Columbine Survivor’s Death 26 Years Later Ruled a Homicide, Brings Death Toll to 14

Hochhalter, who was a teenager when she was partially paralyzed in the shooting, died on February 16 at the age of 43 from sepsis, an infection reaction, according to the Jefferson County Coroner’s office. Complications from her paralysis were listed as a “significant contributing factor” in her death, which the autopsy said was “best classified as homicide.”

Hochhalter was 17 when two of her classmates opened fire on the Colorado school, killing one teacher and 12 other students, while injuring 23. The official death count doesn’t include the two shooters — 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold — who took their own lives.

Her brother, Nathan Hochhalter, told AP that his sister’s pressure sore led to sepsis — adding, “We didn’t think it would be this bad this soon.” While the publication noted she suffered from intense pain — and used a wheelchair — in the years following the shooting, she was remembered by friends and family for her positive outlook on life.

On the 25th anniversary of the shooting, Hochhalter called it the “most healing” one for her since the incident — after her PTSD prevented her from attending previous ceremonies.

“I’ve truly been able to heal my soul since that awful day in 1999,” she wrote in an April 2024 Facebook post. “It’s so interesting, everyone’s grief and healing journey is completely different. It ebbs and flows, triggered by certain moments, taking us back to memories we once thought were frozen in time.”

“I’ve had that happen quite a bit this anniversary, memories from that time period I thought were buried forever have come back to the surface, happy memories of being a teenager who was so focused on the boring mundane things like music videos, basketball, sleepovers at my friends’ houses, and finally beating Tetris on the computer (I was very proud of that accomplishment),” she continued. “No bad memories have affected me this time. It’s like my heart has wanted to flood my mind with happiness instead of trauma.”

“I still feel sadness at the loss of the 13 people who died that day, but I felt their presence at the vigil. When the song ‘Over the Rainbow’ started playing, I looked at the empty chairs and suddenly felt all of them sitting there, with smiles on their faces, wanting us to remember the good times,” she concluded. “The happy memories. They would want us to remember and laugh at their silly goofy antics when they were alive, instead of focusing on how their lives sadly ended. Those 13 are always with us. They’re never forgotten. We are Columbine.”

When Hochhalter’s mother died by suicide one month after the shooting, The Denver Post reports she became the “acquired daughter” of Sue Townsend, whose daughter Lauren was killed.

“She was a fighter. She’d get knocked down — she struggled a lot with health issues that stemmed from the shooting — but I’d watch her pull herself back up,” said Townsend “She was her best advocate and an advocate for others who weren’t as strong in the disability community.”

Hochhalter even wrote a letter to Sue Klebold, the mother of one of the killers, absolving her of guilt.