A judge ruled this month that depositions by the parents of the gunmen in the 1999 Columbine school shootings would remain sealed until 2027. It would be tragic to also have to wait 28 years to hear from the family of Seung-Hui Cho, the killer at Virginia Tech. But the tense legal standoff that led to the Columbine ruling is likely to repeat itself in Virginia if we don’t quickly devise an alternative.
In the Columbine case, as in Virginia Tech, the killers’ families went into seclusion and released statements of regret and bewilderment. Parents of mass murderers have their own grieving to do. When the Chos resurface, a ravenous press corps will stalk them, and the public will be hungry for answers. The questions will grow increasingly belligerent and accusatory.
Eventually the parents of the Columbine killers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, appeared willing to speak, but the threat of lawsuits drove them to silence. The families reached an impasse: the killers’ parents would talk only if the victims disavowed legal action, but the victims would waive lawsuits only if the parents spoke.
The Cho family’s troubles may intensify again when Virginia’s statute of limitations for civil suits expires. At the moment Littleton braced for the first Columbine anniversary, more than a dozen families filed suits. The victims weren’t after the money; they wanted answers — for themselves, for the public, and most of all for any psychiatric expert who could help prevent the next catastrophe. And the Harrises and Klebolds were looking for a measure of security. Everyone lost.
Like Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, Seung-Hui Cho left voluminous writings and videos to explain himself. But those rants have to be measured against an objective reality. Was Mr. Cho bullied or sneered at by the rich brats he railed against? Or was he responding to voices in his head? When did he first experience difficulty socializing? Did those troubles lead to withdrawal, or was he already a loner? How did his parents respond? Was anything successful?
We know Mr. Cho demonstrated symptoms consistent with autism and Asperger’s syndrome, but these can also be signs of schizophrenia. Experts are eager to interview the Cho family to tease out the differences. If Mr. Cho experienced outright psychotic episodes, they might have been mystifying to acquaintances but painfully obvious to his family. When did the Chos first observe such episodes, how often and with what intensity? How was he treated, and what were the results? A deeper understanding of Mr. Cho’s pathway to murder can help us predict dangerous behavior and respond better to warning signs.
The Harrises and Klebolds settled their last lawsuits in 2003. Their homeowners’ insurance had already agreed to pay $1.6 million, but five holdout families demanded information. The killers’ parents were deposed in a closed federal courtroom, to which the plaintiffs gained access by agreeing to a gag order. Fourteen days before Mr. Cho opened fire at Virginia Tech, a district court judge ruled that the transcripts of these meetings would remain sealed for 20 more years.
It was an ugly compromise. The victims got answers, at the price of hiding them from experts and the public. The Harrises and Klebolds endured eight years of vilification and legal action.
If Columbine has taught us anything, it is that we should avoid a similar stalemate in the Virginia Tech massacre. The Chos’ lawyers should broker a deal with psychiatric experts before trust is eroded. The psychiatrists can offer medical privilege and the hope of authentic scientific advancement in exchange for openness from the family. They should promise to divulge their conclusions to the public, but to work with the Cho lawyers to withhold any details likely to land the family in court.
There are risks in this for the Cho family, but inaction presents the greater risk — of lawsuits and of never finding answers. The questions that plague the victims’ families weigh just as heavily on those who loved the perpetrators.
Dave Cullen, who is writing a book about the Columbine killers.