LA magazine, Oct. 21, 1972: 'The D.B. Cooper Story' installment by Karl Fleming (pp. 20-24, 40)
Document date 21 October 1972
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Id: Cooper-Part-02:001-006
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-02:001-006 Document: LA magazine, Oct. 21, 1972: 'The D.B. Cooper Story' installment by Karl Fleming (pp. 20-24, 40) Id: Cooper-Part-02:001-006 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-02%3A001-006 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
A person reads every report. Corrections are made by hand, to the data — titles, dates, names, which pages belong together — never to the scans, and they can take a while to appear.
FBI 164-81, Vault Part 2 pp. 1–6, News clipping, dated 21 Oct 1972 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-02%3A001-006
[Column left, partially legible, text skewed/mirrored] ...between [illegible] and [illegible]... ...10,000 and 30,000 feet... ...the captain to [illegible]... ...could see down between [illegible] clouds... ...familiar [illegible]... ...out of Seattle [illegible]... About 30 minutes [illegible] Reno... ...was on the correct course south[bound]... ...and could see that the [illegible]... ...Meanwhile he was [illegible]...
[Column right, partially legible, text appears mirror-reversed] His logic was sound. The chutes were [illegible]... the only [guess: slip-up] was over the [illegible]... ter all, he couldn't jump with his hands free — [illegible]... money in his hands. But instead of a [illegible]... cardboard chute and tied his briefcase to [illegible]... canvas bag, a problem he was brooding [illegible]... special harness to be attached across [illegible]... He planned to put his suit [illegible] about as the plane refueled and took off [illegible]... He told the stewardess to tell the [gap] [illegible]... told to fly on the normal course to Reno... which he knew would carry him directly [illegible]... over the spot he had selected for his [illegible]... He told the captain to [illegible] keep it [illegible]... tween 10,000 and 30,000 feet, to [illegible]... [illegible] 15 degrees which would keep it [illegible]... [illegible] Cooper [illegible] demanded that it be [illegible]... [illegible] sent out in a suitcase. He had built a [illegible]... two [illegible] chest packs and [illegible]... [guess: planning] to take somebody down with [illegible]... [illegible] me, so I asked them for two complete [illegible]... [illegible] would think [illegible]... sent out in [illegible] suitcase along with the money and [illegible] at [illegible]... his pack. He planned to [illegible] his suit jacket, and some other items into the suitcase... would be [illegible] chute [illegible]... that they gave me a bogus chute, they [illegible]... warfare, for whoever went with me [illegible]... tack it to his special harness [illegible] he could... suitcase along with the money and [illegible]... [illegible] [illegible] [illegible]
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[Map illustration — no running text within map body] Labels visible: - WOODLAND (lower right area) - RIDGEFIELD (right side) - [illegible river/road labels] - Circle/oval marking indicating probable landing zone (upper center of map)
...down. But they wouldn't know if I was planning to take somebody down with. So I asked them for two complete sets of chutes, two chest packs and two back packs, so they would think that if they gave me a bogus chute they would in effect be signing the death warrant for whoever went with me," he said.
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[PHOTOGRAPH]
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He was afraid dogs would spot him and bark when he landed here.
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His logic was sound. The chutes were fine. The only slip-up was over the money. Cooper demanded that it be sent out in a suitcase. He had built a special harness to be attached across his pack. He planned to put his suit jacket and some other items into the suitcase, along with the money, and attach it to his special harness so he could make the jump with his hands free. After all, he couldn't jump carrying the money in his hands. But instead of a suitcase, they sent the money out in a canvas bag, a problem he was brooding about as the plane refueled and took off under his instructions.
He told the stewardess to tell the captain to fly on the normal course to Reno, which he knew would carry him directly over the spot he had selected for his jump. He told the captain to fly at between 7,000 and 10,000 feet, to keep the flaps at 15 degrees (which allowed the plane to fly at a slower speed) and to fly with the rear stairwell open.
The plane took off from Seattle at about 7:30 p.m. It was dark. Cooper ordered the stewardess to go forward to the cabin and lock the door behind her.
As the plane headed southward, Cooper hurriedly got himself together. He put on his luminous stopwatch and compass, donned the black cap and gloves and hurriedly improvised a new means for taking everything he had brought into the plane out with him. Anything he left behind would certainly be evidence.
Therefore, lacking the suitcase he had ordered, he grabbed one of the four chutes, ripped the innards out of it and stuffed the money and his suit coat into...
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...the cavity, and strapped it onto his chest. Then he strapped on his special harness, cut some cord from the discarded chute and tied his briefcase to the harness. Then he strapped on a back chute.
Meanwhile, he was peering out the windows, and could see that the plane was on the correct course southward. About 35 minutes out of Seattle, he could see down between broken clouds and began to pick out familiar landmarks below — the freeway, the power line, the lake. Then he began picking up the radio signals on his walkie-talkie. When he was hearing the signals from all three, he simply walked to the rear of the plane, descended the stairwell, and jumped out.
Free Fall
"I was not vacillating very much," he said. "I remembered why I had come to this point, and all the reasons for it. The long planning. All the research. And the provocation — that was what I was thinking of. It didn't take me long to reflect on this. Just a fraction of a second. Then the die was cast."
When he jumped, his altimeter showed 7,500 feet, and he executed a "free fall" without opening his chute, for precisely 22 seconds which shot him down through a thick cloud bank — thus preventing...
[illegible scan artifacts — fragmented characters, no coherent text recoverable]
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24 LA October 21, 1972
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EXHILARATION FILLED HIM
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the follow-on planes from spotting him. The free fall carried him to about 4,500 [feet], where he opened the chute. Below, he could pick up familiar landmarks — fields, barns, roads, and the power line he needed to avoid. The wind was from the east, which was fine. He needed to drift westward, closer to the freeway and his car, anyway. He landed skill- fully in a big open field (it was the first jump he had made in several years) fearing only one thing: that dogs might spot him and begin barking. They didn't. He gathered up the white parachute, walked downhill to a weedchoked gully beside a small dirt road and there stashed the money and the chutes.
Then he simply walked up the road to his car, ducking off into the weeds three times when cars passed. When he reach- ed his car, he got in, drove back, col- lected the money and chute, picked up his radio transmitters, packed every- thing in the trunk, got on the freeway, and drove home.
Exhilaration poured over him. "I felt like I could have walked all the way to Chicago," he said. "Not only did I have the money, but I had a plan and carried the plan through under conditions that a lot of people would be reluctant to jump in. But then the reaction hit me, I became extremely nervous driving up the freeway. I became almost paranoid. Because if I were ever stopped, if I had to open the trunk, I was dead in the water. I considered stopping and getting [rid of] all the visible evidence. But where? So I figured the best thing I could do was keep on going. And this is what I
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[Image 1] UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — $20 bill — Serial: L 54904730 A — Series 12 — TWENTY DOLLARS [Image 2] UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — $20 bill — Serial: L 33529797 A — Series 12 — TWENTY DOLLARS [Image 3] UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — $20 bill — Serial: L 20168977 A — Series 12 — TWENTY DOLLARS
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in a shopping bag, and returned it to the car trunk.
Next morning, he drove to a remote spot, burned part of his gear and buried the rest, along with the money, "in a spot where nobody will ever, ever find it."
Several days later, Cooper inadvert- antly discovered that although the money was not marked, authorities had the serial numbers of every $20 bill he possessed. So though he had the money, he couldn't spend it. What to do? He thought of taking it to Mexico, or Europe, and "fencing" it. But he was an engineer, not a criminal. Therefore, operating on alien turf, he figured to lose not only the money, but his life as well. He was furious. He felt he had been double- crossed. Here he had a fortune, and couldn't spend a dime of it.
That is roughly where I came into the picture. The foregoing narrative was related to me by the man I believed to be Cooper in a series of taped inter- views in a Seattle motel that ran for some eight hours over a period of three days last February. He also guided me by car over the route of his crime.
It had started when a man calling him- self "Seth Thomas" contacted me on the phone on the night of Jan. 31, say[ing] he was acting as intermediary for Cooper. He said Cooper was interested in telling his story, but wanted to be paid, be- cause he couldn't spend the money he had stolen. He said he and Cooper real- ized that the recent Clifford Irving Howard Hughes hoax would devalue the Cooper story in the minds of potential publishers, but that they had thought and [thought] and finally agreed on what [amount — partially illegible] ...[$15,000]
[faint/ghosted bleed-through] stashed the [m]oney and [par]achutes [illegible] air [illegible] returned to col[l]ege [illegible] everything, and drove
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[Row 1 partial] L33-[illegible]-082A-69 L54-904-730A-A69 [circled] L20-[illegible]-[illegible]A-69 [partial text right] [Row 2] L33-528-279A-69 L54-901-155A-69 L20-154-044A-69 [Row 3] L33-529-797A-69 L54-929-823A-69 L20-163-957A-69 [Row 4] L33-530-471A-69 L54-984-623A-69 L20-168-977A-69 [circled] [Row 5] L33-532-853A-69 L54-986-729A-69 L20-173-[illegible]-69
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She went back to [guess: Les] Cooper[,] went to the kitchen[,] turned on the radio and listened to news bulletins about the skyjacking while he had coffee. Then he went out and brought in the money and examined it with a "black" light to see if he could detect whether it had been marked by the law with special paint. It hadn't. He stowed the money [text continues below photograph, partially cut off/illegible]
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After Cooper hit the ground, he stashed the money and parachutes in this marsh, walked to his car, returned to collect everything, and drove home.
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[partial/illegible at column top] this story, [illegible] [guess: handed] [illegible] Cooper $[30,000?] in cash $20 and $50 bills, to his intermediary Seth Thomas, on condition the money be set aside and used for Cooper's legal defense if and when he was captured. Next week: Why Cooper hijacked the plane, how he contemplated suicide, and why he asked for precisely $200,000.
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[illegible sequential alphanumeric strip — appears to be microfilm frame/page index numbering]
40
LA October 21, 1972
NEXT WEEK:
• Why D.B. Cooper Did It, And Why He [Demanded] [text cut off at bottom edge]
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12 L 54904730 A 12 [Treasurer signature line: Secretary of the United States] THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE UNITED STATES [partially visible, right edge cropped]
and drove home. "Exhilaration poured over him. 'I felt like I could have walked all the way to Chicago,' he said. 'Not only did I have the money, but I had a plan and carried the plan through under conditions that a lot of people would be reluctant to jump in. But then the reaction hit me, I became extremely nervous driving up the freeway. I became almost paranoid. Because if I were ever stopped, if I had to open the trunk, I was dead in the water. I considered stopping and getting rid of all the visible evidence. But where? So I figured the best thing I could do was keep on going. And this is what I did,' he said.
How Did It Go? What he feared was a roadblock. There was none. In his planning, he had figured that law enforcement wouldn't really begin to react until the next day. It takes a while for a bureaucracy to crank up. So he didn't spot a single lawman all the way home.
He got there at about midnight. His wife awoke long enough to say 'How did it go?'
He had told her he was going on a business trip. 'Same,' he said... 'Same old story.'
She went back to sleep. Cooper went to the kitchen, turned on the radio and listened to news bulletins about the skyjacking while he had coffee. Then he went out and brought in the money and examined it with a 'black' light to see if he could detect whether it had been marked by the law with special paint. It hadn't. He stowed the money.
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[Photostat images of two $20 Federal Reserve Notes] Visible serial number: L 20168977 A Visible text on bills: TWENTY DOLLARS / UNITED STATES OF AMERICA / WASHINGTON D.C. / $20
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Photostats of three $20 bills, given to LA editor Karl Fleming as proof of D. B. Cooper's identity, matched serial numbers on the list of stolen bills distributed by the FBI below. Cooper showed Fleming the actual bills, but said the rest of the money was buried in a remote hiding place.
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L33 524 933A 69 L33 526 898A 69 L54 899 276A 69 L20 150 975A 69 L33 528 092A 69 [L54 904 730A 69] L20 153 074A 69 L33 528 279A 69 L54 907 155A 69 L20 154 044A 69 [L33 529 797A 69] L54 929 823A 69 L20 163 957A 69 L33 530 471A 69 L54 984 623A 69 [L20 168 977A 69] L33 532 853A 69 L54 986 729A 69 L20 177 [illegible] L54 [illegible] L20 [illegible]
[Note: items in brackets were circled in the original document]
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After Cooper hit the ground, he stashed the money and parachutes in this marsh, walked to his car, returned to collect everything, and drove home.
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last hour over a period of three days last February. He also guided me by car over the route of his crime.
It had started when a man calling himself 'Seth Thomas' contacted me by phone on the night of Jan. 31, saying he was acting as 'intermediary for Cooper.' He said Cooper was interested in selling his story, but wanted to be paid because he couldn't spend the money he had stolen. He said he and Cooper had realized that the recent Clifford Irving-Howard Hughes hoax would devalue the Cooper story in the minds of potential publishers, but that they had thought and thought and finally agreed on what they considered to be a fair price: $45,000.
In subsequent negotiations, 'Seth Thomas' he soon revealed to me, as Jack Lewis, a Bremerton, Wash., real estate promoter, and Cooper showed me three of the $20 bills they said were part of the $200,000. I checked the serial numbers against the list distributed by the FBI. They matched. Doubts about whether I had the right man would arise later, but at that moment, I believed he was Cooper. I saw the money, and the incredibly detailed account of the skyjacking which he spun was too logical to be fiction.
Therefore, I paid Cooper $30,000 for his story. I handed it over in cash, $20 and $50 bills, to his intermediary, Seth Thomas, on the condition the money be set aside and used for Cooper's legal defense if and when he was captured.
Next prob: Why Cooper hijacked the plane, how he contemplated suicide, and why he asked for precisely $200,000.
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[Photograph — no text within image]
Serials: L 20168977 A, L 33529797 A, L 54904730 A, L20 150 975A 69, L20 153 074A 69, L20 154 044A 69, L20 163 957A 69, L20 168 977A 69 [circled]