Enclosure: 'Reasons To Suspect X in the Cooper Skyjacking'

Reasons To Suspect "X" in the Cooper Skyjacking

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Appearance

X's physical appearance (height, weight, age, facial appearance) is compatible with eyewitness descriptions and the composite sketches. For example, he was [redacted] in 1971, but looked somewhat older (in their 30s, some men still look boyish, others look middle-aged; in his 30s, X was generally mistaken for being older than his actual age). Again, X was bald across the top of the head, but a simple hairpiece would have enabled him to look as described (and in fact, since Cooper was a careful planner, and knew he would be seen by many people, including a stewardess who would observe him up close, he would probably have taken some precaution, in addition to sunglasses, to alter his appearance).

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Behavior

Cooper's behavior has been described as cool and calm, and also (when it was necessary) as commanding and authoritative. But in the latter case, he was firm and polite rather than abusive (one of the stewardesses said he was more of a gentleman than many regular passengers she had encountered). He became impatient at times, but only (and only to the extent) that it was appropriate under the circumstances to get his way. In short, he was in full control of himself in very difficult circumstances.

X is very self-disciplined. Both in the military and in civilian life he was used to being in command and directing other people in order to accomplish missions or projects. When he was in the military, a colonel who headed a high-pressure unit once remarked publicly that of all the people he had known in the military, X was the only one who never became rattled in a crisis.

Also, as a leader and by personal temperament, X is a very careful and thorough planner, one who thinks through all the angles and contingencies of any project he leads or undertakes. But unlike some people, who are strong at planning but not at acting, X can be very bold and decisive in action. He has always had a strong interest in physical activities that involve risk, for example, hang-gliding, whitewater kayaking (in the [redacted] [redacted] in Idaho), [redacted] [redacted] because of its dangers). He is bold and in a quiet way something of a show-off, but never reckless. He takes chances, but only well-calculated ones.

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b6 b7C

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1.

DB Cooper-21700

Background and Skills

Although he was not a career military officer, X served in the military -- in the Air Force -- during the [REDACTED] He was familiar with Boeing 727s, with their rear steps that could be lowered from the inside, as these were used in Vietnam at the time he was in the Air Force.

X learned to fly when he was in the Air Force, and ever since then he has had a private pilot's license and has continued to fly.

X learned to fly when he was at [REDACTED] in northern California, and would have been familiar with other bases on the West Coast (such as McChord near Seattle). He had visited Portland, and in flying would have used aviation maps of the region. Thus, the whole locale of the skyjacking would have been familiar to him, not only personally but technically.

X did not take parachute training or jump when he was in the Air Force, but later in civilian life (still in the 1960s) he learned to skydive and became proficient at it (as he does in most things he undertakes).

X became familiar with the woods when he was a young boy. He did a lot of long-distance hiking with his father in rugged terrain (the Smoky Mountains). Later, after being an Eagle Scout, he was accepted into a little-known, more advanced Scouting rank called the Order of the Arrow. (To achieve this rank, you had to undergo a wilderness survival test, in which you were given a compass, one match, and an egg, and nothing more, and were left in a remote area of the woods; you had to spend the night alone in the woods, cook the egg, and then find your way out unaided.) He has remained familiar with being in the woods ever since. He is very self-reliant.

X also has good knowledge of chemistry and explosives.

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Opportunity

At this time, more than 30 years after the crime, we cannot reconstruct X's whereabouts at Thanksgiving 1971. Because we have been investigating X with regard to other unrelated crimes, we have developed an extensive time-line for him, going back to the 1960s. [REDACTED] is something of a pack rat and has always kept boxes of old records, so we have been able to determine X's whereabouts on a significant percentage of past dates. However, our records show nothing for the period from November 23-28, 1971.

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DB Cooper-2170[1]

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2.

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b6 b7C

It is worth noting, though, that X has always had a considerable amount of autonomy or freedom of movement, even though he has been both regularly employed and [REDACTED] since the late 1950s. His work often permits him to travel by himself (he has always made such trips at least once a month, often from one coast to another, and on these trips he is often not accountable to anyone as to his whereabouts). And despite [REDACTED] he has always insisted on going off occasionally on long weekend trips by himself, ostensibly to engage in one of his outdoor or wilderness sports (which [REDACTED] does not take part in). Thus, the four (or more) day Thanksgiving weekend in 1971 would have been a likely time for him to be away. Certainly he could have arranged to have the time free if he had wanted to do so.

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Motive

At the time of the Cooper skyjacking, X was in need of money. He was employed and he earned enough for ordinary purposes, but the household operated on a budget. It had become apparent for some time to [REDACTED] that X was spending fairly substantial amounts of money beyond what was accounted for in the budget, using various dodges to take the money from other budgeted expenses.

[REDACTED BLOCK]

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This money problem resulted in rising tensions between X and [REDACTED]. If X were engaged in some clandestine activity (of whatever nature), as almost surely he was, this increasing tension and questioning would have been seen by him as a danger. However, shortly after the Cooper skyjacking, all money problems ceased completely and never arose again.

[REDACTED BLOCK]

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Besides the money issue, [REDACTED] feels certain that if he did commit the Cooper skyjacking, that he was strongly motivated by the challenge, the thrill, and the notoriety or "achievement" that it represented. She is sure that even if he lost the money, that he would be pleased. He has always placed a high value on achieving things that are difficult and/or dangerous.

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DB Cooper-21702

How [REDACTED] Came To Suspect X

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[REDACTED] but it wasn't until the early 1990s that [REDACTED] had any suspicion that [REDACTED] might have committed any crimes in the past. Even then she had no idea that he might have committed the Cooper skyjacking (a crime she had heard about, but about which she knew little, mostly only what she gathered from a movie she had seen back in the 1970s).

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Then, in 1997, she read a long article about people who had mysteriously disappeared and had never been found (Jimmy Hoffa, Madlyn Murray O'Hare, etc.). One of the cases touched on in the article was D. B. Cooper. One aspect of the article interested her (not the Cooper part) and she wanted to get [REDACTED] reaction, so she read the article to him. When she did so, it was the part about D. B. Cooper that interested him, and he showed a surprising amount of knowledge about the case -- quite detailed knowledge about a case then almost 30 years old. Since she now suspected him of having committed other crimes in the past, this got her thinking, and she quickly remembered two things.

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First, back in the mid-1970s, she and [REDACTED] had seen a movie about D. B. Cooper. She had no particular interest in the movie, but [REDACTED] was eager to see it and so they went as soon as it came out. The only reason she remembers it is because of the highly unusual reaction of [REDACTED] to the movie. His normal personality is somewhat reserved, not much given to enthusiasm or emotional expression. But at this movie, he was on the edge of his seat, his face aglow, laughing at all the jokes. His reaction was so oversized and unusual that [REDACTED] remembers it much better than she does the movie. But it never entered her mind at that time that he could have committed the crime (or any crime). His reaction, taken by itself, might mean only that the movie struck a chord with him or perhaps that, unknown to her, he was a D. B. Cooper "fan."

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The second thing she remembered also occurred in the mid-1970s. She and [REDACTED] lived in the eastern United States. During this time [REDACTED] announced on one occasion that he would be in California on business for a few days and afterward could drive up to Portland. He had been to Portland any number of times before, and liked the city, but she had been there only once, and then only briefly. So he suggested that she fly out to Portland to meet him, and to see the city, and then they could drive home across the U.S., making it a vacation trip.

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When she flew into the Portland airport, [REDACTED] met her and insisted on giving her a full tour of the airport, as if it were one of the major tourist sites of the city. It was a nice enough airport, but there was nothing distinctive about it; it was much like

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4.

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DB Cooper-21703

airports in a hundred other metropolitan areas. But [REDACTED] was very enthusiastic about showing it to her. This, like his reaction to the movie, was so peculiar that she remembered it well, even years later. But at the time she made no connection between this and the movie or the Cooper case. It was only in 1997, when it occurred to her that he might have committed the Cooper skyjacking, that these two memories came together.

As odd as these occasions were, though, she did not put much weight on them. More striking was an event that occurred on November 24, 1999. She and [REDACTED] had flown into Atlanta and rented a car to drive to North Carolina, for a Thanksgiving [REDACTED] They had a long way to drive, but trying to get out of Atlanta proved to be a nightmare. The holiday traffic in a city like Atlanta would have been difficult at best, but it turned out that there had been a serious truck accident along their route, and traffic ground to a halt. For a long time, they could only inch along. As a result, X came to be in a really foul mood, one that threatened to spoil the whole weekend, especially as they had not been looking forward to the weekend anyway. (As [REDACTED] But then something happened. The car radio was on, and without warning the news announcer suddenly said, "Do you know what tonight is? Tonight is the twenty-eighth anniversary of D. B. Cooper." He explained briefly who Cooper was and told a weak joke in tribute to him, and then went on to the day's news. Immediately X's mood changed, and changed totally, though the traffic remained horrible for some time. X immediately became very cheerful and upbeat, and he remained "up," i.e., not just in a better mood but noticeably happier than normal, not only for the rest of the drive but for the entire weekend. Though he never mentioned what had been said on the radio, it was obvious that it had triggered a radical change of mood. It also seemed that this was not the reaction of a mere "fan."

At this time [REDACTED] began to read about the case. Everything she read, from Cooper's behavior to the phrases and expressions he had used, reminded her forcefully of [REDACTED] She also realized that he had all the skills needed to carry out the skyjacking, that he had had a motive to do so, and that he could have had the opportunity. It was only because of this -- and not because of the odd behavior of [REDACTED] mentioned above -- that we made an effort to locate [REDACTED] the stewardess who had had so much contact with Cooper during the commission of the crime. However, when we were unable to locate her, we felt our chances of getting anywhere with the case were remote, and we turned our attention back to our original concerns. Nevertheless, we remained convinced that there was a possibility that X was guilty of the skyjacking.

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b6 b7c

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5.

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DB Cooper-21704

As far as we know, X has never come even remotely close to being looked at by the authorities, and there is no reason why he should have. He did not live in the North- west at the time, he has no criminal record, he is steadily employed, married and well respected, his outdoors and sports activities are low profile, often carried out on his own. If he was Cooper, even his appearance would not be likely to arouse any suspicion. The composite sketch could look reasonably like a lot of people and was probably circulated mostly in the Northwest. And the addition of a hairpiece would itself make enough of a difference to allay any recognition. As a result, it is only in circumstances like the present, where someone knows the suspect intimately, that suspicion and discovery is likely to occur.

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6.

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DB Cooper-21705