Part 97, page 97

Transcript

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

The statute of limitations on Cooper's crime has not run out because a federal Grand Jury in Portland indicted Cooper in 1976 on two counts of air piracy and violation of the Hobbs Act, which deals with extortion and hindering interstate commerce.

D.B. Cooper might not ever be captured, however, because Himmelsbach does not believe he survived the 10,000-foot plunge with an Army parachute that could have failed dur- ing the jump. --

"I didn't catch him, but I think he's still lying close to where he fell because that's where he died," Himmelsbach said.

Only two pieces of evidence have ever been found in the case -- a plastic sign explaining the operation of a rear door on the Boeing 727

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jet from which Cooper parachuted, and $5,800 in $20 bills (294 of them) that was uncovered in Feb. 10, 1980, on the bank of the Columbia River near Vancouver -- and numerous sear- ches of mountainous and wooded areas between Portland and Ariel, Wash., about 30 miles north of Portland where Cooper was believed to have landed, have yielded few clues about the sky- jacking.

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Speculation about the case led author Max Gunther to write the book "D.B. Cooper: What Really Happened," in which he said a woman who identified herself only as "Clara" told him that Cooper was actually a man nam- ed Dan Laclair who died recently of a heart at- tack.

Gunther's book, which was published this fall, told the story of how Clara found Cooper/Laclair injured in her tool shed in a rural area of southwestern Washington and nursed him back to health. Clara and Laclair then took the money to Nevada where they "laundered" it by gambling in casinos, Gun- ther wrote.

In his book, Gunther also claimed that Laclair called him on the telephone from New York where he was living.

"I do not believe that story," Himmelsbach said.

When Himmelsbach met with Gunther two years ago to discuss the proposed book, he believed Clara's story was a hoax, and his opi- nion has not changed.

"I do not accuse Max Gunther of perper- trating a hoax, but I do think the story is false, for a number of reasons," Himmelsbach said.

In another book, published in 1984, former FBI agent Richard Tosaw claimed that Cooper drowned after he plunged into the Col- umbia River. Tosaw has spent several years searching for Cooper's remains in or near the river.

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Tosaw also offered a $10,000 reward to anyone who could produce one of the ransom's $20 bills. His 180-page book includes 56 pages of serial numbers taken from photocopies of the ransom money that the FBI keeps on file.

No one has claimed the reward money.

Himmelsbach said the search for Cooper probably would go on, no matter what the evidence pointed to. Last week, Himmelsbach received a telephone call from a reporter for the "Star Magazine" in New York City who said a man in jail in that state claimed to be D.B. Cooper.

The man's attorney, to whom Himmelsbach has spoken, said the suspect was in his 40s, which would have made him too young to be the real Cooper, Himmelsbach said. "I think he's angling to get some kind of advantage to ease his current situation. It s unds phony to me."

After all these years, Himmelsbach said he did not regret the chase because it was just another chapter in the D.B. Cooper story.

"It has been a very, very interesting invest- ment, and the jury's still out," he said. "There are still a lot of questions unanswered."

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