Part 34, page 255

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

SE 164-81

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"That was the last ever heard of him.

"When the plane landed in Reno, the rear ramp was down and Cooper was gone. The 21-pound sack of money was gone. One set of parachutes was gone. The skyjacker, who had carefully reclaimed his note to the stewardess, had left no fingerprints.

"Authorities believed Cooper jumped from the plane near Woodland, Wash. The town was transformed into a bustling command post for a small army of newsmen and dozens of FBI agents, police and soldiers from Ft. Lewis.

"With planes, helicopters, Jeeps and track dogs, they combed the vast, densely wooded region northeast of Woodland. Much of it was rugged terrain, thick with freshly fallen snow, and virtually impassable.

"The hijacker left the plane clad only in a light business suit and street shoes. He parachuted into the black- ness of a raging thunderstorm, into a 200 m.p.h. hour wind and temperatures of minus 7 degrees.

"He could not have survived, police reasoned. They said they were simply looking for a body and a bag of money and that could wait until the spring thaw. A week later the army of searchers was disbanded.

"In the ensuing months 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 ex- tolling his feat became a hit. "D. B. Cooper, Where Are You?" Tee shirts sold by the thousands.

"The media had erroneously identified the skyjacker as D. B. rather than Dan Cooper.

"Then, late in March, 1972, 300 soldiers from Ft. Lewis searched the thawing terrain for 18 days. They found not a trace of Cooper, 'although we did find a body and cleared up a local murder,' says FBI agent [REDACTED]

" 'We investigated every report and so far have proved that the various men reported to be Cooper could not have been the man on Flight 305,' [REDACTED] says.

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DB Cooper-12889