MarkBennett

From Scott Rolle, former prosecutor for the State of Maryland, and former JAG officer: ***'My sense of Bernie was that he was (to use a police term) squirrelly during our interview. I found it interesting that he would throw his ex under the bus and basically say SHE could have been an accomplice. I had no reason to think he was drunk (no smell or the like) but he seemed a bit dimwitted. I don't feel he told us everything he knows, and his denials were tepid. I am not prepared to say with certainly that Bernie helped Kenny in this case. As a person trained and highly experienced in body language and questioning witnesses, I found Bernie a tough nut to crack in the sense that he appeared credible to a certain extent, and he even cried at one point. However, he left out large chunks of information. I wish I'd had the information on the tugboat records going missing as I would have pressed him hard on that. Hope this helps you... I love this case and this was my favorite episode out of the 23 that we did...' From associate producer Peter Berg: Additional from Peter Berg: Berg, regarding witness Helen Jones: Notes from Robert Blevins: At the time of filming, many key pieces of information regarding Geestman and Christiansen were not available to the cast and crew of Decoded, or the production staff. Also, Bernie Geestman did not park the Airstream trailer with a co-owner. It was parked on his undeveloped property with the shop building down in Oakville, and was returned to Bonney Lake after the date of the hijacking. Foss Tugs senior exec has testified that Geestman was NOT gone for 'ten to eleven months' in 1971. Production executive Marisa Kagan also testified that Bernie Geestman, prior to his agreement to an interview, called his sister (witness Dawn Andrusko) and demanded she retract everything she had said in her interview for Into The Blast. She refused to do so, but also refused to appear on camera, citing that she did not want to testify on-air against her own brother. As you can see from the comments above, they are not a ringing endorsement of either Geestman, his wife, or Christiansen as being involved. But they are not the thoughts of people who were convinced of these peoples' innocence either. Some time after all these comments were made, all of the people listed were provided a copy of the KC report. (EDIT: I made a mistake on one quote back there, attributing it to Marisa Kagan and Rob Blumenstein. It was actually Pete Berg. FIXED.) To Shutter: I'm pretty busy right now, but this weekend I will make changes to the DB Cooper page at AB of Seattle. I will change the Bonney Lake house sale reference to simply: I will leave it at that. Anything else I will release next summer with the Cooperland book. To ensure verification of the comments, I kept all the email and Facebook messages from where they originate. Thanks for posting the real comments of the producers. I'd have to say their comments are much less definite than yours, but certainly not as adamant as Brad Meltzer describes in his book.

There are a lot of explanations for this one. Maybe Geestman does not want to admit he was with Kenny, for whatever reason. If that is so, there is no way he could say Kenny could not be the hijacker without admitting he was with him. Saying "Could be" commits Geestman to nothing. You should read the "Decoded" book. I know you have some behind the scenes info and were told they thought Geestman was involved, but said he wasn't to avoid lawsuits. The book doesn't read that way. Meltzer doesn't say Geestman "probably wasn't involved", "likely wasn't involved" or other weasel words. Meltzer says his team was "convinced" he wasn't involved. They might have been worried about a lawsuit, but just like your example above with Geestman -- why would they say that so unequivocally when they could have finessed it for the same effect?

Thanks, 377, I got the gist of this talking to Bradley Collins of this story. I'm glad you reviewed it because listenening to his story verbally raised red flags and it's nice you can give an account not tainted by that (as I might if I read the book). His verbal presentation was remarkably canned (he started with a poem and proceeded in as if it were scripted). He didn't not want to be challenged or questioned (as Bruce can attest) and introducing his wife as his "agent" was also a little odd. Plus not staying for the symposium in a room full of Cooper fans also made me wonder at little bit. But his fairly emotional response to Bruce questioning him leads me to think that he really does believe it (as you suggest) and that's why he takes any questions as a personal affront. Thanks for the report!

Nephew Brucie, In view of your interest in "remote viewing" and such, can you arrange a seance with J. Edgar Hoover? It concerns a matter which was of interest to him. Let me know and I'll send you some good questions to discuss with him. Unfortunately, since I don't believe in such things, I will not be able to attend personally. Robert99 Hey, I don't believe in Santa Claus, but that doesn't stop me from getting up early on Christmas morning and looking for gifts!

I bought a copy of the Brad Meltzer book "Decoded", which has a chapter on DB Cooper. I know this was discussed earlier, but I wanted to talk about whether Meltzer is giving an honest report or just selling conspiracies. The DB Cooper chapter, as you know, was based largely on the Robert Blevins/Skip Porteous book "Into the Blast". It appears the money, financial transactions and Kenny's history are taken directly from Robert, so I won't comment on those again. They did interview the witnesses and it was they that found the box in Kenny's attic. The Geestman part is down played. Meltzer was not in the interview room with Geestman and the text of the interview printed does point the finger at him at all. Meltzer insists his staff -- Buddy Levy, Christine McKinley and Scott Role -- are convinced he wasn't involved. "....though the team is done with Bernie Geestman, they still believe D. B. Cooper was Kenny Christiansen". I know Robert was present, but I'm only reporting what the book said. Robert M, wasn't your contact Marissa something? Is that someone different? Now, the next question, is Meltzer a conspiracy seller in general? Well, I went to the chapter on the granddaddy of all conspiracies -- the JFK chapter. He gives a scathing rebuttal to most of the popular conspiracy theories. Meltzer says of the film JFK, "it bears almost no relation to the actual truth.". He debunks the magic bullet theory, the claim that three shots could not have been fired in that amount of time and the accoustical evidence that showed a fourth shot was fired from the grassy knoll. Believe him or not, Meltzer seems to be playing it straight. Regarding Christiansen? Robert Blevins periodic recital of the evidence is far more extensive than what's in the book, so "Decoded" is not likely to change your opinion on KC.

Touche.

That post put a smile on my face. It's odd Blevins would make a comment(s) like that, especially since he says he has the Palmer report. The Palmer report addresses this issue specifically! Read the Palmer Report Mr. Blevins. Wasn't meant to be funny. I never read whatever was in the Manila envelope. Just glanced at it mostly. Gayla shredded it later. Yes. I don't believe the money was there for eight years before being found. I don't think anything would have been left of it. It's very wet up here and paper is biodegradable. Seven or so winters in the Pacific Northwest? Constant rain, etc. Mush. That's what would have remained, if that. And I still believe the Tina Bar money creates more questions than its finding actually answers. Would have been easier to explain had an amount equal to one bundle or less had been found. In that case, it could have come from anywhere. I agree with Kaye's assessment: human intervention was involved. Ok, let me start off with I don't know the answer to this, but I have to respond anyway. First, I DO know money is not made out of paper (75% cotton/ 25% linen). I don't know how long it takes to biodegrade, but I don't think it you can say it's the same as paper. Second, Kaye suggested the money arrived by "non natural means", he didn't say "human intervention". I don't know what Kaye means, but I don't think you're saying the same thing . (NOTE TO SELF: Attach YouTube link to the "Jump to conclusions mat" from the movie "Office Space").

Robert, I know you feel picked on, but sometimes you just make it too easy!

Really? Not Bob Knoss? NO, I do NOT belong in the classification with Knoss. He is looney and all I have done is try to tell the truth about Duane and the things he told me. Knoss CREATES things - I have NOT. I meant Bob Knoss also claims to have known Duane Weber. Does that not put him in the category of those who knew Cooper? I thought that was the only criteria for joining GROUP III, disregarding anything else about Bob Knoss.

Vicki, this is going to get worse. Maybe you should get your application to AA in right now. I'll be there myself before long. Robert99 You have to apply to AA? I thought it was supposed to be anonymous! I guess that just shows how out of touch I am with the real world. Can I bring my shrink along? Sure, it's anonymous. Bring your dog, if you like. Okay, fine. I have another question which 377 should be able to answer. Can we fill a class action lawsuit against NBC? Audra McDonald's singing of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" last week blew my socks off and I haven't been able to find them. Does NBC have insurance to cover this? As a minimum, NBC should have posted a warning to: "Tape your socks on, tighten your shoe laces, and fasten your seat belt." before the lady sang that song. Robert99 This sounds like the Tina Arena performance of Star Spangled Banner a number of years back. She's Australian. It was amazing. She is amazing! Who is Tina Arena? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COpFMrUoxXc and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SrXFRWPEk4 I may be a little bias, but here is this amazing young 23 year old girl singing a solo performance of Take Me to the King at church last Christmas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlmlboy2kVU The following is for entertainment purpose only, not approved for Shutter DB COOPER in to THE FUNNEL OF DARKNESS Staring NICOLAS CAGE as DB COOPER co Staring Woody Harrellson and Jennifer Anniston is his partners, Directed by Jerry Bruckhiemer based on the miss spellings of Paul Geivett Ok. That was funny.

I rermember Geoff saying at his Friday afternoon talk that his only involvement with the film was that he had spoken once to the scriptwriter, "who was a nice guy." Geoff said he had no other information on whether the movie was going ahead or not, or what it would be about. As for AA, maybe we should form Cooper Anonymous. That is our true addiction, isn't it? I don't know....AA is supposed to be non-judgmental. I don't think I can do that, you idiot! (Sorry, Bruce, couldn't resist)

Vicki, this is going to get worse. Maybe you should get your application to AA in right now. I'll be there myself before long. Robert99 You have to apply to AA? I thought it was supposed to be anonymous! I guess that just shows how out of touch I am with the real world. Can I bring my shrink along? Sure, it's anonymous. Bring your dog, if you like.

Vicki, this is going to get worse. Maybe you should get your application to AA in right now. I'll be there myself before long. Robert99 You have to apply to AA? I thought it was supposed to be anonymous!

And in other news..... http://variety.com/2013/film/news/will-ferrells-daddys-home-gets-california-film-tax-credit-exclusive-1200946262/ Interesting...who are the three? Geoff's book covers four --Kenny Christensen, Barb Dayton, Duane Weber and Richard McCoy. Somebody's estate is going to get stiffed! The estate of the guy who was actually DB Cooper is going to lose out. But of course he died in the jump and nobody knows who he was. In the meantime, every one who can possibly do so is getting a book out on their candidate. It's called ca$hing in. And they don't have to know anything about their candidate or even the Cooper hijacking. Whether fact or fiction, the only thing that matters is the color of the money. Robert99 It could be anybody. Someone asked Geoff after his talk what was going on with his movie. It sounded like the only involvement he had was cashing a check and he was otherwise totally out of the loop on it. I think that's where I heard it. Vicki, do you recall anyone asking Geoff that? Or, did I dream it? All I know is if they expand the description to include nine year olds, I could be a suspect myself!

And in other news..... http://variety.com/2013/film/news/will-ferrells-daddys-home-gets-california-film-tax-credit-exclusive-1200946262/ Interesting...who are the three? Geoff's book covers four --Kenny Christensen, Barb Dayton, Duane Weber and Richard McCoy. Somebody's estate is going to get stiffed!

Really? Not Bob Knoss?

He/They are what they are. Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. This has been going on for years. No proof needed. This sets up a dichotomy which has already been obvious for years: Group I: Those interested in the Cooper case working on it. Group II: Wackos and Cooper Zombies. There is minimal overlap. Temporary overlap always breaks down. It's a fundamental difference in motives, goals, and methods. I'm glad everyone agrees. But doesn't everyone see themselves in Group I? Will anyone identify themselves as being in Group II?

Ba da bump! Funny Jo should say that...she requested Geestman's address privately just a couple two/three weeks ago. Now I get two short and sweet messages from 'Daneille 1010' asking for his address. When I said no, this was 'her' reply: If this was some sort of weird test by someone at Dropzone, it didn't work. This was what I told 'Danielle": NOTE: We only revealed Geestman's true name after he appeared on History Channel and became a matter of public record. But that doesn't mean we give his (or any of the other witnesses') contact information to anyone without checking why they need it, and their motivations for asking. Revealing certain evidence and testimony by these people is one thing. Blabbing where they actually live, or their emails/phones to complete strangers is quite another. It's IRRESPONSIBLE. EDIT: I thought about this situation for a couple of minutes just now. This is what I'm going to do. I'm blocking further messages from BOTH Skyjack71 AND Danielle1010. Permanently. Done. I can still be contacted via email at adventurebooksofseattle AT G Frickin Mail Dot Frickin Com. Ba Da Bing... Robert, Go back and read Jo's post. She was describing what you should do if you get a personal message, not disparaging you. I just thought the first sentence was funny, so I added a rimshot. The context was mine -- and was meant to be humorous. Sorry if I altered the meaning.

Ba da bump!

One of the things that makes this forum interesting is people advocating for their preferred suspect. That mixed with real research (like it was in the old days), made this forum a fun read. Kenny is your guy. You are his advocate. Who are you going to pass the torch to, unless someone agrees with you and wants to follow on your research? Not Geoff Gray. His New York Magazine article was about KC, but his book was about KC, Weber, McCoy and Barb Dayton. And, as we discovered at the symposium, Geoff might have the Cooper virus, but it's a very mild case. You have something few other advocates have. You believe you have living witnesses (plural) who have direct knowledge of the hijacking. Ever try to get them on the record with the caveat that nothing will be released until after they died? Ever try to communicate with them by mail? You don't have to spend a lot of time or money. If you advocate for KC, you're going to be the guy getting the questions. If you want it to be someone else, you're going to have to enlist them yourself or not advocate for him.

Robert, Many of the Cooper posters on this board do not live in this area. What kind of response are you expecting from posters? Look...if you want to have Cooper event, you should have it. If you don't want to do it, don't. Why do you care what anyone on this forum says?

Mitchell meeting??? What transpired? 377 I believe Mark Bennett means Bradley Scott Collins. I do, sorry. Too many Collins.....

Well, Mark we may never know exactly what REALLY Happened, but what I have been involved in the last few days may provide a LOT of food for thought. Well, I'll tell you what, Jo: After our meeting last weekend with Scott Mitchell and hearing his story, you're one who doesn't run off when her story is challenged. Gotta respect that.

I don't want to be rude to you, Paul, but I just don't understand what you're saying. I am open to any explanation. If you asked me "yes" or "no" on each of the known suspects right now, I'd say "no" to each of them. But, the hijacking did happen, so somebody did it. It's a great story and I'd like to how it really happened.

Big difference between asking prices and selling prices Paul. Blow em out on Amazon or eBay for whatever you can get. If they were really worth $160 Donna wouldnt have a bunch of them for $10. Markets are efficient, except perhaps in the Cooper Vortex where physics, economics and logic get bent into unrecognizable forms. Agree Georger? 377 I'll post a comment....If only we had someone on this forum who knew about selling books I read an article recently about a local used book store. They have a computer program that runs several times a day that checks their inventory against Amazon.com to make sure they always match the lowest price. If there are no copies of a book for sale, they might start at a very high price if they think there is some interest, but if other copies come on for cheaper, they will immediately lower their price. I propose (after I read this book) to put it on amazon.com at a much lower price than the $159.70 price currently showing for HA HA HA, but a still outrageously high price....say, $75. I would like to see if the prices on the other two for sale on Amazon immediately drop to my price level. I'd also like to see if anyone offers to buy my book at that price. My hypothesis is that the prices on Amazon will drop and no one will buy my book. Please stay on this channel for future updates.