Part 53, page 85

Transcript

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

FD-356 (Rev. 7-16-63)

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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Sub - B

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Nobody Says, But They Must Think He's There

BY DICK CLEVER P-I Staff

ARIEL, Cowlitz County — The FBI apparently has not changed its theory that "D. B. Cooper," the skydiving plane hijacker, bailed out of a low-flying jetliner somewhere over the area of Lake Merwin, about 16 miles east of I-5.

Aided by 200 troops and nine helicopters from Ft. Lewis, the FBI concentrated its search efforts yesterday in the hills and valleys just above and a few miles below Merwin Dam.

J. Earl Milnes, director of the FBI's Seattle office, directed the search, occasionally taking to the air

himself in an Army observation helicopter.

Amiable, as usual, and uninformative, also as usual, Milnes would only say that "this is a continuation of the search started previously."

An Army spokesman at Merwin Park, where some of the troops were bivouacked, said the 3rd Armored Cavalry is participating in the search as an "adventure exercise."

"This is great training for the men in search and rescue procedures," said Capt. Charles Markham, in response to a question about the cost of the exercise.

Officers directing troop operations

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were equipped with maps that outlined the same area of Cowlitz and Clark counties searched last November.

The maps indicate an elongated diamond-shaped zone divided in the middle by the route the hijacked Northwest Airlines 727 followed after leaving Seattle International Airport for Reno, Nev.

FBI officials said last November that the "drop zone" for the hijacker was determined from a reading of the plane's flight tapes.

If there were any new evidence to justify the massive renewed search, authorities weren't saying. But there was little to indicate any break in the sensational case.

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In the taverns and country stores around Lake Merwin the rumors were exchanged enthusiastically.

At Nick's Tavern, in Amboy, they talked about the kid who came into the Ariel Store with one of the 10,000 twenty-dollar bills paid to "Cooper" as ransom.

"Rumors, only rumors," said the proprietress of the Ariel Store.

Gulping down fried potatoes at Nick's, a local shook his head and smiled. "I wish I'd find the money," he said. "I'd give Cooper a decent burial."

"Haw!" snorted a companion. "If you saw him hanging there in the trees,

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

A1 SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Seattle, Wash.

Date: 3/24/72 Edition: Final Author: Dick Clever Editor: Dick Lyall Title: NORJAK

Character: 164-81-[guess: sub] B. or. Classification: Submitting Office: SEATTLE [X] Being Investigated

COPY SENT TO BUREAU SEARCHED _______ INDEXED _______ SERIALIZED _______ FILED _______ MAR 2 4 1972 FBI — SEATTLE

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Searched Serialized Indexed Filed

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DB Cooper-22423