Coopericane

We know they wanted McCoy's DNA back in '04... but the FBI files seemed to express some doubt over if they could get his family to cooperate. Now we know that they actually refused DNA tests until after Karen's death in 2020 so I don't think they ever compared his DNA to the old partial profile. With McCoy's family now cooperating, I would assume the FBI is following up on that and the new information from Rick. They never did get to test his DNA (as far as I know) and considering how invested they were in McCoy as a suspect it makes sense for them to do so. I don't expect McCoy to be Cooper... but hopefully these whispers are the sign of them having something more. Maybe there's a new, better source of DNA and they want to compare it to some old suspects just to see if they get a match.

The lyrics are making me think Braden - but he's not a perfect fit, and if there is some kind of deeper musical hint as to who REDACTED is supposed to be I'm not picking up on it!

If L. D. Cooper was investigated back in 71, why does he have the very last subject file? Was he simply not considered worthy of one at the time?

I wonder who this very redacted tip is about.

I also noticed these two new (?) instances of witnesses (Lysne and Williams - Lysne's name is accidentally misspelled and unredacted in one spot, and the second witness presumably has to be Williams since their redacted name is longer?) picking out people they thought resembled Cooper, though the people's names are unfortunately redacted.

There are new pictures of Al Cooper in the latest Vault and he's a damn good match for both sketches. Easy to see what the stews saw in him.

And why steal boots when you're already wearing them?

https://vault.fbi.gov/D-B-Cooper /d.b.-cooper-part-86/view

Skyjack, page 38

Does anyone know what ages Dennis Lysne and Hal Williams were in 1971?

Maybe this is the wrong interpretation, but I've always thought it meant the word "MISS" was literally printed? Like, it was printed onto a piece of paper using a typewriter, and then the rest of the note was handwritten. Maybe I'm being too literal, but that's how it comes across to me.

Hmm. I'd always assumed it was referring to that same letter since it's the only place in the 302s with the number code Bruce refers to. But you're right that those details don't match up. Perhaps some further digging is in order.

It sounds like the FBI dismissed the letter writer as being too young (or old?).

No, I don't know how he came to this guy... I am just trying to figure out who this mysterious loadmaster was! Is this the same guy from the 302s I posted? He fits the yearbook story and "Art" seems like it would fit the instances of his redacted (nick)name... but Edwards said he came to the FBI's attention in the 70's, and that note was sent in 1997. And holy cow, those are some big and prominent ears!

The only place I could find "loadmaster" in the FBI files is in this mysterious two-page note, though it doesn't match all the details of Dr. Edward's story, so I'm skeptical it's the right person. The suspect was apparently alive and well until at least 1984.

It doesn't seem to be in the 302s. As far as I can tell, the first use of the phrase in relation to NORJAK was the announcement of the movie's title. It might be older than that, though. I wonder if it's from a book or something. It sounds vaguely familiar to me, though I can't really say why.

I just watched the History Channel special. It was pretty good, though very little new ground was covered (unsurprisingly). - Drove me mad that they used the "A" sketch throughout the entire program. I guess they didn't have the time to explain the "B" sketch? Though I would argue that's pretty important to cover. - I had never actually heard about Dick Briggs and his eerie prediction about the Ingrams finding the money before. Seems pretty apocryphal and difficult to verify, though. Also, knowing that he was a proven liar, I would probably just lump him in with the other false confessors at this point. - I didn't know Lakich worked in an environment possibly suitable for the tie particles. He was a more unorthodox suspect I was glad to see covered. Don't think he was Cooper, but the circumstances surrounding his family's death are interesting and something I want to learn more about. - And of course there was the segment about William J. Smith at the end! No new pics or information as far as I could tell, though.

So in the video, he says he used the Google AI Bard to evaluate the Gunther book and it somehow came up with a person called "Robert Rackley" as Cooper's accomplice... obviously, we know this is not actually in the book. IMO, it's just the AI screwing up and accidentally inventing a character who wasn't there. I don't think Google's Bard is quite on the level of other AIs like ChatGPT, and even that can still occasionally fail with basic facts. I don't think there is more to "Robert Rackley" than that. His name was probably cannibalized from Robert Rackstraw by the AI during its thought process.

I assume this is the video? I have not watched it yet personally, but will soon. And there's an interesting comment... apparently some Cooper researchers actually got a hold of Gunther's notes, and are going to eventually publish information about them?!? I'll take that with a grain of salt for now, to be cautious... but that could be VERY interesting if it turns out to be true...

Oh. That makes sense. I just thought there would be more movement on discussing and examining him if he was more broadly known about. Maybe we could have even gotten acknowledgment from the FBI like with WSJ. But respecting the family's wishes is important and understandable.

Hopefully Vordahl? Whether or not one thinks he was Cooper, I would say he's a strong enough suspect to at least be worth some extra scrutiny... it's too bad the media has largely passed him over so far.

Do we have any photographs of Al Cooper?

"Don't ask for too..." much? I can't make out the last word. Money? "Hundred thousand should do?"

I also noticed this guy, a suspect called Robert Harry Boles, who in my opinion, possessed a strong resemblance to the "B" sketch...

Looks like witnesses were shown photographs of both the Shelton and Egg Harbor suspects... New pic of Catalano...