According to the Clear Creek sub-sheriff, Sol Pais did not have a master plan, the death preceding Manhunt

A sub-sheriff from Colorado who led the search for a teenager in Florida, whose actions led to increased security at Columbine High School, on the 20th anniversary of the attack that killed 13 people, said she was probably killed before the police launched a large manhunt.

Deputy Sheriff Bruce Snelling of Clear Creek County told the Denver Post that Sol Pais, 18, was probably killed on Monday night. Her body was found Wednesday in the snowy hills west of Denver and it seems that she has been dead for more than 24 hours.

"She had no idea what had happened from Monday afternoon to Tuesday when a search for her started and until Wednesday when her body was found," Snelling said. . "The logical probability was that she was here to end her trip."

A manhunt was launched Tuesday, the day after the departure of Pais from Miami to Denver and the purchase of a shotgun and two rounds of ammunition. FBI officials said they feared that she was preparing an attack herself, as she was "infatuated" with the 1999 shooting in Columbine.

Columbine, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Saturday attack, closed Tuesday as authorities crisscrossed the area for Pais, and hundreds of Denver area schools canceled their courses Wednesday while the hunt for humans intensified.

Dean Phillips, an officer in charge of the FBI's Denver office, said social media posts and comments she had made to others had led investigators to consider her a credible threat. Pais did not threaten a particular school, but his story and the purchase of a weapon immediately after his arrival in Colorado deserved a broad reaction, officials said.

But Snelling said that Pais "did not have a master plan" to carry out a shootout at a school.

"She became black," he said. "There was no digital footprint anywhere. No phone. No credit card use. For me, it meant that it was almost impossible for this 18-year-old ill-equipped teenager to fly from Florida's sea level to Colorado and then climb into the mountains with the intention of leaving for a massacre. "

Many questions remain unanswered about Pais, but a friend challenged the authorities' claim that she was a threat.

Adrianna Pete, 19, painted a complex picture of the teenager, saying she was deeply troubled, alone and often spoke of suicide, but also brilliant, kind and talented and she loved to draw.

Pete, a student in Carleton, Michigan, said she met Pais online two years ago via a mutual friend and quickly developed a friendship involving almost daily communication. They met in person twice, once when Pete went to Florida and once when Pais went to Michigan.

Pete blamed the authorities for overreacting by describing Pais as a threat based on his activities prior to his death.

"She has never threatened anyone," said Pete. "There is no credible threat and only assumptions that it was just because the word Columbine was included."

Pete said that Pais had a strange obsession for the Columbine killers, but that did not mean that she was preparing an attack. The killers were "a person with whom she could identify" because they were alone, not because of their violence, Pete added.

An FBI spokesperson did not respond to a request for additional information on Pais' background or his comments about Columbine that triggered the rapid reaction of law enforcement.