FD-350 clipping on pants found in tree, Clark County, with AP wirephoto

FD-350 (Rev. 11-11-75)

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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If Cooper survived skyjacking, pants first on shopping list

Mysterious and missing skyjacker Dan (D.B.) Cooper got away with $200,000 in airline money five years ago and the caper may have cost him his pants.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation in Seattle Wednesday confirmed that a farmer and logger in the Green Moun- tain area of Washington State's Clark County had found a pair of pants in a tree near where Cooper bailed out of the hijacked airliner.

Up until dark Wednesday, FBI agents searched the area where the pants were found, tattered and moss- stained, by William Lynch about a month ago.

Agent Dick Dyer in Vancouver said "All we want to do is pose the question, 'are these his pants?'"

In Seattle, Agent John Reed said he wasn't too excited.

"We've been getting pants, para- chutes and parachute cords for five years," he said. "I'm not that excited about it, but we've got to give it the full shot. I hope nobody's playing a hoax on us."

The general area where Cooper is believed to have landed was searched for weeks by the FBI and Army after a

Northwest Airlines 727 was hijacked Nov. 25, 1971, on a flight from Portland to Seattle.

Dan Cooper was the name given by a man who paid cash for a ticket from Portland to Seattle Thanksgiving Eve. Shortly after the jetliner left Port- land, he gave a stewardess a note say- ing there was a bomb in his briefcase.

He ended up with $200,000 in cash and four parachutes, two of which he wore when he left the airliner's rear door in a raging thunderstorm some- where between Seattle and Reno.

Some news stories subsequently re-

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

Page D-8 THE OREGONIAN PORTLAND, OREGON

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Date: 11-25-76 Edition: Author: Editor: J. Richard Nokes Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office: b6 b7C ☐ Being Investigated [guess: b2b4]

SA.

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DB Cooper-22602

[...] ferred to him as D.B. Cooper and the initials stuck. Wednesday the FBI sent the torn, gray plaid pants to FBI laboratories in Washington, D.C., for analysis. Agents said neither laundry nor cleaning marks were found on the trousers, nor were there any blood- stains. Back in Portland, the U.S. Attor- ney's office, in what was described as "an abundance of caution," secured an indictment based on grand jury findings against Dan Cooper for hijacking the plane. Jack G. Collins, first assistant U.S. Attorney, said the indictment was sought because there had been some legal decisions that would contend a five-year statute of limitations applies to the case. "It was out of an abundance of cau- tion," Collins said, "that the indictment was sought. We have no present knowl- edge of his (Cooper's) whereabouts." He said the indictment was request- ed by Deputy Atty. Gen Richard Thornburg, head of the criminal division of the U.S. Justice Department. Collins said the penalty for air pira- cy (Count 1 of the indictment) was a prison term of not less than 20 years. If anyone had been killed in the hijacking, he said, the punishment would have been a death sentence. On Count 2 of the indictment, Col- lins said, the maximum penalty is a $10,000 fine or 20 years in prison or both. The government asked for a bench warrant for Cooper's arrest and bail of $500,000. Cooper's official description is that of a man in his mid-40s, height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 170 to 180 pounds, aver- age to well-built, olive complexion, me- dium smooth; hair dark brown or black and parted on the left and combed back.

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COOPER'S PANTS? -- FBI agent Dick Dyer (left) of Vancouver, Wash., and Sheriff Gene Cotton of Clark County examine a pair of pants found in the area where skyjacker D.B. Cooper is believed to have disappeared.

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DB Cooper-22603