This answers one of the biggest questions I had regarding the sketches. That being whether or not H-B had any involvement. If he didn't directly influence them in any way, he at the very least allowed them to be a "compromise" and I therefore have a very difficult time believing that he didn't affect them. A little digging found that the "Bing" sketch was made by interviewing the passengers. Passengers???? The only passenger who could even be considered an eye witness is the student "Mitchell" and he didn't really pay attention.
I don't think H-bach had a lot to do with the sketches. H-bach mentions that he was waiting for the sketches from the Seattle office. Makes me wonder why H-bach didn't go to Seattle and talk over the case with the FA's, and passengers, as they were released from the plane. Heck, H-bach knew it would be his case. While the flight was circling and waiting for the chutes, H-bach could have easily flown to Seattle and waited for the passengers to be released. It's obvious that nobody thought ahead.
Then to think that H-B goes as far as calling the FBI to have them open a case/file on Duane Weber whose only connection to the case is that he resembles one of the sketches. Sketches that are basically worthless in identifying Cooper, and H-B knows it. There is no evidence whatsoever that Weber was even west of the Mississippi in '71, let alone Cooper. H-B has also stated that he thinks that Weber is one of the best suspects he's seen. ??? Based on what?? The entire Weber case is bolstered by stories from a Gin-tonic soaked Widow and a resemblance to a sketch we now know is worthless. H-B has known this all along. I'm sure that H-B also liked the fact that Weber was 6 feet under, so no one could ever question him.
It's funny, but, H-bach had to call the Seattle office again and again to get them to open a file on Duane. Odd that H-bach wanted the Seattle office to open a file on Duane, yet, he was too "stubborn" to ask Teddy for an alibi, or maybe H-bach didn't want to turn over that stone, or maybe H-bach was simply "fooled" by a very intelligent criminal.
During our lunch, I actually learned quite a bit about good old Duane. It seems that Duane's wife exaggerated certain things in order for Duane to look like a better suspect. Supposedly, H-bach was told that a ticket stub from Northwest Airlines from Portland to Seattle was found by Weber's widow. Of course, when asked to see the physical evidence, it turned into a "Geraldo" show, in which the dead dog was dug up, and no ticket was found.
ONe thing I did learn from our lunch, is that H-bach is "no longer" pulling the strings on this case. H-bach said he is "now just like everybody else and is not privy to what is going on during the FBI investigation". I thought that was interesting, and well overdue. IF the FBI had done this in 1982, maybe, this case would have been solved in 1982.
During our lunch, I learned that H-bach was lowering his expectations on whether or not Duane was Cooper. AS a matter of fact, H-bach admitted that Duane and Teddy had the same chance of being Cooper. H-bach put it at about 1%. Well, I thought, isn't a 1% chance good enough to at least ask for an alibi from Teddy? Funny, but if every suspect had a 1% chance, Cooper would have been caught within one year after the heist, since the list of suspects had reached 100 within one year.
What I want to know is whether or not either Julius, or H-B's direct supe were even made aware that:
1. Teddy existed and was rejected
2. That Teddy's name was called in 12 times the night of the jack.
3. That H-B knew Teddy.....and
4. That Teddy had a conviction for armed robbery....and..
5. That Teddy called the FBI (or H-B directly ???) the night of the heist.
The answer to these questions is critical to unlocking this entire thing. If the answer is "no" to one or more of these questions, then I know we've got a real problem here. In fact I'm pretty sure we do. If my theory is correct, it answers another equally critical question. That being how H-B was able to stay on this case as long as he did. Proactivity and WGC explain this because nothing else I can possibly think of make sense. It really just seems to fit like a glove.
Don't know the answer to those questions. Obviously, if H-bach did hide his prior relationship, Teddy's criminal past, etc, from the FBI, that would be a "criminal" act. However, H-bach didn't hide this from me. As for what happened in 1971, I was too young to know. But, FBI 101 tells you that the best predictor of future behavior, is the "criminal record of an individual". History tends to repeat itself.
I think that anyone who hears the details of what Cooper did, regardless of their background would conclude that he was skilled and had planned this to a "T". It just all seems to fit. Accident or oversight just doesn't seem to fit all the peculiarities of the model of this investigation.
While certainly not a genius, I doubt that H-B is quite as "gray-challenged" as he's been made out to be.
OD
YEs, anyone who thinks that Cooper wasn't an expert in skydiving is a complete moron. To even come upon such an idea, one would have to think of the plan, make certain it was the right time of the year, make certain the plane was a 727, etc, etc. This is not something that an ordinary criminal could think of who was not a skilled skydiver.
Heck, when we started this case, I didn't even know many of the terms that Cooper used as if they were part of his everyday vocabulary. Such as D-rings, aftstairs, interphone, etc.
As for H-bach's intelligence, I really don't know the level of his IQ. I can tell you that one must have a "reasonable" IQ,just to be accepted to the FBI. However, there are people with above average IQ's, who just aren't good at figuring out crimes, or reading people.
Regardless of the outcome of this case, I still think much of the blame has to go to the management level of the Portland office. Sure, H-bach screwed up, either intentionally or not, but, where were the bosse's? Heck, I sure wish that my boss gave me the latitude that H-bach had in this case. Heck, I could eat "peanuts" all day, and do nothing.
While I understand OD's point, I need a motive. Every crime has a motive. We all know Teddy's motive, revenge and money. What is the motive for a FBI agent, 8 years away from a pension to help a convicted felon out on a crime which is obviously going to get a huge amount of press?
If you can give me a "good" explanation of the upside for H-bach, and why there is a reasonable explanation for H-bach's lack of progress, I "need" an explanation as to why a respected FBI agent would "risk" his career, pension, freedom, reputation, etc, to help out a convicted armed robber, who would have been the most likely suspect of the planned crime. What did H-bach get out of this? Money, what?
I must say I have thought, over and over, about this particular topic, and I hope this is just a case of an agent making a basic mistake. Heck, every one of us has done "stupid" things in our lives. I laugh at some of the things I have done, and you know what, some of the people in my life, have probably "used" me, and to this day, I still don't realize it. Isn't that possible in this case? Isn't it possible that H-bach thought Teddy was a well-off respected business owner, who was friendly with H-bach, and just didn't fit the description of the hijacker? Heck, Mike Donahue, the KOIN reporter, told me, that he just doesn't think Teddy is the guy. I think he was honest in his opinion. Look at OJ, half of the country thinks OJ is innocent. ARE they all idiots, or are they just unable to fathom that somebody they "know" could do such a thing? Couldn't this be the same type of thing?
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