FD-350 clipping 11/26/71: Clark County search for Thanksgiving Eve hijacker near Woodland

FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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Hunt for hijacker pressed in Clark County

An intensive search continued today in Clark County for the Thanksgiving Eve hijacker who commandeered a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 and parachuted from it with $200,000 ransom money.

The search by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and sheriff's deputies is being concentrated in a five-mile corridor between Woodland and Battle Ground, north of Vancouver.

J. Earl Milnes, special agent in charge of the Seattle office of the F. B. I., said the area is being searched because of the position of the plane at "the last time he was known (by the crew) to be aboard."

Milnes added: "Actually, he could be anywhere between there and Reno."

THERE WAS an unconfirmed report that the crew reported a slight shift in the plane's balance while over a Clark County farmland region Wednesday night.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said their radar could not pick up an object as small as a parachutist.

Two jets sent to follow the hijacked plane apparently were too far away to observe the jump. If they weren't, officials were not saying.

The Clark County area near Portland also was suspect because the hijacker boarded the plane in Portland. There was speculation someone might have been waiting on the ground to pick him up.

Airline executives and the F. B. I. declined to say whether the ransom money was marked or serial numbers were recorded.

THE HIJACKER took over the flight from Portland to Seattle Wednesday by showing a stewardess what he said was a bomb in a briefcase. He collected $200,000 ransom at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport in exchange for the plane's 36 passengers and two stewardesses.

He ordered two parachute assemblies, each consisting of a chest pack and a back pack, then demanded the back door be left open as the plane flew to Reno. When it arrived in Reno, he was gone.

A three-man flight crew and a stewardess said they were confined to the cockpit after the plane left Seattle and did not see the hijacker jump.

IN PICKING a 727, the methodical hijacker chose one of the few commercial jets with an exit at its extreme rear, under the tail — one acceptable for a parachute jump.

It was determined yesterday that one of the two parachutes apparently used in the jump was an inoperable ground-practice chute.

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

P. A7 Seattle Times Seattle, Washington

Date: 11-26-71 Edition: Night Sports Final Author: Editor: Henry McLeod Title: UNSUB; Northwest Airlines, Flight 305, Portland to Seattle Character: 11/24/71 °CAA-HIJACKING; EXT Classification: 164-81 Submitting Office: SEATTLE

☐ Being Investigated

COPY SENT TO BUREAU

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DB Cooper-22514

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[illegible] [illegible] [illegible] FBI—SEATTLE

Tom McDowell, Clark County undersheriff, said: "We're either looking for a parachute or a hole in the ground." Clark County Sheriff Eu- gene Cotton said the hijacker is thought to have parachut- ed from the jetliner at 8:13 p. m. Wednesday as the plane was flying low and slow. The plane was over View, near Woodland, at that time. Planes and helicopters criss-crossed the area most of yesterday before weather conditions cut visibility.

THE HIJACKER, about 6 feet tall, 175 pounds with black hair and olive com- plexion, used the name D. B. Cooper when he boarded the plane. Officials say he obviously was familiar with aircraft operation and parachuting. It was the first time an aircraft hijacker used a

parachute, and it was the largest sum of money with which one has escaped in the United States. Today's search in Clark County was ground and air.

THE SEARCH is being co- ordinated out of Woodland City Hall. About 25 sheriff's deputies and F. B. I. agents were interviewing residents in the area. Two reports that a parachutist was seen

Wednesday night proved false, McDowell, the under- sheriff, said. McDowell said three heli- copters were used for about an hour but fog cut visibility so badly they were ground- ed. Residents were being in- terviewed in small Clark County towns such as View, Crawford, Heisson, Yacolt, Ariel — all east of Woodland, and Interstate 5.

McDowell said the search [guess: is] concentrated in an area of about 20 square miles. He said because it was Thanksgiving, giving Eve roads in the area

were more heavily traveled than normal. McDowell said: "If there was a night that someone was going to see something around there, that was as good a night as any."

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DB Cooper-22515