Basement Tapes Destroyed

Gonz wrote:

I don't know where to ask this, but I'm getting confused about when the Time article on the basement tapes was first released…

If you search in Time.com the issue is dated Dec 20, 1999. But if you read news article on it from 1999, all of them are dated around Dec 13, 1999, setting the article release on Dec 12, 1999.

Does anyone knows? I've never seen any Time issue, but maybe it has some section in the end summarizing what articles are going to be part of the next issue… or something, I dunno.


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If you are asking the date the magazine was released? That was December 20, 1999. The date is at the top of the magazine.

Yes, I know that. But what confuses me is the fact that one week before the magazine release (December 20, 99), everyone seems to have read the article yet and there are news accounts on it (December 13, 99).

So there are any possibilities that just that article, not the whole magazine, was released a week before on some way?

Gonz wrote:

Yes, I know that. But what confuses me is the fact that one week before the magazine release (December 20, 99), everyone seems to have read the article yet and there are news accounts on it (December 13, 99).

So there are any possibilities that just that article, not the whole magazine, was released a week before on some way?

My guess is that the whole article wasn't released yet but that the magazine (Time) who was going to release it just gave a bit of a preview as what would be included in the article. Notice how these articles you posted only have small bits in them and not what the entire article included.

To be honest, I am not also not sure if we can believe they've destroyed it. Setting up some plot to stop copycats and requests. Or they really simply lost the tapes, because "It's locked up in the fault until..." was the first story to keep people (like us) away from it. Now, after 16 years, they simply might've had enough and pulled off that hoax.

But as someone mentioned in the end, there is no difference of pushing the release forwards forever or simply not possessing the tapes anymore..

So, I decided to email the records manager at Jefferson County Sheriff's Office asking if the Basement tapes were actually destroyed. After a day or two I got this message back,"Sir,The Columbine related ‘basement tapes’ were destroyed." I don't know why they would destroy them honetsly, but they say that they have been destroyed. Very disappointing...

The tapes must have been converted to a digital format at some point and are probably archived still by Jeffco and the FBI. There are probably other copies floating about.
See, this way Jeffco can say "the basement tapes have been destroyed" and actually be telling the truth; they well may have been. But what they don't say is that digital copies of them were made and are extant.

It's a lie to shut us the fuck up....even I sent them an e-mail about the tapes LOL.

SodaCanHalfwayOpen wrote:

The tapes must have been converted to a digital format at some point and are probably archived still by Jeffco and the FBI. There are probably other copies floating about.
See, this way Jeffco can say "the basement tapes have been destroyed" and actually be telling the truth; they well may have been.  But what they don't say is that digital copies of them were made and are extant.

It is possible, although I think the answers lie with the lawsuits. Perhaps it was simply easier for them to destroy it accoriding to locallegal procedures than mess around with the victim's families lawsuits to release them? IIRC the Rohrboughs in particular were vocal about this.

Can anyone with in-depth knowledge of US colorado law speak about this in legal terms? Caus eI think that's where the answers lie.

It's a corrupt, good ol boy system. The best way to get around it would be to find someone who wokred on the case outside of jeffco and see if they could leak it. There were over 20 different branches of law enforcement there that day. I think someone has to @have a digital copy on a hard drvie somewhere. Perhaps the best way tl gain access to the footage is to find out which persons in the involved agencies might have had access to it and see if they would be willing to leak it. Knowing what I do about folks in law enforcement, I know that someone has some kind of copy somewhere. Its not something they coumd ever officially come out with though, for fear of losing their job and possibly going to jail. Its just a matter of time, and asking the right people.

Note: There were a few different threads discussing how the Basement Tapes were destroyed. I have merged them all into this one thread.

I find it utterly stupid and sickening that they destroyed these tapes.... I have seen how horribly this police department has handled this case

radaddio wrote:

It's  a corrupt, good ol boy system. The best way to get around it would be to find someone who wokred on the case outside of jeffco and see if they could leak it. There were over 20 different branches of law enforcement there that day. I think someone has to @have a digital copy on a hard drvie somewhere. Perhaps the best way tl gain access to the footage is to find out which persons in the involved agencies might have had access to it and see if they would be willing to leak it. Knowing  what I  do about folks in law enforcement, I know that someone has some kind of copy somewhere. Its not something they coumd ever officially come out with though, for fear of losing their job and possibly going to jail. Its just a matter of time, and asking the right people.

Hopefully you're right!!!

Very weird indeed. In my opinion they didn't destroy them, I hope someone will leak the tapes soon, lol.

I honestly don't think they really would have destroyed them. They have no good reason to destroy them, and quite a few reasons why they are too valuable to be destroyed.

How insanely stupid it is that some people get to see the tapes and others (who deserve to far more if I might add) do not, just because that is how it is.

I'm sticking to my thoughts that there's a copy archived on a hard drive somewhere. It's just a matter of finding that hard drive.

Also, do we have a list of the journalists whom were allowed to view it? Off topic, but I'm just curious.

Lastly, law enforcement data security is very bad, and was even worse back then. There was even a story recently about a guy who bought a bunch of old photocopiers from an auction, only to find out that the hard drives on the inside still had info on them. Guess who owned the copiers before? It was some Colorado police department.

One thing I've been doing is following the FBI personnel that took photos the day after. I can't remember the last person I google-stalked, but I think it was Judy Hill or Judy Dean. Anyway, a lot of the LE that worked Columbine would be retired by now, and might be more amenable to an anonymous leak. IDK, just spit balling. I still think the data is out there though.

Speaking from personal experience, the cops in the 303/720 are shit at their jobs. Stereotypical pigs. I'm not surprised they destroyed all the evidence; they let a hero die (Dave Sanders), and were too pussy to take on 2 - TWO dumb teens. An entire department vs 2 rookies.

The cops are the real cowards.

What's 303/720? I'm not familiar with some US terms.

These are phone area codes. Sometimes they're used as a designation for a larger location within a state or county. The locals in my area, for instance, refer to the tri counties of California as the "805"

"The state of Colorado is served by the following area codes: 303/720, which serve Denver and Boulder. 719, which serves southeastern Colorado. 970, which serves northern and western Colorado."

thnks for the explanation

eli27 wrote:

I honestly don't think they really would have destroyed them. They have no good reason to destroy them, and quite a few reasons why they are too valuable to be destroyed.

To them the case is closed and has been for many years, it's only a waste of money to have them kept just to decompose when they could use that space to store something else, not only were the tapes destroyed but other evidence they held, there is really no more use for those videos. Of course I disagree, but I'm talking from their prospective. Also the longer they remained there, the more at risk they were, the sheriff may have had them destroyed so he could finally sleep easy without the constant worry of the tapes being leaked out.

That could very well be. I think everyone here is banking on the idea that at least some part of the BT survived in digital form. I can't remember much about videocassetes, but I know that they don't age very well if they're not stored in very specific temperature and humidity settings.

Another, more malicious, thing that could be done would be to sue Jefferson County on the grounds of obstruction of justice. I don't know how far a lawsuit like that would get, but it wold surely re ignite some publicity towards their Sheriff's dept.

I reall that the superior court judge was worried about JEFFCO destryoing more evidence after the "open air meeting" notes disappeared, so he had a lot of evidence moved. I'd have to check my notes to see where, though.

Maybe they weren't?

I wish they at least released parts of it, like Eric and Dylan said they would do, cut them up and release only the parts that they wanted us to hear, or just screenshots from the videos.

At this point I don't care anymore about the Basement Tapes. Although I would like to have seen the last part of them bidding all their families and friends farewell. To me that felt very meaningful.

I'm counting on some random miracle years from now someway somehow it will be seen, even just a part, and like a few have said maybe digital hard drive form of it. *shrugs*

Thank goodness some of the parents were smart enough to record audio of it for us to know it even existed.

aquillina wrote:

At this point I don't care anymore about the Basement Tapes. Although I would like to have seen the last part of them bidding all their families and friends farewell. To me that felt very meaningful.

I agree 100% with that!

Am I the only glad that these tapes haven't been released? Just more ammunition for idiots to glorify Eric and Dylan. Imagine all the GIFs and fangirls/fanboys hyperventilating "omg you guiiiyze I can make super cute Reb and VoDka gifs and post them on tumblr teehee".

I'm glad Adam Lanza's pathetic selfies with his guns were never released, too.

bubbles wrote:

Am I the only glad that these tapes haven't been released? Just more ammunition for idiots to glorify Eric and Dylan. Imagine all the GIFs and fangirls/fanboys hyperventilating "omg you guiiiyze I can make super cute Reb and VoDka gifs and post them on tumblr teehee".

I'm glad Adam Lanza's pathetic selfies with his guns were never released, too.

Right on!

I wouldn't mind if it did, what's wrong with watching their messages to their friends/family on tape.

liquorvamp wrote:

I wouldn't mind if it did, what's wrong with watching their messages to their friends/family on tape.

I can understand interest in the Columbine case, sometimes I also think we give these shooters too much attention thus creating more incentive for other wannabes who want to kill people and try and gain infamy. The irony is that Eric and Dylan were "posturing" (as Sue Klebold who watched the tape recalled) for an audience, yet the audience was restricted. I don't know about you, but I really don't care to hear two immature teens on a power trip with their heads up their asses pondering aloud who is going to direct their blockbuster motion picture once they're done killing people.

every person who has interest of seeing it will want to see it for their own individual reasons. for my case even though it's obvious they're posturing, I'd still see them express their word-vomit, alongside eric's childhood reminisce in his car.

Jeffco may have destroyed their copy of the tapes and some of the physical evidence, but if you read through the 11k, it specifically states that the F.B.I and possibly the C.B.I still have copies. Jeffco just destroyed the originals.
What we need to keep reminding ourselves of, is that Jeffco lied and covered up a lot of information from that day. You can't always trust them at their word. Hell, I wouldnt be surprised if they never destroyed anything, they were just sick of all the freedom of information inquiries.

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Jeff-Co has always been full of crud though.. I wonder what Randy's opinion is about copies of the tapes.

I sent another FOIA, as some members here have done, and received the same reply: destroyed in early 2011.  They're being consistent, that's for sure.  But even if they got rid of the physical tapes, how can they get every copy?  I have to believe that someone converted them to a digital format at some point.  And it's not like Jeffco can just go to the FBI and say "delete this evidence from an ongoing investigation".

I mentioned the FBI copies in my request.  They didn't address it, just said everything's gone.  Stock answer.  I bet they've gotten quite a few requests in the past.

I wonder if I should go directly to the FBI with a FOIA request. That might at least confirm whether they have copies, unless they've been told to keep up the charade as well.

I think ( and hope) the tapes are still somewhere, but who knows... As [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] says the FBI probably has them. But that doesen't mean we'll have a chance to see them. Maybe our kids, grandkids...

Someone should just start a site to get people together and donate for a class action lawsuit to have all Columbine information released. It's been too long and we have the right to know.

Funny you'd say that, Cezar. In my FOIA request, I threatened a class action suit. They might've seen through it though (I don't think it was a very convincing bluff).

Sadly, I don't think there'd be enough people interested to fund it and whatnot. Maybe there's some sort of nonprofit that could help?

QuestionMarkKid wrote:

Funny you'd say that, Cezar.  In my FOIA request, I threatened a class action suit.  They might've seen through it though (I don't think it was a very convincing bluff).

Sadly, I don't think there'd be enough people interested to fund it and whatnot.  Maybe there's some sort of nonprofit that could help?

Well, we could try to get people to help fund it.

Look into the non-profit.

.

Keep in mind that the tapes are also mostly acting and posturing too, so it wouldn't really be the real Eric and Dylan, aside from when they talk between one another, talk about their arsenal, and that one Eric solo tape where he was reminiscing and crying in the car.

Is it true that the only reason they had them destroyed is because Sue felt as though people might copy them and that she thought people wouldn't believe her that her son was really not that same person in real life the person she knew anyway??? Or was there something else to it??

KatieJean1988 wrote:

Is it true that the only reason they had them destroyed is because Sue felt as though people might copy them and that she thought people wouldn't believe her that her son was really not that same person in real life the person she knew anyway??? Or was there something else to it??

It wasn't just her that thought that.

Anyways, even if digital copies exist in some FBI vault, like some are speculating, it would be disrespectful to release the basement tapes after they publicly announced their destruction. That curiosity will never be satisfied.

Yes I agree.. Is there a reenactment of the basement tapes anywhere ?!?

Yes, you can find a basement tape reenactment on YouTube if you search for it. The movie I'm Not Ashamed also used some words from the tapes.

I'm fully prepared to live and die without seeing those tapes...and it sucks....If anything they should've released the audio.

EGSandrew wrote:

I'm fully prepared to live and die without seeing those tapes...and it sucks....If anything they should've released the audio.

Hey, there's always this leak:

like someone said somewhere in the forum '' u get to see beheadings , mass killings at close range in cold blood , but u cant have acess to the tapes , i think they didnt destroyed them , you will see , someday the '' puppet masters '' they will release them .

p.s - off topic , what i would like to see was that picture where eric and dylan are firing outside from the library targeting the police .

if anyone could take a clear picture of them firing it would win the pulitzer , no doubt .

myshame wrote:

EGSandrew wrote:

I'm fully prepared to live and die without seeing those tapes...and it sucks....If anything they should've released the audio.

Hey, there's always this leak:

Yeah, I've seen it, well..heard it lol It sucks that that's all we have besides the written transcripts. X(

Is that really the two of them talking??? Or a reenactment ??