FD-350 clipping: 'Found by Family on Outing — Part of D.B. Cooper Loot', Los Angeles Times

FD-350 (Rev. 12-5-78)

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Found by Family on Outing Part of 'D. B. Cooper' Loot

WASHINGTON— A young Vancouver, Wash., family on an outing along the Columbia River last Sunday suddenly stumbled across 12 stacks of moldering money—part of the $200,000 that the notorious airline hijacker "D. B. Cooper" made off with more than eight years ago, the FBI said Tuesday.

With the bills now having been traced definitely to the Cooper loot, 30 agents from the Portland and Seattle FBI offices have begun an extensive search of the area for more of the money—and possibly for some sign of Cooper or, more likely, his remains.

The money—"several thousand dollars," according to one official—was found in Washington about five miles northwest of the Interstate 5 bridge that spans the Columbia and separates Washington from Oregon, FBI agent William M. Baker told a news conference in Portland.

Discovery of the money by Harold Dwayne Ingram, 27, his wife, Patricia, 26, and their sons, 8 and 3, marked the latest twist in the bizarre saga of the now-legendary Cooper, who parachuted from a Northwest Airlines jetliner on Thanksgiving Eve, 1971, never to be seen or heard from again. When found by the Ingrams, the stacks of $20 bills were bound by decomposing rubber bands, the FBI said. But there was "no trace of D. B. Cooper," according to the agency.

Shortly after the hijacking, a cult sprang up around D. B. Cooper, a name that never has been traced to its origins.

A private club was named in his honor, D. B. Cooper T-shirts were manufactured, bumper stickers were run off and anniversary parties were held.

Baker said in Portland that whether Cooper got away with the rest of the money was an open question.

Law enforcement authorities have believed that Cooper died in his plunge from the Boeing 727 because he was wearing only a business suit and street shoes when he jumped into a howling wind and freezing rain in an unreliable parachute. It has been estimated that he hit the ground at a speed of 50 to 70 m.p.h.

The saga began when "Cooper" boarded the jetliner in Portland for an evening flight to Seattle. Once airborne, he demanded that the airline have $200,000 in $20 bills and three parachutes on hand when the plane landed in Seattle. He threatened to blow up the plane if his demands were not met.

The airline complied, providing the parachutes and money. However, the FBI said Tuesday that the serial numbers of the bills had been recorded.

Cooper permitted the airliner's 36 passengers to leave the plane in Seattle. He then ordered the crew to take the plane to Reno and told the pilot to fly at a relatively low altitude and to open the plane's rear stairway.

Crew members last heard his voice on the plane's intercom when they were over the Washington-Oregon border. They said they believe he jumped, using the least reliable parachute.

The decomposed money was found 17 to 20 miles from the jump site by the Ingrams' older son, Brian. The bills were partly buried in sand that the Ingrams were scooping out to build a fire.

"Here's some more wood for the fire, Daddy," the father recalled his son as saying.

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.) I-1 LOS ANGELES TIMES

LOS ANGELES, CA Date: 2/13/80 Edition: Wednesday Final

Title: PART OF D.B. COOPER LOOT FOUND

Character: or Class[ification] Subm[itting office]

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SUBS. B. [stamp codes] b6 b7C b6 b7C

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Sub B [date stamp] 1/21 - [illegible] SEARCHED SERIALIZE[D] FEB 9 1980

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SEARCHED........INDEXED........ SERIALIZED.......FILED........... FEB 1/3 1980 FBI — LOS ANGELES

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FBI/DOJ

ORIGINAL TO THE BUREAU

DB Cooper-26285