FD-350 clipping: John O'Ryan, FBI digging yields new Cooper clues, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

FD-350 (Rev. 12-5-78)

(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.) A10, Post Intelligencer Seattle, Wa.

Date: 2/15/80 Edition: Final

Title: NORJAK Character: or Classification: 164-81 Submitting Office: Seattle

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The Loot Reveals New Clues to the Fate of D.B.

By John O'Ryan

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Eight FBI agents digging on a Columbia River beach in a snowstorm found no more of D.B. Cooper's hijack ransom yesterday, but they revealed new clues to the fate of the legendary parachutist.

Special agent Ken Moore of Seattle, in charge of the digging, said a geologist's report indicates that the money which has been found drifted up on this beach within the past two years.

Furthermore, Moore said as he warmed himself by a campfire during [illegible]

a respite from the frigid digging, the money came downstream, and probably reached the Columbia from the Washougal River, or one of several smaller streams which enter the big river above here.

It isn't likely, he said, that the money came upstream, with tidal currents, from the Lewis River — which drains Lake Merwin, where Cooper has long been thought to have perished.

Moore thought for a few moments, then said:

"Tourists who want to look for more Cooper money probably should—

look on the Washougal River."

All of which indicates that Cooper, with $200,000 in a canvas suitcase strapped to his body, jumped from a Northwest Airlines Boeing 727 a little southeast of the point originally estimated by the FBI.

He apparently landed southeast of Lake Merwin which is just off I-5 near Woodland, in the drainage of the Washougal River, or nearby streams, in hilly, wooded country.

"There is nothing infallible about our original estimate of where he landed," said John Pringle, assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle

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office.

"Because of strong wind currents, and other variables, we could have been a little off in our original estimates."

According to Pringle, only one money bundle from the $200,000 hijack ransom was found on this beach nine miles downstream from the bridge over the Columbia River at Vancouver.

But since Cooper had all of his money in one canvas container, according to Moore, if any of the money is scattered — all of it is likely to be scattered.

Cooper, whose real identity has never been learned, literally dropped out of sight the night he plunged from the airliner. He had collected his hijack e loot in Seattle — bundles of money wrapped in a package six inches high, one foot across, and about 18 inches long — later stuffed into a bag tied to his waist.

No trace was found of Cooper or his money until a family picnicking on this north bank of the Columbia, on property owned by the Fazio Brothers Sand Co. and dairy cow farm, found tattered bills three to six inches deep in the sand.

It was "Seattle day" at the FBI diggings on the Columbia River yesterday. The previous day, 10 FBI agents from the Portland bureau carried out the digging.

Yesterday, eight agents from the

Seattle bureau were hard at work. The beach is roped off, and a Clark County sheriff's car was parked at the entrance to the Fazio property to keep the public out.

Sand was piled around the original money discovery area, because the FBI had been using a backhoe to excavate there. Agents were working yesterday with shovels and rakes.

Moore said a Portland State University Geologist is the one who determined that the money had floated onto the beach within the last two years.

This, Moore said, was based on a determination that there is only about six to eight inches of sand on this beach, and beneath it is a clay that was placed here by a channel dredging project carried out in 1974.

The clay, he said, appears "undisturbed," but the sand contains soft drink containers and other debris from picnickers. It appears to be of recent origin, and the money was found only about three to six inches deep in it.

Moore said the Army Corps of Engineers had scuttled the theory that the money had drifted upstream with tidal currents from the mouth of the Lewis River, which enters the Columbia downstream from here.

"I talked to the engineers, and they said that it is most unlikely that anything drifted upstream against the current," Moore said.

If no more money is found, the FBI's digging on the beach will end today, Moore said.

But he expressed the belief that the departure of the FBI will not end the sifting through this strip of sand.

"After we leave, probably 2,500 people will digging here the next day," he said.

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SEARCHED...INDEXED... SERIALIZED...FILED... FEB 21 1980 FBI - SEATTLE

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[guess: Mr. Quinn] [illegible] 5

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SUBS: B, E, G, M

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FBI/DO: DB Cooper-17428

Most agents believe he died in the jump, and their views are strengthened by the fact that the bills found Sunday were unseparated. In addition, none of the ransom money has ever turned up elsewhere in the more than eight years since the skyjacking.

Ralph Himmelsbach, an agent associated with the case from the beginning, is among those who believe the skyjacker died, and may never be found.

"I originally thought he had a 50-50 chance of survival. I later modified my own opinion, and believe he had substantially less chance than that.

Himmelsbach, who retires at the end of this month, is also a pilot. He flew over the suspected bailout area the day after the incident, and later was assigned to follow up leads received by the Portland office.

He said he is delighted by the discovery of the money, and hopes more evidence will be found.

While his retirement means an end to his involvement in the in- vestigation, Himmelsbach said he will always maintain a keen interest in the case.

"We've put an awful lot of work in- to it," he said.

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DB Cooper-17429