FBI report 'Search of Suspected Area', Seattle file SE 164-81
Part of: FBI report SE 164-81: Search of Suspected Area and canvass of Cowlitz/Clark County area
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Id: Cooper-Part-114:055-058
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-114:055-058 Document: FBI report 'Search of Suspected Area', Seattle file SE 164-81 Id: Cooper-Part-114:055-058 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-114%3A055-058 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
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FBI 164-81, Vault Part 114 pp. 55–58 (DB Cooper-26926–26929), Report — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-114%3A055-058
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SE 164-81 TJM:kdl
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SEARCH OF SUSPECTED AREA
Based upon information received from the Seattle Division on November 25, 1971 preliminary steps were taken to alert all law enforcement agencies in Cowlitz, Lewis, Wahkiakum, and Clark Counties concerning the search which was to be instituted for the subject. A meeting was held with members of the Clark and Cowlitz County Sheriff's Offices and local agencies at the Woodland, Washington City Hall and Police Department which was designated as search headquarters in view of its proximity to the Wood- land airport at which facilities were available for fixed wing aircraft and helicopters. Arrangements were made for helicopters and fixed wing aircraft to be available on November 26, 1971 and the search area was divided into seven sections, one of which was located in the Lewis River area of Cowlitz County and the others in the north- eastern section of Clark County.
On November 26, 1971 personnel of the Clark County Sheriff's Office, under the direction of Sheriff EUGENE COTTON, and Undersheriff THOMAS MAC DOWELL, con- sisting of twelve cars and four aerial observers, seven cars of the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office, and eleven deputies under Sheriff CHARLES E. GILL and Chief Deputy [REDACTED]. In addition, three officers of the Woodland, Washington Police Department and six Agents were at the scene.
On November 26, 1971, after law enforcement officers were briefed on facts known to that point and what was being sought and having been familiarized with the prime search area of 150 square miles, the various ground units were dispatched to Cowlitz and Clark Counties with instruc- tions to contact all available residents and businessmen on every road in the assigned section to secure information concerning the subject. The description, then available, was furnished to all personnel involved in the search. Further instructions were given to the officers to request individuals contacted to contact their neighbors and acquaintances to insure that all residents of the prime search area were cognizant of the hijacking and the descrip- tion of the subject.
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DB Cooper-26926 164-81- Sub. D
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b6 b7C
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SE 164-81 TJM:kdl
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On November 26, 1971 the banks of Lake Merwin, partly located in the prime search area, were completely patrolled by two boats of the Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office with all suspicious sightings personally checked. One sighting of a white object on the south side of the lake was unable to be checked on November 26, 1971 but on November 27, 1971 was checked by helicopter with negative results.
On November 26, 1971 two Army helicopters, one Bonneville Power Administration helicopter, and one Weyerhaeuser Company helicopter plus five fixed wing aircraft from Woodland and Vancouver, Washington were aloft over the search area for seven hours of total flying time. Several sightings of unidentified items were checked by ground contact with negative results.
On November 27, 1971 the search was continued with the same number of personnel, ground units, three helicopters and seven fixed wing planes. The search area on this day encompassed a 400 square mile area and was laid out based upon latest data furnished by Northwest Airlines re aircraft's position at time subject left the plane. An area averaging ten miles on the east and west sides of the airline flight path and extending from the vicinity of Kalama, Washington to the suburbs of Vancouver, Washington was gridded and criss crossed by the aircraft mentioned with negative results. All sightings of suspicious items were checked with negative results.
The ground search on November 27, 1971 consisted of contacts by personnel in ground units with as many individuals as possible in the search area. One signifi- cant item developed from this search was that an unidentified light plane, metallic gray in color, flew over a small landing strip in the northeasterly section of the search area with its landing lights on about the time the subject is presumed to have left the aircraft.
On November 27, 1971 in addition to contacting all individuals in the search area all airfields with any aircraft or parachuting schools or activity were contacted from Vancouver - Camas, Washougal area to Woodland. A number of individuals contacted at these locations gave information pertaining to skydivers, pilots, clubs in- volved in skydiving and other information, all of which has been checked with negative results.
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DB Cooper-26927
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SE 164-81 TJM:kdl
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Airports and Flight Services:
Scholls, Orchard, Washington [REDACTED]
Evergreen Airfield, [REDACTED] Vancouver, Washington
Pearson Air Park, [REDACTED] Vancouver, Washington Skycraft, Inc. Pearson Air Park Aircraft Specialties at Pearson Air Park - [REDACTED]
Northwest Flight Services, Inc. Pearson Air Park - [REDACTED] Vancouver Flying Service, Pearson Air Park Grove's Flying Service, Camas, Washington, [REDACTED]
Kelso-Longview Airport, Kelso, Washington - [REDACTED]
Farm and Forest Helicopter Service, Napavine, Washington Hillsborough Aviation, Pearson Air Park, Vancouver, Washington Toledo Airport, Toledo, Washington Chehalis - Centralia Airport, Chehalis, Washington
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On November 28, 1971 the house to house canvass of business establishments and houses in the prime search area of 150 square miles was continued by Agents of the Seattle Division. All individuals contacted were queried concerning the subject and were shown composite drawings and given physical descriptive materials. The search area was gridded and close contact was kept with the control point until all streets, roads, highways, and passable by- ways were covered all with negative contacts other than information developed through previous contacts concerning the metallic gray colored aircraft with the landing lights shining. The exact point of this plane's flying during the
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b6 b7C
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DB Cooper-26928
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SE 164-81 TJM:kdl
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late evening hours on November 24, 1971 was fixed at the intersection of Grantham Road and County Road 42 in the vicinity of LaCentre, Washington.
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Another significant item developed from this house to house canvass was that a white car was seen parked on Grantham Road near County Road 42 for approximately two hours from 3 to 5 p.m. on November 24, 1971 and from 9 to 11 a.m. on November 25, 1971. It was pointed out by the individual who furnished this information that the plane with the landing lights lighted which flew low for a time on November 24, 1971 was flying in the vicinity of the area at which this white car was observed.
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On November 28, 1971 reports of planes flying at night on November 23, 1971 in the vicinity of the airfields located at View, Washington and in the vicinity of County Road 42 and Grantham Road in Clark County as well as other small airports in Clark and Cowlitz Counties were checked with all flights being explainable and normal.
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On November 29, 1971 the area from Woodland, Washington up the Lewis River Road to Cougar, Washington and Yale Lake was covered on a house to house basis, all loca- tions being in Cowlitz County. The business establishments and private homes contacted all had information concerning the subject and his physical description. One item of interest developed was the presence of two men at the Lone Fir Motel, Cougar, Washington, who stated they were going fishing in an area which had been closed for two months. The arrival of these individuals was 3:00 a.m. on November 26, 1971 and they departed after a short stay the next morning. Appropriate leads for these individuals are being set for the Portland Division.
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Further house to house coverage was afforded in an area near the midpoint of a circle specified by Northwest Airlines as the center of the suspected area in which the subject exited the airplane. Every house and business establishment in a 20 mile square area was contacted or recontacted and it was found all individuals contacted had information on the subject but no information of value other than that previously reported.
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DB Cooper-26929
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b6 b7c
Serials: SE 164-81