Part 53, page 261

Transcript

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

[...beginning cut off] might have stemmed from a hoax. However, the FBI, in Seattle said it is following up on the pants discovery as seriously as it does all clues in the Cooper case. Ray Mathis, an FBI spokesman in Seattle, told The Columbian late Wednesday morning that "about a half-dozen" agents were sent to the scene to search for additional clues. But, Mathis cautioned, "We consider this a routine lead. The only thing special about this is it comes five years after" the skyjacking. It was Nov. 25, 1971 — Thanksgiving Eve — that a man identified as Dan Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines 727 jetliner, demanded and received $200,000 and ordered the plane to fly from Seattle to Mexico with a refueling stop in Reno., Nev. Thirty-six minutes out of Seattle, he parachuted to the ground clutching the money in a suitcase. "All we want to do is pose the question, 'Are these his pants?' " FBI agent Dick Dyer of Vancouver said Tuesday afternoon. But still, since this week is the fifth anniversary of Cooper's disappearance, chances may be good that the pants were planted as a hoax, authorities caution. "We've been getting pants, parachutes, parachute cords for five years," said John Reed, agent in charge of the FBI's Seattle office." Dyer said Lynch found the pants off Lynch Road, a former logging road now little more than a trail. He spotted the slacks from a nearby ridge. At first, Dyer said, Lynch thought they might be a deer. Dyer said Lynch remembered it was the second Saturday of deer hunting season when he found the pants — Oct. 23. "He didn't realize the significance of the pants until he started seeing stories about Cooper in the news- papers again," Dyer said. When reached by The Columbian, Lynch was reluc- tant to talk about his find, saying he wanted no publicity. Lynch called the Clark County Sheriff's Office last week and Dyer was notified. The agent traveled to the area Tuesday with Lynch to view the scene of the discovery. There are questions whether the pants could have been worn by Cooper. The waist size is 36 inches and the inseam is about 33 inches, Dyer said. Cooper was described as being about 170 pounds and about 5'-10". Thus, it would ap- pear the pants in the tree would normally be worn by a man larger than Cooper as he was described. Probably an even more intriguing question is: how could the pants be in the tree with no sign of Cooper or his remains discovered nearby in the initial search by Dyer and Lynch?

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Map shows area of search.

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DB Cooper-22599