MISSING magazine with feature 'D.B. Cooper, Where Are You?'

MISSING

THE NATIONWIDE MAGAZINE OF MISSING PERSONS

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FEATURES: IS YOUR TEENAGER A POTENTIAL RUNAWAY? FBI TEN MOST WANTED SOME MISSINGS ARE MISSING MILLIONS

D. B. COOPER! WHERE ARE YOU?

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SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE FBI BUREAU INVESTIGATION 915 SECOND AVENUE SEATTLE WA 98104

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President H. Earle Garvin Editor-In-Chief Richard J. Kavanaugh Senior Editor Robert Swinden Managing Editor/Operations G. Sanders Dupree

Associate Editor Sid Shirley Picture Editor Bob Swinden Editorial Production Ted Speakman Reporters Listed by Story Credits Contributing Writers Dr. Howard Ihrig Ellen Mitchem, Dr. Hughes Creighton, Wilson Holcomb, Dr. Henry Steinman, Lou Carter. Publication Consultant Pat O'C Bradley Circulation Mildred Garvin, Florence Dupree

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Patsy Ball 14241 Mango Drive Delmar, California 92014

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MISSING is published quarterly by Inter- national Publication, Inc., Suite 1D, 361 East Paces Ferry Road NE, Atlanta, Ga. 30305. Subscription rate is $10 for 12 issues. August issue distributed July 11, 1975. Entered as Controlled Circulation with postage paid at Atlanta, Ga. Applica- tion to mail at controlled circulation rates is pending at Atlanta, Georgia. © COPYRIGHTED 1975 by INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS, INC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

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4 MAIL

7 D. B. COOPER, WHERE ARE YOU? The only skyjacker that parachuted and escaped discovery and prosecution remains a mystery.

11 IS YOUR TEEN-AGER A POTENTIAL RUNAWAY? An insight prepared by a leading clinical psychologist could help avoid a tragedy.

13 THE FAMILY SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA An organization that specializes in giving strength to families under stress.

14 THE FBI TEN MOST WANTED FUGITIVES A listing of those most wanted this month by the FBI.

16 THE MISSING "EAGLE EYE" PHOTO QUIZ

17 LISTINGS OF MISSING PERSONS Photos and descriptions—where last seen—occupations and clues on missing persons.

34 SOME MISSINGS ARE MISSING MILLIONS Lost and missing heirs to thousands of probated estates are beneficiaries of millions of dollars.

35 MESSAGE CENTER Last minute up to date short stories about missing persons, lost and found.

41 MISSING MESSAGES Short line communications to and from missing persons.

46 INDEX OF MISSING PERSONS

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(World Wide Photo)

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D.B. COOPER! WHERE ARE YOU?

Three and one-half years after he parachuted from a Northwest Airlines Jet, the skyjacker known as D. B. Cooper and the $200,000 in ransom money are still MISSING.

Who is he? Or who was he? And why with all that is known about him, and with all the resources at their command, has the FBI not been able at least to identify, if not locate him?

According to Mr. Tom Harrington, Information Officer for the FBI in Washington, the investigation is ongoing, the files are still active, and the FBI believes that someday they will bring the case to a satisfactory conclusion. But if they have any new information, they are not revealing it.

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While there are a number of contradictions in the story as it has been told in the various news media at the time and since, the facts according to the FBI and other authorities are these.

Boarded Flight at Portland

There were no hijacking precautions being taken at any airports in 1971, when on November 24, the day before Thanksgiving, an average looking man wearing dark glasses purchased a seat on Northwest Airlines Flight 305 from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. He gave his name as Dan Cooper, but later the media picked it up as D. B. Cooper and that is the name that he has continued to be known by. It was a one way ticket from the twenty-five minute flight and he boarded the Boeing 727 along with thirty-six other passengers that afternoon. Flight 305 had originated in Washington, D. C. and made stops in Minneapolis, Great Falls, Montana, Missoula, Montana, and Spokane, Washington, before arriving in Portland. It was to terminate at Seattle.

The crew consisted of three pilots, Captain William Scott, Flight Officer W. (Bob) Ratacazak and Flight Officer H. E. Anderson, and three stewardesses, Tina Mucklow, Florence Schaffner and Alice Hancock. Shortly after takeoff, the man known as Cooper handed a note to Stewardess Schaffner.

"I thought he was trying to hustle me," the stewardess said later at a press conference. "I stuffed the note in my purse and he motioned that I should read it."

The note said he had a bomb and wanted to go to Mexico. When she looked up he showed her a briefcase with red cylinders that looked like dynamite connected by wires. Following his instructions, she sat down beside him and wrote down instructions to the pilot.

Wanted 10,000 Twenty Dollar Bills

He wanted ten thousand twenty- Continued on Page 8

D. B. COOPER Continued from Page 7

dollar bills delivered to him at Seattle in a laundry sack along with two sets of parachutes. Otherwise he would blow up the plane.

According to Bill Hawkes, assistant chief in the Seattle-Tacoma Airport Tower, the first indication they had of the trouble was when the captain radioed he had "a little trouble in the cockpit." While the plane circled Seattle for two and one-half hours, the $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills was collected from several Seattle banks and the parachutes were obtained from nearby McCord Air Force Base. The hijacker refused to let the plane land until the money, the parachutes and a fuel truck were ready and waiting.

Newspaper accounts say that during this time Captain Scott negotiated with the hijacker. But from later reports it seems evident/that there was little negotiation on Cooper's part. He wanted the money, the parachutes, and transportation to Mexico. When these were ready and waiting he would allow the airplane to land and park in a remote section of the airport to be refueled. Then, when the money was on board, the passengers and two of the stewardesses could deplane; after which, they would depart immediately.

Captain Scott apparently did not alarm his passengers. Later Assistant U. S. Attorney Larry Finegold, one of the passengers, told newsmen that they were informed by the crew that there were some minor difficulties.

"Then we saw they were dumping gas and I thought there was some landing gear problem," Finegold said. "After we landed, I saw this gas truck drive up and I thought to myself, 'Why don't they get us off first?' I then saw the money bag being handed over and I realized that there had been a hijack."

The plane was parked in a remote

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section of the airport and the passengers were required to walk a distance to a bus since the hijacker wouldn't allow the vehicle near the aircraft. Landings and takeoffs were delayed while the passengers walked across the runway to the waiting bus.

Route of Flight Selected by the Captain

Reports are a little vague about the sequence of events but the FBI firmly states that Cooper's requested destination was Mexico City. When he was told by Captain Scott that the plane could not fly there without refueling, the hijacker suggested a stop at Yuma, Arizona. The Captain's reply was that even Yuma was beyond the range of the 727, but that he could safely make Reno, Nevada. Cooper apparently agreed to this destination

and according to the FBI, allowed the Captain to select the route of flight. However at some point in the discussion, the hijacker specifically told the Captain that he was to fly at an altitude of 10,000 feet, at a speed of 200 miles per hour with 15 degrees of flaps extended. These conditions limited the range of the aircraft and of course led everyone to believe that he had no real interest in Mexico City but planned to parachute out at some point along the way.

After takeoff, Cooper locked the three pilots and stewardess Muchlow in the cockpit and remained alone in the cabin of the aircraft. The Boeing 727 is one of the few commercial airliners with a rear exit with retractable stairs. In the lowered position these steps are well below the plane and a parachutist would have no difficulty clearing the fuselage. The Captain was instructed to unlock the rear stairs and leave the cabin in darkness.

There are lights in the cockpit to

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indicate the position of the stairs. But twenty minutes after departure the Captain became aware that Cooper was extending the stairs.

"Anything we can do for you?" the Captain called back over the plane's interphone.

There was no answer but a few seconds later another light flashed in the cockpit indicating the ramp was fully extended. Then Cooper came on the interphone and answered a brief, "No." That was the last that was heard from him.

Approximately three hours later when the plane landed

in Reno, Cooper, the money, two parachutes, the briefcase containing the bomb, some food rations and part of a third parachute were missing.

The skyjacker had carefully reclaimed his note from the stewardess and left no fingerprints. The ramp was still extended.

The Search Begins

Police with dogs searched the darkened runways of the Reno airport, a residential section, and desert area nearby after the plane landed, without result. FBI agent Harold Campbell stated the next day that there was no way the hijacker could have escaped after the plane landed. At that time he speculated that the man may have parachuted out over the broad flatlands of the Willamette Valley.

Newsmen were hindered by a complete blackout of information from Northwest Airlines employees. Walter Hellman, public relations vice president, blamed it on the FBI and FAA saying that Northwest had been instructed to make no statements until the crew had been debriefed.

While agent Campbell may have had some doubts about where Cooper DB Cooper-26562

AERONAUTICAL CHART OF THE PORTLAND, OREGON, AREA

1. Point where the FBI thinks Cooper Jumped 2. Portland International Airport where he boarded Flight 305 3. Spot where unidentified Skull was found 4. Woodland, Washington, Headquarters for the Search 5. Route of Flight 305 on its flight from Seattle to Reno

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[guess: departed] the aircraft, other FBI agents apparently did not. According to FBI Information Officer Harring- ton, a search was started in the vicin- ity of Lake Merwin in southern Washington almost immediately after the plane passed over. Information supplied by the crew was reported to be the reason for this. When ques- tioned specifically about what it was the crew reported that convinced the FBI that Cooper had jumped in this area, Harrington was vague. However it was definitely established that at 8:10 that night the 727 passed over the Lewis River on federal airway V-23E and that this was the time immediately after the hijacker had fully extended the stairs. Harrington states that the plane was in solid cloud at the time. Other reports indicate that the Air Force had scrambled interceptors to follow the airliner, but because of darkness, or the clouds, or both, they never saw a man leave the airliner. At the Portland International Air- port, approximately 30 miles south, the weathermen were reporting a ceiling of 2500 feet overcast with rain. Winds at the aircraft's altitude of 10,000 feet were reported to be from the West-Southwest at 25 to 45 knots.

Believing that Cooper had jumped somewhere near where the airway crosses the Lewis River (at about the Lake Merwin Dam), the FBI trans- formed the nearby town of Woodland, Washington, into a command post. Agent Tom Manning was put in charge of a small army of police, FBI agents, Sheriff's Deputys and soldiers from Ft. Lewis, Washington. They spent all of that Thursday, Thanksgiving Day 1971, combing a section approximately ten miles wide by fifteen miles long, both north and south of Lake Merwin with planes, helicopters, jeeps and tracking dogs. The weather was bad with intermit- tent rain and fog and this hindered the search. At one point, the Army called off its helicopters, but other helicopters provided by Weyer- haeuser, the lumber company, and the Bonneyville Power Administra- tion continued making intermittent passes over the area. Much of the area is rugged terrain and the freshly

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'D. B. COOPER Continued from Page 9 fallen snow made it virtually impassable. The search resumed on Friday, but by now police doubted that Cooper could have survived. "We're either looking for a parachute or a hole in the ground," Under-Sheriff Tom McDowell of Clark County was quoted as saying. After a week the search was called off. Then, late in March, 1972, 300 soldiers from Ft. Lewis searched the thawing terrain for 18 days. They found no traces of Cooper although they did find a body and cleared up a local murder. What happened to him? And what happened to the bag of money which was reported to be 6"x8"x27" and weigh 24½ pounds?

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Crew of Northwest Airlines Flight 305. Left to Right, Second Officer H. E. Anderson, First Officer William (Bob) Rataczak, Captain William Scott, Stewardesses Tina Mucklow, Florence Schaffner and Alice Hancock. (World Wide Photos)

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Four Theories While there has been much speculation all theories fall into one of four basic categorys: (1) He bailed out where the FBI thinks he did and got away before the search started. (2) He bailed out where the FBI thinks he did and is still there, hung in some remote tree or possibly at the bottom of Lake Merwin. (3) He bailed out elsewhere and got away. (4) He bailed out elsewhere and did not survive.

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Let's examine each of these in turn. No one seems to give much credence to the first theory. If FBI agent Harrington's statement is correct and the search was started immediately after the plane passed over the area, Cooper could hardly have landed, hidden his parachutes (or taken them with him) and gotten out of the area with his bag of money without attracting attention. It was raining and even if he was lucky enough to come down on a paved road, he could not have hitched a ride without the incident being reported. And what did he do with the parachutes? Could he have had a car or an accomplice with a car waiting for him? This is a good possibility,

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but if he did, how did he know exactly when and where to jump to meet this accomplice in time to get away before the hunt started? While he did not specify the route of the flight the plane was to take, it is possible that he knew that for the airliner to fly to Mexico City, Yuma or Reno, at an altitude of 10,000 feet, it would have to take the airway it did, at least as far as Portland. And it is possible that he could estimate their position by knowing the amount of time it would take them to fly to that point from Seattle at the speed of two hundred miles an hour. But even at 200 miles an hour, the plane was traveling at better than three miles a minute. To do all these things and then be lucky enough to land close enough to his planned point of landing in that weather to get away, money, parachutes and all, before the search started would indeed be incredible. Another point against this theory is the absense of the parachutes. If he did indeed come down in a planned spot and have transportation nearby, it would seem he would leave the parachutes. He had no further need for them and he certainly wouldn't carry them if he had to walk any distance or had to hitch a ride out. Theory number two is a little more likely than number one, but nevertheless seems to have been abandoned. From all reports, the searches that were made, both at the time immediately following the flight, and the following spring were very

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Search—A Helicopter takes off from search headquarters on Friday, November 26, 1971, as Clark County deputy sheriff Bob Rayburn checks a map of the area where the FBI thought Cooper jumped. (World Wide Photos)

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DB Cooper-26564 Continued on Page 45

Northwest Airlines Flight 305 as it sat on the ground at Seattle Wednesday evening. At this point the plane is being refueled and in the car at left, an airline employee waits to deliver the 10,000 twenty-dollar bills and the four parachutes. The passengers are still on board but shortly after this Cooper allowed them to get off and walk to a waiting bus. (World Wide Photos)

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I'M ALIVE AND doing well in Home town P.O. The system that beats the system.

D B cooper

Editor - Oregonian 1320 S.W. Broad[way] [Portland]

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A letter delivered on December 2, 1971 to the Portland Newspaper, The Oregonian. The letters were taken from magazines. (World Wide Photos)

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D. B. Cooper Where are you?

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In the months following the hijacking Cooper became a legend in the Northwest--pictured as a lone Robin Hood who stole from a giant corporation, hurt no one and got away. A song extolling his feat became a hit and T-shirts, like the one shown here, sold by the thousands. (World Wide Photos)

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, D. B. COOPER Continued from Page 38 thorough. Still the possibility re[illegible]s that the body, the money and all are still there either in a tree or in the lake. Clark County deputys who were questioned about this theory won't discount it completely. Even though this area is crossed by state route 503 and is walked over by hunters and timber men, they say that the undergrowth is dense in places and that a body might be missed. The shores of the lake were searched carefully for any sign of the man, the money or the chutes and no traces were found. But the FBI has given up searching, so they must feel this is no longer a reasonable possibility.

Theory number three therefore seems more plausible than one or two. Perhaps he didn't jump when the Captain thought he did, but stayed out there on the extended stairs until a later time. Perhaps he did wait for the flatlands of the Williamette Valley before he took his leave.

But if he did, and if he survived, what happened to him after he landed. He still had no way to know exactly where he was. Therefore when he came down he would have to leave his parachutes and either walk or hitchhike to a town where he could obtain transportation. According to the FBI, authorities all along the route of flight were alerted that night and it wasn't until the next day that it became general knowledge that the search was being concentrated in the Lake Merwin area. And if he left the parachutes, isn't it reasonable to think that they or their remains would have been discovered by now?

Another factor that supports the theory that Cooper did not survive is the fact that none of the money has ever turned up. The numbers of the 10,000 twenty-dollar bills were circulated to banks in a 34 page booklet and have been widely publicized by the Portland Newspapers, the Oregon Journal and the Oregonian. They have a reward offer which still stands of $1,000 for the first twenty-dollar bill on the list to turn up.

This brings us to theory number four. Could he have bailed out somewhere other than the Lake Merwin area and not survived?

Some months ago when a weathered human skull was found by a hiker in the Mt. Hood National Forest east of the town of Estacada, it was thought this might be the remains of Cooper. But the FBI ruled this out. First the spot where the skull was found was too far from the flight path of the aircraft that night and second, experts think the skull belonged to a man younger than Cooper is thought to have been. Detective Worth of the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said that the skull had been in the woods for at least one year and possibly as long as ten. He believed it was closer to ten due to the amount of moss that had overgrown it. While the fact that a parachute was lodged in a tree not too far from the skull gave credence to the theory that this might be Cooper, Worth stated that there were several roads between the two spots and while they have not gotten the parachute out of the tree, it looks like the type used for weather instruments. The two parachutes Cooper used were both white, while the third one that he cut up, probably to tie the money bag to him, was pink.

Still, this theory that he jumped elsewhere and did not survive is the only theory that will fit all the known facts unless one allows for a tremendous amount of luck on Cooper's part. No traces of him, the chutes, or the money have surfaced. They could still be there, somewhere along the path of flight 305 that night, south of the Lewis River, but north of Reno, hanging in a tree or covered by undergrowth, waiting to be found by some hunter or logger.

Cooper May Have Been Reported as a Missing Person

But if this is the case, why hasn't Cooper turned up somewhere as a Missing Person? He gave the appearance of a very intelligent, educated man. This type of person cannot usually go missing indefinitely without being missed, and reported Missing.

Cooper was described as being between forty and fifty years of age, with an olive complexion and dark black hair. He was very relaxed and courteous according to the crew. They think he was about six feet tall, with a slim build and weighing about 170 pounds. He was well dressed in a dark suite, dark grey coat and dark glasses. It is assumed that he was an experienced parachutist and had some knowledge of aircraft, possibly being a pilot himself. Does this description fit anyone you know or used to know?

So, we come full circle and wonder if any of our theories can fit the facts. Maybe the answer lies in a missing persons file in some small county Sheriff's Office or in some overworked big city Police Department.

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(World Wide Photo)

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