From Holden, Maine attorney to FBI Seattle proposing Cooper suspect 'X'
Document date 5 April 2003
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Id: Cooper-Part-52:084-086
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-52:084-086 Document: Letter from Holden, Maine attorney to FBI Seattle proposing Cooper suspect 'X' Id: Cooper-Part-52:084-086 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-52%3A084-086 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 52 pp. 84–86 (DB Cooper-21697–21699), Letter, dated 5 Apr 2003, serial SE 164-81-9411 (as read from the transcript) — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-52%3A084-086
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SE 164A-81-9411 SEARCHED ___INDEXED___ SERIALIZED [illegible] FILED___ APR 8 2003 FBI SEATTLE [initials]
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DB Cooper-21697
[REDACTED] Attorney at Law
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April 5, 2003
Special Agent [REDACTED] Federal Bureau of Investigation 1110 Third Avenue Seattle, WA 98101
Dear Agent [REDACTED]
I am an attorney in Maine. Several years ago a client of mine came to me with evidence that [REDACTED] had committed a number of crimes a good many years ago. The evidence was significant but not conclusive, so I began a private investigation in conjunction with some forensic experts and a private investigator from one of the major investigative agencies in the country. We have proceeded cautiously, not only because of possible danger to my client, but also to protect the reputation of the man in question, in case we are mistaken. (The man is well respected and has no criminal record.)
Some time after beginning our investigation, a new and unexpected development occurred. We learned of evidence pointing to the possibility that the man in question may have committed another crime, one unconnected to any of those we had been investiga- ting. This was the famous (or infamous) D. B. Cooper skyjacking.
Let me say right off that we view this possibility as a long shot. We do not have any evidence directly connecting him to the skyjacking. Nevertheless, there are a number of factors that make us believe he is a bona fide suspect. I will summarize some of them for you on the pages accompany this letter, where we refer to the man in question simply as "X." Again, this summary is not intended to prove that our suspect committed the skyjacking, but simply to demonstrate that he bears further investigation.
When this possibility first came to our attention, we reviewed all the information available to the public on the case. We then made some efforts to locate [REDACTED] the flight attendant who had a good deal of contact with Cooper during the skyjacking. When we were unable to do so (the last we were able to learn was that she had left a [REDACTED] in Oregon), we let our efforts on the case lapse and returned to our original concerns. It seemed to us that even if our suspect were guilty of the skyjacking, our chances of arriving at any definite conclusion were remote.
[REDACTED] Holden, Maine Phone: [REDACTED] email: [REDACTED]
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DB Cooper-21698
Recently, however, we learned that there may be DNA-related evidence in the Cooper case. We should have thought of this before, as certain objects that Cooper came in close contact with (such as a glass he drank from and cigarettes he smoked) could still be kept in an evidence room. In recent years quite a few old crimes have been solved with the aid of DNA technology. And in fact, since the other crimes we were investigating were also old crimes, we had made the effort to obtain DNA material from our suspect, without his being aware of it. From my client, we obtained some handkerchiefs with the man's blood on them and have had both nuclear and mitochondrial profiles done by a private lab, Orchid Cellmark. We also have a full set of the man's fingerprints.
I then contacted [REDACTED] whose book we had read. I discussed the case with him, and asked him if it was possible that there was DNA evidence in the Cooper case, and he said he thought there was. This was vital to me, as I don't think it would be possible to prove or disprove our suspect's guilt on any other basis than hard physical evidence. I don't want to waste my time or yours pursuing mere theories or possibilities.
[REDACTED] gave me your name as the case agent in the Cooper case and encouraged me to contact you. I thought I would write you first, to give you some background on this matter. I will try to contact you by phone sometime next week in the hope that we can discuss the matter further.
As mentioned, the odds that our suspect is guilty of the Cooper skyjacking are small, but nevertheless they are not negligible. With the recent developments in forensic technology, perhaps we have a real possibility of resolving this case. I look forward to going into the matter further with you.
Sincerely,
[REDACTED]
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DB Cooper-21699
Serials: SE 164-81-9411