(OK, it is only Burt Reynolds playing D.B. Cooper in the movie "Without A Paddle.")
Posted on 01/01/2008 2:59:53 PM PST by DogByte6RER
D.B. COOPER REDUX
Help Us Solve the Enduring Mystery
12/31/07
On a cold November night 36 years ago, in the driving wind and rain, somewhere between southern Washington state and just north of Portland, Oregon, a man calling himself Dan Cooper parachuted out of a plane he’d just hijacked clutching a bag filled with $200,000 in stolen cash.
Who was Cooper? Did he survive the jump? And what happened to the loot, only a small part of which has ever surfaced?
It’s a mystery, frankly. We’ve run down thousands of leads and considered all sorts of scenarios. And amateur sleuths have put forward plenty of their own theories. Yet the case remains unsolved.
Would we still like to get our man? Absolutely. And we have reignited the case—thanks to a Seattle case agent named Larry Carr and new technologies like DNA testing.
You can help. We’re providing here, for the first time, a series of pictures and information on the case. Please look it all over carefully to see if it triggers a memory or if you can provide any useful information.
A few things to keep in mind, according to Special Agent Carr:
* Cooper was no expert skydiver. “We originally thought Cooper was an experienced jumper, perhaps even a paratrooper,” says Special Agent Carr. “We concluded after a few years this was simply not true. No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch-black night, in the rain, with a 200-mile-an-hour wind in his face, wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky. He also missed that his reserve chute was only for training and had been sewn shut—something a skilled skydiver would have checked.”
* The hijacker had no help on the ground, either. To have utilized an accomplice, Cooper would’ve needed to coordinate closely with the flight crew so he could jump at just the right moment and hit the right drop zone. But Cooper simply said, "Fly to Mexico," and he had no idea where he was when he jumped. There was also no visibility of the ground due to cloud cover at 5,000 feet.
* We have a solid physical description of Cooper. “The two flight attendants who spent the most time with him on the plane were interviewed separately the same night in separate cities and gave nearly identical descriptions,” says Carr. “They both said he was about 5'10" to 6', 170 to 180 pounds, in his mid-40s, with brown eyes. People on the ground who came into contact with him also gave very similar descriptions.”
And what of some of the names pegged as Cooper? None have panned out. Duane Weber, who claimed to be Cooper on his deathbed, was ruled out by DNA testing (we lifted a DNA sample from Cooper’s tie in 2001). Kenneth Christiansen, named in a recent magazine article, didn’t match the physical description and was a skilled paratrooper. Richard McCoy, who died in 1974, also didn’t match the description and was at home the day after the hijacking having Thanksgiving dinner with his family in Utah, an unlikely scenario unless he had help.
As many agents before him, Carr thinks it highly unlikely that Cooper survived the jump. “Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open.”
Still, we’d all like to know for sure, and Carr thinks you can help.
“Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream. Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle.”
If you have any information: please e-mail our Seattle field office at fbise@leo.gov. And for more details on the case, see our story of November 24, 2006.
More coverage here:
“FBI Makes New Bid to Find 1971 Skyjacker”
http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/L/LOOKING_FOR_COOPER?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=HOME
I recently saw the Discovery Channel show that claimed it was Duane Weber and it was very convincing.
I’m questioning how they got a DNA sample out of a tie and how they could say with any certainty that it was Cooper’s. Assuming he didn’t bleed on the tie, I would guess they found a hair sample on the tie but, again, how can they be sure it was Cooper’s hair and how many hands could the tie have passed through before someone thought to preserve it as evidence? After all, by 1971 standards, the evidence one could have gleaned from it would be negligible.
Weber claimed to tell his wife on his deathbed in 1995 that he was “Dan Cooper”, not the publicized “D.B. Cooper” that the media called him. The wife had no idea who he was talking about and only found out after telling family members who then started researching. “Dan Cooper” would be a fitting alias for a “Duane Weber”, given the cadence of the name and the relative sound-alike quality.
Far from being a bungler, Cooper had to be aware that the plane he was on was one of the few commercial planes that allowed him to jump from the rear, rather than side exits. In addition, his note instructed the crew what speed and altitude they should travel at. Flying too high or too fast would have severely hampered his escape.
Weber also had an Air Force background as well as a criminal past in Washington state, two things that would have fit the profile. His photos around that time look like Cooper’s sketch although I felt the nose on Weber was more prominent.
The Discovery Channel used computer analysis of the Cooper sketch with photos of various could-have-beens and found Weber’s face matched the Cooper sketch most closely.
Weber said he buried the money after landing and planned to return for it a few years later but that he couldn’t remember where the burial site was and that the later explosion of Mt. St. Helen’s so altered the landscape that he decided the money could never be found.
FWIW, the Treasury Department claims that no money with serial numbers matching the ones Cooper left with have ever been recovered except for the $6000 or so found down river by kids in 1980.
“He also missed that his reserve chute was only for training and had been sewn shut....”
You can tell this happened a long time ago. With all the lawyers we have now they would have a warning label on that today. His relatives should come forward and sue the airlines. They’d probably get a lot more than $200,000.
mkjessup in ‘08!!
I like what you say and how you say it! :)
Thank you Dear Lady, but I would never be elected, I’m too politically incorrect, too blunt, too unconcerned about who I offend by telling the truth.
Just vote for Duncan Hunter, he’s the one true Reagan conservative in this race, and he’s worthy of our support.
And I heartily endorse your tagline, God Bless You.
Thanks. :’)
Arkansas man says he’s boy who found hijacker ransom money in Washington state
Seattle Post-Intelligencer | Sunday, February 12, 2006 | Associated Press
Posted on 02/12/2006 5:00:16 PM EST by skeptoid
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1577202/posts
D.B. Cooper (Vanity)
Posted on 05/06/2006 1:22:55 AM EDT by Ptarmigan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1627716/posts
Unmasking D.B. Cooper
n y magazine | October 22, 2007 | geoffery gray
Posted on 10/22/2007 1:17:35 PM EDT by dickmc
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1914657/posts
Claim: Infamous hijacker lived in Wash. (D.B. Cooper found?)
UPI | Oct 24, 2007 | not specified
Posted on 10/24/2007 10:22:36 PM EDT by RDTF
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1915995/posts
On This Day In History: Nov. 24, 1971 -
Hijacker “D.B. Cooper” Parachutes Into Thunderstorm
History.com | November 24, 2007 | History.com
Posted on 11/24/2007 8:08:10 PM EST by DogByte6RER
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1930086/posts
(OK, it is only Burt Reynolds playing D.B. Cooper in the movie "Without A Paddle.")
Maybe John Edwards can channel him.
It’s George W. Bush. Mystery solved.
How fast do you estimate the plane was flying at the time he bailed out?
He may be running for president in the Iowa primary...everyone else is.
He's dead. If the jump didn't do it, the butts did.
I heard he directed them to fly at 130 with flaps down. Hopefully that is not information that only the perpetrator knows!
A clip-on tie from J.C. Penney.
Felons aren’t known for their fashion, I guess.
Well, it’s obvious he’s dead. The gif shows he was crushed when he hit the capital “ I “ in the word “Illustration”.
Everyone knows that DB Cooper was Karl Rove in his younger days.
I knew D B Cooper, and you're no D B Cooper.
These were my thoughts also. The DNA on the tie could have belonged to other passengers or someone at the airport. Unless the FBI knows something we don't, like he wiped his nose with the tie after he took it off or wiped his mouth or forhead, something, otherwise I wouldn't rule out someone based on the DNA on the tie.
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