Part 47, page 54

Transcript

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

1 -21-82 01:41 AMS

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By BARNEY LERTEN PORTLAND, Ore. (UPI) _ THE FBI HAS DISCOUNTED ANY LINK BETWEEN MISSING SKYJACKER D.B. COOPER AND PART OF A PARACHUTE AND OTHER ITEMS SCOOPED FROM THE COLUMBIA RIVER. "THIS ITEM, IF IT'S THE OLIVE-DRAB COLOR YOU DESCRIBE, HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH COOPER," FBI AGENT DORWIN SCHPEUDER SAID MONDAY. SCHPEUDER AND OTHER AGENTS LOOKED AT BLACK-AND-WHITE PHOTOS OF THE DARK PIECE OF FABRIC. THE PARACHUTE PART WAS FOUND SATURDAY BY CHARTER BOAT CAPTAIN BLAINE PAYNES WHO RETURNED TO HIS FLORENCE, ORE., HOME TO AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS FROM FORMER FBI AGENT RICHARD TOSAW OF CERES, CALIF., WHO IS PAYING FOR THE RIVER SEARCH. SCHPEUDER SAID ONE OF THE FOUR PARACHUTES PROVIDED TO COOPER ALONG WITH $200,000 BEFORE THE SKYJACKER LEAPED FROM A NORTHWEST AIRLINES BOEING 727 ON THANKSGIVING EVE OF 1971 WAS SIMILAR. BUT HE SAID IT WAS LEFT BEHIND ON THE PLANE AND "WAS NOT ONE THAT HE TOOK WITH HIM." SOME OF THE MONEY WAS BEEN FOUND ON A BANK OF THE WASHINGTON SIDE OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER. LAST WEEK PAYNS MAILED TOSAW A PIECE OF NYLON CORD, A TATTERED PIECE OF FABRIC AND A BONE HE SCOOPED FROM THE COLUMBIA RIVER WITH A METAL DEVICE CALLED THE "COOPER SNOOPER." SCHPEUDER, AFTER VIEWING PHOTOS OF THE MATERIALS FOUND BY PAYNES SAID, "THEY DON'T APPEAR TO BE AMONG THE ITEMS" LEFT BY THE LEGENDARY SKYJACKER. TOSAW IS WRITING A BOOK ABOUT COOPER. HE SURMISED THE FABRIC MIGHT BE PART OF A BAG STUFFED WITH THE $200,000 THE SKYJACKER STRAPPED TO HIS WAIST BEFORE BAILING OUT OF THE JETLINER SOMEWHERE OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON. TOSAW SAID THE CORD MIGHT HAVE COME FROM ONE OF THE PARACHUTES. HE SAID COOPER MIGHT HAVE BEEN AN EX-GREEN BERET WHO DECIDED TO USE A MILITARY CHUTE RATHER THAN THE CIVILIAN ONE GIVEN TO HIM BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE FAMILIAR WITH IT. THE HIJACK MARKED THE WORLD'S FIRST AIR PIRACY FOR RANSOM AND REMAINS THE NATION'S ONLY UNSOLVED HIJACKING.

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DB Cooper-19334