gonn let you in on the big secret of our clan. We aint no god damn stupid ass quake clan! We are more of a gang. We plan out and execute missions. Anyone pisses us off, we do a little deed to their house. Eggs, teepee, superglue, busy boxes, large amounts of fireworks, you name it and we probly or already have done it. We have many enemies in our school, therefor we make many missions. Its sort of a night time tradition for us.
Download CORRIDOR.MAP. Its a very close replica of the mission sites. But we have never seen the inside of the house…so we just guessed. Its also cut off where the area isnt important (ya know, i didnt want to put in all of the neighborhood!).
The mission has been done. And the rebels…once again…emerged victorious. Vee falking blew de sheeeit outta lossa stoof!!
As for the next mission, we havent decided what to do or where to do it. i had some thoughts about hiding in some large bushes or trees and shooting stuff. Or maybe some more arial attacks. But we need to go up to Wyoming and load up on that stuff. We are running low. Plus we just got our paychecks….they arent big…but they can cover quite a bit of shit. We still need to get the fuses too. So far, the next mission will probly be in July sometime. But we AINT SURE.
MISSION LOGS:
6. Awwww y e y a. This mission was so fuckin fun man. ok, first of all, my dad was the only parent home, so it was much easier getting out…but still hard since all these rocks in my backyard make so much noise. Plus the neighbors faulting dog barking its faulting head off. First we went through the corridor…going through some very tall grass fields. not as tall as the ones in the Lost World, but close. Felt kinda cool. Then we set up the strip of 1152 firecrackers. Using 2 cigarettes as starting fuses, we had plenty of time to spare. We also had a nice little crackering fountain hooked up to the fuses too. After a few minutes of setting it up, we lit it and went over and hid in ontop of this big cement pipe going under a street. We were on the side of a hill, so we hid in the grass. There was also a full moon that night, and not a foaming cloud in the sky. So it was like noon on the equator when we were out in the open. But black clothing and tall grass sure helps. After about 5 minutes (forever) it began. Beforehand we watched as some lights in the Targets house went on…..then off. May be the bastard heard something. But when the strip started, he turned his bedroom lights off. The strip lasted for about 30 seconds…..we think…it was very fucking long. almost all of it went off. loud and bright. everything worked exactly how we wanted it to. After about 15 minutes we started down the bike trail to the next target. The first targets lights were on again in the bedroom, but we think we got away undetected. While we were walking to the next target, we shot some stuff. Heh, VoDkA brought his sawed off BBgun and a few BB’s too. So we loaded it, pumped it, and fired off a few shots at some houses and trees and stuff. We probly didnt do any damage to any houses, but we arent sure. The gun was not loud at all, which was very good. At the next target, we set up the saturn missile battery and the rockets. These both has fuses about 2-3 feet long. I lit them as VoDkA and KiBBz were over hiding in the shadows. Luckily there were some trees and stuff at the 2nd taarget so we could hide pretty good. Anyway, I lit and went went over to the others. We watched as the fuses burned and burned…then the rockets went off. It was pretty nice, not so much ment as a prank, but more as a nice little fireworks show. They made some noise, but nothing to shit yer pants about. But the battery didn’t werk. So I went back, checked it out, and the fuse had burned down to about 2 inches, so I just said up yours baby and lit. right as I made it to the others it went off. It was pretty quick, and loud too. Since the missiles are whistlers, they probly work up a few residents. YEY. Then we started heading up to this contstruction site. Its right on the side of a kinda busy road, but before the houses. We dodged a few cars, messed around at the site. And we also swiped some signs from this fence that was put up around the soon-to-be-foundation of whatever is being built. The signs read “RENT-A-FENCE” and had some 1 800 number on them. So we got some very nice souv aneers (spelled close enuf) from that place. Then, as KiBBz and VoDkA were down in the foundation hole and I was up ontop, a cop drove by. We had enough time to see it, take cover, and watch it go by, so it didnt get us by suprise. But once we saw it was a cop we decided it was time to farming LEAVE. He didnt stop, he drove right by, but shit he mighta been looking for us. So we got out of the fence, grabbed our signs and went into the neighborhood again. We didnt have that much trouble getting back home, just some dogs and shit. Once we got in, we were tired as a priest after a 5 hour orgy. The total mission took about 3 hours. We left around 12:30 and got back around 3-3:30. We arent very sure, but it lasted a while. And damnit, it was well worth it. We needed that mission too, we were all pretty tired of waiting and our nerves were just about shot. So it was perdy relaxing to be free like that.
5 This mission was one of the best we ever did. This was from Kibbz’s house to several locations in his neighborhood. That night was probly the longest walk we ever did. First we went to this soccer field \ playground. It was right on the corner of a very busy intersection. So every minute we had cars goin by. There was a lot of moonlight that night. We got to the playground and dodged the lights of cars for about 20minutes. Then we decided what our first strike would be like. We got a big McD’s cup, and went to center field of the soccer field. We got out aobut 20 bottlerockets that were stripped together, and a 100somethin strip of blackcats. Each had very good and long fuses so we had lots of time. We lit them, and ran over and got in front of these big pine trees. We were totally out of vision. The rockets went off first. They launched out over the field and then the strip went off. after that we started goin back the way we came. Which went through this trail about 35yards wide with houses on either side. We found this large metal tub…perfect for firecrackers!!! We decided that Kibbz and Vodka would walk off toward the street on the other side of the trail and hide behind some trees while i lit it. Except…the street was over 100 yards away. And they were aobut 15yards past it. Once they signaled me, I lit the small assortment of thunderbombs and about 50 stickless bottle rockets. They would only make sound, no visual effects. But anyway, I lit, and sprinted the whole fuckin way. About 3/4ths the way the fireworks went off, I was right in the middle of this bigass trail. I never ran so fast in all the missions. But I made it to the others and watched all these lights go on from the houses. Then we walked over to this big open hill between some houses and a busy street. We got a long wooden board and placed it on the hill. We had a long strip of about 200 and a little brick of about 3 packs of thunderbombs. This time we used a cigarette fuse. we only neeeded about an inch of it. We lit the cigarette and went over to hide behind some trees. When it went off it was VERY loud where we were so we bolted outa there. After a few minutes we went back to see if all the stuff had gone off and it all did. So we got some souvaneers (i know, misspelled) and went home. Drank some Aftershock that night too. We were supposed to have a few chicks come with us, but they couldnt make it…so may be next time.
4 This mission was frehkin unique. The mission was from my house (REB), through the corridor, past the groves, and to the place where we do all of our fireworks. It was supposed to be like the other missions to this place. The weather was nice, we had 4 items made up and ready for use. The first fuse didnt work. The second fuse malfunctioned also. Both of those items were just about 100-120 thunderbombs stripped together. We had one more like the first 2 and we also had a little contraption of bottlerockets. These bottle rockets were stripped together, and put into a bottle. We placed this bottle on top of a large hill. So quite a few people could see. After about the 3rd try, I decided to just light the fuses that were directly from the rockets. Usually we use loooong fuses so we have time to get away. But this time, with Vodka and Kibbz standing over infront of some bigass shrubbery, I just did the direct fuse. After lighting it I ran like a sonuvabitch to Vodka and Kibbz. By the time i made it to them the rockets were starting to go off. We had aobut 50 in the assortment, so it lasted a while. It was rather perrrty. Then we busted the bottle and went BACK to the 2 strips that didnt work.They both had rather crappy quality fuses, so they went out before they reached there target. I took the last one, tied the remainder of the first 2 fuses to it, and lit it for the final fuckin time. Since I am the fastest in the group, I usually light the fuses and Kibbz would be at the point where we stop running. Vodka would keep guard while I light. This time both of them went over and laid down on the side of this hill about 100yards away. This would be the first time we have ever seen our own work in action. All the other times we just heard them. I lit it, ran to the hill, and watched the lovely ass fireworks go off. They lasted about 45 seconds, a total of around 400 went off. Dogs were barkin and everything. It was really cool to see em all to. After that we went to this point in the trails that looked like the Q from quake. We smoked some cigars, and headed home. Except…when we were a few blocks away from home, we had an incident. We were walking along the sidewalk when a fucking garage door opened at the house that we were right by! We bolted into that persons yard…and ducked downand tried to be as quite as possible. This adult came out, got his newspaper(it was about 4:30 in the AM) and went back in. I tried to signal Vodka and Kibbz but they didnt see me. We waited…a few minutes later the man got in his car aand started down his driveway. The flood of lights from his car just covered us. He stopped, got out, and yelled “WHO ARE YOU!” we got up, said we were just passin through and stuff, and he kept sayin “GET OUT OF HERE”, “ILL CALL THE COPS!” and “WHO ARE YOU.” We fuckin hauled assholes and elbows home. This mission was also liquor free as a result of this person named Brooks Brown ([redacted phone #]) who tried to narc on us. Telling my parents that i had booze and shit in my room. I had to ditch every bottle I had and lie like a fuckin salesman to my parents. All because Brooks Brown thought i put a little nik in his windshield from a snowball…….BS? yes. Anyway, that was mission 4.
3 This mission was an attack on the people who shot Vodka’s bike, and on some random houses. First, after sneaking out of my house at around 1:55, we lit off 1 strand of 200 thunderbombs and 6 bottle rockets. We had also set a time delayed assortment too. This was made of 10 bottle rockets and a few crackering balls. We aren’t really sure if those went off though because by the time they would have, we where a mile away. After the fireworks we went over to this assholes house. His name is brooks brown. phone number is [redacted phone #], address is [redacted address], if any of you feel like pranking him. Anyway, we didn’t really do much to him. Just put some model puddy on his Merc. Then, we went to another kids house, and started to teepee his big, tall, thick, thorny-ass tree. We set off the motion detectors about 4 times, and we dodged 1 car. But we didn’t get caught! His tree was completely covered and wrapped in ass whiping paper. Even though we only had 4 rolls, we did one helluva good job. After that we moved some rather large rocks onto peoples driveways and tagged RC into a fence. Then, we came home and got drunk while watching Bordello of Blood.
2 Our second mission was against this complete and utter fag’s house. Everyone in our school hates this immature little weakling. So we decided to “hit” his house. On Friday night (2/7/97) at about 12:15AM we arrived at this queer’s house. Fully equiped with 3 eggs, 2 roles of toilet paper, the cheap brand, no pretty flowers, (we were disappointed to) superglue, and the proper tools to make his phone box a busy box (for those of you that are stupid, a buy box is where you set their box so that when they try to make a call, they get a busy signal and when someone else calls, they get a busy signal too). We placed 2 eggs in his very large, thick bushes. We just barely cracked them open so they will be producing a rather repulsive and extremely BAD odor for sometime. We placed the last egg on his “welcome” mat. It was very neat, I cracked the egg, put the yoke in the center, and the 2 halves on either side of the yoke. Then we teepeed his large pine tree and this…oak? tree. i dont know, its big though. It wasnt a complete teepee but it was enough to agitate the home owner greatly. We also put the superglue on the front door and on the little red mail box flag.
[Nick Baumgart’s house, according to the Columbine Report.]
1 The first was when we put an entire assortment of very loud fireworks in a tunel, and lit them off at about 1:00AM. This mission was part of a rebellion against these assholes that shot one of our bikes one day. They were rather angry that night, and we were very happy. We will be doing another hit on their house sometime in the near future. And that one will be much closer. And louder.
After each mission we get drunk. Not with wimpy beer, we only use hard liquor. Aftershock, Irish Cream, Tequila, Vodka, Whiskey, Rum, and sometimes a few shots of EVERCLEAR. We also sometimes make up our own shooters. And sample others (never try a prarie fire, its killer!). In our next few missions, we are planning to hit the dorks house a few more times, along with a few other houses. And also set off some more fireworks at that tunel. We each have a large suply of fireworks…loud ones…and soon I will have my liscense and we can drive around any place we want to. heh heh. Soon I will be putting our directions for mixing drinks that we make up. We will put up any good shooter or other drink that we try. So check this place out often.
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R….e….b….e….l….C….l….a….n
this page was written by REB
REB VoDkA KIBBz
When you lay everything out, one thing stays consistent: Zack is the one repeatedly described as Dylan’s best friend.
Not just once. Not just by one person. Friends say it. Teachers say they spent a lot of time together. Outsiders and family too.
Dylan noted Zack’s birthday in his planner in 1998. In 1999, Zack and Devon gave Dylan a birthday card. Even after drifting, there was still significant contact. In the end Dylan let the fact he had acquired a gun slip to Zack.
When Zack got a girlfriend and became less available, Dylan’s own writing shows sign akin to abandonment and loss. Whether or not he labeled it directly, there’s no clear evidence he ever replaced Zack in that “best friend” category even after he labelled Eric as his close friend during the January incident, after crossing out best. Eric in my opinion became his closest collaborator. (Thats not to say they didn’t have friendship, even a close friendship at times or fun together too, this is solely a comparison to how I view Zack and Dylan’s friendship contra Eric and Dylan’s which is discussed more widely) But collaboration isn’t the same as emotional kinship.
If “best friend” meant someone he felt understood by, someone he resonated with or could be vulnerable with(not just angry), then the record suggests Zack was the only one who fully held that place.
If people disagree about how central Zack was, that’s fine. The record is messy. But what doesn’t shift is that Dylan continued to value that friendship. He marked Zack’s birthday. He stayed in contact. Multiple people still described them as close even late into senior year.
Zack wasn’t perfect in the friendship. He made those comments to Yoshi, he seemingly ignored him in that small clip in theatre. He drifted when he got a girlfriend. He may have downplayed things later on to protect himself. But no friendship at seventeen/eighteen is perfect. Dylan wasn’t perfect either in that sense. None of them were.
What the record shows isn’t an idealized bond. It shows something more ordinary and, in a way, more real, two teenage boys who clicked, drifted, stayed connected anyway, and mattered to each other up until the end.
Echoes in the Columbine Archive 
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