Part 54, page 126

Transcript

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FD-350 (Rev. 10-19-77)

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If hijacker had invested Art could've made Cooper rich

By LES BLUMENTHAL SEATTLE — If Dan Cooper had invested the $200,000 he skyjacked eight years ago in Oriental rugs, apartment houses or Charles Russell paintings, he'd be a millionaire today. Maybe he is. Authorities don't know if Cooper, history's first known skyjacker-for-money, is dead or alive. But they have found no trace of him since he dived out the back end of a Northwest Airlines 727 jetliner with a parachute and disappeared into the night over Southwestern Washington on Nov. 24, 1971. If he lived and was shrewd he could have parlayed the 21 pounds of $20 bills into a fortune. The money was in a bag strapped to his chest. Maybe the man who bought his ticket as "Dan Cooper" but was transformed in history as "D.B. Cooper" put the money in stocks, bonds or foreign exchanges. Maybe he's sitting in an Acapulco condominium laughing. Or as Steve Morris, a Seattle antique dealer said, "He's probably living in east Ballard (a Seattle neighborhood), paying for groceries with the $20 bills he got and wishing he had bought gold. "There is really no end to the money he could have made if he had invested in antiques," claims Morris, a member of the Appraiser Association of America.

could have tried real estate. "That's where I would have put it," said John Teutsch Jr. of Rainier Mortgage Co. Teutsch said Cooper could have used the money for a down payment on a $1 million apartment building that would be worth $2 million today, even more if the units had been converted to condominiums. "Eight years ago Seattle was just coming out of the Boeing crash. You could buy $20,000 to $25,000 houses all over the place. Those houses would be worth up to $70,000 apiece now," said Teutsch. Steven Haley of Friedlander & Sons, a Seattle jewelry store, says Cooper could have invested in a "traditional form of concentrating wealth" by buying diamonds. Diamonds are worth up to three times as much now as they were in 1971. "Nowadays, a five-carat stone costs about $50,000. Back then it cost about $15,000," said Haley. John Pringle, assistant special agent in charge of the Seattle FBI office,

said Friday, "We don't have any more idea where he is now than when he pulled the job." Pringle says it's possible Cooper could have spent the money without anyone knowing, even though authorities had the serial numbers of the bills. While American citizens couldn't own gold in 1971, Cooper could have bought the precious metal on the Swiss exchange for between $125 and $150 an ounce back then, said Haley. Gold now sells for over $390 an ounce.

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A $200,000 investment in Oriental rugs in 1971 would be worth $1.8 million now, said Morris. Antique American furniture has quadrupled in price, antique silver is worth five times what it was in 1971, American paintings of the 19th and early 20th centuries are un tenfold. "A Charles Russell painting worth $25,000 in 1971 would now be worth between $150,000 and $200,000," said Morris. If Cooper didn't have a taste for antiques, he

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

Page B8 The Oregonian Portland, Ore.

Date: 11/04/79 Edition:

Title:

Character: 164-81 or Classification: Submitting Office: SE

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DB Cooper-23052

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SUB-B- [guess: LA]-91-[guess: $1460] FBI/DOJ