Dave Cullen isn’t as unhelpful as you think…
If you actually read “Columbine” he gives a pretty big hint as to where they’re storing the Basement Tapes…
“In April 2007, Judge Babcock finally ruled. “There is a legitimate public interest in these materials so that similar tragedies may hopefully be prevented,” he (Judge Babcock) wrote. “I conclude, however, that the balance of interests still strikes in favor of maintaining strict confidentiality.” He settled on a compromise. The transcripts would be sealed at the national archives for twenty years. The truth would come out in 2027, twenty-eight years after the massacre.“
Not to burst your bubble here but.. his book is referring to the parents’ deposition transcripts being stored in the National Archives not to be released in 2027. Transcripts are vastly different media format from the Basement video tapes.
See here.Do you reckon there’s a chance where they could be released at the same time though among other evidence?
No. This is because the tapes have since been declared officially destroyed in 2011 but publicly announced February 2015.
“ The tapes also became highly restricted exhibits in civil lawsuits filed against a pharmaceutical company and the killers’ parents. Following the settlement of those cases, U.S. District Judge Lewis Babock ordered that the parents’ depositions be turned over to the National Archives and Records Administration and kept under seal for twenty years. It’s not clear to what extent some exhibits may also have been preserved, but a separate decision by Babcock ordered that the copies of the tapes used in the litigation be destroyed.
Kelley says Sheriff Ted Mink approved the destruction of the tapes – along with shell casings, weapons and other remaining Columbine evidence – in early 2011. The obliteration of the videos was only acknowledged recently, though, after a private party filed an open records request seeking access to the basement tapes.
Westword article “Columbine Killers’ Basement Tapes Destroyed”
They probably made copies. Also, I highly doubt that the basement tapes’ content was so bad that they had to destroy them. I’ve read the transcripts of what supposedly happened on them and it wasn’t all that bad. They just talked about school, NBK, other people, family, their teen angst, Dylan’s jew-ness and showed off their guns and pipe bombs and a Jack Daniels bottle.
I’d mentioned a few times before on E-C that there are probably copies in the possession of the FBI but since they don’t officially exist, knowing that there are copies is kind of meaningless since you can’t file a request to obtain copies of something announced as officially destroyed.
As I mentioned in a post earlier today, the transcripts that you’re referring to is the condensed edited version taken from five video tapes running nearly 4 hours long. They actually didn’t “just” discuss the trivial stuff you mentioned. Their videos are a “call to arms” to the viewers inciting others to follow in their footsteps. The authorities consider the content far too provocatively inspiring to other disenfranchised and/or mentally unstable youth. See here
The Everlasting Contrast 