On FD-350: 'Part of Cooper cash uncovered' (Oregonian, 2/13/80)

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

(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.) p.A1 Oregonian Portland, Wa. Date: 2/13/80 Edition: Final

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

Title: SEARCHED_____ INDEXED_____ SERIALIZED_____ FILED_____ FEB 25 1980 FBI - SEATTLE Character: or Classification: 164/81 Submitting Office: Seattle

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Part of Cooper cash uncovered

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By LEVERETT RICHARDS of The Oregonian staff

"Several thousand dollars" of the $200,000 obtained eight years ago by the celebrated airline hijacker who used the name Dan Cooper was found Sun- day along the Columbia River down- stream from Vancouver, Wash., the FBI reported Tuesday.

Three bundles containing 12 packets of weatherbeaten $20 bills were found in river sand by a picnicking Vancouver family, about nine miles northwest of the city.

FBI agents searching the beach Tuesday afternoon found several more fragments of $20 bills, some of them under three feet of sand.

Harold Dwayne Ingram, his wife, Patricia, and their son, Brian, 8, were preparing to build a fire on the beach when Brian brushed the sand aside and turned up some of the bills, Ingram said.

"We dug around and found three bundles of bills tied with rubber bands," Ingram said.

The bills were wet and badly worn, but the serial numbers were legible. The FBI identified the serial numbers and confirmed that they were part of the loot given Cooper when he hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727 jetliner between Portland and Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971.

William M. Baker, assistant special agent in charge of the Portland FBI of- fice, said the Ingrams were relatively new to the Vancouver area, moving there recently from Oklahoma. They had never heard of Cooper, Baker said.

"They took it (the money) home and were talking to some friends about it," Baker said. "The friends pointed out that it might be the money from the Cooper thing. That's when they called the FBI."

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Ralph Himmelsbach, the FBI agent in charge of the case since the hijack- ing, said it was the first solid clue to the Cooper mystery since the hijacker bailed out near La Center, Wash., into a winter storm at 8:10 p.m. that Thanks- giving Eve. The first hijacking for money, the Cooper case became a na- tional sensation.

Baker said it was possible the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C., could discern fingerprints on the money.

"That would be a hell of a break," he said.

Baker said the money the Ingrams found had not been counted. At first the amount recovered was estimated at about $4,000, but "we have revised our estimate to several thousand dollars," he said.

Baker said the money was bundled into packages of several sizes at the time of the hijacking, "to make it ap- pear that it was randomly done, as if it was done in a hurry." Because of that, the actual amount could not be estimat- ed, he said.

FBI agents Tuesday were carefully combing the site of the Sunday discov- ery for further clues. The beach, open to the public, is owned by the New Columbia Gardens Co., a truck and dai- ry farm.

Cooper was seen on the plane tying a nylon cord around his waist, presum- ably to tie the money into a parachute bag. The Ingrams said they did not see any sign of a cloth bag, but Himmels- bach said it would be hard to under- stand how the bundles of bills could have stayed together all these years if they were not in some kind of contain- er.

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Baker said the search for Cooper's remains or other clues would be re- sumed in a new area.

FBI spokesmen concluded that the bills could have been washed down some tributary of the Columbia.

George Holmes, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrologist, said he would review information about where Coop-

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MONEY FOUND — X shows approxi- mate location where part of Dan Cooper aircraft hijacking money was found Sunday. Vancouver, Wash., family found loot while picnicking. FBI is searching area.

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A [illegible] B, [illegible], 4)

164-81-8252

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DB Cooper-17470

er was believed to have jumped and, where the money was found. He said the Washougal River was the only Co- lumbia tributary that might have car- ried the cash. Even that, he said, "is a remote possibility. But I can't say until I see more information."

FBI agents sifting the sand at the picnic site Tuesday had found a few more $20 bills, but no evidence of a container. The bundles of bills were [guess: badly] worn, as if eaten away by contact with rocks and gravel while drifting downstream.

"The packaging and the numbered sequence of the bundles indicated that they had not been separated, and were in much the same order as when deliv- ered to Cooper at Seattle-Tacoma Air- port the night of the hijacking," Baker said. He said they would be sent to the FBI laboratory immediately for further examination.

Ingram, 28, and his wife, 26, will get no reward so far as is known, FBI agents said. Northwest Airlines' reward offer has expired.

"If there is one, they deserve it," Baker said. Ingram works as a painter in the U-Cart factory in Vancouver.

Brian Ingram, who is in the second grade at Hough School in Vancouver, does not yet know that he is a hero, his mother said at Tuesday's press confer- ence. He was still in school when his parents took the bills to the FBI office in Portland.

Himmelsbach, who said soon after the hijacking that Cooper had less than a 50-50 chance of having survived, said Sunday's find confirmed his earlier con- clusion.

"This is strong evidence that Cooper didn't survive," he said, "but we have no proof of that."

Himmelsbach said all the evidence points to Cooper's having bailed out over La Center. But he may have drifted farther east than the experts computed. He may have landed in the Washougal watershed, where the money could have found its way into the stream and been washed down to the Columbia by successive floods.

Himmelsbach discounted the possi- bility that the bag full of money could have torn loose from Cooper's waist when he stepped off the rear stairway

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HIJACKER — Sketch of airline hi- jacker known as Dan Cooper was re- leased by FBI after hijacking, based on witness descriptions.

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of the plane into a 200-mile-an-hour slipstream.

"But we don't know," he empha- sized.

Baker said detailed plans for a fur- ther search had not been formulated, but said he would expect to search up the Columbia to the Washougal — the first tributary to flow into the river above Vancouver — and may extend the search up the Washougal itself.

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DB Cooper-17471

Staff photo by WES GUDERIAN COOPER CASH FINDERS — FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach, standing, views $20 bills found by Harold Dwayne Ingram, left, and his wife, Patricia, on family picnic Sunday near Vancouver, Wash. FBI said "several thousand dollars" of the ransom paid to Dan Cooper were in the worn packets.

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DB Cooper-17472

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

(Indicate page, name of paper, city and state.) p.A1 Oregonian Portland, Wa.

Date: 2/13/80 Edition: Final

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

SEARCHED......... INDEXED........ SERIALIZED........ FILED........... FEB 25 1980 FBI - SEATTLE

Title: Character: or Classification: 164/81 Submitting Office: Seattle

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Part of Cooper cash uncovered

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By LEVERETT RICHARDS of The Oregonian staff

"Several thousand dollars" of the $200,000 obtained eight years ago by the celebrated airline hijacker who used the name Dan Cooper was found Sun- day along the Columbia River down- stream from Vancouver, Wash., the FBI reported Tuesday.

Three bundles containing 12 packets of weatherbeaten $20 bills were found in river sand by a picnicking Vancouver family, about nine miles northwest of the city.

FBI agents searching the beach Tuesday afternoon found several more fragments of $20 bills, some of them under three feet of sand.

Harold Dwayne Ingram, his wife, Patricia, and their son, Brian, 8, were preparing to build a fire on the beach when Brian brushed the sand aside and turned up some of the bills, Ingram said.

"We dug around and found three bundles of bills tied with rubber bands," Ingram said.

The bills were wet and badly worn, but the serial numbers were legible. The FBI identified the serial numbers and confirmed that they were part of the loot given Cooper when he hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727 jetliner between Portland and Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971.

William M. Baker, assistant special agent in charge of the Portland FBI of- fice, said the Ingrams were relatively new to the Vancouver area, moving there recently from Oklahoma. They had never heard of Cooper, Baker said.

"They took it (the money) home and were talking to some friends about it," Baker said. "The friends pointed out that it might be the money from the Cooper thing. That's when they called the FBI."

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Ralph Himmelsbach, the FBI agent in charge of the case since the hijack- ing, said it was the first solid clue to the Cooper mystery since the hijacker bailed out near La Center, Wash., into a winter storm at 8:10 p.m. that Thanks- giving Eve. The first hijacking for money, the Cooper case became a na- tional sensation.

Baker said it was possible the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C., could discern fingerprints on the money.

"That would be a hell of a break," he said.

Baker said the money the Ingrams found had not been counted. At first the amount recovered was estimated at about $4,000, but "we have revised our estimate to several thousand dollars," he said.

Baker said the money was bundled into packages of several sizes at the time of the hijacking, "to make it ap- pear that it was randomly done, as if it was done in a hurry." Because of that, the actual amount could not be estimat- ed, he said.

FBI agents Tuesday were carefully combing the site of the Sunday discov- ery for further clues. The beach, open to the public, is owned by the New Columbia Gardens Co., a truck and dai- ry farm.

Cooper was seen on the plane tying a nylon cord around his waist, presum- ably to tie the money into a parachute bag. The Ingrams said they did not see any sign of a cloth bag, but Himmels- bach said it would be hard to under- stand how the bundles of bills could have stayed together all these years if they were not in some kind of contain- er.

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Baker said the search for Cooper's remains or other clues would be re- sumed in a new area.

FBI spokesmen concluded that the bills could have been washed down some tributary of the Columbia.

George Holmes, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrologist, said he would review information about where Coop-

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MONEY FOUND — X shows approxi- mate location where part of Dan Cooper aircraft hijacking money was found Sunday. Vancouver, Wash. family found loot while picnicking. FBI is searching area.

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DB Cooper-17473 FBI/09b6 164-81 - 825 [illegible]b7c

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A [illegible] B, E, G, [illegible]

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

(Indicate page, name of paper, city and state.) p.A1 Oregonian Portland, Wa. Date: 2/13/80 Edition: Final

Title: SEARCHED......... INDEXED........ SERIALIZED......... FILED........... FEB 25 1980 Character: or Classification: 164/81 Submitting Office: Seattle

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Part of Cooper cash uncovered

By LEVERETT RICHARDS of The Oregonian staff

"Several thousand dollars" of the $200,000 obtained eight years ago by the celebrated airline hijacker who used the name Dan Cooper was found Sunday along the Columbia River downstream from Vancouver, Wash., the FBI reported Tuesday.

Three bundles containing 12 packets of weatherbeaten $20 bills were found in river sand by a picnicking Vancouver family, about nine miles northwest of the city.

FBI agents searching the beach Tuesday afternoon found several more fragments of $20 bills, some of them under three feet of sand.

Harold Dwayne Ingram, his wife, Patricia, and their son, Brian, 8, were preparing to build a fire on the beach when Brian brushed the sand aside and turned up some of the bills, Ingram said.

"We dug around and found three bundles of bills tied with rubber bands," Ingram said.

The bills were wet and badly worn, but the serial numbers were legible. The FBI identified the serial numbers and confirmed that they were part of the loot given Cooper when he hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727 jetliner between Portland and Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971.

William M. Baker, assistant special agent in charge of the Portland FBI office, said the Ingrams were relatively new to the Vancouver area, moving there recently from Oklahoma. They had never heard of Cooper, Baker said.

"They took it (the money) home and were talking to some friends about it," Baker said. "The friends pointed out that it might be the money from the Cooper thing. That's when they called the FBI."

Ralph Himmelsbach, the FBI agent in charge of the case since the hijacking, said it was the first solid clue to the Cooper mystery since the hijacker bailed out near La Center, Wash., into a winter storm at 8:10 p.m. that Thanksgiving Eve. The first hijacking for money, the Cooper case became a national sensation.

Baker said it was possible the FBI laboratory in Washington, D.C., could discern fingerprints on the money.

"That would be a hell of a break," he said.

Baker said the money the Ingrams found had not been counted. At first the amount recovered was estimated at about $4,000, but "we have revised our estimate to several thousand dollars," he said.

Baker said the money was bundled into packages of several sizes at the time of the hijacking, "to make it appear that it was randomly done, as if it was done in a hurry." Because of that, the actual amount could not be estimated, he said.

FBI agents Tuesday were carefully combing the site of the Sunday discovery for further clues. The beach, open to the public, is owned by the New Columbia Gardens Co., a truck and dairy farm.

Cooper was seen on the plane tying a nylon cord around his waist, presumably to tie the money into a parachute bag. The Ingrams said they did not see any sign of a cloth bag, but Himmelsbach said it would be hard to understand how the bundles of bills could have stayed together all these years if they were not in some kind of container.

Baker said the search for Cooper's remains or other clues would be resumed in a new area.

FBI spokesmen concluded that the bills could have been washed down some tributary of the Columbia.

George Holmes, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrologist, said he would review information about where Coop-

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MONEY FOUND — X shows approximate location where part of Dan Cooper aircraft hijacking money was found Sunday. Vancouver, Wash., family found loot while picnicking. FBI is searching area.

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DB Cooper-17476 FBI/DO-b6 AUG 3, B, E, G, M 164-81-8252 b7C