CooperNWO305

https://ericulis.com/pages/media-release-01-17-24?fbclid=IwAR0gz1__b2d4JYCAEnwG-unU5OK1MkEpVpUC9cLUTsddkQue6HNhaeOJveo

As noted by some, there has been a recent uptick in trying to discount Gunther. These people were silent on it a year ago. This group flip flops from saying it’s real but it can’t be tied to anyone, and then they claim it’s all made up, then they throw out names of who it could be. It’s coming from the JV squad and no one listens to them anyhow. When they don’t have a foothold in the case, they just pick something to complain about or someone to target like Smith, Hahneman, or Vince Peterson. None of them are deep or creative thinkers. We have DNA and it’s only a matter of time before that leads us to an individual or individuals through one to one testing or genetic genealogy. The good news is that I still have DNA left to test. I expect something solid within a year.

The attempts to discredit Max Gunther continue, to include Nicky attempting to contact people who knew Max and his family, trying to contact his family in hopes of finding info to discredit him, as well as others claiming Max’s book was completely made up. It’s one thing when a journalist writes a book review, but when members of the public insinuate that Gunther lied, then that impacts his credibility and affects sales of his books, which affect his estate and heirs. There are three main people taking part in this hatchet job on Max’s credibility. None of whom can hold a candle to his writing success. Legal fees add up when you go after an author like that.

He was flip flopping on whether the money could have been spent. He was adamant for years that it couldn’t be, but as soon as he found out Smith did not live in luxury, he changed his mind. I called him out on it and he deleted the post. He’s been telling Smith’s daughter what she wants to hear. She said he never wore glasses and never walked with a limp (she was 6). Nicky responded to this with “his name should be cleared from the record”. What we are dealing with is someone who changes his theories to fit his agenda, and then acts as if this major change is due to new evidence and that it is part of good research. This method essentially allows people to pick and choose whatever theory they want that day or suspect. It’s one thing to tweak your ideas and stay within your basic principles, but to make major shifts after studying the case for years is just odd.

I’d post this on Facebook, but Nicky is an admin and will delete it and none of the other admins will question him. Well, I didn’t see this one from Nicky coming. Apparently William J. Smith was afraid of heights. This one is baffling and is just one more thing to indicate how deep Nicky’s vendetta goes. Smith joined the Navy to fly. He volunteered for combat air crew training. He then completed Aviation Fundamentals school, then aerial gunner training and then aerial photography training. He was assigned to a Naval attack squadron and was on the aircraft carrier USS Leyte. But somehow he was too afraid to even clean the gutters on his house. Cooper or not, this is a great cover story for someone wanting people to not suspect you of being Cooper. Also, him having part time jobs, particularly one he got in 1980 are a good cover. Note: the Tena Bar money was found in February 1980. Nothing in Smith’s records indicate any issues with heights. When you’ve done what Smith did in the Navy, you don’t all of a sudden fear heights, unless maybe you’re hiding something or had some trauma related to heights. I still get a rush out of heights and I didn’t fly anywhere as much as Smith. That’s not a fear that’s a rush. Nicky has his enablers that don’t question a word he says, no matter how ridiculous. Jay is the main one, he claims to be a critical thinker, but he is never critical of Nicky. Nicky also has a few others who like all his posts and give him support, but will bash Eric and I. This same group will report me on Facebook and at the same time be nice to my face. I offered to one of Smith’s daughters to speak to her confidentially about William. What is unfortunate is that Nicky’s source chose him. Remember, Nicky is the one who pretended to be a female nurse to trick Robert Rackstraw. He’s also the one who has had three suspects and even suggested that Sheridan was tied in with Rackstraw. He also suggested strapping one of the Ingrams to a lie detector. I hope his source likes the part about him pretending to be a female nurse. I offered to provide his source with names of honest individuals. There are unbiased people in and out of the Vortex who would talk to the family. I’ll be getting a blog post out in the future that sums up what we’ve learned about Smith the past few months. All Nicky has done is successfully incited his source and helped dig a big hole when it comes to exonerating Smith. Nicky was a very poor choice for a contact. This all goes back to Vordhal for him, because he and I were fine before that.

I commented on Facebook about the notes and mentioned Nicky. He doesn’t like being called out for flip flopping on theories, so he deleted the comment. He has been adamant that the money could not be spent, and loves to quote the podcast with the money expert. At CC he referenced that podcast when asking Larry a question, but Larry basically said the money could be spent. It was embarrassing for Nicky. But now he’s singing a different tune trying to say the money was spent in order to discredit the William Smith theory. He’s completely all over the board on everything trying to push his agenda.

One suggestion is to determine where the witnesses were at the time, their age, their height, etc. For instance, some saw him from a distance others up close. Some knew it was a hijack others not. Also look for qualifiers like tall or short or skinny or fat. Where was Cooper too? Standing sitting walking? How long did they see him and how many times? Note. Age is more relevant for determining his age not height.

The census records say differently, so even if she was born in Poland, someone thought she was born in Michigan. As for the liver deformity and its impact. Are you a doctor now? She was 6 in 1971. She remembers this? None of this was in his records. He would not have qualified for Naval aviation with this and would have had many situations in life that would have resulted in being jostled around. He worked on the railroad, he smoked, he drank. So maybe he got sick years later. Maybe he had a death wish in 1971. Use your brain. How many people die a year from parachute accidents involving this liver issue? Not skydivers, but actual hard landings in military chutes? You’re just not a logical or critical thinker. You should focus on your personality rather than blindly regurgitating second hand information. You’re hearing what you want to hear, and frankly you are inciting your source. Your other cronies are hearing what they want to hear too. You’re severely biased as are your counterparts. Say what you want to say, but your theories carry no weight. Did he not have the brains to carry this out? Did he not have the courage?

I guess there won’t be an answer from Nicky because he realizes he’s wrong. Valeria Ostrowski is listed as being born in Michigan. This puts her as a good candidate for the entry in Gunther’s book. I was expecting Nicky to have a rebuttal from his source, but I’ve been told he was blocked. It’s still very convenient that there are no pics of Smith in 1971.

I’m not sure if you’re new to the case or just new to posting here. You may not be aware of all the background of my post. Being an “expert” and having three suspects that you’ve continuously pushed is not an evolution. Changing your views depending on the day is not critical thinking or honing your skills. A seismic shift in thinking has really not been warranted in this case since maybe the Colbert files came out.

There have been comments about the need for a site like DZ to discuss Cooper. Since the DB Cooper Forum has basically stopped, this is the only forum available for critical discussion on the case. The FB group run by Eric has Nicky as one of its admins, and he or someone in support of him deleted a comment of mine questioning him on his stance on whether the money was spent. Nicky or someone did not like that I noted how his stance on the money being spent seems to change depending on which angle he is playing for the day. Remember, he’s the one who liked Rackstraw for Cooper, then Klansnic, then Vordahl. His excuse is that it is ok to completely change theories and suspects, even after as a so called “expert” you would think when he stood for something for years that he would have done legit research. I’ve stated to others that if you’re not vetting your theories over here on DZ, then you’re not getting the feedback that is really needed. There are very few of the original Cooper researchers posting like they used to on the Forum.

Cotton went to an airfield to see skydivers, an air show is different. Air shows are typically mainly airplanes, and maybe a Golden Knights type team. I’ve considered that Gunther went to LA on one of his trips and talked to some folks or even had access to some files. It’s very coincidental, but not 100% for sure Cooper was there. There are discrepancies, but the entry in the book is a lot like Elsinore. I was more interested in what you do with people/clients etc who lie. When does their testimony become useless? From all I’ve seen the past few weeks on Gunther, it seems like a small group of folks think he lied. On Discord there is a very identical post about Gunther’s get rich ideas, so I assume you and the poster agree or are even sharing notes. Nothing wrong with that. What confuses me is that I thought you said you believed it was Barb, then you mention someone well respected who may have their own candidate. I’ve heard Vordhal was Clara, Barb, Weber, someone from flight ops. Maybe more. It seems like people are waffling and are non-committal. I still think people like to discredit Gunther. It still seems like a huge effort on his part. Do you have a stance? He lied? Made up some? The hoaxer is Barb? One major issue I have is that if there was a hoaxer, you have to explain the NYC connection.

Nicky. Can I assume you acknowledge that you got this one wrong? Did you confirm a connection to Michigan for Valeria? What about Thanksgiving 1971, was she there? It’s only 52 years ago, so should not be hard for someone to remember it in detail.

Olemiss you have a unique perspective as an attorney who has done defense and prosecution. How have you handled your clients when they lie or mislead or hold back info? How do you find the bits of truth? In court I’m assuming once someone lies, then their testimony is all useless? What if they make a mistake? I’ve met some good liars in my life, and the best are ones who use elements of truth or use half truths. So for example. Saying the chute was red and yellow may be a lie, a mistake, maybe she was not there. How do we approach it? Same for the Captain Scott deal? As for the seat, I don’t see it in the notes. I’ll say it again so readers can be reminded. We have three essential scenarios. 1. Gunther made it up. 2. There was a Dan and Clara, but they are not Cooper. 3. There was a Dan and Clara and Dan was Cooper. If 1 is true then it is all a waste of time. If 2 is true, it is still fun to identify them. I’d even be happy and might quit if Smith’s family said “yea that sounds like something Bill would do”. 3. If 3 is true, then great. I just don’t know how we throw it all out over a few lies or mistakes. Especially seeing Clara was the one doing all the talking. We can’t even agree now on what the crew said or Cooper, etc. I’d guess the chute was not red and yellow, but who knows for sure. One chute was red.

Valid opinions. A lot to comment on, but I’ll keep it to just a few. The Village Voice ad is in the book? Isn’t that enough? If we were able to independently verify the ad was in the VV, how would that impact your thoughts? Book reviews. I have not collected all of the ones I’ve seen, but to me they seem generally negative, and the more positive ones say it’s good fiction or some sort of comment like that. Not great reviews if you’re a writer. Now I can’t verify for sure that Gunther was unhappy with this, but according to Dave Lipson, a former radio host who I have been chatting with for years, he thinks Gunther was unhappy. He spoke to him a number of times. Martin actually did a podcast with him. This is one comment Dave wrote me back in February of 2020. I had several subsequent conversations with Max; one was at a book seller convention in Los Angeles. He told me that he was convinced that his phone was being tapped and that even his personal mail was being read. Dave was under the impression that the FBI wanted more info from Max and that Max did not want to give it. Read into it how you will. In terms of the FBI being contacted by Gunther. If we found info in the files or other places that he did contact the FBI, how would this affect your thinking? The cabin is a fantastic story. Too fantastic. Hiding out somewhere maybe, but a single woman finds a guy right after the hijacking and takes him in and marries him? I think we have to look for more concrete clues in the book. As for a new theory on the hoaxer. I’m looking forward to it. More discussion on the book is fun. One more point. On the name In the notes Gunther says Dan Collins. I need to check and see if Paul Cotton is in the notes. In the book it is Dan LeClair and Paul Cotton My theory is that Gunther may have gotten a potentially real name and changed it some or was keeping it from the FBI. My main theory is that Smith wanted to use Dan Clair and may have even given that name or said LeClair. I realize some people don’t like that approach. In 1982 it would have been very hard to match up anything like we can today. We also don’t have all the notes. We may never get those.

One thing I find interesting is that in 1982 and even today, Cooper was seen as maybe a James Bond by most. Or at least a cool dude. Sunglasses. Bomb. Daring. Master criminal. It is really not until recently and only in the Vortex that we’ve been hearing terms like homely. So, in Gunther’s book, he is self described as mousy. He just comes across as a real average guy. Seems odd to do a hoax and just claim he’s an ordinary guy. What was the motive? If you’re hoaxing and the press and public think you’re a hero, why risk Gunther turning you down for not being cool enough? I’d love to see if we can find the ad placed by Mark Penzer. I have one I suspect, but it’s speculation.

From DNA testing on the stamp. “I’m pretty sure it’s male. Well the Amelogenin had 2 different amplicons so indicates male but the second band was pretty weak. So might have tiny bit of female contamination.”

In 1972 he just stopped communicating. Ed Kuhn thought maybe he lost his nerve. Clara was telling Gunther in 1982 that Cooper died, she was not looking so much to prove it was him. At least that’s how I see it. For whatever reason it feels like she wanted people off his trail. I don’t know how hot the case was in April of 82, but the money find in 1980 definitely brought some interest back. Even SNL Weekend Update with Bill Murray covered it. You also had the movie and the million dollar reward (whether real or a gag). We also don’t know what was going on in their lives then. Maybe they didn’t need the $, maybe they got scared, maybe the FBI was close, maybe they did need the money and were now spending it and wanted to throw people off. Who knows. I see it as subterfuge. If you give a $20 or the plane ticket, then it is game on for the FBI. Say he died and maybe a few people who matter will believe it.

The New York Times had a “neediest case” fund or something like that. I remember reading about it and how they would report out on it every year. I figured the caller decided that there would be no way to really get the money if it was a trap. To Fly’s point I think LeClair said that he just did it to get Gunther’s attention. You raise a good point about how much $ Gunther made on the book or sales. Gunther definitely came from money, and lived in a very well to do town. Generational wealth is a huge head start for many. I’m speculating, but I’m guessing he did not need the money. From all I’ve heard, he was disappointed at the feedback from the book and how Cooper was not a high time in his life. There are missing notes for sure. And we don’t know what he changed and kept to himself. He may not have wanted to send Himm’s everything until he got it in the book. In terms of parts that don’t seem realistic, I’ve heard the cabin and the disappearance. Are there others? When I read it I was all set to fly out to Washington and explore lakes. Luckily Martin and Google Maps set me straight. There are just not many lakes in that area.

The book says Detroit, which may not be the exact city. That’s not unusual. So you’re saying she had no connection to Michigan? Not born there? What is your source? Does your source read the DZ or are they getting things second hand from you? So I’m just seeing things that aren’t there, like all the other “coincidences” from the book? If she was family, did she spend Thanksgiving 1971 with them?

Convo on FB on the air stairs and that it indicates Cooper was from Boeing or had some Top Secret info. I had a chat with Eric on it. We disagree for the most part. To me the transcripts create a contradiction with testimony. Three times it is mentioned that he wanted the stairs lowered in flight. What I wonder is if Cooper wanted the door open (plane was not pressurized), stairs open, but not locked. That’s what I lean towards. Having bomb bay or air doors open in flight is not uncommon. The skydivers have seen it, I’ve had it skydiving and in helicopters, but of course not a 727. Fly had shown some good info a while back on 727 flight testing, R99 too showed a magazine, I had found a few things in Jane’s and other resources. Chris B posted some good info too. The super secret operation of the aft stairs is one of those “primacy” effects and to me not very logical. It sounds fun to say Cooper was CIA in Nam, but is it realistic?

A 55 minute video is a bit of a non starter for me, unless it’s an exciting subject. I watched a total of about 30 seconds and fast forwarded to the part where I saw Truman Capote’s book next to Gunther’s. I don’t see the resemblance in the books. The art is different, the fonts, the colors, the writing, the plot, etc. OP has a history of making fantastic statements. I get a kick out of a modern day “author” who is mainly self published on Amazon critiquing a man who was a novelist and author in the 60s, 70s, and 80s when there were actually barriers to entry to being published. Today you can literally fire up MS Word, and upload a copy of a “book” and Amazon will print and distribute it. I can’t see comparing books on psych issues to those written by a novelist who was also an editor and contributor to many magazines. Not to downplay any disability, but this is not justification to bash Gunther by comparing genres. He might be better suited to what he knows best. What I really get a kick out of are the discussions on other sites about Gunther’s credibility. This coming from people whose academic and intellectual credentials don’t really warrant their criticism of man who went to Princeton and wrote maybe 10 books and was routinely published in legit magazines, not just True and Playboy. One post I read was questioning whether Clara contacted anyone else. Gunther made it clear that Mark Penzer and Ed Kuhn were contacted. Why would Gunther lie about that in his book? It’s not like they were beer drinking buddies in Connecticut. No good author is going to let someone use their name like that. And of course Clara is going to get things wrong. She got it second hand. Also, why tell the whole story and get caught? I give it about a 1% chance that Gunther made this up. And that’s more that he made up parts and not the whole thing. When people just post in an echo chamber, they are never checked on their theories. That’s why they don’t post on DZ, because here you actually might get pushback from people who have been on the case a long time like Fly, R99, Martin, or Georger.

One way Max Gunther’s book has been criticized is that Gunther got a couple of things wrong. One of the main ones is that Clara claimed the Captain came back to talk to Cooper. We know this did not happen, but we do know that Cooper did talk to the cockpit. Clara was clearly a female and talked to Gunther for the first time in 1982, and was relaying the story secondhand. It is not a big leap to think she got a few things wrong, some maybe on purpose, and certainly made up enough to throw people off about her true identity, but keeping enough to keep the story real. I have four possible hypotheses on who Clara and Dan were. 1. Max made it up. 2. It was Dan Clair and his wife. 3. It was William Smith and his wife. 4. It was Dan and William together. This little blurb about Detroit, Michigan could possibly be connected to a woman named Valeria who was buried with William and his wife. A non relative buried in the family plot would indicate a close connection.

The tie bar had gold in it right? What other elements?

Unfortunately we are back where we started on the tie. The issue is that now the evidentiary value of it has been questioned so much that it is really a rabbit hole. I guess you could make it be anything you want. Assuming it was Cooper’s or someone close to him, we can still assume that he was a blue collar worker or in a metals type plant. The FBI called him high school educated. He was clearly bright. In the end it may be that the DNA is the only thing of true value. When we have very little evidence in the case, the tie becomes a family heirloom and is held onto as a reminder.