Most Important/Interesting Thing From Sue Klebold's Book/Interviews

So, in your opinion, what (if anything) is the most important piece of information to come out of either Sue's book or her myriad of interviews?

I think the most important thing is the humanization of Dylan. Maybe people will realize that you can't imagine everyone who can do hese things as a cartoon caricature and discount people who actually can.

Honestly, the most interesting thing I got from it was all the new photos of Dylan. I haven't read the entire book yet. I only got about 100 pages in, but I am sure I will finish it eventually but e-books just don't keep my interest the same way as physically having the book in my hands does. I love being able to lay down with a book in front of the fireplace and read it, but since I didn't actually buy that book, I have to settle for reading it online.

The interviews were all pretty much the same questions asked in a bunch of different ways and none of them really shed any light onto anything new.

I was shocked to learn about the Klebold's divorce and the Mother's Day and Prom morning stories were interesting as well.

So for me, it was all the new pictures. It's not that often we get new photos (especially of Dylan and Eric), so I did enjoy seeing all the photos of Dylan growing up. It's a shame we'll probably never see anything like that of Eric though.

I think the book proves how little Sue knew Dylan especially in those final years. That's not by any fault of her own, both Eric and Dylan were really good at lying. But you can definitely tell she saw very little of him and has only really begin to understand who her son had become after his death. You can tell she has searched her mind since it happened for any inkling of what he was planning but she's clutching at straws a lot of the time... She relies a lot on others to help her understand.

I guess that's one of the saddest things of all.

The most interesting part was simply hearing about how things were for her in the days after the shooting.  I always wondered about that.  How do you even continue to live after something like this? It was pretty heartbreaking to read.

I agree with Jenn Belladonna and Freezingmoon. I loved the new pictures that we got. I also thought it was so sad as she was discussing the final months of his life. It was almost like being a time traveler. We know what is going to happen and Sue does not. Hearing her describe things that happened in 20/20 hindsight it was terribly sad.

I think the last week of his life was only a half a page long. That did make me a bit sad. Dylan was not spending time with his family anymore. She wrote about how he used to watch movies with them and play cards etc and now he is in his room or with Eric 24/7.
It makes me wonder if she realized that he was getting so skinny. He was basically fading away....

I also liked to read about how she dealt with things in the aftermath. She is a stronger woman than I!

WendlaBergman wrote:

I think the most important thing is the humanization of Dylan. Maybe people will realize that you can't imagine everyone who can do hese things as a cartoon caricature and discount people who actually can.

I actually thought it was the humanisation of Sue (and Tom) herself that was most important.

But I agree with your point as well.

Freezingmoon wrote:

The most interesting part was simply hearing about how things were for her in the days after the shooting.  I always wondered about that.  How do you even continue to live after something like this? It was pretty heartbreaking to read.

have to agree. i often thought of her and hoped that she is ok. i don´t know how you can live with this tragedy. but i know how it is to live with a depression.

i also love the new pictures, not only because they showed us Dylan, but also his family. and there are some fact i didn´t know like the divorce, the arizona trip, the motherday incident and prom.

I like when SK talks about moments she had with Dylan (mother's day incident, prom night, soccer game incident with Eric, etc) it's very interesting to know how DK and SK interacted. I wish she talked more about other moments they had together.

"We heard a rumor that military training materials on brainwashing techniques h a ever had been found in the Harris home" what?

In the first few years after Columbine, there were lots of conspiracy theorists who believed that Columbine was a military exercise, part of an effort at population control, etc.

The Klebolds may have gotten wind of some of these theories. Another was that Eric and Dylan were raped.

lasttrain wrote:

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The Klebolds may have gotten wind of some of these theories.  Another was that Eric and Dylan were raped.

I remember that rumour. That was really big back in the day when I was on another Columbine forum, supposedly a diagram that Eric drew after the van incident portrayed a cop on top of him. And then when he was referring to 'revenge for the January incident' he was supposedly talking about that.
I don't believe the rumour but I find it interesting.

I was 8 so I can remember the big stuff

Interestingly Sue Klebold also mentions the rape theory in her book, as well as the military brainwashing theory.

It makes you wonder to what extent she has read internet forums, if at all.

Sue says Dylan let 4 people go during the shooting. I know of JohnSavage but who else?

NotYourRobot wrote:

Sue says Dylan  let 4 people go during the shooting. I know of JohnSavage but who else?

Evan Todd was also let go. He was hiding under a desk by the door and as they were leaving, Dylan spotted him and threatened to kill him and called him all kinds of names but ultimately left him alone. He told Eric that if he wanted to shoot Evan he could, but Eric wasn't really paying much attention and wanted to go down to the Cafeteria (most likely to check on the bombs). So Evan was spared.

Valeen Schnurr wasn't really 'let go'. She ended up with 9 wounds from bullets and shrapnel. You can hear her screaming and begging for help on the 911 call. When she started screaming, Dylan and Eric went over to her and as Dylan was reloading his gun asked her questions like 'Do you believe in God?", she told him that she did and he asked her 'Why?" and she told him because her parents taught her to believe. She then crawled under a desk and after that, Dylan and Eric left her alone.

John Savage was originally let go by Eric, not by Dylan. Eric asked John to 'identify himself', which he did. Dylan then walked over and started a conversation with him where John asked if Dylan was going to kill him and Dylan told him 'no' and to 'run', and John did. Eric could have easily shot him when he first encountered him or he could have shot him in the back as he ran away but he didn't. Eric let John go just as much as Dylan did.

I'm not sure who the 4th person could be. There's Brooks Brown who only spoke with Eric and this was before the bombs were even set to go off so he wasn't going to just pull a gun out and shot this one person before the plan was going to start. So I don't really consider that 'letting Brooks go' but some do, so, you can decide what you think about that.

And then there was Bree Pasquale who Eric was talking to right after he broke his nose. He asked her if she wanted to die and threatened her but in the end, he left her alone and moved on to another table to shoot some other kids with Dylan.

These are the only people I can think of who were actually let go. I might be forgetting someone so if I have, anyone else can jump in and add them.

Jenn wrote:

And then there was Bree Pasquale who Eric was talking to right after he broke his nose. He asked her if she wanted to die and threatened her but in the end, he left her alone and moved on to another table to shoot some other kids with Dylan.

These are the only people I can think of who were actually let go. I might be forgetting someone so if I have, anyone else can jump in and add them.

I wonder if Sue is aware that in Bree's witness statement, she mentioned that Dylan actually told Eric to shoot her, but Eric chose not to as "they were going to blow the library up, anyway".

I read a couple of other witness statements in the 11k that Eric and Dylan taunted people but didn't actually shoot them. The name escapes me, but I recall one guy's statement which said Dylan walked past the table he was hiding under and asked him "want to get shot today, big boy?" but never shot him. There was also another witness who said he made direct eye contact with both Eric and Dylan in the library as they were near his table (if that counts as acknowledging someone and "letting them go" given the close proximity). And of course, hiding under one of the library tables there was Patti Blair and another witness whose name escapes me (too lazy to comb through the 11k to retrieve it) that Eric bent down, looked at and dismissed as "pathetic", before moving on. Patti Nielson also believes Dylan may have seen her hiding under the counter he smashed a chair on before he left the library. There may be some others I've missed.

Belladonna wrote:

I think the book proves how little Sue knew Dylan especially in those final years. That's not by any fault of her own, both Eric and Dylan were really good at lying. But you can definitely tell she saw very little of him and has only really begin to understand who her son had become after his death. You can tell she has searched her mind since it happened for any inkling of what he was planning but she's clutching at straws a lot of the time... She relies a lot on others to help her understand.

Agreed. Such an awful and painful position for Sue to have been in.

Belladonna wrote:

lasttrain wrote:

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The Klebolds may have gotten wind of some of these theories.  Another was that Eric and Dylan were raped.

I remember that rumour. That was really big back in the day when I was on another Columbine forum, supposedly a diagram that Eric drew after the van incident portrayed a cop on top of him. And then when he was referring to 'revenge for the January incident' he was supposedly talking about that.
I don't believe the rumour but I find it interesting.

Mark Taylor and his mother push this theory a lot.
If it's true, it's really sad.

Cullen claimed Eric tried to recruit Chris for NBK, Sue claimed it was Zack Mark, so which is right? The

NotYourRobot wrote:

Cullen claimed Eric tried to recruit Chris for NBK, Sue claimed it was Zack Mark, so which is right? The

I think that Eric wanted to recruit Chris, but not Zack. Dylan was the one who wanted to go NBK with Zack. Sometimes I wonder If Sue intentonally omitted facts...

yes, i remember that chris told something like that.

Kida wrote:

Dylan was the one who wanted to go NBK with Zack.

Actually, Dylan wrote in his journal that he wanted to go NBK with a girl:


Monday February 2 1998

Soon, either I’ll commit suicide or I’ll get with [female name] and it will be NBK for us.

My happiness, her happiness, NOTHING else matters.


Dylan wrote this just a few days after the Jan 30 Van Break-In Incident

Tim Kastle was the fourth person Dylan let go. They were in the fantasy baseball league together. I believe Tim was hiding in the ceiling and Dylan poked his head up through a tile. He pointed his shotgun at him but didnt fire, the theory being that he recognized Tim.

I havent' finished yet the book . I've read Dylan's childhood and the end of Dylan the first chapters and I've read all those words of her pain and her desperation for his son . I can't imagine her pain and all victims' families I think that a pain that destroy the heart .

Nirvana92 wrote:

Tim Kastle was the fourth person Dylan let go. They were in the fantasy baseball league together. I believe Tim was hiding in the ceiling and Dylan poked his head up through a tile. He pointed his shotgun at him but didnt fire, the theory being that he recognized Tim.

I've never heard of this incident. What is your source? If your source is the 11k, can you tell me where in the 11K you found this?

Page 003418:

KASTLE stated that he crawled on top of a metal heating duct, and moved toward the kitchen, looking for a place to hide. As he did so, he knocked several ceiling tiles off in the area of a small bathroom which services the kitchen, and which is adjacent to the bathroom they had been hiding in. KASTLE then began moving west, following the metal duct work and then moving along a metal pipe held up by some wires. As KASTLE reached the area of the west wall, he looked back to the area over the bathroom in the kitchen area. As he did, he observed a subject in that area, whose head was just above the ceiling area. KASTLE said that the subject was pointing what he believed was a shotgun at him. He advised that he based this on the manner in which the subject pointed the gun at him. KASTLE stated that it was dark, and he could not see the subject well. He described the subject as having shoulder-length dark hair. KASTLE stated that he believed that the subject was Dylan KLEBOLD. He said he based this on the fact that the subject had not shot him, as KASTLE advised he is a friend of KLEBOLD's. KASTLE stated that the hair he described did not fit KLEBOLD, and nothing about what he observed of the subject led him to his conclusion that the subject could be KLEBOLD.

KASTLE kicked the ceiling tiles down where he was, and dropped through the ceiling. He landed in the faculty lounge next to the window through which he and others had earlier seen the bodies. KASTLE stated that at that time the window was intact. He then escaped the building via the door located just within the cafeteria area and ran to a marked police unit on the west side. He glanced toward the cafeteria area as he ran out, and did not see anyone inside. KASTLE stated that approximately one or two minutes later he saw Sean NOSSAMAN, Nick FOSS, and two of the teachers run out. FOSS later told him that he too had gone up into the ceiling area.

Page 003421:

Tim stayed in the teachers lounge bathroom approximately 1 1/2 hours with friends Nick Foss. Shawn Nossaman and teachers Sue Caruthers, Joyce Jankowski and another unknown female teacher. While in the bathroom Nick Foss boosted Tim up into the ceiling. While Tim was crawling up in the ceiling he knocked a ceiling tile loose that fell into what he thinks was the kitchen bathroom. He then crawled across some vent pipe material when a party stuck their head up through the hole and pointed a gun at him. Tim stated that he is not sure who the party was but that he thinks it was Dylan Klebold. Tim stated that he had known Dylan for the last 3 years; that both Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold were in his 5th hour Psychology class with teacher Tom Johnson and that he talked with them daily and considered them good friends; and that Dylan had been to his birthday party last year. Tim felt that it was Dylan who stuck his head through the ceiling and pointed the gun at him and then eased back down without shooting him.

Det. Demmel asked Tim why he thought it was probably Dylan that pointed the gun at him and did not shoot him with Tim relating that he had called Dylan Sunday evening the 18th at about 8:00 or 9 00 P.M. and that they had discussed a Fantasy League baseball game that they played with 10 other students. Tim explained that his friend Chad Laughlin played the role of the baseball commissioner or owner and that die people who played the game pretended that they traded players. He stated that in his conversation with Dylan on the 18th that Dylan had talked about trading someone for Yankee's pitcher Roger Clemens. Tim reported that Dylan's attitude and demeanor seemed normal.