UPI wire story by Barney Lerten re D.B. Cooper (Wash., Calif.)
Document date 18 January 1982
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Id: Cooper-Part-07:012-012
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-07:012-012 Document: UPI wire story by Barney Lerten re D.B. Cooper (Wash., Calif.) Id: Cooper-Part-07:012-012 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-07%3A012-012 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 7 p. 12, Teletype, dated 18 Jan 1982 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-07%3A012-012
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(WASH., CALIF.) — By BARNEY LERTEN.
PORTLAND, Ore. (UPI) _ A TATTERED PIECE OF CLOTH-COVERED NYLON, A PIECE OF ROPE AND A BONE SCOOPED FROM THE COLUMBIA RIVER MAY PROVIDE CLUES TO THE WHEREABOUTS OF SKYJACKER D.B. COOPER.
BLAKE PAYNE OF FLORENCE, ORE., MAILED THE ITEMS TO EX-FBI AGENT RICHARD TOSAW, A CERES, CALIF., LAWYER WRITING A BOOK ABOUT COOPER'S MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE AFTER HE PULLED OFF THE WORLD'S FIRST AERIAL HIJACK FOR RANSOM 11 YEARS AGO.
"AS LONG AS IT'S RELATED TO THAT JUMP, I'LL FEEL WE'VE HIT PAYDIRT," TOSAW SAID FRIDAY.
MOST AUTHORITIES DECIDED LONG AGO THE MAN NAMED ON PASSENGER LISTS AS DAN COOPER PROBABLY WAS KILLED WHEN HE PARACHUTED OUT OF A NORTHWEST AIRLINES BOEING 727 OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON ON A RAINY THANKSGIVING EVE IN 1971 WITH $200,000 IN RANSOM STRAPPED TO HIS WAIST.
THE ONLY CONCRETE CLUES TO COOPER'S FATE SO FAR HAVE BEEN SOME TATTERED BILLS FROM THE RANSOM MONEY DUG UP ALONG THE SHORE OF THE COLUMBIA IN FEBRUARY 1980.
PAYNE, SKIPPER OF THE FISHING BOAT "MAGNUM," WAS HIRED BY TOSAW LAST MONTH TO DREDGE THE BOTTOM OF THE COLUMBIA BETWEEN PORTLAND AND VANCOUVER, WASH., IN THE PLANE'S FLIGHT PATH.
"HE'S BEEN RAKING THE RIVER WITH A 12-FOOT RAKE — HE CALLS IT A 'COOPER SNOOPER' — FROM THE STERN OF HIS BOAT," TOSAW SAID IN A PHONE INTERVIEW.
"HE GOES BACK AND FORTH RIGHT WHERE THE AIRPLANE FLEW OVER THAT NIGHT, AT THE TIP OF HAYDEN ISLAND IN THE COLUMBIA.
PAYNE FOUND THE NYLON, CORD AND BONE THURSDAY. HE SAID HE WILL LEAVE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HIS FIND TO THE EXPERTS.
"IT'S SOMETHING, ANYWAY," HE SAID. "IT'S DEFINITELY CANVAS, AND THAT NYLON CORD IS THE TYPE COOPER HAD. IT'S BEEN 11 YEARS, AND THIS STUFF LOOKED LIKE IT HAD BEEN THERE THAT LONG."
"WE'RE INTERESTED IN EXAMINING IT TO SEE IF THERE'S ANY INDICATION IT'S PART OF COOPER'S GEAR," TOSAW SAID. HE SAID HE WILL ASK EARL COSSEY OF SEATTLE, WHO PACKED THE PARACHUTES USED BY COOPER, TO HELP DETERMINE ITS VALIDITY.
"THE BONE PROBABLY HAS NO CONNECTION AT ALL," TOSAW SAID. HE SAID IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO CONFIRM THE IDENTITY OF A BONE, AND HE WAS NOT EVEN SURE IF IT WAS HUMAN.
WHETHER OR NOT THE CLUES PROVE TO HAVE MERIT, TOSAW SAID HE WILL KEEP UP THE SEARCH, WHICH ALREADY HAS COST HIM $10,000. A MAJOR FIND COULDN'T HURT SALES OF TOSAW'S BOOK, WHICH HE PLANS TO PUBLISH IN TWO MONTHS, CALLED "D.B. COOPER: DEAD OR ALIVE?"
A NORTHWEST LEGEND HAS GROWN AROUND COOPER, WHO PULLED OFF THE NATION'S ONLY UNSOLVED HIJACKING, TRIGGERING HEIGHTENED SECURITY PROCEDURES AT AIRPORTS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.
SONGS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN AND T-SHIRTS PRINTED, WHILE RESIDENTS OF ARIEL, WASH., IN THE AREA WHERE COOPER JUMPED, HOLD AN ANNUAL PARTY AND INVITE COOPER TO ATTEND. HE HAS YET TO DO SO.