Part 60, page 171

Transcript

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

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

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New Mystery Unfolds in 'D. B. Cooper' Trial

Journalist Karl Fleming Testifies Public's Fascination With Case Lured Him to Hoax

BY DARYL LEMBKE

SEATTLE — The pub- They are expected to lic's fascination with "D. testify in their own de- B. Cooper," the vani-had fense this week. The ir at- hijacker who is either torney's cross-examina- dead or holed up some- tion of Fleming indicated where with $200,000 that that the defense will claim he cannot spend, led two he knowingly participated Los Angeles men into the in the scheme. mystery.

Karl Fleming, 45, a jour- this morning before a jury nalist, thought he had lo- of three women and nine cated the missing hijacker, men in federal court here. He testified in court here Fleming, who was on the that he got Max Palevsky, witness stand most of the 48, a wealthy Los Angeles time last week as the businessman and former prosecution presented its chairman of the Xerox case against Murphy and Corp. executive commit- Lewis, conceded under tee, to pay $30,000 in cash cross-examination: "There to obtain all publication is a strong possibility I rights to "Cooper's" first- was had." person account of the hi- From tape recordings of jacking. Palevsky also put his preliminary negotia- up $5,000 more for Flem- tions with Lewis, it ing's expenses. seemed apparent that

Fleming and Palevsky Fleming let his eagerness were to share equally in to get what he thought the profits from selling the was the story of the centu- story for book publication, ry dull his reporter's skep- television and a motion ticism. picture.

Fraud Charge

The U.S. government contends that all that the two bought was a hoax. Details of the case are coming out at a trial of two Bremerton, Wash., men, Donald Sylvester Murphy, 50, and William J. Lewis, 29, on two charges of fraud. The pair are accused of hoodwink- ing Fleming out of the $30,000, Murphy by posing as "Cooper" for interviews and Lewis by acting as the go-between.

The trial will resume

For example, when Le- wis told him on the phone that "Cooper" was moti- vated to hijack the plane by bitterness toward soci- ety because of losing his job at the Boeing Co. after 14 years there, Fleming fairly jumped in excite- ment.

"You know, the cold chills are rising on my arms," Fleming said on the tape recording. "This is an incredible God- damned story. My in- stincts were so good, I ju- knew."

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I-12 Los Angeles Times Los Angeles, Calif.

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Date: 12/18/72 Edition: Monday final Author: Daryl Lembke Editor: William F. Thomas Title: Norjak

Character: or Classification: 164-497 Submitting Office: Los Angeles

☐ Being Investigated

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DB Cooper-24849