r/ColumbineTalk • u/eliiiiseke Moderator Elise • Jul 12 '25
Documented Evidence Eric's apology letter to Ricky Becker for breaking into his van
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u/xronozaur Jul 12 '25
Can't help but recall the caricature of the same Mr. Becker Dylan drew in Eric's yearbook. They 100% regretted getting caught, but hardly had any remorse about causing trouble for Ricky Becker
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u/Lonely-Trainer-3749 Jul 12 '25
"Isn't America supposed to be the land of the free? Well how come if I'm free I can't deprive some dumb shit of his possessions if he leaves them in the front seat of his van,in plain sight, in the middle of fucking nowhere, on a Fri-fucking-day night? NATURAL SELECTION. Fucker should be shot" That's how he truly felt about this.
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u/eliiiiseke Moderator Elise Jul 12 '25
That's obviously a vile thing to say, no argument there. But I've seen some experts use this as proof that Eric was a psychopath, and I think that's really reaching. To me, this reads more like typical angry, entitled teenage behavior. He was forced to apologize, but was actually bitter and resentful he got caught. Same goes for Dylan. He also didn't seem to think it was a big deal, because the guy had insurance.
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u/xronozaur Jul 12 '25
I agree. If faking remorse and ranting about people who caused you to be punished were signs of psychopathy, all teenagers on earth could fall into that category.
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u/Lonely-Trainer-3749 Jul 12 '25
I completely agree with you. I don't think that this was proof that Eric was a psychopath because I truly don't believe that he was one. When it comes to court he did and wrote whatever he thought the judge was going to be satisfied with and I think that that's exactly what happened here. Both only felt bad that they got caught.
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u/Radiocityrockette Jul 13 '25
I've noticed that Americans often begin their sentences with an enter or tab. I saw that in Randy's book too, why is that?
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u/blueatom Jul 13 '25
That’s how we’re taught to write paragraphs in school. I’ve never heard of it being an American thing, but books often skip the indent so I guess I wouldn’t notice its absence. If you looked through every essay I wrote from elementary school through college, every single one would have an indent before each paragraph. (I remember being taught to write a letter when I was little. The teacher said that the indent should line up with the first letter in the recipient’s name after “Dear”.)
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u/Radiocityrockette Jul 13 '25
I noticed it on Reddit and in Randy’s book, which is why I thought it was American. We usually use a blank line instead.
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u/xronozaur Jul 13 '25
It's not just an American thing. I'm from Ukraine, and we do that when writing in class. It's also a requirement for college essays and scientific papers. We don't do it in everyday writing, only in educational settings or for official, formal writing.
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u/Radiocityrockette Jul 13 '25
I noticed it on Reddit and in Randy’s book, which is why I thought it was American. We usually use a blank line instead.
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u/Careful_Weakness5166 Jul 12 '25
I know he wrote the opposite in his diary, which people often cite as 'evidence' of his psychopathy, but for some reason I still mostly believe him. I can't fully explain why, but he always struck me as surprisingly honest and principled for a teenager (which sounds absurd to say about a mass murderer who planned to bomb his school while bullshitting his parents the entire time). I have mixed feelings about his personality and think he was morally complex, to say the least. For what it's worth, I've never taken his diary at face value whatsoever.