Nevada State Journal (UPI) clipping: '8th anniversary marked in D.B. Cooper hijacking'
Document date 22 November 1979
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Id: Cooper-Part-96:277-277
Subject: Cooper Files: Cooper-Part-96:277-277 Document: Nevada State Journal (UPI) clipping: '8th anniversary marked in D.B. Cooper hijacking' Id: Cooper-Part-96:277-277 Page: https://cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-96%3A277-277 What is wrong (title, date, type, which pages belong together, copies)? What does the scan show?
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FBI 164-81, Vault Part 96 p. 277 (DB Cooper-43211), News clipping, dated 22 Nov 1979 — cooper.theunsolved.net/documents/Cooper-Part-96%3A277-277
8th anniversary marked in D.B. Cooper hijacking
By CLYDE JABIN PORTLAND, Ore. (UPI) -- D.B. Cooper, who made America's criminal hall of fame when he pulled off the world's first aerial hijack for ransom and escaped by parachuting with the money, remains at large eight years after his daring deed.
A man using the name Cooper, whose first name turned out to be Dan, boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727 bound for Seattle on a cold and rainy night in Portland on Thanksgiving eve, 1971.
A few moments after takeoff he advised a stewardess he had a bomb in his briefcase and would blow up the plane if his demands were not met.
He ordered the crew to have $200,000 in $20 bills and three parachutes waiting for him in Seattle. They were delivered on landing. He then ordered the crew to fly the tri-jet, which had a rear door that opened below the tail, to Reno.
En route, he buckled on a parachute, ordered the crew to slow the airliner to about 200 mph and had a stewardness open the rear door. Out he went with the money, never to be heard from again. No trace of him or the money ever has been found.
FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach was on duty the night of the hijack, and he's been chasing Cooper ever since, putting in thousands of hours checking out every lead, and pursuing some of his own notions.
After eight years, Himmelsbach is just as enthusiastic in his pursuit as that first night.
"It hasn't been frustrating," he said. "It has been fascinating, interesting every step of the way."
Himmelsbach said he believes Cooper is dead, possibly with the money at the bottom of Lake Merwin in a southwest Washington wilderness area about 30 miles north of Portland.
But whether Cooper is dead or alive, Himmelsbach says the FBI is dedicated to checking out every tip, every clue.
There have been clues, but most of them have proved to be false or phony, such as "discovery" of a parachute, with rusty buckles, found a week ago in the suspected Cooper drop area. So was a pair of pants, believed worn by Cooper, found hanging from a tree limb a few years back.
The veteran FBI agent is working his last Thanksgiving anniversary of the search for Cooper, because mandatory retirement from the FBI comes his way next Sept. 30.
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Nevada State Journal, Thursday, 11/22/79
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DB Cooper-43211