Part 53, page 209

Transcript

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

[fallen snow], and virtually im- passable. The hijacker left the plane clad only in a light business suit and street shoes. He para- chuted into the blackness of a raging thunderstorm, into a 200 m.p.h. hour wind and tem- peratures of minus 7 degrees.

HE COULD NOT have sur- vived, 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 dis- banded. In the ensuing months Coo-

per 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. "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 Mattson. "We investigated every re- port and so far have proved that the various men reported to be Cooper could not have been the man on Flight 305," Mattson says.

"WE HAVE NO physical evidence to go on except the $20 bills," he said, adding the numbers of all 10,000 bills were circulated to banks in a 34-page booklet. None has turned up. Northwest Airlines, which

offered a $25,000 reward for recovery of the ransom, has canceled the offer.

But last week, on the second anniversary of the hijacking, the Oregon Journal newspaper offered $1,000 to anyone who could produce one of the $20 bills. There have been no tak- ers.

Mattson says a number of FBI agents have worked on the case, to no avail.

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B-2 Tocoma, Wash., Thurs., Nov. 29, 1973 The News Tribune

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DB Cooper-22547