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The Mystery of D.B. Cooper Continues *Updates*
WoodenJefferson
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PCGS sorts out recovered $20 bills...now a new find that just may prove to be another link to this mystery.PCGS Link to recovered cash
Thursday, March 27, 2008
First $5,880 Now Parachute may help unravel mystery
Hoping to solve at least part of a 36-year-old mystery, the FBI is analyzing a torn, tangled parachute found in southwest Washington to determine if it belonged to famed plane hijacker D.B. Cooper.
Children playing outside their home near Amboy found the chute’s fabric sticking up from the ground in an area where their father had been grading a road, agent Larry Carr said Tuesday. They pulled it out as far as they could, then cut the parachute’s ropes with scissors.
The children had seen recent media coverage of the case” the FBI launched a publicity campaign last fall, hoping to generate tips on the unsolved highjacking” and they urged their dad to call the agency.
“When we went to the public, the whole idea was that the public is going to bring the answers to us,” Carr said. “This is exactly what we were hoping for.”
In November 1971, a man identifying himself as Dan Cooper” later mistakenly but enduringly identified as D.B. Cooper” hijacked a Northwest Orient flight from Portland, Ore., to Seattle, claiming he had a bomb.
When the plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, he released the passengers in exchange for $200,000 and asked to be flown to Mexico. On the flight to Mexico City, he apparently took the cash and parachuted from the plane’s back stairs somewhere near the Oregon border.
Agents doubt he survived because conditions were poor and the terrain was rough, but few signs of his fate have been found.
Carr spoke with the children’s father, whom he declined to identify, early this month and learned the chute was white, the same color as Cooper’s.
And when Carr overlaid the family’s address onto a map investigators made in the early days of the investigation, he learned another encouraging fact: They lived right in Cooper’s most probable landing zone, between Green and Bald mountains.
Carr hopped in his car and drove down. He dug around the property for about 45 minutes, unsuccessfully looking for a harness or other remains from the parachute, but the children weren’t home, and the father wasn’t sure exactly where they found it.
There are no obvious markings on the parachute to indicate whether it’s the type Cooper used, a Navy Backpack 6 with a 26-foot canopy, Carr said. He’s hoping a member of the public who has expertise in the parachutes will come forward and confirm whether it’s the right kind before the FBI bothers to excavate the property. Barring that, the agency could turn to scientific analysis of the fabric.
“We’ve got to be pretty darn sure we’re not wasting time and money here,” he said.
If it is Cooper’s parachute, that will solve one mystery ” where he apparently landed” but it will raise another, Carr said.
In 1980, a family on a picnic found $5,880 of Cooper’s money in a bag on a Columbia River beach, near Vancouver. Some investigators believed it might have been washed down to the beach by the Washougal River. But if Cooper landed near Amboy and stashed the money bag there, there’s no way it could have naturally reached the Washougal.
“If this is D.B. Cooper’s parachute, the money could not have arrived at its discovery location by natural means,” Carr said. “That whole theory is out the window.”
Thursday, March 27, 2008
First $5,880 Now Parachute may help unravel mystery
Hoping to solve at least part of a 36-year-old mystery, the FBI is analyzing a torn, tangled parachute found in southwest Washington to determine if it belonged to famed plane hijacker D.B. Cooper.
Children playing outside their home near Amboy found the chute’s fabric sticking up from the ground in an area where their father had been grading a road, agent Larry Carr said Tuesday. They pulled it out as far as they could, then cut the parachute’s ropes with scissors.
The children had seen recent media coverage of the case” the FBI launched a publicity campaign last fall, hoping to generate tips on the unsolved highjacking” and they urged their dad to call the agency.
“When we went to the public, the whole idea was that the public is going to bring the answers to us,” Carr said. “This is exactly what we were hoping for.”
In November 1971, a man identifying himself as Dan Cooper” later mistakenly but enduringly identified as D.B. Cooper” hijacked a Northwest Orient flight from Portland, Ore., to Seattle, claiming he had a bomb.
When the plane landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, he released the passengers in exchange for $200,000 and asked to be flown to Mexico. On the flight to Mexico City, he apparently took the cash and parachuted from the plane’s back stairs somewhere near the Oregon border.
Agents doubt he survived because conditions were poor and the terrain was rough, but few signs of his fate have been found.
Carr spoke with the children’s father, whom he declined to identify, early this month and learned the chute was white, the same color as Cooper’s.
And when Carr overlaid the family’s address onto a map investigators made in the early days of the investigation, he learned another encouraging fact: They lived right in Cooper’s most probable landing zone, between Green and Bald mountains.
Carr hopped in his car and drove down. He dug around the property for about 45 minutes, unsuccessfully looking for a harness or other remains from the parachute, but the children weren’t home, and the father wasn’t sure exactly where they found it.
There are no obvious markings on the parachute to indicate whether it’s the type Cooper used, a Navy Backpack 6 with a 26-foot canopy, Carr said. He’s hoping a member of the public who has expertise in the parachutes will come forward and confirm whether it’s the right kind before the FBI bothers to excavate the property. Barring that, the agency could turn to scientific analysis of the fabric.
“We’ve got to be pretty darn sure we’re not wasting time and money here,” he said.
If it is Cooper’s parachute, that will solve one mystery ” where he apparently landed” but it will raise another, Carr said.
In 1980, a family on a picnic found $5,880 of Cooper’s money in a bag on a Columbia River beach, near Vancouver. Some investigators believed it might have been washed down to the beach by the Washougal River. But if Cooper landed near Amboy and stashed the money bag there, there’s no way it could have naturally reached the Washougal.
“If this is D.B. Cooper’s parachute, the money could not have arrived at its discovery location by natural means,” Carr said. “That whole theory is out the window.”
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Comments
<< <i>Yeah, I read both those stories too. An Interesting note: I was in the Airborne when the hi-jacking occured and we were all convinced that he had to be ex-airborne to be crazy enough to to try it. We all wondered if it was someone in our unit. I am now not so sure....he never checked his reserve chute......a big no-no for the Airborne! Possibly didn't even check his main and the FBI sewed that one shut too...... but never released the story. >>
IIRC, he asked for four chutes and implied that he was going to take one or more crewmembers off the plane with him, just to keep the authorities from sabotaging the parachutes.
TD
Well that would certainly be a good reason for not releasing the story....lol jk
No Way Out: Stimulus and Money Printing Are the Only Path Left
Hint: think weather vane.
Actually it's not an anti-hijacking device, it only blocks the aft airstairs from being lowered from inside. So I guess we could call it an anti jumping device.................Rick
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You're right, it's not an anti hijacking device. It is actually a spring loaded vane that prevents the aft airstairs from dropping in a B-727 when it is traveling at less than 45 kts. Once airborne it weather vanes in the air to prevent the stairs from coming down.
They matched a list at the F.B.I.
We'll have to wait and see about the 'chute.
Hi Woody!
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<< <i>Cooper is on Las Vega on Friday nights, he now own the Monticeto. I don't know what the fuss is, the man bought a ranch with the money he got when he hijacked the plane, raised cattle, invested in land and then bought the Monticeto. Hell the F.B.I. is off track again.
Is dis da bum?
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
<< <i>
<< <i>Cooper is on Las Vega on Friday nights, he now own the Monticeto. I don't know what the fuss is, the man bought a ranch with the money he got when he hijacked the plane, raised cattle, invested in land and then bought the Monticeto. Hell the F.B.I. is off track again.
Is dis da bum?
Holy crap! D.B. Cooper is Burt Renolds!
End of kerfuffle, except for the conspiracy theorists who may chime in now:
Back to the hunt for db.
Have a Great Day!
Louis
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen