WA WA - D.B. Cooper hijacking mystery, 24 Nov 1971 - #1

D.B.Cooper, who on Thanksgiving eve 1971 parachuted from a jetliner he had hijacked somewhere SW of Mt St Helens with $200,000 in his backpack has never been ID'ed, nor has his body ever been found.

Last night on the 11pm local CBS news we learned 2 local 'Sleuthers' now have come to learn his real name and say he is alive and well and they plan to go have a little chat with him! They have talked to him twice and now plan to confront him with what they have learned and see what his reaction is.

I'm sorry the only link I have is this video:

http://www.koin.com/Global/SearchResults.asp?qu=d+b+cooper&x=11&y=7

I do remember the gist of what was said, however. This man lived in a little house very close to Vancouver lake which in turn lies next to the Columbia river. They said he buried the money in the sand along the river, and sometime in the '80's some of that money surfaced on the bank of the river. The bill #'s matched.

This person was trained in parachuting, was a trained pilot and had a record for armed robbery.

There were 6 calls to the FBI right away giving them the same name who this was. In fact there was a call to the FBI the night of the hijacking from this person, who told them he didn't want them to think he had done it. This person later came into a lot of money.

I'll call channel 6 and see if there is a regular link, but thought y'all would be interested. This solidifying of who D.B. was is the work of two regular working guys, one an electrician, who Sleuth on the side. They might have solved one of the most mysterious missing persons/hijacking cases in the Northwest!

Scandi


ETA: The names of the 2 Sleuthers are Matt Myers and Dan Devorak. Should I invite them to join Websleuths?

They had a character on prison break that they thought was D.B. Cooper and he told one guy where he buried the money and then died in the prison escape attempt. Didn't know there was really a person.

I'm not sure, but I do remember hearing that someone in Florida claimed to be him. I think he died, but I'm not sure now. He confessed to someone I think. I'll check it out.

Here's a link to the google page. Just go to town on all these links. Duane Weber's name is mentioned on one link.

http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=d+b+cooper+living+in+florida

Interesting Scandi... thanks for sharing. So nice to see you again girlfriend. We have to get together again soon! :blowkiss:

Thanks BarnGoddess,

I remember this well as I was a young mother living in Olympia Washington at the time. I was having Thanksgiving with my parents in Portland when the news hit the airwaves that he had jumped out of the plane with his loot. As I remember he boarded a plane in Portland, which he then hijacked. They flew to Seattle where the money was brought on board and given to him, then flew back south towards Portland. I think in that day and age they had no inkling someone would be so blatent as to then parachute out of a high flying jet and disappear. I'll go re-read the story, as I think he had the pilot fly lower than the norm.

Then I was living in Vancouver Wn when the money surfaced. Quite a story!

Any updates I hear on the story I will be sure and post. And I must give a :woohoo: , and do a little dance for all the amature Sleuthers out there.:dance:

Scandi

I have always been facinated by DB Cooper. Thank you for posting this!

YES!! Invite them to join here and post what they know about this long-standing mystery. i personally believe he died that night, but would love to review any evidence leading to another conclusion.

This case has always been interesting--so much so that they made a movie about it called Pursuit of D. B. Cooper(1981) with Treat Williams and Robert Duvall--More recently, I saw a special where they seemed to think they had their man and he was sent to prison on other charges--always appreciate any more info on this bizarre case

Oh this story is always told every Thanksgiving. IMO. He went down and died when he jumped.

Dum, da Dummm Dummm! We shall see! Besides the news about D.B., I just thought it was neato that there are serious Sleuthers out there that put their heart and soal into solving cold cases.

I personally don't think he is dead. This same person the Sleuthers have in mind as being D.B. is the guy who was a pilot, had been a parachutist and also was wanted for armed robbery. This same person came into a lot of money a while after the hijacking. This same person by name called the FBI the night of the hijacking telling them he hoped they didn't suspect him.

Right there are so many circumstantial facts that have to be true or KOIN 6 would not put these guys on the air. And this person is very much alive today. I think they said on the news this is the only unsolved hijacking in United States history.

Just think if they nail this guy!


Scandi

PS: I always capitalize the word Sleuthing out of respect to such a worthy passion. YaYa

Hi Anngelique,

Great to see your happy face here. I have thought of you alot lately, and especially of Devin through this Holiday season. I was hoping he would be able to be home with the family for Thanksgiving, and always keep my thoughts in his direction, knowing he is in the very best of hands and love surrounds him continually.

I'd love to get together again. I'll never forget our escapade in Cannon Beach. It was Vundabar!

xoxoxo Scandi

PS: Be sure and tell Devin if you see him that there are a lot of people he doesn't know that keep him in their hearts and are really proud of what he is accomplishing.

scandi said:

Hi Anngelique,

Great to see your happy face here. I have thought of you alot lately, and especially of Devin through this Holiday season. I was hoping he would be able to be home with the family for Thanksgiving, and always keep my thoughts in his direction, knowing he is in the very best of hands and love surrounds him continually.

I'd love to get together again. I'll never forget our escapade in Cannon Beach. It was Vundabar!

xoxoxo Scandi

PS: Be sure and tell Devin if you see him that there are a lot of people he doesn't know that keep him in their hearts and are really proud of what he is accomplishing.

Click to expand...

Thanks :blowkiss: :blowkiss: :blowkiss:

Hello all, thanks for the update

I am actually one of the men who was on KOIN 6 on Thanksgiving Eve. I appreciate the comments, and I know there are doubters out there. However, everything we said on KOIN was 100% true. We actually have much more, but, at this time, we are not allowed to air the evidence, due to legal reasons.

As for those who think cooper died. You are entitled to your opinion. I just find it hard to believe that after 35 years, not one item of Cooper's has ever been found. the only evidence is the placard from the 727, and the 6,000 found on the banks of the Columbia.

If anyone has any questions, I will be happy to answer them. AS a matter of fact, we had another interview with our suspect this past weekend, and he actually made a few slips in some of his comments. We are now talking with KOIN, and we may be airing an update on this case soon. There are legal issues which are holding up the interview, mainly on KOIN's side.

What an interesting story. I'd never heard of him before now. I'm very interested to see if your suspect turns out to be DB Cooper.

Welcome to Websleuths!

I wanted to give you a warm and heartfelt welcome too Leftcoast. You will find this a most interesting site since the sleuthing bug has bitten you!

I am amazed at both you and your partners tenacity in following through with this case as you have. Can you imagine how you will touch the heart of every investigator worldwide if you are right and this man is DB? It will be right up there with Mt St Helens, at least in my book, as I believe it is the only unsolved hijacking in the United States - a 36 year old COLD CASE~!

I'll think of some questions. I am dying to know what first caught your eye in the case to make you raise your right eyebrow and say, Hmmmmm. LOL

Scandi

Thanks for the welcome everyone.

The first thing that really caught my eye and made me suspicious of our suspect was his arrest for armed robbery, which occurred just months before the hijacking. You see, this is a similar crime to hijacking, in which both crimes are takeover crimes, with the sole intent to use force to extort money. This was definitely the catalyst to the work that ensued. It also showed the desperation this man had, and his bleak financial situation. And then, to see him without any source of employment in 1972 on, and living the life of a playboy, I just couldn't imagine how he was able to turn it around. NOw, I know.

leftcoast

Scandi - when I clicked on the link you gave in the first post it brings up 50 or so articles - when I do a DB Cooper search it brings up the same 50 or so articles - which one is it?

Also, for leftcoast - hi and welcome to Websleuths. I am assuming you are one of the sleuthers Scandi was referring to in her first post.

Question: If the information you have has been reported on TV (KOIN) and we are talking about it here and you are talking to this guy - well, wouldn't he be aware of some of this and be getting a little "nervous"????

Hi Poco, I'm just up for a few minutes, but will call channel6 in the morning about the video. It worked fine when I put it on here because I watched it, but it has been 3 months. Lots of times links are removed from a site after so long as we have seen how many times? LOL


Scandi

Hi Poco, Yes, I am one of the two who was on KOIN. As for the interview, it was up on the KOIN website for about one or two weeks, but, I don't believe it is available on their site anymore. When it was on tv, I made a few copies, just to make sure I would have a record.


As for our suspect getting nervous. You are absolutely right. That is why I believe he is actually talking to us. To try to convince us he isn't Cooper. Every time we visit him, the first thing he does is tell us where he was during the hijacking. To everyone, it would seem he has a perfect alibi. HOwever, we checked with the FBI and his story about where he was during the time Cooper was on the plane is not true, according to multiple FBI sources. In addition, we know for a fact that our suspect called the FBI at 10:00pm, some two hours after Cooper jumped, and didn't want the FBI to think he was the hijacker.

Also, if you are really interested in this case (I don't want to push this case on anyone), I did a radio interview with a guy named Steve Rinehart last summer. IF you go his website, STEVENRINEHART.com, you will see information regarding Cooper and interviews with various people. Third down is the interview I did with him. It is 50 minutes long and explains the entire case.

As for our suspect seeing the KOIN interview, I don't think he did. It really doesn't matter anymore, because after 7 years, we are going to identify him shortly, we just have to clear a few legal hurdles.

By the way, here is a quote from our visit this past sunday. I asked our suspect about how the money got to rest on the beach along the Columbia. HIs exact quote, which we can prove, is "well, I know that Cooper just took 5,000 or so, in twenties, walked up to the river, and put the money somewhere where it will eventually be found, once you find it, you will think that "I" drowned, and everybody will think that db cooper drowned. It is great insurance, why not?" That was one of quotes from him this weekend.

leftcoast

Left, thank you so much for this info. I don't know enough about the case to contribute, but I'm sure I'm not the only lurker who is fascinated.