1997 Directed Report
What is a directed report?
A directed report is not an official police report, but rather, an internal note or memorandum used to relay confidential information or intel to someone. In this case, the 1997 directed report would have been a memo written by Deputy Mike Burgess (the officer who took the complaint from the "concerned citizen") to Investigator John Hicks, as Burgess had passed the responsibility for this complaint to Hicks.
What is the 1997 directed report?
The official story (supported by conclusions from the Attorney General's investigation) is that Aaron Brown was at Southwest Plaza mall on August 7, 1997 when he approached a police officer (Mike Burgess) at his security booth and gave him the scrap of paper Dylan Klebold had given Brooks containing Eric's website address. Records allegedly show police dispatched Deputy Dennis Huner to the Brown's residence immediately and he was there within an hour.
Burgess gave his directed report to Detective John Hicks since he was in charge of computer crimes. And this is apparently where it disappeared until 2003 - four years after the Columbine incident when it was magically discovered.
The 1997 "directed report" concerning Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, and Zach Heckler running criminal mischief missions in the neighborhood was allegedly discovered by accident in a binder on October 23, 2003 by Detective John Healy (cafeteria team), who had taken over the position of Detective John Hicks as he was cleaning out Hicks' old binders.
However, this story doesn't fit with the facts.
The original 1997 directed report can be seen here:
Here is a text version of this directed report:
Directed Report
Date This Report: 08/07/1997
To: Inv. Hicks
From: M. Burgess
Directed Report
On 08/07/1997 I was contacted by a concerned citizen reference Eric Harris, A 15 year old white male living in the 8200 block of S. Reed St. Eric Harris is the author of a web page, see attached copies printed from his web site. He also refers to two of his followers "Vodka", Dillon Klebold and "Kibbz", Zach Heckler. This web page refers to "missions" where possible criminal mischiefs have occurred.
Officer Signature: MG Burgess
Unit 143 Number 0319
The Browns reported Eric for the first time in 1998
Randy and Judy Brown reported Eric to the police on March 18, 1998. This was assigned case #99-5504.
A report was compiled by Investigator Mike Guerra of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.
According to the Attorney General's Report, Deputy Mark Miller was dispatched to the Brown residence on March 18, 1998 where he was given ten pages of Eric's website printouts.
On March 26, 1998, this case was closed before it was ever assigned to an investigator.
According to the Attorney General's Report, on March 31, 1998, Investigator Mike Guerra, Glen Grove, and John Hicks met with Randy and Judy Brown at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. At this time, nobody from the Brown family knew their case had already been closed by the clerk. However, they were starting to investigate case #99-3365 - the February 15, 1998 report of an unexploded plastic pipe bomb found on a bike path that matched the description of the bombs Eric claimed to have been making on his website.
Guerra begins to write a draft for a search warrant on Eric's home (on the wrong form, nonetheless). Grove said Keikbusch refused to approve the search warrant because there were no eyewitnesses to Eric having possessed a pipe bomb. Without any additional evidence, the investigation is terminated.
Mike Guerra's Daily Active Field Reports (DAFRs) from late April-December 1998 are 'missing' and nobody has been able to retrieve them.
1998 report discrepancies
On paper, Randy Brown says he reported Eric's website threats to Deputy Mark Miller directly, but in interviews Judy Brown said they reported Eric's website to one of Randy's relatives working in the District Attorney's office.
The Browns didn't report Eric in 1997
For years, the 1997 directed report was said to have been initiated by an anonymous "concerned citizen" who contacted Deputy Mike Burgess while on duty at the Southwest Plaza Mall.
In 2004, the Attorney General's investigation into the 1997 directed report concluded (falsely) that the Browns initiated this report, and also concluded that "the directed report was not mingled with 1998 web pages information." However, the web page printouts couldn't have been part of the 1997 report because they mention the snowball incident that hadn't happened until 1998.
Even after this report concluded the Browns reported Eric in 1997, the Browns adamantly denied reporting Eric in 1997 until 2006 when they suddenly changed their story.
With this knowledge, it's clear the Attorney General's office helped to cover up the real origin and contents of that 1997 directed report. What is in the real 1997 memo? We don't know.
Five reasons we know the Browns didn't report Eric in 1997
The attached printouts were made in 1998
(1) The 1997 directed report allegedly had printed pages of Eric's website attached. The pages the police released with this report were printed in 1998. They were exact copies of the same printouts the Browns gave police with their 1998 report. We know they were printed in 1998 and not 1997 because the "Mission Log" references the fact that Brooks Brown told Eric's parents he had alcohol in his room in retaliation for the "snowball incident," where Eric threw a chunk of ice at Brooks' car and cracked the windshield.
The Browns didn't know about Eric's website until 1998
(2) Brooks and Aaron Brown said they didn't know about Eric's website until 1998. The (false) story goes that they told Randy Brown, their father, about Eric's website in 1997 and Randy reported it to police on his own. If they didn't know about Eric's website until 1998, the story that the Browns reported him in 1997 completely falls apart.
The Browns denied making the 1997 report for years
(3) The Browns adamantly denied making the report for years. Even after police went to their house to show them the paper trail, they still insisted they have no memory of reporting Eric in 1997. Randy brown didn't start claiming to have made the report until 2006. There's no way Brown would just forget he reported Eric twice.
When Randy changed his story, the new story didn't match known facts
(4) After the Attorney General's report concluded Aaron Brown specifically reported Eric while at Southwest Plaza Mall, Randy Brown started saying that was wrong, and it was he who reported Eric by placing a phone call to police. However, the report was taken at the mall by Deputy Mike Burgess, who was stationed in the security booth and was not allowed to leave. This means the "concerned citizen" would have had to walk up to the security booth at the mall to make the report. Randy Brown's story that he called the police doesn't match the known facts.
The Browns appear to have been gaslit into owning the 1997 report
(5) It appears that the Browns were pressured into finally taking ownership of this 1997 report.
How we know the printouts attached to the 1997 report were made in 1998
The snowball incident occurred in February or March 1998
The following is an excerpt from one of the web page printouts police claim was attached to the 1997 directed report:
This mission was also liquor free as a result of this person named Brooks Brown (phone #) who tried to narc on us. Telling my parents that I had booze and shit in my room. I had to ditch every bottle I had and lie like a fuckin salesman to my parents. All because Brooks Brown thought I put a little nik in his windshield from a snowball.......BS? yes, Anyway, that was mission 4.
This printout absolutely could not have been part of the 1997 directed report.
The Browns provided officials with a receipt for the windshield repair dated March 25, 1998.
Randy Brown stated he believed the snowball incident happened in February 1998.
The Browns said the printed web pages came from their 1998 report
When we showed them the Web Pages attached by a paperclip to the 1997 Directed Report they both felt that the Web Pages came from there [sic] printer and believed that they were the web pages given to Jefferson County Deputy M. Miller on March 18, 1998.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 22
Both [Randy and Judy Brown] identified the web pages as familiar and consistent with what they had printed and gave Deputy Miller on March 18, 1998.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 24
Brooks and Aaron Brown didn't know about Eric's website until 1998
I asked each of them if they contacted Dep. Burgess at the mall on 8/7/97. Neither of them remembered doing it and had no recollection of accessing Harris’s website prior to March of 1998.
Brooks said that he frequented the mall but that he was a “skater” and was frequently kicked off the property by security guards for skating and smoking. He thought it unlikely that he would have voluntarily entered the police substation.
Aaron remembered Dep. Burgess from the telemarketer report, but still did not think that he contacted Dep. Burgess at the mall.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 21 Brooks acknowledges he learned about Eric's website in 1998:
"In march of 1998 I was walking to class when Dylan approached me with a small piece of paper. On it was written the address for a Web site. 'I think you should take a look at this tonight,' Dylan said. I shrugged. 'Okay. Anything special?' I figured at the time that it was the address for some new program Dylan had uncovered. 'It's Eric's Web site,' he said. 'You need to see it. And you can't tell Eric I gave it to you.'"
Source: No Easy Answers by Brooks Brown and Rob Merritt The Browns remember Brooks coming to them with the scrap of paper in 1998.
The Browns told us that on March 17, 1998 Brooks Brown came home from school (Columbine) with the “torn scrap paper” saying that someone at school told him that he needed to get onto the web site because their [sic] was something that he had to see. Brooks told Judy that he could not tell her who told him about the information on the web site because that person was afraid of Eric Harris. Judy told us that it wasn’t until after Columbine that Brooks told her that Dylan was the one who told him about the web site.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 22
Randy and Judy Brown denied making the 1997 directed report
The 1997 Directed Report written by Jefferson County Deputy M. Burgess was shown to both Randy and Judy. Both denied ever seeing the document prior to Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink released it week’s prior. Both denied knowing who the “Concerned Citizen” mentioned in the report might be.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 22
The Browns exposed the police for connecting the 1997 report with their 1998 report
When the Browns scrutinized the 1997 report, they were shocked to see the scrap of paper from their 1998 report included. It meant that someone was actively connecting their 1998 report with the previous 1997 report. Still, note that they do not take credit for making the 1997 report. They are very clear that they did not report Eric in 1997, but that someone from the police department was connecting the dots and looking into Eric based on BOTH reports.
The bombshell took on another dimension after the Browns studied the 1997 report, which included a handwritten page detailing the Internet addresses of Harris' Web pages.
The handwriting, they concluded, is that of their sons, Brooks and Aaron.
"I am 100 percent sure this is my handwriting," Aaron Brown said.
Brooks Brown was equally confident that part of the page contained his handwriting, and said that the family had given the page to the sheriff's office when they filed their 1998 report about Harris.
That the page was included with the 1997 report lead them to conclude that someone in the sheriff's department connected the two reports a long time ago.
"Somebody worked on this '97 report with our '98 report," Judy Brown said. "This is huge."
Source: Rocky Mountain News. October 30, 2003
Columbine shocker: First tip was in 1997
New sheriff reveals Jeffco had Harris, Klebold info 20 months before tragedy
Timeline of Randy Brown's eventual claim of authorship
For many years, Randy Brown denied making the 1997 report to police until one day, he started claiming he was the anonymous "concerned citizen" who reported Eric after his sons, Brooks and Aaron, told him about Eric's website. However, he didn't come to this conclusion on his own. Brown said the police had to come to his house and show him a paper trail to convince him, and even then he still said he doesn't remember reporting Eric in 1997. His story eventually changed and now he says he remembers making the report.
Also note that Brooks is claiming Dylan handed him the scrap of paper that was later analyzed professionally and found to have been written by Brooks and Aaron, which was also confirmed by their father, Randy.
It appears that the police forcibly convinced the Browns to start taking ownership for this report, which led to Randy Brown changing his story out of nowhere and magically remembering he made that report, and Brooks fabricated a story about Dylan giving him Eric's website address.
The facts don't match the newer version of the stories the Browns tell about this 1997 report.
When the directed report was revealed on October 28, 2003, Brown was just as surprised and disappointed as everyone else that Eric had been reported that early and nothing was done.
Below is a detailed timeline of this progression.
October 29, 2003
The existence of the directed report is revealed
On October 29, 2003, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink and Attorney General Ken Salazar held a meeting at Jefferson County's administration building where they disclosed to a room full of Columbine parents and reporters that they had recently found an internal memo (a "directed report") regarding an anonymous tip given to police about Eric Harris' website. Parents received the email notification the night before.
Randy Brown reacts to the revelation and does not claim authorship
Randy Brown was present at the meeting that disclosed the existence of this directed report. At this time, he didn't take credit for filing this report. He responded to this revelation like everyone else - seeing it as yet another missed opportunity.
Brown told the Denver Post, "I think everyone in the room cried," Randy Brown said. "Because - again - this is a missed opportunity."
Source: The Denver Post. October 30, 2003
'97 report of Harris' website unheeded
Columbine finding frustrates sheriff
February 18, 2004
Brown eagerly awaits the revelation of the name of the reporting party
As of February 18, 2004, Brown was eagerly awaiting the meeting where police would reveal the name of the person who reported Eric in 1997 report; he still had no idea who reported Eric.
February 25, 2004
A 4-month investigation claims the Browns made the 1997 report
The Colorado state Attorney General's office conducted an investigation into the 1997 directed report and concluded that it was made by the Brown family. The Browns didn't remember making this report at all, and everyone was shocked they didn't remember since they had been on top of every detail.
Randy and Judy deny making the 1997 report
From the Denver Post:
"The source of that report: Columbine parents Randy and Judy Brown, who had said they had no memory of making it.
Investigators from the Colorado attorney general's office reached that conclusion after a four-month probe. They have informed the Browns about the finding."
/
"But Bruce Beck, stepfather of slain student Lauren Townsend, said the Browns forgot they had made an earlier report on Aug. 7, 1997. "They completely forgot they ever made the complaint," he said.
Beck and his wife, Dawn Anna, Lauren's mother, were told of the discovery by the Browns. Beck said that the Browns were convinced, based on the investigative work done, that they made the Aug. 7, 1997, report.
'The investigators came to their house and basically showed them the trail of how they knew it was them,' Beck said.
Beck said he was surprised that the Browns didn't recall making the earlier report. 'They have been so aware, on top of everything, that I didn't believe it at first,' he said."
Source: The Denver Post. February 25, 2004
'97 Columbine report traced
Trail leads to Browns; friend says it might have prevented killings
August 8, 2005
Brown references the 1997 report as anonymous
By August 8, 2005, Brown was still referencing the 1997 report as anonymous.
January 10, 2006
Brown now confidently states he reported Eric in 1997
By January 10, 2006, Brown was confidently stating he was the person who reported Eric's website to the police in 1997.
2020
Brown asserts he reported Eric in 1997 and police covered it up
By 2020, Brown began asserting that not only did he report Eric in 1997, but the police hid that and lied by stating it was an anonymous report. If that were true, why would he not take credit immediately?
He was aggressively vocal about having reported Eric in 1998 despite police claiming they had no such report. Surely he would have taken credit for the 1997 report with equal enthusiasm?
Instead, he denied making the report over and over. His original story was that the police covered up the existence of his 1998 report, but he didn't make the 1997 report. Years later, he started saying he made both reports and both were covered up.
When did Brown become convinced he made the 1997 report? Did someone "convince him" forcibly?Brown has always maintained that the first and only time he reported Eric to police was in 1998, and he did it anonymously because he feared Eric would kill Brooks if he knew. He even said he never told Eric or Dylan's parents about Eric's website for the same reason.
Now he wants us to believe he filed the 1997 report under his own name and the police covered it up by lying to say it was an anonymous report? I don't think so.
2021
Brown claims he reported Eric in 1997 with a phone call
By 2021, Brown claimed he reported Eric in 1997 by calling the police. However, the deputy who created the memo was working the security post at Southwest Plaza Mall the day he was contacted by the "concerned citizen" and the report was made in person by someone at the mall who walked up to the security booth.
Contradictions
Brooks and Aaron wrote Eric's web address on that scrap of paper, not Dylan
Expert handwriting analysis revealed the "scrap of paper" Brooks claims he was given by Dylan was actually written by Brooks and Aaron. Aaron recognized his writing and Randy confirmed he recognized both Brooks and Aaron's writing.
Evidence collected supports the conclusion that the identity of the “concerned citizen” is likely Aaron Brown, the son of Randy and Judy Brown. Most significantly, dispatch records reveal that on August 7, 1997 shortly after noon, Deputy Huner is dispatched directly to the Brown residence. Handwriting exemplars reviewed by an expert conclude that Aaron Brown is the author of a part of the Harris website address on the scrap of paper found with the directed report. Aaron Brown recognized this as his handwriting. While a portion of the scrap also is confirmed as handwriting from Brooks Brown, Brooks indicated that he frequently visited the mall to skate but that it was unlikely that he would have initiated a contact with law enforcement. Neither Brooks nor Aaron Brown specifically recall contacting Deputy Burgess at the mall.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 12
The “torn scrap paper” also attached to the 1997 Directed Report with a paperclip was shown to both of them. Randy and Judy both identified the writing on the “scrap” as being the writing of their sons, Brooks and Aaron Brown. Brooks Brown wrote the top portion and Aaron wrote the bottom portion. Again it was there believe [sic] that the “scrap” was turned in to Deputy M. Miller on March 18, 1998.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 22
When shown the “torn scrap paper,” Brooks identified the top portion as his handwriting and Aaron identified the lower portion as his handwriting. Brooks stated that he got the information from Dylan Klebold while at school. Brooks could not remember exactly what was said but just recalled that he and Dylan were at the school when it happened.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 24
The scrap of paper was not part of the Browns' 1998 report
Deputy Miller denied that he got the scrap of paper with the handwritten website address on it in 1998 when he visited the Browns at their residence.
When shown the “scrap” from the 1997 Directed Report, he did not recognize it and was sure he had not received it with 98-5504.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 37 Hicks, the investigator allegedly given the scrap of paper and the Directed Report, had no memory of any of it
Hicks had no memory of whether he ever received the 1997 report and did not recognize the “scrap” that was written by Brooks and Aaron Brown.
Source: Attorney General's Report, page 34
Questions
If Brooks and Aaron wrote the information on that scrap of paper, why did Brooks claim Dylan gave it to him at school?
The scrap of paper was not included in any logs during the 1998 report, which means it did not come from the 1998 report. When was this scrap paper really created? Were Brooks and Aaron "encouraged" to create it for police so they could use it to support the bogus story that the Browns reported Eric in 1997?