Part 54, page 180

Transcript

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

FD-350 (Rev. 7-16-63)

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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FBI thinks skyjacker was an amateur and lies dead in tangle of blackberries

PORTLAND, Ore. (UPI) — The Federal Bureau of Investigation thinks skyjacker Dan Cooper was an amateur and is almost certainly dead.

Even if he was alive, Cooper, who bailed out of a Boeing 727 on Thanksgiving Eve five years ago with $200,000 in $20 bills, can still be prosecuted, FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach says.

Despite reports that Cooper would be free from criminal prosecution this Thanksgiving, Himmelsbach says there is no statute of limitations for him or his possible accomplices.

There is no statute of limitations in capital crimes, and air piracy or aerial hijack was a crime punishable by death in November 1971 and still is, Himmelsbach, who has been working on the case for five years, reports.

He adds that there is no statute of limitations protecting fugitives from justice, which Cooper is.

And, Himmelsbach says, seizure of the aircraft with its 36 passengers and crew of six could be considered kidnaping, a crime also exempt from the statute of limitations where injury or death is involved. He said if Cooper was killed when he bailed out the plane, then it was a capital crime. "If he had any accomplices, which is not indicated by any evidence so far, they would be equally guilty," Himmelsbach added.

Even if Cooper avoided criminal prosecution, he'd better stay away from agents of the Internal Revenue Service. The IRS has estimated Cooper would owe $217,523 in taxes and penalties, and a possible civil penalty could raise that figure another $60,000.

Himmelsbach said he believes Cooper was an amateur because he left the two best parachutes in the plane he commanded, and used the shrouds of the third best to tie the 10,000 bills to his belt.

"He wore a pilot's seat pack parachute with a 28-foot canopy. He also took with him a chest pack parachute used for training. It was unusable. The panels were sewn together."

Although Cooper left no fingerprints in the plane, he did leave a couple of personal items which the FBI is not revealing because they could help identify the hijacker.

Himmelsbach said Cooper could not have known where he was when he jumped, and further more, he was not dressed properly.

"It was a stormy night, with freezing rain at his altitude and winds gusting from 25 to 45 knots at Portland International Airport, maybe stronger along the Lewis River in southwest Washington where he bailed out. He was dressed in a business suit and Oxford type street shoes. He had no hat or goggles."

Parachute experts have told the FBI that Cooper would have lost his sho[es]

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.) Page 1 TheDaily Chronicle Centralia, Washington

Date: 11/15/76 Edition: afternoon Author: UPI Editor: Eric Hoxit Title: NORJAK

Character: CAA-Hijacking or Classification: 164-81 Submitting Office: Seattle

[x] Being Investigated

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[stamp] NOV 19 1976 INDEXED FILED

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DB Cooper-23109