Dylan didn't remove his jewelry before he died
Did Dylan Klebold Really Take off His Jewelry and Place it Into a Pile Before Committing Suicide?
Rumor has it that right before he committed suicide, Dylan Klebold took off his necklace and earring and placed them in a pile on the floor along with his pocket watch to preserve them for his family.
This is false.
This claim is a romanticized theory born from a misunderstanding regarding crime scene investigation and confusion regarding the context of the coroner’s report.
What, exactly, makes people believe this theory?
The coroner’s report describes the three items – a pierced earring, a sliver-colored pocket watch, and a beaded cloth necklace – as being “in close proximity to the body, in the body bag.”
Some people are misinterpreting the coroner’s report as describing where these items were found at the crime scene. Others assume Dylan must have removed the items and put them in a pile because jewelry is not supposed to be removed from a dead body before it’s delivered to the coroner.
Both of these beliefs are incorrect.
Investigators – not Dylan – removed these items from his body and placed them into the body bag with Dylan’s body.
1. Dylan’s pocket watch was in his right pants pocket when he died
The photo log from the initial walkthrough lists a photo from roll #12, photo #5:
“Body #11, knife and pocket watch, right pocket”
In “CSI speak”, this means a knife and pocket watch were found in Dylan’s right pocket during the initial walkthrough. The initial walkthrough is exactly what it sounds like – the first walkthrough of the crime scene.
Nobody put the pocket watch in Dylan’s right pocket – his body was found with the pocket watch in his right pocket.
2. No jewelry was collected as evidence near Eric or Dylan’s body
If Dylan put his jewelry in a pile, it would be listed as such in the evidence recovery logs and documented in the final crime scene diagram with an evidence number for the pile. No jewelry was recovered from the area surrounding Eric and Dylan’s bodies, and there is no evidence number for any pile of jewelry.
I’ve seen some people state that investigators documented a “small pile of jewelry” by Dylan’s body, but in 25 years I have yet to read this statement in any official document. The pile was in the body bag.
3. Detective Mike Guerra removed personal items from Dylan’s body
On page 7823, Detective Mike Guerra explains that he removed “personal articles” from Klebold’s body. While he didn’t list the specific personal articles, we know they were not explosives since this occurred after Dylan’s body had been searched for explosive devices. This is made clear in Guerra’s testimony:
“At 2300 hours, I was contacted by the Command Post and was advised to proceed to the Library and meet with a representative from the Coroner's Office. Upon arrival at the Library, I was informed by the Coroner's Office that they would like me to stand by while they removed the two suspect (sic) bodies. We began removing personal articles from suspect Klebold, and at this time, the Coroner began to roll suspect Klebold exposing a right pants cargo pocket, which had not been searched due to the position of his body.”
Investigators involved in searching and photographing evidence found in Dylan’s pockets include:
Mike Guerra
Scott Linne
Joseph Dempsey
Rich Euchler
Rick Young (no interview available)
Since Dylan’s pocket watch was removed from his right pocket by investigators and placed in the body bag, Dylan did not put his pocket watch in a pile before he committed suicide.
Now that we’ve established that one item in the bag within the body bag was, in fact, removed from Dylan’s body by investigators, there is no reason to believe the other items were not also removed by investigators.
There is absolutely no evidence that directly states, suggests or even loosely implies that Dylan’s earring and necklace were found in a pile by his body. This theory has been invented out of thin air.
Misconceptions
Misconception: Investigators don’t remove jewelry from dead bodies, therefore Dylan must have taken his jewelry off in a ritualistic manner to preserve it for his family.
Truth: There are many reasons investigators might remove jewelry from a dead body while processing the scene.
Jewelry removal is part of processing the scene. Jewelry is commonly removed in order to be documented. Sometimes the next of kin requests that the jewelry be removed from the body before being transported away from the scene. In this case, the family has to sign for it on a property release form.
Evidence associated with Dylan Klebold’s body
Let’s look at all of the evidence numbers associated with Dylan Klebold’s body. First, #900-1199 were assigned to the West side of the library, which includes Dylan’s body. Within that span, the following evidence numbers were assigned to evidence surrounding Dylan’s body.
Note: None of the evidence documented around Eric and Dylan’s bodies includes jewelry.
901 – Hi-Point 995 Carbine rifle
902 – Stevens double barrel shotgun
903 - Intratec-DC9 pistol
988 - shotgun wad
989 - single stack magazine
1003 - bullet fragment
1030 - gray metal fragment
1031 - spent 9mm casing
1064 - Dylan's hat
1079 - large handled knife with black leather sheath
1093 - rifle magazine w/ammo
1100 - 2 cardboard match strikers
1101 -14 00 buck live shotgun shells in black ammo belt
1102 - beige ammo pouch
1107 - metal fragments
1115 - blood on carpet
1118 - gray metal frag
1170 - 4 burnt unlit matches
There is one item in the evidence recovery log listed as jewelry components/beads (#1061), but that was not found by Dylan's body. It was documented as "beads, 2nd segment from West, South side South computer table" in the evidence logs from the Library Team 2 report on page 12668.
Dylan’s autopsy report is being misunderstood
An autopsy report does not tell you what was found at the crime scene, but rather, what the medical examiner or coroner find as they open the body bag and begin their examination.
The medical examiner (or coroner) begins to document their observations as they open the body bag. You have to keep this in mind when reading Dylan’s autopsy report. An autopsy report isn’t something written after the examination as a summary of findings; it’s written as the examination occurs. Reading an autopsy report is like riding along with the coroner as he or she documents the condition of the body.
The main misinterpretation is that items found in the body bag were actually found at the scene of the crime near Dylan’s body. Because of this, Dylan’s collection of jewelry and his black suspenders are mistakenly interpreted as having been found near his body by investigators. That’s not true.
Page 2 of Dylan’s autopsy report reads:
“Black suspenders were in close proximity of the body.”
Page 4 of Dylan’s autopsy report reads:
“Also present in close proximity to the body, in the body bag, were the following personal effects: a pieced earring, a silver-colored pocket watch, and a beaded cloth necklace.”
These statements are being misinterpreted to mean that black suspenders, a pierced earring, a silver-colored pocket watch, and a beaded cloth necklace were found at the crime scene close to Dylan’s body.
That’s not what the coroner’s report is stating.
The context of the coroner’s report is that Dylan’s body, located inside the body bag, has just been delivered to Dr. Ben Galloway and he is opening the body bag and examining what he finds in the body bag.
Dr. Galloway found black suspenders, a pierced earring, a silver-colored pocket watch, and a beaded cloth necklace in the body bag.
Some people believe the coroner’s report is ambiguous and it’s not clear whether Dylan’s jewelry was found close to his body at the crime scene, or in the body bag. Again, the context of the coroner’s report settles all of this.
The coroner’s report is not a documentation of evidence recovered at the crime scene; it is strictly a documentation of what Dr. Galloway found as he opened Dylan’s body bag.
“Also present in close proximity to the body, in the body bag, were the following personal effects: a pieced earring, a silver-colored pocket watch, and a beaded cloth necklace.”
This statement is like saying “also present in close proximity to the strawberries, in the refrigerator, were the following fruits: an apple, a pear, and an orange.”
There is nothing ambiguous about this statement. For those unfamiliar with proper punctuation, the comma might be confusing.
The reason Dr. Galloway specified “in close proximity to the body” is to make it clear that Dylan was not wearing these items.
Did Dylan Klebold place his hat on the ground before committing suicide?
Some people speculate that Dylan also placed his hat on the ground before committing suicide to preserve it. This is also false. The line of thought is if Dylan took off his jewelry to preserve it, he must have taken off his hat to preserve it as well. The myth is that there was no bullet hole in Dylan’s hat, therefore he wasn’t wearing his hat when he died.
First, Dylan’s wound was temple to temple. His hat wouldn’t need to have a bullet hole in it for him to have shot himself while wearing it.
KLEBOLD "had a near contact wound to his left temple with a corresponding exit wound through his right temple." (Library Team Two, p.12309)
While investigators described the bill of Dylan’s hat as “blood SOAKED” and did not refer to it as “blood SPLATTER.” If Dylan was wearing the hat when he died, it would be soaked. If his exit wound was facing his hat when he shot himself, it would have splatter. Even in the photos you can see it’s soaked, there is no splatter.