Part 54, page 152

Transcript

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

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

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Possible D. B. Cooper Suspect

P-I. News Services

STOCKTON, Calif. — A self-styled soldier of fortune, whose wild esca- pades have landed him in a northern California jail, has emerged as a possi- ble suspect in the legendary D.B. Cooper skyjack case.

Robert Wesley Rackstraw, 35, was arraigned yesterday in Stockton on charges connected to his disappear- ance last October in a rented plane. He allegedly faked a crash of that plane last Oct. 11.

FBI agents in Seattle and at several California offices yesterday declined official comment on the possibility of a connection between Rackstraw and the D.B. Cooper case. But an FBI source confirmed that Rackstraw had been questioned "at least once" in connection with the skyjacking.

And a relative of Rackstraw, con- tacted yesterday at his home in San Jose, Calif., said FBI agents visited him last year in connection with the skyjacking case. William Rackstraw, the relative, said he was unable to help the agents.

The rumor that Robert Rackstraw, a much - decorated Vietnam War vet- eran and former Green Beret with parachute training, could be the elu- sive D.B. Cooper, first surfaced among Stockton law officials about a year ago.

"We checked on it a year or so ago, and found out he was up there in the Pacific Northwest at the time of the skyjacking," said Det. Sgt. Charles Buck of the Stockton Police Depart- ment.

On Thanksgiving Day, 1971, a mid- dle - aged man calling himself D.B. Cooper parachuted from a low - flying jetliner over Southwest Washington with $200,000 strapped to his body.

The rumor of the Rackstraw-D.B. Cooper connection, previously con- fined to law enforcement circles, leaked to the press after Rackstraw was arrested last week in Fullerton, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles.

Fullerton police said yesterday that Rackstraw was arrested after a man tried to duplicate a Federal Avia- tion Administration pilot's license. The owner of a print shop became suspicious and called the FAA, police said.

One of two San Joaquin County detectives, dispatched to return the suspect to Stockton on outstanding warrants, watched as Rackstraw was being fingerprinted, according to a California police source.

When a palm print was obtained from Rackstraw, the suspect is re- ported to have remarked "Oh, the D.B. Cooper thing again."

A Stockton police source said au- thorities have tried to obtain a palm print from Rackstraw in the past in connection with the D.B. Cooper case but have been unsuccessful.

FBI officials have been tight - lipped about their investigation of the case, and the possible significance of a palm print could not be determined last night.

FBI spokesman Ray Mathis in Seat- tle last night refused to comment on any possible connection between Rackstraw and the D.B. Cooper case. "I can tell you," Mathis said, "that [text cut off]

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

p.Al Seattle Post- Intelligencer Seattle, Wa.

Date: 2/3/79 Edition: Final

Title:

Character: /64 -81 Classification: Submitting Office: Seattle

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164-81-Sub B [stamps and markings, partially illegible] b6 b7C

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DB Cooper-23081