FD-350 clipping: "FBI on D. B. Cooper trail" re suspect Jerry H. Cooper, Spokesman-Review, 9/9/75

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

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FBI on D. B. Cooper trail

By JANE SEABERRY

WASHINGTON (WP) — The FBI is investigating whether a suburban Virginia heavy equipment operator named Jerry H. Cooper is really D. B. Cooper, the airline hijacker who parachuted with $200,000 ransom money from a Northwest Orient 727 jet on Thanksgiving eve, 1971, and was never seen again.

Acting on an anonymous tip, the FBI has questioned Jerry Cooper's sister-in-law, Carol Wood, manager of the Oakton Park Apartments in Fairfax City, Va., who later told her brother-in-law that the FBI suspected him of being the skyjacker.

Jerry Cooper, 30, then called The Washington Post and met voluntarily with the FBI Monday in efforts to deny that he had anything to do with the crime, even though he is an experienced skydiver and strongly resembles witnesses' descriptions of skyjacker D. B. Cooper.

Both Coopers are about six feet tall, weight about 180 pounds and have dark hair and dark complexions. After looking at an artist's sketch of missing skyjacker, Jerry Cooper said Monday, "I do look an awful lot like him. It's kind of scary."

Cooper acknowledged that he was a skydiver for eight years before quitting about five years ago. He also said that he once worked as an aircraft fueler and therefore was familiar with the operations of commercial jets.

But he insisted the FBI was investigating the wrong man. "My name is Jerry. I have a birth certificate," Cooper said. "If I was going to hijack a plane, I certainly wouldn't use my real name."

"All I need is for them (the FBI) to show pictures to people that were on the flight and say, 'Yeah, that's him, that's him.'"

Cooper said he contacted the Post and the FBI because he couldn't sleep since hearing from his sister-in-law about the FBI's inquiry. "I was shocked; that's really the word for it," he said. "If they're going to lock me up, I feel everybody should know about it."

Cooper said, and the FBI confirmed, that the FBI received an anonymous tip last May from a caller who said he was afraid of Cooper, that Cooper was a dangerous person, that he had seen about $15,000 in cash in Cooper's apartment and that he believed Cooper was the skyjacker.

"I had $15,000 I'd be out fishing somewhere," Jerry Cooper said as he lit his third cigarette within 20 minutes.

When told that hijacker D. B. Cooper was allegedly a chain smoker, he said, "Oh, no."

Cooper said he doesn't know who could have called authorities. "I probably have a few enemies," he added, ex-plaining that he had been involved in a number of brawls and had been arrested for disorderly conduct several times in Fairfax County.

Cooper, who said he hunts in Virginia every year around Thanksgiving, said he is not sure where he was at the time of the skyjacking. "I was probably hunting. How many men do you know can say where they were four years ago?"

Mrs. Wood also said Cooper was probably hunting, with relatives who have shot game that time of the year for 14 years.

When the FBI agent first questioned her, Mrs. Wood said, "I laughed and laughed. I couldn't control myself. It was that funny."

After more questioning, however, Mrs. Wood said, "I got super scared. My brother-in-law is a super kind of a guy. He's an Aquarian. He's born under a rainbow. He's definitely no criminal."

Michael A. Morrow, assistant special FBI agent in charge of the Alexandria, Va., office, said Monday "We received information indicating he could possibly be D. B. Cooper."

Morrow said he personally is becoming more inclined to believe Jerry Cooper is not D. B. Cooper but that the investigation would continue. "We're just trying to ascertain if he is D. B. Cooper."

Morrow said, "We're going to

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Su2

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

P.20 The [guess: Spokesman] Review Spokane, [guess: Wa]

Date: 9-9-75 Edition: Author: Editor: Title:

NORJA K

Character:

164-81 Classification: Submitting Office: b6

☐ Being Investigated b7C

COPY SENT TO BUREAU

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SEARCHED INDEXED SERIALIZED FILED SEP 1 0 1975

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DB Cooper-23049

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164-81 [guess: Auto]

[...] do a certain amount of checking." D. B. Cooper, described by witnesses as a middle-aged man, hijacked a five-stop flight from Washington, D.C. to Seattle after boarding it at Portland, Ore. He collected $200,000 ransom in $20 bills from Northwest Orient Airlines officials, and parachuted from the plane near northwest Washington state after the 36 passengers and two stewardesses had been released during a stop earlier. After getting the money, Cooper had ordered the pilot to fly at an altitude of about 10,000 and at about 200 miles per hour over the lowlands of western Washington and Oregon. When the plane land- ed at Reno, Nev., for refuel- ing, the hijacker and money were gone. The thickly wooded area where Cooper is believed to have landed was scoured by searchers and neither Cooper nor the money was found. Within 72 hours of Cooper's exploits, D. B. Cooper tee shirts bearing a picture of a suitcase marked [illegible] parachuting down from the plane with legend, "D. B. Cooper, where are you?" were marketed by a Port- land, Ore., manufacturer. A song about the hijacker was written, recorded, and released within a week and became a favorite of Oregon and Washington state top-40 listeners. Later, bumper sticks appeared, asking "Will the real D. B. Cooper please stand up?" [...]

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DB Cooper-23050