Part 54, page 171

Transcript

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

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

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D.B. Cooper Hunter Retires

Associated Press

The man who headed much of the FBI's manhunt for the almost — legendary skyjacker "D.B. Cooper" is retiring with his most famous case still unsolved.

"There's just no trace of the man, period. He just vanished into thin air. We have absolutely no idea who he even was," said Joseph O'Connell, now special agent in charge of the FBI's San Antonio, Texas, office.

"It is my personal opinion that he is dead. There has been absolutely no trace of the man called D. B. Cooper or the money since the day in late November 1971 when an Anglo male bought a ticket using that name.

"Usually, the longer a case such as this goes without being solved, the more confident the perpetrator gets and he surfaces," O'Connell said.

It is all somewhat maddening for O'Connell, who retires next month after a 29-year career.

"It doesn't stick in my craw," said O'Connell, who took over the case in early 1972 and led the hunt through 1973. "But it does bring out my competitive spirit. I would certainly like to see the FBI solve it."

The celebrated case remains the FBI's only unsolved major skyjacking case. The investigation continues, and there is no statute of limitations for skyjacking crimes. A "substantial" reward is still being offered.

D. B. Cooper bought his ticket in Portland. The 727 landed at Seattle after Cooper, who said he had a bomb, took over, saying he wanted to go to Mexico. The 35 passengers were released in Seattle, but a four-member crew took off with Cooper, headed south.

Cooper, wearing a dark business suit and dark glasses, demanded $200,000 from Northwest Orient Airlines and got it, in $20 bills. He also asked for parachutes.

A stewardess was the last person to see Cooper as he stood near an open ramp at the rear of the plane as it passed over southwestern Washington, probably Cowlitz or Lewis counties.

He jumped out of a plane at 10,000 feet on a cold, raw night and he jumped in an area densely populated with Douglas fir and ponderosa pine," said O'Connell. "The terrain is also dotted with a lot of high-altitude glacier lakes, which are extremely deep and extremely cold."

"If he fell into a glacier lake, he would have died from the cold within a few minutes. It was late in November and snow was already on the ground," added O'Connell. The man could have also been snared in the trees, the agent said.

More than 100 agents combed the rugged terrain and chased down thousands of leads. The skyjacker, meanwhile, became somewhat of a folk hero.

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"We searched as extensively as any man-power search ever conducted by the FBI," he said. "Agents searched every square foot of that terrain that is accessible. But there are literally hundreds of acres that are not accessible.

"There's no doubt in my mind that some day, somehow, the case will be solved," he said.

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

p.A5 Seattle Post- Intelligencer Seattle, Wa.

Date: 6/20/78 Edition: Final

Title:

Character: or 164-81 Classification: Submitting Office: Seattle /64-81- Sa6 [guess: Sub6]

COPY SENT TO BUREAU

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COPY SENT TO BUREAU

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DB Cooper-23100