Nate Dykeman: Profiting off deaths & Failing a polygraph

I came across this article about Nate Dykeman and his friendship with Eric and Dylan.

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It has some interesting facts, including:

He saw Dylan purchasing the Tec-9 behind Blackjack pizza.
Shortly after the shooting, his stepfather threw away anything he thought would be incriminating such as heavy metal CD's, and anything with skulls on it.
We all know that he was paid $16,000 for the "morning ritual" video, but apparently he was paid for many appearances, which he never made publicly known.
"Both media organizations, Good said, paid Nathan thousands of dollars for his appearances"
He was told by an ABC producer that he could make 2-3 million from a book deal.

Nate also took a lie detector test in which he was "deceptive" in his answers about whether he'd been involved in the attack, but he was never implicated.
This is sketchy and makes me wonder if he knew something beforehand. Let's not forget that being "involved" doesn't just mean being one of the shooters.
It could constitute anything from helping to build bombs, holding on things for Eric & Dylan, help planning, and a plethora of other things.


Personally, I feel like he was profiting off of his fellow classmates's deaths.
I guess I can understand selling the video, but I feel as making tens of thousands of dollars from interviews talking about his friends killing people is just distasteful and tacky.
If he donated some of it to help re-model the school, or to a mental health charity I would probably look at the situation differently.


So with that out of the way, do you think Nate making tens of thousands of dollars off of interviews and appearances is distasteful?
What are your feelings about him failing the polygraph test about whether he was involved in the attack?

I am ok with him being paid for the videos and interviews. I don't think he made that much money though. If it comes to him being paid vs no interviews/videos? Id choose the videos.

I do think he was involved. We know that he helped with the fireworks for Eric and that he knew about the gun deal. Could that have made him nervous? I for one do not trust polygraphs at all and think they are a crock of S***

Apparantley Polygraphs do not detect lying, but more of the science of lying.

Lizpuff wrote:

I am ok with him being paid for the videos and interviews.  I don't think he made that much money though.  If it comes to him being paid vs no interviews/videos?  Id choose the videos.  

I do think he was involved.  We know that he helped with the fireworks for Eric and that he knew about the gun deal.  Could that have made him nervous?  I for one do not trust polygraphs at all and think they are a crock of S***

It's not necessarily about the amount he made, its more of the principal behind it.
He was paid $16,000 for the video and as far as I know gave 3 or 4 interviews where he was paid "thousands" for each.
So at the minimum he made $20,000 dollars off of Columbine, which is a decent amount considering all he did was talk about his murderous friends and the people they killed.
At least Sue Klebold had enough class to donate the money from her book sales to charity, although I feel she deserved to keep some of it for herself.


As far as the lie detector test, they are admissible in 25 states and even in high courts in the United States, so they have their purpose.
I think there is a misconception where people think that they actually detect lies, but in reality they are finely tuned machines that read physiological changes in the body that happen when people lie.
They detect large jumps in a number of physiological ways when the body reacts to a certain answer.
People don't realize all the physiological changes that happen in the body when you lie, compared to telling the truth.


The nervousness thing is a myth because your levels are used as a baseline at the start, so being nervous will not cause you to fail.
Polygraphs are almost always done side by side with a forensic assessment test where they ask you certain questions beforehand to gauge your answers, then use them concurrently. (Watch Chris Watt's interrogation to see these techniques in action)
On top of that, they usually will test you 2-3 times and if the results are the same for all the tests, chances are you're lying.

With that said, it could of been something as small as helping with fireworks, or maybe he heard Eric say something about killing people as a joke, who knows.

At the end of the day the only person who knows is Nate, and although I don't put all my faith into polygraphs, I still find it slightly sketchy that he failed that question, but seemed to pass the others.
He also dipped out to Florida right after the shooting, which I found strange.

If I recall correctly Nate got a lot of negative attention for the community for him selling the videos, I don't remember if any of their other friends said anything... but really except for people like Devon, Zach and a few acquaintances most of Eric and Dylan's friends were being looked at under a microscope so to speak. The video he released was pretty tame too, however I think since it was so soon after the shooting gave people pause. Such as with Sue, after 17 years she could finally explain why she got a damn haircut the day after.. she didn't WANT to, she wasn't like "oh my goodness, my son is a murderer but what is worse, are these roots!!!!"but her lawyer said she should do her normal think and she was in shock.

I assumed he went to Florida because his mom and stepdad kicked him out. He said he did what he did because he was broke and stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Nate over the years gave Sue more information. When Dylan told Nate he bought a gun he asked Nate not to let Eric know he know or he would "kill Dylan" which Sue took as a threat but may have been "Eric is going to pitch a fit and yell at me..."

I remember Nate saying that he was more worried about Dylan buying drugs and he also said "the adults weren't worried, why should we?'

Also if Nate knew anything, why was he at school? He was at school, correct?

This is making me think, where is the money from the other books going? Not just Brooks but Kacey and Mr. D? Also Cullen is profiting largely off of the massacre too.

Nate is an interesting case for sure.

Screamingophelia wrote:

If I recall correctly Nate got a lot of negative attention for the community for him selling the videos, I don't remember if any of their other friends said anything... but really except for people like Devon, Zach and a few acquaintances most of Eric and Dylan's friends were being looked at under a microscope so to speak. The video he released was pretty tame too, however I think since it was so soon after the shooting gave people pause. Such as with Sue, after 17 years she could finally explain why she got a damn haircut the day after.. she didn't WANT to, she wasn't like "oh my goodness, my son is a murderer but what is worse, are these roots!!!!"but her lawyer said she should do her normal think and she was in shock.

I assumed he went to Florida because his mom and stepdad kicked him out. He said he did what he did because he was broke and stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Nate over the years gave Sue more information. When Dylan told Nate he bought a gun he asked Nate not to let Eric know he know or he would "kill Dylan" which Sue took as a threat but may have been "Eric is going to pitch a fit and yell at me..."

I remember Nate saying that he was more worried about Dylan buying drugs and he also said "the adults weren't worried, why should we?'

Also if Nate knew anything, why was he at school? He was at school, correct?

This is making me think, where is the money from the other books going? Not just Brooks but Kacey and Mr. D? Also Cullen is profiting largely off of the massacre too.

Nate is an interesting case for sure.

Yeah, Eric wasn't threatening Dylan as Sue interpreted it. That's a pretty common saying for "uh oh I'm in trouble" or something along those lines.

I don't think Nate really knew too much about the shooting in particular. After seeing Dylan buy the gun it probably immediately clicked in his mind as soon as the shooting at the school happened. Maybe, just maybe, he helped them build a few pipe bombs. They had so many. I have a hard time believing Eric and Dylan were the only ones making them. However, I believe he though they were for the Reb missions or general mischief making. I do not think he outright knew Dylan and Eric planned to shoot up and attempt to bomb Columbine High School. I think he was involved but without really knowing what he was actually getting into.

I feel two ways about profit of the tapes. One side of me is thankful we got to see the tapes but on the other hand making a profit off of this is disgusting. I’m unsure who asked about the tapes, did the media ask him if he owned anything and they’d pay him or did he go to the media and was like give me money and you can have this?
Nate knew about pipe bombs and eventually the gun I believe that he initially thought was a drug deal out back of blackjack. Did he help make the pip bombs? Mmmmm...I’m not so sure. Zach on the other hand I believe helped them make the bombs. He comes across sketchy to me. Anyways, back to Nate: I often wonder if he’s the friend that knew the least. Like just a few things and maybe that’s why his polygraph jumped? I don’t know enough about polygraphs to determine deception accuracy. I don’t want to derail this thread, because it’s a very good one, but who was holding the napalm for the boys?!?! Was it Nate? Was that why the polygraph showed deception? My mind tells me no, it was probably Zach or Chris. But I don’t think we ever found out which friend it was.
Also it’s a good point about the others making profit on books. I mean, it’s inevitable. That’s what happens when something as big as columbine happens but it reeks of profiting to me. Why wait till 20 years to make your book?

Screamingophelia wrote:

If I recall correctly Nate got a lot of negative attention for the community for him selling the videos, I don't remember if any of their other friends said anything... but really except for people like Devon, Zach and a few acquaintances most of Eric and Dylan's friends were being looked at under a microscope so to speak. The video he released was pretty tame too, however I think since it was so soon after the shooting gave people pause. Such as with Sue, after 17 years she could finally explain why she got a damn haircut the day after.. she didn't WANT to, she wasn't like "oh my goodness, my son is a murderer but what is worse, are these roots!!!!"but her lawyer said she should do her normal think and she was in shock.

I assumed he went to Florida because his mom and stepdad kicked him out. He said he did what he did because he was broke and stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Nate over the years gave Sue more information. When Dylan told Nate he bought a gun he asked Nate not to let Eric know he know or he would "kill Dylan" which Sue took as a threat but may have been "Eric is going to pitch a fit and yell at me..."

I remember Nate saying that he was more worried about Dylan buying drugs and he also said "the adults weren't worried, why should we?'

Also if Nate knew anything, why was he at school? He was at school, correct?

This is making me think, where is the money from the other books going? Not just Brooks but Kacey and Mr. D? Also Cullen is profiting largely off of the massacre too.

Nate is an interesting case for sure.

So that's why he went to Florida so fast, good to know. I never heard anything about Dylan and drugs, because I thought he denounced them, said they were a waste of time.
I myself don't think Nate knew specifics, as nobody did, but I get the sense that they might of made some comments that even made him wonder if they were serious.
They were good at keeping it a secret, but as we know from the 11k, plenty of people claimed to hear comments here and there about what was to come. Like Eric's "working on something for tomorrow comment".
Nate was around them a lot, so I can't see how teenagers wouldn't of let even the smallest detail slip.

It's not like would come out and say he heard comments because then everyone would be looking at you like "why didn't you say anything"?

slippy123 wrote:

Nate also took a lie detector test in which he was "deceptive" in his answers about whether he'd been involved in the attack, but he was never implicated.
This is sketchy and makes me wonder if he knew something beforehand. Let's not forget that being "involved" doesn't just mean being one of the shooters.
It could constitute anything from helping to build bombs, holding on things for Eric & Dylan, help planning, and a plethora of other things.

The polygraph test was administered to Nate, an 18 yr old kid, on April 21, 1999.
So this was done less than 24 hours after two of his closest friends committed this horrific crime.
By many witness accounts (Alyssa Sechler and Tim Kastle, off the top of my head but I know there are more), Nate was completely devastated over what had happened. Two of his closest friends were dead, they had killed and severely injured people, and he was now a suspect sitting in front of the FBI being questioned (they administered the test).
The entire school and community likely thought he was guilty. All of E & D's friends were told that they weren't welcome back at Columbine.
That's a lot for anyone to handle.

From p. 10702 of the 11k-
When confronted with his deceptive responses Dykeman admitted he was withholding information from the investigators. He said he had not been completely truthful because he was afraid that he would be arrested for not reporting this information earlier. Dykeman provided information relating to explosives and firearms acquired by the gunman which is contained in the enclosed FD-302.

p. 10696
Dykeman advised that he had not been completely truthful with the investigating agents about information he had concerning Harris and Klebold. Dykeman advised that he had not told everything he knew to this point, because he was afraid he would get arrested and blamed for what happened at the Columbine High School.

He knew that Dylan had bought a gun with the help of Phil Duran. He had seen Dylan making bombs (the crickets), and he had been present several times when they detonated those and the larger pipe bombs. He never told anyone about it and he was afraid he'd be blamed for what happened. Just imagine that- your life is going along normally and overnight you're a suspect in a horrific mass murder. I don't think him having deceptive responses is at all sinister.

As for cashing in on the interviews and video, yeah, that's sleazy. Maybe because he was being ostracized from the community he felt like he needed some cash to start over in Florida with his dad. Maybe he just saw dollar signs and didn't have a purer motive. We'll never know.

SenSpiritedAway wrote:

I feel two ways about profit of the tapes. One side of me is thankful we got to see the tapes but on the other hand making a profit off of this is disgusting. I’m unsure who asked about the tapes, did the media ask him if he owned anything and they’d pay him or did he go to the media and was like give me money and you can have this?
Nate knew about pipe bombs and eventually the gun I believe that he initially thought was a drug deal out back of blackjack. Did he help make the pip bombs? Mmmmm...I’m not so sure. Zach on the other hand I believe helped them make the bombs. He comes across sketchy to me. Anyways, back to Nate: I often wonder if he’s the friend that knew the least. Like just a few things and maybe that’s why his polygraph jumped? I don’t know enough about polygraphs to determine deception accuracy. I don’t want to derail this thread, because it’s a very good one, but who was holding the napalm for the boys?!?! Was it Nate? Was that why the polygraph showed deception? My mind tells me no, it was probably Zach or Chris. But I don’t think we ever found out which friend it was.
Also it’s a good point about the others making profit on books. I mean, it’s inevitable. That’s what happens when something as big as columbine happens but it reeks of profiting to me. Why wait till 20 years to make your book?

They said in the basement tapes that "Chris Pizza" was holding on to the Nalpalm for them, obviously Chris Morris.
It's possible the media found him but I would assume he probably went to them.
Polygraphs get a bad wrap, but if you watch some videos of people taking them you can see they usually can tell when someones lying.

I guess it takes time for people to want to re-live all of that and write a book.
But I'm sure its a money grab for some people.

If I was an 18-year-old who owns nothing, has no money, gets kicked out of his house and rejected by his community for being friends with two twats who wanted to blow up the school (with me inside), I would have absolutely no regrets selling anything I knew or had about them to the media.

Like who's gonna help me?

Surely not the people who push me away (and then badmouth me). The only thing I blame Nate for is selling cheap.

thelmar wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Nate also took a lie detector test in which he was "deceptive" in his answers about whether he'd been involved in the attack, but he was never implicated.
This is sketchy and makes me wonder if he knew something beforehand. Let's not forget that being "involved" doesn't just mean being one of the shooters.
It could constitute anything from helping to build bombs, holding on things for Eric & Dylan, help planning, and a plethora of other things.

The polygraph test was administered to Nate, an 18 yr old kid, on April 21, 1999.
So this was done less than 24 hours after two of his closest friends committed this horrific crime.
By many witness accounts (Alyssa Sechler and Tim Kastle, off the top of my head but I know there are more), Nate was completely devastated over what had happened. Two of his closest friends were dead, they had killed and severely injured people, and he was now a suspect sitting in front of the FBI being questioned (they administered the test).
The entire school and community likely thought he was guilty. All of E & D's friends were told that they weren't welcome back at Columbine.
That's a lot for anyone to handle.

From p. 10702 of the 11k-
When confronted with his deceptive responses Dykeman admitted he was withholding information from the investigators. He said he had not been completely truthful because he was afraid that he would be arrested for not reporting this information earlier. Dykeman provided information relating to explosives and firearms acquired by the gunman which is contained in the enclosed FD-302.

p. 10696
Dykeman advised that he had not been completely truthful with the investigating agents about information he had concerning Harris and Klebold. Dykeman advised that he had not told everything he knew to this point, because he was afraid he would get arrested and blamed for what happened at the Columbine High School.

He knew that Dylan had bought a gun with the help of Phil Duran. He had seen Dylan making bombs (the crickets), and he had been present several times when they detonated those and the larger pipe bombs. He never told anyone about it and he was afraid he'd be blamed for what happened. Just imagine that- your life is going along normally and overnight you're a suspect in a horrific mass murder. I don't think him having deceptive responses is at all sinister.

As for cashing in on the interviews and video, yeah, that's sleazy. Maybe because he was being ostracized from the community he felt like he needed some cash to start over in Florida with his dad. Maybe he just saw dollar signs and didn't have a purer motive. We'll never know.

That is all understandable, but the polygraph still found him deceptive, to which he admitted he was lying.
So it shows that polygraphs can be a good tool in the search for the truth.

Even with the weight of the world on your shoulders, I still think the truth will always set you free.
Lying about information during a case like this only makes the FBI think you're hiding something, which causes further scrutiny and makes them think you were involved.

I personally find the headline "Columbine Shooter's friend fails polygraph for his involvement in the massacre" a lot worse than "Shooter's friend witnessed money changing hands and crickets being made".

Plus it's not Nate's duty to be a police officer and report everything he sees, as far as I know there were no laws broken by watching a purchase happen, or seeing someone making co2 crickets.
I can totally understand being scared shit-less about what was going to happen though.

patogen wrote:

If I was an 18-year-old who owns nothing, has no money, gets kicked out of his house and rejected by his community for being friends with two twats who wanted to blow up the school (with me inside), I would have absolutely no regrets selling anything I knew or had about them to the media.

Like who's gonna help me?

Surely not the people who push me away (and then badmouth me). The only thing I blame Nate for is selling cheap.

I can see where you're coming from.
I think he made off pretty well to be honest.
$16000 for a 2 minute video that is mostly music and only has a few lines of dialogue from Dylan is a great come up in my opinion.
I'm actually surprised they even paid that much. They must of really wanted to have that exclusive video.

slippy123 wrote:

Plus it's not Nate's duty to be a police officer and report everything he sees, as far as I know there were no laws broken by watching a purchase happen, or seeing someone making co2 crickets.

Devil's advocate here, but I'm pretty sure he didn't know that. I mean, getaway drivers have been charged with homicide even if their partner was the only one who pulled the trigger or even had any intention of killing someone.

QuestionMark wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

Plus it's not Nate's duty to be a police officer and report everything he sees, as far as I know there were no laws broken by watching a purchase happen, or seeing someone making co2 crickets.

Devil's advocate here, but I'm pretty sure he didn't know that. I mean, getaway drivers have been charged with homicide even if their partner was the only one who pulled the trigger or even had any intention of killing someone.

Definitely, I'm sure they could bring you up on charges for knowing certain things, it does indeed happen all the time.

The article makes it seem like he only saw money change hands, so I don't know if he ever even saw a gun.
I doubt they risked doing the full deal at blackjack. I'd assume it would be done somewhere more discrete.

slippy123 wrote:

I doubt they risked doing the full deal at blackjack. I'd assume it would be done somewhere more discrete.

Dylan went to Mark Manes' house to look at and purchase the gun. The deal was to pay a portion of the sale price upfront ($300) and then the rest ($200) two weeks later. Manes went shooting at Rampart Range with Eric and Dylan two weeks later and when he returned home realized he forgot to get the rest of the money from Dylan. Manes and Duran were very good friends, so Manes asked Duran to get the money from Dylan at work.

slippy123 wrote:

I can see where you're coming from.
I think he made off pretty well to be honest.
$16000 for a 2 minute video that is mostly music and only has a few lines of dialogue from Dylan is a great come up in my opinion.
I'm actually surprised they even paid that much. They must of really wanted to have that exclusive video.

I think that for the very reason you have mentioned, someone would have paid even more. But yeah, sixteen grand was some good money back in 1999, and he probably just wanted cash to move away from the Littleton hell, so both parties got what they wanted.

patogen wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

I can see where you're coming from.
I think he made off pretty well to be honest.
$16000 for a 2 minute video that is mostly music and only has a few lines of dialogue from Dylan is a great come up in my opinion.
I'm actually surprised they even paid that much. They must of really wanted to have that exclusive video.

I think that for the very reason you have mentioned, someone would have paid even more. But yeah, sixteen grand was some good money back in 1999, and he probably just wanted cash to move away from the Littleton hell, so both parties got what they wanted.

No doubt. You'd be hard pressed to get anywhere near $16,000 for a video like that today.
I have a feeling that they offered a lot less at first, but I guess can't fault Nate for trying to get the most he could.

I don’t blame Nate one bit for selling that tape or being paid for interviews. His friends left him in quite a lurch - in addition to his own pain and shock, he was now a suspect and pariah! He needed the money, not just to get out town, but I suspect he may have had attorneys fees to pay to keep himself out of trouble. So whatever loyalty he felt toward Eric and Dylan also had to be weighed against trying to get out of the bad situation that his friends had left him in. Hell, he should have written a book. He has no obligations of loyalty to Eric and Dylan after those two destroyed his life. Where was their loyalty to Nate when the possibly tried to blow him up?

LadyStardust wrote:

I don’t blame Nate one bit for selling that tape or being paid for interviews. His friends left him in quite a lurch - in addition to his own pain and shock, he was now a suspect and pariah! He needed the money, not just to get out town, but I suspect he may have had attorneys fees to pay to keep himself out of trouble. So whatever loyalty he felt toward Eric and Dylan also had to be weighed against trying to get out of the bad situation that his friends had left him in. Hell, he should have written a book. He has no obligations of loyalty to Eric and Dylan after those two destroyed his life. Where was their loyalty to Nate when the possibly tried to blow him up?

Fair points.
I agree that he should of written a book, as I'm sure there are tons of interesting things Nate knows about both of them that aren't public knowledge.
New information is always refreshing because there really isn't going to be any new revelations until the depositions are released.

I think a lot of the backlash came from the whole "too soon" aspect.
From the outside it seemed like he was trying to make a fast buck off of the suffering of others, but as you stated there could be many other reasons behind why he took the money.

Nate left because he was heading to Florida to go to college there anyway. He left early because of the backlash coming at him and E&Ds other friends. He moved in with his dad to go to school at University of Florida. At Prom he and Dylan had a conversation about how their lives were about to change (D going to U of Arizona) and when they would see each other again after graduation. This is all known information, there was nothing nefarious about his move or kicked out.

thelmar wrote:

slippy123 wrote:

I doubt they risked doing the full deal at blackjack. I'd assume it would be done somewhere more discrete.

Dylan went to Mark Manes' house to look at and purchase the gun. The deal was to pay a portion of the sale price upfront ($300) and then the rest ($200) two weeks later. Manes went shooting at Rampart Range with Eric and Dylan two weeks later and when he returned home realized he forgot to get the rest of the money from Dylan. Manes and Duran were very good friends, so Manes asked Duran to get the money from Dylan at work.

Я искренне извиняюсь, но мой английский просто ужасен, а мне нужно выразить такую большую мысль.
Rampart range был снят в марте, а куплено оружие было максимум в январе, судя по дневнику Эрика