FD-350 clipping, Los Angeles Times: newspapers receive letter from purported hijacker 'D.B. Cooper'

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

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HIJACKER'S LETTER Robbed for Peace of Mind Claims He's Mystery Chutist, Has Only 14 Months to Live

BY DARYL LEMBKE Times Staff Writer

At least four newspapers received a half-boastful, half-plaintive letter Monday from a person claiming to be the man who hijacked an airliner and parachuted out the back door with $200,000. The Los Angeles Times received a copy of the letter, postmarked in Seattle last Saturday, as did the Seattle Times. The letter indicated that copies also went to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

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newspaper, city and state.)

I-1 Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, Calif.

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Date: 12/14/71 Edition: Tuesday Final Author: Editor: Title:

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office: Los Angeles ☐ Being Investigated

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[handwritten] 16 - 097 - 14[illegible] SEARCHED ___INDEXED___ SERIALIZED___FILED___ DEC 1 4 1971 [illegible] ANGELES b6 b7C

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DB Cooper-23137

A Northwest Orient 727 airliner was hijacked the night before Thanksgiving on a flight from Port- land to Seattle. The writer of the typewritten let- ter, received Monday, said that he knew from the start that he wouldn't be caught because he wore a disguise, left no fingerprints and employed other, unspecified means of confounding the authorities. The letter, the latest of several re- ceived by various newspapers, was turned over to FBI agents by the Seattle Times. The FBI headquar- ters in Washington refused to com- ment. "I didn't rob Northwest Orient be- cause I thought it would be roman- tic, heroic or any of the other euphe- misms that seem to attach them- selves to situations of high risks," the letter writer said. "I am no modern day Robin Hood. Unfortunately, (I) do have only 14 months to live. "My life has been one of hate, tur- moil, hunger and more hate. This seemed to be the fastest and most profitable way to gain a few last grains of peace of mind. I don't blame people for hating me for what I've done nor do I blame anybody for wanting me to be caught and punished, though this can never happen."

Different Sequences

He said he wore a toupee and put- ty makeup that would make it im- possible for anyone to recognize him from a composite picture distributed by the FBI.

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"I've come and gone on several airline flights and am not [guess: noted] up in some obscure backwoods town," he said. "Neither am I a psycho- pathic killer. As a matter of fact, I've never even received a speeding tick- et." He typed at the bottom the name D. B. Cooper, the name used by the hijacker when he bought a ticket to Seattle at Portland. Underneath the name on the copy of the letter sent to The Times was this sequence of numbers and letters: "7698QA2753." The Seattle Times letter had differ- ent numbers at the bottom. Airline crew members who saw the hijacker before he bailed out be- tween Seattle and Reno said he ap- peared to be between 40 and 50, stood about 6 feet tall and weighed about 175 pounds. They said he had a receding hairline. The description has given anxious moments to several men who bear a resemblance to the composite pic- ture and who have parachute jump- ing experience. Jim [guess: Fencl], 38, of West Covina, said he was detained for three hours and questioned at Sacramento Inter- national Airport four days after the hijacking because of several coin- cidences that aroused the suspicion of sheriff's deputies.

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His general appearance agrees with that of the hijacker, although he is younger. Fencl said he was sipping a martini at the bar when deputies asked to see his identifica- tion. He had a card in his wallet showing that he had been a member of the Army's parachuting 82nd Airborne Division. A check of his driver's license showed that he had previously resided in Seat- tle. And he had $800 in cash on him, money he was going to pay movers, he said. Fencl was in the process of moving from Rocklin, near Sacramento, to West Covina. He is the new manager of the Pomo- na National Country Club. Phone calls to the police chief in Rocklin and to the country club in Pomona confirmed Fencl's story, but not before he had been taken to downtown Sa- cramento for interrogation and had his picture taken at the sheriff's headquar- ters. "I went through it calm- ly because I knew I was innocent," Fencl said. The FBI has given no indication of whether it has any clues to the hi- jacker's whereabouts, but did announce that it had released to banks and de- partment stores the serial numbers of the bills he took. The entire $200,000 was in $20 bills. Identifica- tion will be difficult be- cause the 10 thousand seri- al numbers are not in se- [text cut off]

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DB Cooper-23138