Columbine's “Rampart Range” and the Curious Case of the Missing Co-Conspirator
Did someone edit Chris Morris out of the Rampart Range tape?
A video tape dubbed “Rampart Range” was released to the public on October 21, 2003. It was filmed on March 6, 1999, and features the Columbine shooters Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, along with Philip Duran, Mark Manes, and his girlfriend Jessica Miklich, all shooting various firearms at trees and bowling pins in a wooded area off the beaten path of Rampart Range – a now-defunct shooting range in Pike National Forest. They are seen shooting the following firearms:
.45 Ruger
Mini-30 carbine
Intratec DC9M 9 mm pistol (allegedly used in the “shooting”)
Illegally sawn-off Savage 311-D 12 gauge double barrel shotgun (allegedly used in the “shooting”)
Illegally sawn-off Savage-Springfield 67H pump action shotgun (allegedly used in the “shooting”)
Hi-Point 995 9 mm carbine rifle
A copy of this video tape was recovered from Columbine High School's Dell Poweredge server (JCSO #10215, CBI #903) (11k, p.10935)
It was this video tape that earned Mark Manes the charge of possessing a dangerous weapon for firing a sawn-off shotgun. On November 13, 1999, Manes was sentenced to six years in prison for illegally selling a handgun to a minor (Klebold) and possessing a dangerous weapon. He was paroled just four years later on November 8, 2003.
The original Rampart Range tape was destroyed on November 18, 2019.
Below is a never-before-seen evidence inventory and chain of custody receipt for this tape up until its destruction:
According to the official narrative, Manes took both Harris and Klebold to Rampart Range to shoot on three separate occasions, and took Klebold shooting (without Harris) on two separate occasions. According to the official story, Chris Morris did not accompany them to target practice at Rampart Range. Morris himself claimed he had never even fired a gun. Yet, a witness who worked with Morris at Blackjack Pizza saw him on the tape.
Before diving into this topic, it’s important to correct the misconception that the Hi-Point rifle does not appear in the Rampart Range video. Harris can be seen crouching down to fire three shots early in the video. It’s a quick clip, and starts at 1:37 in this video.
It’s been speculated that the Hi-Point was edited out of the video because it was being fired by Chris Morris and they wanted to hide his involvement. Although the rifle does appear in the video, this speculation has merit, which we will get into shortly.
Let’s dive in.
The Hi-Point makes a brief appearance
For an unknown reason, footage of anyone shooting the Hi-Point was mostly edited out of the video released to the public (either by Harris and Klebold or investigators). Although the rifle is seen briefly with three shots fired by Harris, there is reason to believe Chris Morris may have been edited out of the video. If that’s true, the rifle may have been edited out simply because Morris was firing it throughout the video.
Who is Chris Morris and why would he be edited out?
On April 20, 1999, Christopher Richard Morris, “leader” of the Trench Coat Mafia and good friend of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, was identified as a suspect in the Columbine shooting by multiple witnesses. Morris was arrested at TCMer Cory Friesen's house, brought to Clement Park for questioning, transferred to the Sheriff's office later that evening, and was eventually released with no charges filed.
Morris can be seen in news footage in handcuffs being escorted into a red van wearing a black South Park t-shirt. He was questioned in the red van right next to “Splatter Punk” James Brunetti.
Morris was being escorted into the red van while Patrick Ireland dangled himself out the second story library window the first time (he came out of the window once, then went back inside, and then dangled himself out a second time a couple minutes later).
In the following footage of Morris’ arrest, you can hear the radio chatter describing Ireland coming out of the library window and then retreating back inside.
Note that at 2:37, when the investigator approaches Morris, Morris says, “Harris is the guy, I think.” The investigator asks Morris if TCMer Brian Sargent — also identified by multiple witnesses as a suspect — could be one of the shooters. Morris responds with a dramatic, “Brian Sargent? (unintelligible) Noooooo, he’s a geek.”
Also note that this video was initially released with sound and then it was quickly replaced with a silent version at the source. What do they not want you to hear? Morris’ strange defense of Sargent, evidence that Ireland leaned out the window and went back in the library, and came out a second time (I have the video footage of this), or both? Check it out:
Morris was part of the plot to get Duran to confess
On April 24, 1999, Morris called Philip Duran on behalf of law enforcement in an attempt to get Duran to admit he sold a gun to Harris and Klebold. Duran didn't confess during the call, but did confess later. A transcript can be found in Morris' interview on page 10813 of the 11k report.
Morris was later a witness for the people in Duran’s case. It’s not clear whether Morris was given immunity like Jessica Miklich (more about her later - she was Mark Manes’ girlfriend and shot one of the illegally sawn-off shotguns on the Rampart Range tape, but was given immunity in case they needed her to authenticate the video at trial).
There are a lot of fishy details about Morris that make sense of the theory that he was edited out of the Rampart Range video (the full scoop on Morris will be a separate post), but a quick rundown is as follows:
He was close with Harris and Klebold - close enough that they made bombs together (with Robert Perry) and by Morris’ own admission, “joked” about putting pipe bombs in the school halls and blowing it up.
"McEwen heard Chris Morris to be bragging about his criminal record... Chris Morris' favorite subject to talk about at work was building bombs. He claimed to know about "C-4," "sticky bombs," and match stick bombs." (11k, p.10188)
"Uncapher stated Dylan, Eric, Chuck, and Chris all talked about making, detonating, and getting recipes for pipe bombs while working at Blackjack Pizza" (11k, p.10202)He was seen in possession of pipe bombs a couple weeks before the shooting by his boss, Jason Secore. "Morris seemed violent to him said he knew how to make pipe bombs and said he had some about 2-3 weeks prior to 4/20/99." (10k, p.18505)
Two weeks before the shooting, he was seen with Harris and Klebold at the bank. While Harris and Klebold cashed their paychecks, Morris withdrew nearly all the money from his bank account. According to the teller, over the course of a couple weeks, Morris made a series of withdrawals that brought is balance from around $500-$900 down to $7. The last withdrawal occurred four days prior to the attack when he withdrew all but $7 from his account. (11k, p1331)
He was heavily into Nazis despite his claims to the contrary.
He was a violent person known to pull knives on people, threaten them, swing chains at them, and told people at school that he was going to run over his adoptive parents.
"...a party identified as Jean Christie, telephone [redacted], has a daughter who takes driver's education training from Master Drive. The daughter sits next to a male subject named "Chris" who apparently is a member of the "Trench Coat Mafia" and whose picture was in the Denver Post paper on this date, 04/22/99. The lead information further indicates that Chris has mentioned that he was going to run over his parents." (Tips, p.13082)
"Morris had started taunting (redacted) about his haircut (redacted had shaved sides at the time) and they started yelling at each other until Morris drew a knife." (11k, p.10284)
"He said that last year he was riding in a car with Bobby Strobel (driver) and Chris Cowles, when Sargent [Brian] and Chris Morris (and perhaps others) were blocking the street. Scileppi hollered at them out the window of the car, "get out of the way, fag," and Strobel started forward forcing them to get out of the way. He recalled that Morris came after the car for a short distance, swinging some kind of chain which he had under his trench coat." (11k, p.4355)
"On one occasion Morris pulled a knife on Dutro [Eric] after a school theater event. This incident went before a "manifestation hearing," and no action was taken because Morris may have been classified as Special Education."
"Perry stopped associating with the TCM during the first day of school, circa August 1998, after Morris threatened him with physical violence. Morris was angry that Lydie Perry had insulted him over a girl and Perry had made a point to pass the message directly onto Morris. Afterwards, Morris had threatened to beat up and kill Perry." (11k, p.10854)
"Morris was considered to be more aggressive and violent than the other TCM members. He constantly picked fights with other students. Perry stopped associating with the TCM when they became increasingly violent. They would constantly get into violent confrontations with other students using baseball bats and knives as weapons." (11k, p.10854)He was seen wearing a white t-shirt at bowling class the morning of the shooting, which people noted was odd - at some point he changed into his black South Park t-shirt.
Morris never bowled the morning of April 20. Morris claimed he got to bowling early (11k, p.10802, 10837), but he was marked absent and his average score was entered and circled for both games that day, which is what the teacher did when someone was absent. (11k, p.5300, 5302, 5305, 5211) The teacher also stated she did not recall seeing Morris in class. (11k, p.10121, 10122) If he was really seen, he got there early and left.
Morris, Harris, and Klebold’s average scores were entered in their absence He was seen by multiple witnesses driving out of the teacher’s parking lot around 12:30 P.M. just ten minutes after the shooting began, before police established a perimeter - Morris claims he was at Cory Friesen’s house the whole time.
He told 3+ different stories about where he went, where he met up with his girlfriend, and how he heard about the shooting.
He told a different story than police about where he was arrested. Morris claimed he drove to Columbine High School to see if he could talk Harris and Klebold down, but he was arrested in Clement Park. Police documented coming to Friesen’s house, asking Morris to empty his pockets, arresting him in the house, and transporting him to Clement Park for questioning.
When police got a search warrant for Morris’ bedroom that specifically described obtaining his computer and clothing worn the day of the shooting, they never searched his room. Instead, his mother disconnected his computer and brought it down stairs and placed it by the door for investigators. And his brother, Marc Morris, bagged up all the clothes he was wearing the day of the shooting, placed it into a paper bag, and handed it to police. (11k, p.10808)
Does that sound like an acceptable way to execute a search warrant? Why would police allow the family of a suspect to hand them the evidence they’re looking for?
Now that we’ve established Morris’ character, interest in bombs, and association with the TCM, it makes sense that if he was in the Rampart Range video that he would have been edited out before it was released to the public.
Whether you believe this case is real or not, one thing is clear: it would not be out of character for him to have been a co-conspirator with Harris and Klebold — even if it was all just a show.
Now let’s get into that video.
First, let’s establish that the video was filmed on March 6, 1999
Mark Manes’ charge of “possession of a dangerous weapon” (for firing an illegally sawn-off shotgun) is dated March 6, 1999 in his case file. (p.002) The only reason the state was able to charge him with this crime is because he was seen on the videotape shooting the sawn-off shotgun; the date of the video was confirmed during his hearing and specified as the date he committed this crime.
Phil Duran only went shooting with Harris and Klebold once, and his charges were dated March 6, 1999 in his case file. Duran is seen on the tape, and the date of the video was confirmed during his hearing.
In addition to the brief footage of the rifle, let’s look at the evidence that supports the rifle being present on March 6, 1999. This is to establish that the video wasn’t a compilation from different days with a few shots from the Hi-Point edited in after the fact. This is important because it’s connected to how, when, and where they really acquired their guns, which will be a future post.
1-Mark Manes confirmed the rifle’s presence at Rampart Range on March 6, 1999
“Manes stated that the Hi-Point rifle was brought up on this day and he asked Harris where he had obtained it. Harris stated that he got it from his cousin.” (11k, p.8241)
One might interpret the phrasing “brought up on this day” to mean that Harris and Klebold simply “brought up” the rifle in conversation, but that isn’t the case. In a previous sentence, referring to the video camera Harris and Klebold brought to film everyone shooting, the IO wrote, “Manes stated that the video equipment used belonged to Columbine High School and was brought up by Harris and Klebold.” It’s clear that “brought up” is the IO’s way of saying Harris and Klebold brought the physical item up to Rampart Range.
2-Jessica Miklich confirmed the rifle’s presence at Rampart Range on March 6, 1999
According to Miklich’s interview (11k, p.8177), “Harris and Klebold fired a rifle which Miklich described as being all black in color and resembling the description of a Highpoint [sic] rifle. Miklich said this was fired at a greater distance and appeared to be quite accurate.”
For Miklich to make that kind of assessment, you’d think she would have seen more than the three lazy shots we see fired in the video, which means there should be more footage. If the rifle was so accurate, why would they edit out so much footage getting in good shots with the rifle, while leaving only short clips showing their inability to hit a target at close range with the other guns?
Side note about this video:
The tape is short and many edits cut off mid-sentence, which is inconsistent with the way video production students would edit a film. Harris and Klebold made many other casual videos and didn’t cut people off mid-sentence. Did they make cuts mid-sentence because Morris appears in the frame?
Let’s talk about Chris Morris possibly being edited out of the Rampart Range video
Angel Pytlinski confirmed Chris Morris was on the March 6 videotape
Harris and Klebold’s coworker from Blackjack Pizza, Angel Pytlinski, stated she saw the video footage of everyone shooting at Rampart Range, and Chris Morris appeared in the video.
“In March or April on [sic] 1999 Harris asked to borrow Pytlinski’s video recorder. A video tape was made of made [sic] of Eric Harris, Dylan Klebold, Chris Morris, Phil Duran, Mark Manes, and an unknown female (Manes’ girlfriend) shooting trees and bowling pins with guns. Pytlinski saw the tape and remembered seeing a sawed off shotgun and possibly a Tech-9 [sic] being used in the film. The film was made in Sedelia [Sedalia], Colorado.” (11k, p.10193)
The city of Sedalia is far West of Rampart Range, but one must take the Sedalia exit to get to Rampart Range, which could explain why it was said to have been filmed in Sedalia. On a side note, Pytlinski and Duran lived together. (11k, p.10839)
If Harris borrowed Pytlinkski’s video recorder, then Manes must have been mistaken when he said the video equipment belonged to Columbine High School. It’s unclear why he said it belonged to the school, but it’s possible that’s what he was told.
But Pytlinski wasn’t the only witness to identify Morris on this tape. Another witness reported seeing a male with brunette hair and glasses on the Rampart Range tape, which matches Morris’ description. (This source is buried in my notes and I will provide it when I find it).
If Morris was in this video, it makes sense that other people would have seen him since according to Mike Vendegnia, Harris showed the video to their video production class. (11k, p.7328) Morris said the same thing. (11k, p.10829)
Was there another tape?
Some speculate that there are multiple tapes and Morris appears on another tape, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. According to Manes, they only taped themselves shooting on one occasion and Duran only went shooting with them once. Provided they’re telling the truth, there can be only one video.
“On March 6, 1999, the only time they videotaped themselves shooting guns, Klebold and Harris told Manes they had a surprise. It was the sawed-off shotguns they would use at Columbine.” (RMN, April 19, 2004, Manes: ‘I made a bad mistake’ by Heather Pitzel)
It’s not clear whether or not they used the school’s camera or Pytlinski’s camera, but if Pytlinski saw Harris, Klebold, Manes, Duran, and Miklich on the tape, she could only be referencing the March 6 tape. If she’s correct about seeing Morris on the tape, too, that’s a good reason to believe Morris was edited out.
Was the March 6, 1999 video filmed with Pytlinski’s camcorder?
Both Manes and Miklich told investigators that the camcorder being used to film the video came from Columbine High School. Did Harris and Klebold lie about where they got the camcorder? Or did they film multiple days using different equipment? Harris was known to check out the school’s camcorder, but we have no information about when he had it in his possession.
Miklich told investigators she met Harris and Klebold for the first time on March 6, 1999, so if there was another session filmed with Pytnlinski’s camcorder, it would have been later, which does match the time frame of “March or April” that Pytlinski recalls lending her camcorder to Harris. However, if that’s true, then Duran and Manes lied about March 6 being the only time Duran went shooting with them, and that it was the only taped shooting session. That would also mean an additional video tape exists that was never officially acknowledged.
What’s going on here? Was there an intentional attempt to hide Morris’ presence by editing him out of the tape? Where is the original, raw, unedited video file? Shouldn’t that have been recovered from the school’s server, too? How is it possible that only a final production was recovered on the computer used to edit the raw video? Why is there so much missing evidence in the Columbine case?
On that note, here’s a little quote to ponder:
"We are all part of a big computer game and someone else controls our lives."
-Chris Morris, (11k, p.5899)
Until next time – keep your alibi airtight,
The Lost Crime Files
Incredible. There's a pattern of immunity, possible plea deals, and missing crucial evidence that I can resonate with. And the search was indeed ridiculous - like, since when does the public take the lead in an investigation? It certainly sounds like Morris was offered a deal here. Your attention to detail in this article is superb!
Thanks so much for sharing this!!