Part 70, page 206

Transcript

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FD-350 (Rev. 12-5-78)

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

(Indicate page, name of paper, city and state.) p.1 Daily News Longview, Wa. Date: 2/13/80 Edition: Final

Title: NORJAK

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

b6 b7C

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Boy beats FBI to SUBS: B,E,9,M Cooper loot

FBI agents digging in search of more clues

By Bud May The Daily News

PORTLAND -- An 8-year-old boy accomplished with a sweep of his hand Sunday something the FBI has been trying to do for more than eight years.

Brian Ingram, son of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Dwayne Ingram of Vancouver, provided the first major breakthrough in the D.B. Cooper skyjacking case when he accidentally uncovered part of the $200,000 ransom Cooper had when he bailed out of a Northwest Airlines jet in the Lewis River area on Thanksgiving Eve, Nov. 24, 1971.

The FBI said Tuesday the discovery of more than $3,000 in badly deteriorated $20 bills was made Sunday while the Ingram family was on an outing on a Columbia River beach about five miles northwest of Vancouver on the Washington side.

Meantime, the FBI is conducting an intensive grid search of the beach area where the money was found. Agents reported finding bits and pieces of money Tuesday afternoon, some of it as deep as three feet in sand.

However, the pieces were so small it was not possible to determine the amount of money.

A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydrologist, George Holmes, said he would review information about where the hijacker jumped in relation to where the money was found.

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He said the Washougal River was the only Columbia tributary that might have carried the cash, and even that is a remote possibility.

Not everyone shares that opinion. Some experts feel that because of the Columbia's currents, the money could have come from the Lewis River and washed upstream.

The FBI has also contacted the Army Engineers, which continuously dredges sand in that area, on the chance that dredging brought the money up from the bottom of the river. A spokesman for the Army Engineers said today that it is a definite possibility. While they constantly dredge in that area, the last time they deposited the dredged sand on that beach was in October 1974.

Agents said the money, in bundles, without question is part of that given the man known as Cooper.

"The packaging and numbered sequence indicate the bills have not been separated and are in much the same order as when given to the hijacker," explained Bill Baker, assistant agent in charge at the Portland office.

Baker could not say whether the Ingram family will get a reward, since the FBI can not offer one, but he indicated there is a good possibility that the airline or another source would provide one.

The elder Ingram and his wife, Patricia, told dozens of news media people at a press conference in the Portland FBI Office Tuesday how

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the money was found.

"I was about to build a fire on the beach," said Ingram, "and had my arms full, but before I could set it down, my son said, 'Wait a minute daddy.' He scooped off some sand, and this money rolled to the top."

A UPI reporter who talked with the family Tuesday said Brian and his 5-year-old cousin, Denise Ingram, shouted, "Look! It's money that we found!"

The Ingrams said they didn't connect the money to the Cooper case at the time, but realized it must be important to someone, so they notified the Portland FBI Office of the find.

Asked by a reporter why he contacted the FBI instead of local authorities, Ingram responded, "Because I figured if I turned it over to police, I would never see it again."

He didn't elaborate on that remark, but continued to answer questions from newspaper, television and radio reporters.

Asked if he considered keeping the money, Ingram laughingly replied, "No, it looked in such bad shape I didn't think I could spend it."

Ingram said the money, which was displayed for reporters on a table at the press conference, was about 20 yards from the edge of the river, but was very wet.

Because of the poor condition of the bills, the exact amount [guess: recovered] money is unknown, pending laboratory examination, the FBI said.

While FBI agents [guess: seem] ecstatic about the discovery, they are quick to point out that approximately $197,000 is still missing, and what happened to Cooper himself is just as much a mystery as before the find.

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Cooper-30018 FBI/DOJ

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SUB-71 [guess: SP-12]