FD-350 clipping re Brian Ingram finding D.B. Cooper ransom money, Pioneer Press, with continuation pages

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

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Boy on picnic discovers D. B. Cooper hijack loot

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Twelve weathered stacks of $20 bills — part of the $200,000 given to legendary airline hijacker "D. B. Cooper" be- fore he parachuted from an airliner more than eight years ago — were produced Tuesday by the FBI.

But agents said they still have no trace of Cooper.

"This clue is the first we've had since the night of the occurrence," said Bill Baker, assistant special agent in charge of the Portland FBI office.

He said wads of the money, bound by rubber bands, were found Sunday while Harold Ingram, his wife, Patricia, and their 8-year-old son, Bri-

an, were preparing to build a picnic fire along the Columbia River, five miles northwest of the Interstate 5 bridge linking Portland and Van- couver, Wash., where the Ingrams live.

Ingram said at a press conference here that, the money was found about 20 yards from the river's edge under a thin layer of sand.

"MY SON ran up and said, 'Wait a minute, Daddy,' " Ingram said. "He raked a place out in the sand and there it was. There were three bundles" of money.

Baker said officials estimated there were sev- eral thousand dollars in the wads, but it was im- possible to make an accurate estimate because

See Cooper, Page 9.

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D. B. Cooper Artist's sketch of hijacker

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

St. Paul Pioneer Press St. Paul, Minnesota pages 1 and 9

Date: 2/13/80 Edition:

Title: NORJAK

Character: or Classification: Submitting Office: Minneapolis

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[illegible] 4- 73-641 b6 b7C

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FBI/DOJ DB Cooper-34283

Cooper: Boy finds part of 1971 hijack loot

Continued from Page 1

were weather-beaten and crumbling along the edges. Ralph Himmelsbach, agent in charge of the Cooper case since it happened, has speculated that Cooper died after he parachuted from the Northwest Airlines plane over a densely wooded area along the river. "I think we can only presume at this time that because the money was found clumped together tightly in what we believe was the manner in which it was originally packed lends credence to the theory that at least the money did not make it out" of the area where Cooper was believed to have dropped. "And from there, I would really leave it to conjecture," he added.

ANNOUNCEMENT of the discovery was made simultaneously in Portland, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Serial numbers of the money were recorded before being given to the hijacker on the evening before Thanksgiving in 1971.

The commandeering of the Boeing 727 jetliner is the only known unsolved hijacking.

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The hijacker boarded the jet in Portland, then displayed what a flight attendant said looked like dynamite. He demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills.

He ordered the pilot to fly to Seattle where the plane circled for 2½ hours while authorities gathered the parachutes and money.

AT SEATTLE, the passengers and two of the three stewardesses were allowed to leave the plane. The money and parachutes were loaded and the plane took off for Reno, Nev.

The pilot was ordered to fly as slowly as possible.

Somewhere over southwest Washington, the hijacker, the money and one of the parachutes disappeared out of the plane's rear exit. The door was opened, in flight.

In 1977, just to make sure the hijacker didn't escape prosecution via the statute of limitations, he was indicted on federal charges in absentia.

Cooper has become somewhat of a folk hero. T-shirts have been printed bearing the question: "D.B. Cooper, Where Are You?."

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DB Cooper-34284

Portion of D.B. Cooper loot found by picnicker

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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — An 8-year-old boy has uncovered part of a ransom missing since the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history — but officials say the whereabouts of the legendary sky pirate D.B. Cooper are still a matter of conjecture.

The three bundles of weathered $20 bills found along the Columbia River are the first evidence uncovered since Thanksgiving eve, 1971, when Cooper bailed out of a jet over southwestern Washington with $200,000 tied to his waist.

It was the first case of a skyjacking for money.

The FBI on Tuesday identified the cash through serial numbers. Bill Baker, special agent in charge of the Portland FBI office, said the money was so decomposed it was impossible to determine how much was there, but he said it came to "several thousand dollars."

"I THINK we can only presume at this time that because the money was found clumped together tightly in what we believe was the manner in which it was originally packed, it lends credence to the theory that at least the money did not make it out." he said. "And from there, I would really leave it to conjecture."

Baker said agents would now renew their search. "Of course, we will generate increased interest now in trying to locate D.B. Cooper or any remains that might be in the area," he said.

Late Tuesday afternoon, agents sifted through sand at the spot where the money was found and discovered several more pieces of $20 bills. The area has been sealed off to the public and the search was to resume today.

The money was discovered Sunday by young Brian Ingram beneath a layer of sand as his family picnicked along the Columbia, five miles northwest of Vancouver, Wash.

HAROLD INGRAM, of Vancouver, told reporters Tuesday he was preparing a fire when his son "ran up and said 'Wait a minute, Daddy.' He raked a place out in the sand and there it was."

Ingram said he didn't give any thought to spending the money.

"It didn't look like I could spend it so I really didn't think about that," he said.

He also said he didn't think about the cash being part of the Cooper loot. But he called the FBI because "I figured if anybody knew what to do it would be them."

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Baker said he presumed the money washed downstream, possibly from a Columbia River tributary in the rugged southwestern Washington mountains, where Cooper is believed to have bailed out.

FBI AGENT Ralph Himmelsbach, due to retire in 17 days after being in charge of the Cooper investigation since the skyjacking, said he still believes there is less than a 50-50 chance Cooper survived.

One theory had Cooper falling to his death in Lake Merwin on the Lewis River near Ariel, Wash. But the Lewis River enters the Columbia downstream from where the money was found.

The nine-year-old mystery began Nov. 24, 1971, when a man calling himself Dan Cooper purchased a one-way ticket and boarded the Northwest Orient Airlines jet at Portland International Airport.

After takeoff, Cooper displayed what an attendant said looked like dynamite. Ordering the pilot to head for Seattle, Cooper demanded four parachutes and $200,000 from the airline.

In Seattle, passengers and two of three attendants were allowed to leave the plane. The money and parachutes were loaded, the plane took off for Reno and somewhere, Cooper jumped out.

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DB Cooper-34285