SAC Sacramento to SAC Seattle re source information on suspect Melvin Cooper
Document date 5 January 1982
Also filed at: Part 62 pp. 244–245
Copies may differ in what was redacted.
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Id: Cooper-Part-46:267-269
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-46:267-269 Document: Airtel SAC Sacramento to SAC Seattle re source information on suspect Melvin Cooper Id: Cooper-Part-46:267-269 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-46%3A267-269 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 46 pp. 267–269 (DB Cooper-19093–19095), Airtel, dated 5 Jan 1982, serial SE 164-81-8637 (as read from the transcript) — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-46%3A267-269
FD-36 (Rev. 5-22-78)
FBI
TRANSMIT VIA: PRECEDENCE: CLASSIFICATION: ☐ Teletype ☐ Immediate ☐ TOP SECRET ☐ Facsimile ☐ Priority ☐ SECRET ☒ AIRTEL ☐ Routine ☐ CONFIDENTIAL ☐ UNCLAS E F T O ☐ UNCLAS Date 1/5/82
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TO: SAC, SEATTLE (164-81) FROM: SAC, SACRAMENTO (164-50) (P) SUBJECT: NORJACK OO: SEATTLE
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On 12/1/81, [REDACTED] [REDACTED] South Lake Tahoe, California advised that after reading the newspaper article regarding Universal Studios offering $1 million for information leading to the arrest and conviction of D. B. Cooper, she decided to furnish the following information to the FBI. [REDACTED] advised that D. B. Cooper is in reality Melvin Cooper, an individual who is last known to be employed by the U. S. Forest Service in the Bakersfield, California area. She advised that [REDACTED] [REDACTED] however, the location of [REDACTED] is unknown.
[REDACTED] advised that approximately twelve years ago she met Melvin Cooper at a friends home in [REDACTED] Cali- fornia. [REDACTED] stated that she did not wish to furnish the names of friends and that in no way wanted her friends involved in any investigation regarding Melvin Cooper. [REDACTED] stated that Melvin Cooper served in the U. S. Marine Corps, was a helicopter pilot, a parachutist and a "daredevil." She stated that Cooper attended Oregon State University and had friends in the states of Oregon and Washington. She noted that Cooper at one time was employed by the Gallo Glass Factory in Modesto, California.
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(2)- Seattle 2- Sacramento FMH/wlp (4)
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164-81 -8637 [illegible signature]
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Approved: __________ Transmitted ________ (Number) (Time) DB Cooper-19093 by [guess: New] Sub: MELVIN COOPER
SC 164-50
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[REDACTED] advised that during the hijacking period Cooper disappeared from her friend's home in [REDACTED] Cali- fornia and was gone several days. Upon his return, to the [REDACTED] California area, he told everyone that he wanted to celebrate and that he felt so terrific. [REDACTED] noted a this time Cooper had a substantial amount of money. According to [REDACTED] Cooper bragged to her friends in [REDACTED] California that he perpetrated captioned skyjacking and that because of their fear for Cooper they have never said any- thing about Melvin Cooper.
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[REDACTED] advised that Cooper also served in Viet Nam and that he married a [REDACTED] who had a [REDACTED]
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[REDACTED] advised that she has been around Cooper during his trips to Tahoe and that during these trips Cooper has spent a considerable amount of money gambling and drinking. She stated that Cooper [REDACTED] who is employed for the Forest Service in Reno, Nevada and that he was also involved in the hijacking. According to [REDACTED] [REDACTED] was waiting for him near Reno and after the skyjacking [REDACTED] picked Melvin up and made good their escape. Cooper has bragged to [REDACTED] [REDACTED] California that he had thrown out some of the money that was subsequently found by a small boy in the Oregon area just to make it look like he had died.
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On 12/28/81, [REDACTED] telephonically contacted the Sacramento Division and advised that she had recently learned from her friends in [REDACTED] California that Melvin Cooper was employed in a helicopter rescue business located in the Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, California area and that he had died approximately five or six months ago in a helicopter crash. She stated that the crash was a result of his employment and that he was returning from Santa Barbara with a patient when this helicopter crashed into the side of a hill.
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Efforts to locate a driver's license for Melvin Cooper in the Sacramento Division has been negative.
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It is noted that [REDACTED] will not identify her friends in [REDACTED] California and has requested that they not be contacted by the FBI.
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DB Cooper-19094
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b6 b7C
SC 164-50
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[REDACTED] described Melvin Cooper as follows:
Sex Male Race White Height 5'8" to 5'9" Build Rather stocky Eyes Piercing dark brown eyes Facial characteristics Long slender nose
The above is being furnished for the review of the Seattle office.
Seattle is requested to advise whether or not additional investigation desired.
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A + D
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3* DB Cooper-19095
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b6 b7C
Serials: SC 164-50, SE 164-81, SE 164-81-8637