D.B. Cooper: The Rundown on the Runway
Man. Are you as excited about this as I am? Tomorrow night on Sunday, July 10th at 9 P.M. EST the History Channel is airing a new two-part documentary about D.B. Cooper.
For those not in the know, here’s the high concept for you:
On November 24,1971, a man dressed in a business suit and a black overcoat boarded flight 305 from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA. It was a 30 minute puddle jumper flight. In 1971 you didn’t even need a photo ID to purchase a ticket.
For such a short flight, it was a pretty massive plane. A 727 to be exact. So on the eve of Thanksgiving, 1971, this “business man” bought his ticket under the name Dan Cooper and took his place on the plane, sitting near the back away from all of the other passengers.
After the plane got into the air, Cooper ordered a bourbon cocktail and sat calmly smoking a Raleigh filter-tipped cigarette. When the stewardess brought his drink, he handed her a cash tip along with a note that she put in her purse. He stopped her before she left his side and told her that she should probably read the note.
The note informed the reader that the plane was being hijacked, and that the briefcase sitting in the seat next to the passenger contained a bomb.
The note indicated that he would blow the whole plane up unless his needs were met. He wanted $200,000 in “negotiable American currency” along with “two front and two back parachutes” delivered to him on the tarmac at Seattle where the plane was also to be re-fueled. At that point, the passengers would be set free but the crew was to remain on board.
Once the cash and parachutes were secured, the plane would make a new journey to Mexico City. During that part of the trip, somewhere in the dark stormy night, Dan Cooper strapped his new found cash to his body and ordered the aft-stairs to be lowered. Then he infamously jumped out into the stormy skies.
No body or parachutes were found despite days of diligent searching by the authorities. Dan Cooper would go down in history as a folk hero. A journalist overheard a conversation that mentioned a local suspect called “D.B. Cooper” and the media ran with it. So the name D.B. Cooper stuck and became a piece of pop culture legend. It’s the world’s only unsolved skyjacking.
There are literally troves of theories and hypotheses about the identity of “D.B. Cooper” and what really happened that night. The focus of my intention here today is to look at the top level list of possible Coopers.
Before we look at the shortlist though, here are a couple of key argument points that should be considered:
Dead or Alive
First and foremost in investigating this case is whether or not Cooper survived the jump.
Many have said that he most likely perished in the jump. It was a windy and rainy night and he launched out over a black slippery sky. The Pacific north west mountains are dense, but to this day no body has been found.
However, many paratroopers have said that it really wasn’t that difficult of a jump and that a half-way experienced jumper with about a half a dozen jumps under his belt could have landed safely, even with the extra weight of the cash and the inclement weather.
As you will see though, most of the prime suspects that we are about to look at are only viable if we believe that he survived the jump.
The Tie
The main piece of evidence left on the plane was a J.C. Penney slim black clip-on necktie with a mother-of-pearl tie-clip. Cooper was wearing a black tie and an eye-witness observed him removing the tie before jumping. The clip on the tie was placed from left to right, suggesting a left-handed skyjacker.
In recent identification efforts in the case, the DNA on the tie has been used to preclude or disallow certain subjects based on DNA tests. But let’s think about this for a moment. There was no such thing as DNA evidence in 1971 so it’s possible that the tie is not a great indicator. That’s all going to depend on how meticulously the tie was handled over the period of the past 44 years.
The reason I mention this is because there are suspects on our short list that were eliminated by DNA evidence. So if you see a suspect being scratched off the list due to only DNA matching, keep in mind that many people could have touched that tie. At the same time, if a suspect ever comes up that has DNA that matches what they found on the tie, then that’s a possible paydirt situation. It’s a lovely conundrum but lab experts in our modern day and time are not putting much emphasis on the tie DNA because we are dealing with possibly shaky test matter.
The Cash
Cooper’s cash request was to have $200,000 dollars in “negotiable American dollars.” His wording on that request suggests a non-American. More on that in a minute.
In 1980, 9 years after flight 305, the Ingram family was on a camping trip along the Columbia River at a place called Tena Bar. During this excursion, 9 year-old Brian Ingram was digging a fire pit when he discovered a cache of cash.
His parents called the authorities and after further inspection it was found that the serial numbers of the several thousands of dollars found by the youngster matched the serial numbers of the twenty-dollar bills that were used for Cooper’s ransom cash.
An entire article can and has been written about this cash find. The amount of cash in the find was right at about $5,800. There are a lot of theories about this find based on the sand and the dregs and the flight pattern. I won’t go further into it but if you want to drift down the rabbit hole, check out the Palmer Report. (Upon finding the cash, the FBI brought in Dr. Leonard Palmer to do a scientific report based on the sand and the rubber bands and all this other stuff that I’m not going to get into.)
It’s been asked many times, why would $5,800 of the $200,000 be found? Where is the rest of it and why was it separated from the other bills?
There is an account from someone on the plane that before Cooper disembarked, he attempted to “tip” the crew with cash from the $200k. The crew told him they could not accept it. Even after his insistence they said no. So he re-attached those bills to himself before slipping into the night.
Maybe the handful of “tip cash” was about $5,800. Let’s say he stashed it somewhere on his body apart from the rest of his secured bounty and the mad gust of wind and weather snatched it away from his person as he shot off into the stormy night. That might explain why this fraction of the 200k was found while none of the other bills have surfaced.
Okay, if you are still with me, let’s look at a short list of who D.B. Cooper may or may not be. Each of these subjects could warrant pages upon pages. I’m going to get real simple with it though and just give you an overview of each subject along with “for” and “against” talking points.
Before we dive in, it should be known that the FBI have investigated over 1,000 possible suspects based on civilian tips since 1971. I’m going to leave out Richard Nixon, aliens, Sasquatches and other tin-foil hat theories.
There are a couple of “stinkers” on this list though, so let’s get them out of the way first.
John List
I’m just leaving this one in there for the tin-foil-hat club. On November 9, 1971 List notoriously and sickeningly murdered his wife, his three kids and his 85 year old mother and then went on the lam.
He was a fugitive from justice for 18 years and some folks think that maybe he was Cooper because after killing his family he had nothing to lose and maybe he looks a tiny bit like the composite sketch so why not?
Why:
Slight resemblance, nothing to lose, timeline might fit.
Why Not:
After finally being captured in 1989, thanks to a tip from an episode of America’s Most Wanted, List confessed to having mass murdered his family but said he had nothing to do with the D.B. Cooper Skyjacking. I mean, if he were Cooper he probably would have said so.
Ted Mayfield
Ted was a local PNW skydiving instructor with a criminal record. He called up Ralph Himmelsbach, the lead FBI investigator on the case, two hours after flight 305 landed to offer his help.
Ted proclaims that he could not have been D.B. Cooper because he was on the phone with the FBI several times during the skyjacking. The FBI calls him out on that. Himmelsbach says they did not talk to Ted until two hours after the 727 landed.
Why
Locality and knowledge of skydiving equipment.
Why Not
Even if Mayfield was Cooper and even if he did land his jump successfully, the idea that he was able to get to a phone within two hours of the jump is highly unlikely. Mayfield was a pawn used by some adventurous wannabe novelists to sell a book. (It was never completed or published.)
Duane Weber
I think Duane was maybe a little bit of a crackpot.
He didn’t pass the DNA test, but as mentioned before the DNA evidence might not be a qualitative measure based on how shaky the Cooper sample might be.
Still though, the idea of Weber being Cooper is mostly based on things his wife said after he died.
Duane Weber’s main thing is that he confessed to his wife, on his deathbed, “I am Dan Cooper.”
She didn’t know who Dan Cooper was so after Duane’s death she went to her local library and looked at the Max Gunther book about him. She found several hand-written notes in the margins written in her late husband’s handwriting.
Why
His wife remembers him having a nightmare and talking in his sleep about leaving fingerprints on the aft stairs. He took her for a walk at Tena Bar. Two months later the $5,800 Cooper cash was discovered.
Why Not
Duane was obsessed with the Cooper case. I think it was maybe a fanboy confession. His fingerprints were analyzed and did not match up with the Cooper fingerprints. That does not really eliminate him because the forensic samples are not solid, but this looks like a case of deathbed hysteria. Anybody can say they are D. B. Cooper and if they are about to die, they don’t have to answer any follow-up questions.
Richard McCoy
Even if McCoy wasn’t the guy, he still has a hell of a story.
He was considered as a Cooper “copycat.” A few months after the Cooper skyjacking, McCoy took over a plane and demanded $500,000 and a parachute. He pulled the caper off but was caught days later because he left all kinds of trace evidence on the plane. He denied being Cooper but nobody believed him.
He was taken into custody and thrown in prison after being found guilty of his skyjacking. Using a fake soap gun, he overtook the prison guards and loaded up a prison garbage truck with his buddies and blasted through the prison gates in a grand escape.
This led to a shootout where he was gunned down and killed.
Why
Looks kind of like the Cooper sketch. Same modus operandi.
Why Not
He said he wasn’t Cooper. He obviously had an “end all” way about himself. If he was Cooper then he probably would have taken credit for it. Also, he was much more careless in leaving clues than Cooper was.
There is still a strong belief that McCoy was Cooper. Nick O’Hara was the agent that delivered the fatal shot to McCoy in that shootout and he is quoted as saying “When I shot Richard McCoy, I also shot D.B Cooper.”
Wolfgang Gossett
William “Wolfgang” Gossett is an interesting choice as a possible Cooper.
He had military training as a jumper and as a wilderness survivor. He liked to tell his sons that he was Cooper. At one point, he showed his eldest son a key that he said went to a lockbox in Vancouver where he had stashed the Cooper cash.
He was obsessed with the Cooper skyjacking, which might put him in the vicarious category.
The FBI cannot place him in the area during the skyjacking but there is an interesting tidbit about this suspect.
William Mitchell was a passenger on the flight and mentioned to the investigators a peculiar “physical detail” that both Gossett and Cooper shared.
What that detail is will remain a secret. I wish we knew what it was.
Why
I really want to know about that physical detail.
Why Not
The FBI has a pretty hardcore take on Wolfgang: “There is not one link to the D.B. Cooper case other than the statements he made to someone.”
Barbara Dayton
Barbara Dayton was born as Robert Dayton and was the first transgender surgery patient in Washington in 1969.
Barbara was a highly skilled pilot in WW2. Pat and Ron Foreman were friends of hers and stated that she was a wild entity that would have the courage to do something crazy like skyjacking a 727.
The story is that after becoming Barb, she donned a disguise in her previous gender to skyjack the plane for revenge because she was not allowed to become a pilot.
Barb claimed that she reverted back to her male persona in revenge to mess with the airline, but recanted her testimony once she realized that there was no statute of limitations on hijacking a plane.
So the idea is that she jacked the plane to make a statement. It’s a cool idea but does not really line up.
Why
Despite having them removed, according to friends Barb had balls of steel and would totally jack a plane to make a point. Also, she had plenty of aircraft experience.
Why Not
The stewardesses that interacted with Cooper were pretty confident that he was a slick business man type. Gender aberrations would have probably been noted, just like if Cooper had an accent or a lazy eye.
Jack Coffelt
This guy was a slimy dude. Jack Coffelt was a con-artist, an ex-con and a government informant.
Jack’s main claim to fame, is that he was the personal chauffeur to Abraham Lincoln’s last undisputed heir, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith.
While in prison for other charges, Coffelt started claiming he was Cooper because he kinda matched the composite drawing. His goal was to get a movie made from his story.
Why
He resembled the picture. He was in Portland during the jack. He had leg/foot injuries in the days after that would fit with a rough parachute landing.
Why Not
Certain details were kept back by the investigators. That’s standard in big cases. Jack’s details were way off the rails. Obvious attempted money grab. A for effort, Jack!
Kenneth Christiansen
This one is kind of sweet and cute.
There is a great story written about it in New York Magazine.
77 year-old Lyle Christiansen was watching an episode of Unsolved Mysteries one night and it was about D. B. Cooper. Old Lyle sat right up in his chair and realized “Hey! That’s my brother!”
So he wrote a letter to a detective agency and said he had a story to tell and he wanted to make a movie out of it. But he specifically wanted it to be only directed by Nora Ephron because “she has heart.”
Lyle writes a letter to a detective agency asking them to put him in touch with her and they write back saying they can’t give him famous peoples’ addresses but they can get a message to Nora for about $500 bucks.
Lyle pays them and has a letter sent to Nora Ephron saying that he has a great story to tell and they can call the movie “Bashful in Seattle.”
Every day, old Lyle goes to his mailbox hoping to see a reply back from Nora. No dice. He decides to send another letter for another $500 bucks. Still no answer.
Lyle contacts the detective agency directly and tells them he has the story of all time about one of the biggest capers ever.
He claims that he emphatically knows that his deceased brother was Cooper.
He tells them that while his brother was on his death bed, he pulled Lyle close and said “There is something you need to know but I can’t tell you.” Lyle answered back that he does not care…he still loves him.
The guy at the detective agency realizes he might be sitting on a big story. The detective goes to show the story to the retired FBI investigator who knows more about Cooper than anyone else. The agent says that if he were still on the case he would definitely pursue the lead.
Kyle’s brother gets ruled out because of DNA evidence, which again, is inconclusive.
Why
Story matches. Timeline matches. Profile matches.
Why Not
Investigators say that Kenneth does not match up physically with eyewitness accounts from over 40 years ago. He was shorter and slighter than the descriptions of Cooper. Keep in mind though, we don’t have a picture of the bandit, only eyewitness accounts. And we all know how dubious those can be.
Lynn Doyle Cooper
It seemed as though the Cooper case had gone cold. Thousands of tips, theories and suspects had been vetted through the FBI to solve the 1971 sky jacking.
And then, out of the blue in 2011 a new lead popped up.
A woman named Marla Cooper came forth in 2011 and told an interesting story:
The day before flight 305 she remembers her uncle and his brother plotting an whispered mission. This was in Sisters, Oregon 150 miles south of the Portland Airport.
The brothers went off on a “hunting expedition” the next day. The same day that flight 305 was hijacked. L.D. Cooper came back home the next day with a bloodied shirt. He said it was from an automobile accident.
Here’s what’s interesting about L.D. Cooper. According to Marla, he was a comic book enthusiast and had several “Dan Cooper” comic books thumb tacked to his wall.
Why
Timeline fits. The Dan Cooper comic books were only available in Canada and Europe. Except for rare collectors like Lynn Doyle, who owned many Dan Cooper comic books. (The Dan Cooper character was a skydiver)
Why Not
Fragmented DNA from one of LD’s guitar straps did not match the fragmented DNA from Cooper’s J.C. Penney clip-on necktie.
Dick Lepsy
Richard Lepsy is the latest new Cooper suspect.
Lepsy was a grocer in Michigan that disappeared after raiding his company’s safe. His car was found abandoned and this was right before flight 305. A writer came across his story and believes he could possibly be D.B. Cooper.
Why
Because somebody wants to think he has solved a decades old mystery by blending it with another decades old mystery.
Why not
Because somebody wants to think he has solved a decades old mystery by blending it with another decades old mystery.
Final Thoughts
I’m really looking forward to seeing the new History Channel documentary as it looks like they have new evidence to share.
For one thing, they interviewed Tina Mucklow, the stewardess that sat down next to Cooper to hear his demands. It’s her first interview in 45 years.
If the doc brings forward new information then I will drop back in here to update.
