FD-350 clipping: AP story on Rackstraw's arrest for forged FAA licenses, Seattle Times, 2/2/79

FD-350 (Rev. 10-19-77)

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Suspect linked to D.B. Cooper

FULLERTON, Calif. — (AP) — Police today transferred to a Stockton, Calif., jail a man who has been linked to the search for D.B. Cooper, the nation's most fa- mous airplane hijacker.

The man was identified by pol- ice in this Los Angeles suburb as Robert Wesley Rackstraw, 35. Police said he was arrested here last week, reportedly for trying to duplicate a Federal Aviation Ad- ministration pilot's license and medical certificates. Police ar- rested him when the owner of a print shop became suspicious and called the F.A.A.

Fullerton police said there are arrest warrants outstanding in Stockton for Rackstraw on charges of aircraft theft, posses- sion of explosives and fraud.

In nearby Santa Ana, Pete Nor- regard, an F.B.I. agent, said Rackstraw had been sought for questioning in the D.B. Cooper case about a year ago. But Norre- gard added, "The F.B.I. here is not aware of any current investi- gation involving Rackstraw. That case is being handled by our Seattle office."

In Seattle, a F.B.I. spokesman, Ray Mathis, declined comment. "We cannot talk about people we have under investigation," Mathis said.

In February 1978, after return- ing from a year in Iran as a heli- copter pilot, Rackstraw was ar- rested by the F.B.I. in New York on charges of killing his stepfath- er, Philip, and burying the body in Calaveras County in California.

He was acquitted by a Calaver- as County Superior Court. But during the murder investagation, Warren Little, an F.B.I. agent in Stockton, indicated he believed he had established a link between Rackstraw and D.B. Cooper.

The nature of the link is not known.

William Rackstraw, Philip's brother, told the F.B.I. at the time, "I can't really say where Robert was (when the plane was hijacked). He was all over the country and in and out of trouble- wherever he went."

On November 24, 1971, a middle- aged man wearing sunglasses and calling himself "Dan Cooper" boarded a Portland-to-Seattle

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

p.A1 Seattle Times Seattle, Wa.

Date: 2/2/79 Edition: Final

Title:

Character: or /c 4-81 Classification: Submitting Office: Seattle

COPY SENT TO BUREAU

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SUB B, #5. [guess: copy], [illegible]

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SEARCHED......... INDEXED....... SERIALIZED......... FILED...... FEB 1 4 1979 [illegible] b6 [illegible] b7C

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DB Cooper-23084 164-81-Sub B

flight carrying a paper bag in his hand. Soon after takeoff, he told stewardesses he had a bomb and he wanted $200,000 in cash and four parachutes.

The Northwest Airlines 727 landed in Seattle and the other passengers, who did not realize anything was amiss, got off. Coop- er's demands were met and the plane took off again for Reno, car- rying only Cooper and the crew. Somewhere over Southwest Washington, Cooper bailed out with the money and has not been seen since, despite extensive searches.

It is the nation's only unsolved hijacking.

Last month, Cowlitz County Sheriff Les Nelson revealed that an elk hunter had found a heavy plastic placard of the type found on 727s. That placard was found to be missing off the 727 hijacked by Cooper, but not until after the F.B.I. conducted a simulation of the hijacking about six weeks aft- er the actual incident.

So, although it's been called the first real link to Cooper, nothing can be proved.

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DB Cooper-23085