Evidence Item No. 201

Hiding in Plain Sight:

This is a great article about the still yet to be released evidence that was seized from the Harris household after the Columbine shooting. It has the usual information about The Basement Tapes, and Harris’ writings, and an alleged police cover-up regarding their prior contact with Harris. But this article enlightened me to something I had previously not known about what was in that evidence, Evidence item no. 201…

But the most intriguing, hush-hush item from the Harris home is probably evidence item No. 201, a green steno book found in a desk drawer. The book doesn’t belong to Eric or God but to Wayne Harris, who used it to write down various matters concerning his son’s mental health, errant behavior and interactions with neighbors and authorities. As a result of the confidential settlements reached in lawsuits brought against the Harrises and Klebolds by some victims’ families, virtually everyone who’s ever seen the steno book can’t comment on its contents.

We do know one thing about item No. 201: It documents more contacts between the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Harrises over their son’s behavior years before the shooting than the sheriff’s office has ever acknowledged. In 2004, investigators working for the state attorney general’s office used the steno book to track a complaint against Eric that dated back to 1997, a case for which the department paperwork had disappeared. The deputy on the case, Tim Walsh, was the same officer who arrested Harris and Klebold for breaking into a van in 1998; interviewed by investigators after the shootings in 1999, Walsh made no mention of the 1997 case.

Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink said he will make a decision about releasing the materials after the anniversary of Columbine.