SafecrackingPLF

For those of you interested... If you look at the "hot zone" aerial map that I created, you will see the yellow line begin right west of Merwin Dam. According to the FBI map showing known locations of flight 305, the craft begins at the top of this line precisely at 2010... or 8:10 pm. We've been told the pressure bump occured at roughly 8:11. Let's give a range for fudge factor... suppose a minute early and a mintue late, thus the jump occured between 8:10 & 8:12. Traveling 200mph on this vector, how far south could have Cooper jumped? 200 mph = 3.33 miles per minute. I can tell you for reference purposes, if you trace the vector from the beginning to where it crosses the 205 (which BTW was not there in 71), it's roughly 30 miles of flight, or 9 minutes.

Please refer us to said experts that have concluded the money was buried. I'd love to hear more as I'm sure most everyone on here would. Thanks.

Good questions! I did ask if any partial prints were ever lifted but Ckret just said the metallic portions were too small for prints. That's actually Skyjack71's hypothesis... well, in a round about way. She believes her husband was able to alter his prints at one of the facilities-which was the facility that fed into AFIS. She has posted on here that someone told her all the errant prints were believed to be found and corrected, but she contends it's possible they didn't find all the prints that were altered. This, however, is a whole different subject matter that may or may not be relevant to the Cooper heist. Cooper not caring about his prints because they weren't on file is certainly a possibility. There's one reason though that I don't believe this to be the case... if he was ever caught for something else and fingerprinted, the fingerprints would match prints found on the plane. Whether or not Cooper would have this fear, I can't say... I can only say that I'd certainly have that fear.

Use the very first map that I posted in part 1. It will show all of Clark County with some numbers superimposed over it. Those numbers correspond to all the other numbered maps. I was getting lost with this myself, which is why I made that master guide to help you figure out the area each map was showing you.

My apologies for being so vague in my writing. Unwilling to accept the possibility? That's the entire crux of what I think. I deal in probabilities. According to my post, all I said was I personally think a person can only assign maybe an 80% probability that Cooper actually wore the tie. Maybe in your mind, it ought to be a lot higher of a probability, but I personally find the whole tie a little suspect and therefore say there's a 20% chance it was left on purpose, 80% chance it was not. I guess technically I don't either since I'm only assigning what I believe to be reasonable odds of this at 20%. Regardless if you agree with the 20% number (it is arbitrary afterall), the point is that there is some percentage that would resemble the odds of this tie being left purposely behind. Depending on how likely you think it is that Cooper would do such a thing would influence the probability you think should be assigned to it. I highly, highly doubt that those odds ought to be less than 10%. Why is everyone so obsessed with thinking that I'm talking about the fabric? There's a metallic clip at the top and a clasp that was on it when found. Those are two big reasons I think the probability is around 20% that Cooper left the tie on purpose. Is it possible that Cooper did not realize that prints would not/could not be lifted off of two metallic pieces of the tie? Quite simply because you can double check the DNA on the tie against the cigarettes. If there's multiple donors on the tie, you can isolate which one is Coopers by cross referencing the results. There's a chance, however, that the DNA on the cigarettes would not match any of the DNA on the tie... this would certainly be the case in the unliklihood that Cooper purposely left the tie behind. Well, under my 20% scenario? The reason would be because he obviously was not threatened by prints on cigarette butts. This may have also been faulty thinking on his part... can't they lift prints from paper? Therefore Cooper would have to believe they can pull prints from the metallic portions but cannot lift prints from fabric or paper. I stated on another post several weeks ago that I felt this was highly unlikely. Why? Well, if he actually believed prints could be lifted from cigarette butts, then he'd have to steal cigarettes from the same person he got the tie from. I see this as redundant and unnecessary, even under the 20% scenario. Would you say around 80% likely? LOL. Of course Cooper is totally unaware of DNA, that's not even worth mentioning really. The more relevant question is, did he think they would get some partial prints off of the metallic portions of the tie? If by chance he did, then it would explain why it was left behind and why it had the clasp still on it (even though a person would typically have to remove this before removing the tie).

Last one. You're as glad as I am, I'm sure. Map 50 showing the Lewis River(s) adjoining the Columbia. Red Zone & Hot Zone aerial maps that I had to size down because they were too big! The hot zone map shows the approximate vector of flight 305 along with the area that can possibly contribute to the Cooper ransom floating into the Columbia. Now that I've completed this study, I am the first to admit how utterly FOOLISH I was when I said there were hardly any creeks that go east. There are plenty, it's a question of where they all go. Throughout these maps you will see arrows showing you the flow of water. In some cases, I've actually noted what bigger rivers or creeks they all flow into. As stated, you can go in and double check my work. It's very late, but I look forward to some discussion of this post. Did Cooper die? I know Himmelsbach for a very long time believed Cooper made his way to a stream and then died. I think the streams that feed into LaCamas are a much weaker argument than Washougal. The reason is because the body/money would have had to float in the lake. Nowadays there's a lot of boating that goes on there, and there's hundreds of houses. I'm not so sure how it was in 71-79. I used the map released by Ckret that shows the flight path. If my assumption about this flight path is incorrect, please let me know and I'll do my best to ammend the map.

I'm posting all these because they WILL eliminate a lot of speculation. Maps 40-49. The main one here to focus on is map 46. North of 46 are where the northern tributaries adjoin the Columbia.

I apologize if I've offended anyone with these posts. I did mention there would be A LOT of picture attachments a few weeks back and no one really told me to hold back. Maps 30-39... none of which I can see as being viable streams.

Still more maps. Yes, I know there are a lot... posted for academic reasons. Maps 26-28 are in the hot zone.

Many of these attachments are in the hot zone. These are where possible streams that could have fed the Columbia appropriately are located. There will be a map at the end that will outline this area. It's pretty much the SE corner of Clark.

I've already started this post above. It looks like I can only do 9 attachments at a time. I'm sorry, something like this just takes a lot more than 9 attachments. The key maps to look at are Maps 8-15, 26-28 and Map 46 where Brian Ingram found the Cooper money. Some obvious things to point out are that the Columbia River flows West and then as it reaches Vancouver, it flows North. Vancouver Lake turns into Lake River and adjoins the Columbia north of where the money was found. The Lewis River and East Fork Lewis River also meet the Columbia north of where the money was found. Salmon Creek meets up with Lake River which, again, winds up north of the money. This leaves Washougal, LaCamas Lake, and a few minor streams that you can see on Map 28 as the only possible tributaries that would support the theory of the money somehow floating downstream to where it was found. You can find all of the maps used at the following website: http://gis.clark.wa.gov/imf/imf.jsp?site=zoning When you zoom in, it will allow you to select creeks and streams. The maps I used do not show any roads, as this would make it more challenging to follow the streams. However, I've gone in and played around some on my own just to follow the tributaries and make sure the red zone/hot zone I outlined are correct. I looked closely at the picture of the map released by Ckret to determine the approximate flight path. I've placed this on a satellite aerial with the hot zone outlined. It should be noted that the pressure bump in question occured several miles north and to the west of the hot zone. This would suggest quite a bit of east winds & jump velocity. Looking at the vector, I don't know how he makes it into the hot zone, but this should certainly be something for the expert jumpers to debate. I will make one request since I put in so much of my own time. The pictures and such cannot be used for any commercial purposes. Please use the Clark County "Map Locations" with the numbers on it to figure out where you are. I traced down, then back up to make the maps easy to follow. Still, it's easy to get lost and it would take some time to figure them out without the overview map with approximate locations of the more detailed maps. Thank you & I'd love to read what you think!

I disagree completely. Ckret has reported getting an entire backlog of leads since coming forward in the past several months. I agree with you on one aspect, many of the people who would know are likely getting old or have already died. Time is wasting because the more we lose this mystery to time, the more impossible it becomes to solve it. Yes and no. I think the DNA is a valuable tool. If any suspect ever is shown to be consistent with one of the donors, then it will speak loudly. However, my personal opinion is that the DNA will never be matched to any suspect. There's two possibilities that lead to this conclusion: 1. If Cooper died, no suspect will ever match the tie. 2. If Cooper left the tie on purpose without ever wearing it himself, no suspect will ever match the tie. I realize time will be the only thing that proves my hypothesis. This isn't really an issue of semantics, it's more a fundamental realization of what has and what may not have taken place. The DNA collected from Skyjack71 was excluded from DNA found on the tie. Are we sure that we actually tested Weber's DNA? Are we sure that one of the donors on the tie was Cooper? No. We might be reasonably sure, but we are no where near certain. Skyjack71 made a post a few days ago mentioning that two items tested by the FBI were tainted by another male. I'm also sticking to my theory that there's at least a 1 in 5 chance that Cooper purposely left the tie behind. Combine these probabilities and you're left with some level of doubt. If the 1 in 5 chance were actually true, then the DNA would exonerate every suspect whether or not they were actually Cooper. I have an update for everyone. I am nearly fully complete with my streams & creeks study. The best part is, you will be able to double check my work yourself. I'm not sure what the max limit on pictures is in making a post, but I have over 50 of them. I had to divide Clark County into 50 sections, each section is a digital map showing creeks and streams. The conclusion is, IF we're talking about Clark County, there's only about 6 ways for money to find its way through water to where it was found. The two most likely routes are the Washougal River and through LaCamas Lake. The other possibilities are a few streams SW of LaCamas lake that feed directly into the Columbia River. All other streams and creeks in Clark County meet up with either Vancouver Lake, Salmon Creek, East Lewis River, or Merwin/Lewis River. If a person truly believes that Cooper died and the money washed downstream over time, then you will have a lot of places to search. The good news is that the locations in Clark County can pretty well be isolated. I will make a post when I can, complete with maps & pictures.

From what I remember from the book, McCoy explained that he actually began by doing a report on how weak airline security was. The Cooper stuff became almost a blueprint in how to pull it off, and McCoy, having researched all he could, actually had a much better plan than Cooper... except as Ckret said, he happened to mention this research to others. I'm not sure about this air-tight alibi of McCoy, but being in his 20s and having blue eyes completely disqualifies him. As for hijacking a similar plane, the 727 was the only aircraft at the time that had suitable stairs for a jump that could be lowered during flight. The difference between the two 727s was their size. The authors of the book were sued because they twisted facts and made up statements that were never, apparently made. I believe the suit was settled out of court.

Jerry, Thanks. How is it then that a guy like DD can go on TV and tell the world how Mayfield went from broke to plush life in under a year? There must be more to the story than I've written. Anyone else care to comment or add to the summary of Mayfield?

Actually, "they" never said it wasn't Mayfield. Himmelsbach said this. He's on video saying this. The fact that he remembers Mayfield means Ralph was aware of Ted throughout his portion of the investigation. We've heard nothing official from the FBI other than no suspect has ever been proven to be Cooper. We don't know why Himmelsbach is comfortable enough to plainly say Mayfield was not Cooper, other than the phone call. Also, "they" never said it wasn't Duane. Ckret reported that DNA collected from Skyjack71 did not match any of the donors found on the tie left behind. He has said that he thinks this means Weber is no longer a viable suspect. I contend that we haven't heard enough about Christiansen, Mayfield, or the DNA regarding Weber to rule out any of these people.

Since no one was willing to make a post regarding Mayfield and why he may have been Cooper, I'll do it myself. 1. He called the FBI the night Norjack was born. Mayfield disputed this and said the FBI sought him out and he spoke with various agents at least 3 times. Some criminals have wanted to be part of the efforts to solve the very crime they committed. Perhaps Mayfield followed the same pattern or perhaps he purposely called the FBI to create an alibi. The person who suggested that maybe it was a confederate of Mayfield who called had a good idea, however, if this was the case, the confederate might have wanted to call while Mayfield was still in the air as to make his alibi even more rock solid. The call in question was placed between 90 & 120 minutes following the jump (9:41 to 10:11 pm). 2. Mayfied WAS a military paratrooper before he became a world class skydiver. He was a world class skydiver at the time of the crime. 3. Mayfield lived very close to PDX in Nov 71. He could have walked to the airport without using a taxicab, bus, or vehicle. 4. Allegedly Mayfield was broke and in finanical ruin at the time of the crime. This aspect has not been explained. 5. From what I've heard, Mayfield and some partners purchased a sizable property in 1972 to run a business out of. Assuming #4 is correct, this would tend to infer that his partners did not have the cash for the downpayment (or was it purchased outright?) to get this business up and running. 6. Mayfield has been convicted of armed robbery & flying a stolen plane across state lines. 7. At least 12 people wanting to help the FBI with leads called the FBI and told them to look into Mayfield because they felt he had the expertise and the criminal intent to pull it off. 8. He allegedly lied about his whereabouts the night of the crime. However we haven't heard anything further about this. 9. A 1974 photo of Mayfield matches the Shaffner sketch of 1988, complete with strong widows peak (or male patterned baldness as one DZ poster described it). Since this post was in response to the various people, myself included, to please outline the reasons why DD feels 99% confident that Mayfield was Cooper, I have some questions of my own... 1. This has been researched thoroughly? Then please post some information regarding the property purchase. What were the terms of sale? Who financed it? What partners, if any, were involved? Was there any other type of loan that Mayfield obtained during this time (such as SBA)? 2. Please post the 1974 picture. 3. Please explain the alibi that he lied about. 4. Please give some reasoning behind the basis of his dire straights in 1971... for example, eye witness says he was evicted, there's a bankruptcy on his record in 71, he sold off his possessions in 71, something. 5. Please post anything I've omitted or have errored.

Yes, please post. We've been asking for a write up on Mayfield and none has been made. To answer the question if I'm upset that Mayfield hasn't been investigated. Yes. I think every person in the Northwest who has ever purchased property and has jump experience should be investigated without cause. In other words, post. please.

I didn't see him contradict himself. He made so many one line posts though that it's getting tougher to follow this thread. Can we please remain courteous? Coming on here and posting 14 messages the very first day you show up won't really move us forward. Other users have also asked questions that have been discussed. The flight crew was not involved. The pressure bump was recreated and this is a strong implication that it was, in fact, Cooper jumping. Ckret has already posted that there was a cloud cover at 5,000 feet... thus a blind jump. If you're going to come on here and take over the board, then at least read through what's already been discussed. Amongst the several pages of posts, there were a few interesting tidbits. First, the discussion with someone at the treasury regarding destruction of old currency and their protocol. This was something I was planning on learning myself, but since coopercatcher has already done the homework, please share what they said. What they do today might be different from what they did in 75, 80, 85 etc. Today there's a lot more technology. We're talking about 10,000 bills and at best for Cooper, only a portion was ever used. I don't know specifics, but I'd guess even at 10,000 it's a tiny fraction of all the 20s in worldwide circulation in 71. Spread out the bills, spread out the time, and with a lack of technology the argument that none of the bills ever made their way into circulation gets weaker. The best hope for finding them would be when the treasury destroys old currency. If they didn't track all the serial numbers, then this aspect of the Cooper died argument really shows us nothing. The other thing I happened to read was a criticism of the DNA. If it were me, I'd want to know for certain that we have Cooper's DNA and that we have a suspect's DNA. From what I just read, I'm now unconvinced of either. Crossed matching from several items takes care of this... on both ends. DNA is a great technology, but just because you can do a test doesn't mean you can throw out solid testing methods to keep it honest. I'm not saying the results are flawed, I'm saying the methodology might be flawed, and it can be sewn up with some cross testing.

Good ideas on the paper sack. We have not been told much about the appearance of this sack, though some of the documents you previously posted do mention dimensions. Did the sack appear to have a lot in it? Did it appear to be empty? Did it appear to be light or heavy? As for me knowing a lot about Jo... she has posted on more than just this thread. There's pages upon pages here and elsewhere, plus I've found that if I send a PM through DZ, she tends to be pretty good at responding. I don't know what she thinks or feels, those were my impressions from reading her writing. I think someone(s) along the line spooked her a little. I've already stated that I'm not in the conspiracy camp. I'm not saying there wasn't one (ie, he had help) just that there's little to say (that I know of) that there was one. I also think conspiracies in general are a nice way to explain things that can't be explained. People to this day think George W.B. conspired to get into Iraq, conspired to affect gas prices, and conspires to control almost everything that they don't like in our country. Maybe there's some truth to some of this stuff, but some people are way over the top with it. Regarding where Cooper landed, it appears to me that since they actually went out and re-created the pressure bump through dropping a 200 pound sled, it's safe to say the pressure bump was Cooper leaving the stairs into a freefall. Therefore, there's only so many places he can land (radius) given this information, and I have not pinpointed the suspected landing zone yet (though Ckret gave me a pretty good description of it), it would appear to me that no "major" roads are within this area (such as I-5). There are unanswered questions regarding the Mayfield theory, and I'd like to read what DBCoopercatcher would say regarding them. I made a huge post two weeks ago... I'd like to see something of this nature regarding the Mayfield theory.

dbcoopercatcher, welcome to the board. I remember you from a different forum. I personally don't know much about the Mayfield theory other than, 1. he was a skydiving instructor 2. he had a criminal record, including a bank robbery (that happened after the Cooper heist?) 3. Him and a handful of partners purchased sizable property (to run his business out of of?) 4. He was one of the people consulted regarding the Cooper case, and 6. He personally believes Cooper would have easily pulled this off successfully. He's been briefly mentioned on this board a couple of times, but with no substance. One poster told Ckret the best suspect wasn't investigated and then left it at that. We now know the paper sack was too small to hold an alternate pair of shoes. The question remains, what was in that sack? Unless Cooper had some type of attachment like Skyjack71 suggested (rubbers), then the loafers would certainly point the finger to a jumper who was relatively inexperienced. Cooper not specifying what type of chute(s) also points in this direction. Many of the people in the DZ community have expressed the time of year and time of day as being inconsistent with an experienced jumper... though I would have to disagree here since these were primary reasons why he wasn't apprehended. Would tight loafers stay on? More importantly, would Cooper think that tight loafers would stay on?

Thanks! It might be that he said tough to pull. Next time I listen, I will listen closely to see if he said hard to find or hard to pull. Ckret, how certain are we that Cooper actually wore slip on "loafers"? I've been under the impression that this was at best, a guess. Is there a witness that flat out said "They were 100% loafers. I stared at them and I know it."?? He may have changed shoes before jumping. Remember he had a paper sack with him and the contents are unknown.

I think everyone should know that during the past several years of investigating the ins and outs of the Cooper case, Skyjack71 has come across a handful of people who have given her cause to believe in a possible conspiracy or concerted effort to pull off this crime. Like most of you, I'm not convinced in the conspiracy angle. However, from what she's said, Skyjack71 has been threatened a number of times. These people may have been projecting their own conspiracy angle onto her or they may have known what they were talking about. I don't know, you don't know, and even Skyjack71 doesn't know. These threats made Skyjack71 paranoid. Therefore, some of those threats succeeded in their goal, to get her to keep hush on certain aspects of the case. From what I know, her recent references to Cooper as Mouse do have a deliberate reason, cheif among them to "go back at them." In her own way, she's calling out those who previously threatened her. Whether those people read this board or not is really immaterial to the rest of us, but to her it's a very big deal because of the threats. If you were to imagine yourself in her shoes then her posts will make a little more sense. If your family member confessed the crime to you after he was told he had less days to live than he could count on one hand, then how would you react given that we discuss other suspects? You'd probably go crazy because all the idiots don't listen. No one said you have to read her posts. Just skip them if you don't like them. I've got a lot of catching up to do, on this board, in my work... but I will hopefully begin chipping away at the maps. I'm guessing I'll make my post in about 2 weeks. In the meantime, I have a question for the DZ community... I have Earl Cossey on tape summarizing his opinion: Cooper's chute had one drawback-it was tough to find the rip cord, but if Cooper pulled the ripcord "he most certainly made it". Opinions? Would you say Cossey's judgement was correct?

Looks like there's a lot of posts to go through since I've been out of town! Ckret, it looks like your efforts are certainly bringing a new life blood into the mix, and that's more than we could say before. When I woke up on New Year's Morning, your press release was THE top story, front page, top fold, top headline of the Columbian. The Seattle Times picked up this article and ran it on the front section, back cover. Certainly the news outlets find this case somewhat newsworthy even 36 years after the fact. In the article, or press release, you asked for someone to use satellite technology to trace the path of the money. Well, I found this funny because I promised the DZ community that I'd spend some time on this issue while I was in the area. On the 31st, I spent some time at the local library making copies of maps. I have all the maps I need to do a bit of an indepth report using satellite imagery. I will make such a post, but please give me some time. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of streams and creeks in Clark County. I will not be able to write a report on Cowlitz or Skamania. If Cooper landed in Cowlitz, then Cooper lived, that's all that should be said there. If Cooper landed in Skamania then this whole case is wacked out because there's bigger hills there and it wouldn't make sense for the pilots to fly over it. What I'm saying is that as long as we're talking about Clark County, then my findings will have some veracity. My post, when made, will be short in words and long in attached photos. In the meantime, it looks like I will have a lot of catching up to do on this forum! Wow... lots of posts!

I realize there are countless people out there with hundreds of theories regarding Cooper; who he was, whether he lived or not, and how he got away with it (or didn't). Since this thread was started by Skyjack71 to assist her of finding evidence that would help point to Duane or point away from Duane, I will start here. A similar effort could be made for all the top suspects and for yet unknown suspects, but in my opinion, Duane continues to be the strongest suspect for reasons outlined below. First, Duane actually confessed to the crime and confessed to being Dan Cooper. False confessions have happened and continue to happen everyday around the world, but they are generally coerced or an attempt to bring the confessor into some glory. Countless people made various confessions to the FBI about being Cooper. What separates Duane from almost all of these false confessors is that Duane waited until the very last moments of his life to make the confession, and he confessed only to his wife. He signed over his living will to his doctors, basically signing his own death certificate stating that he was to remain off of kidney treatments. He was expected to die within 5 days. Once the paper work was completed, the nurses left him alone with his wife. Skyjack71 didn't know who Dan Cooper was, but she can clearly remember the name because he pronounced it in a peculiar way. When she continued to challenge Duane on the confession (telling him that his story was non-sense), Duane cursed loudly. Having heard Duane getting upset and thinking he was having trouble dealing with his pain and the idea of his ultimate death, the nurses rushed in and immediately gave him a shot of morphine. No other top suspect that I'm aware of, has ever confessed to being Dan Cooper, and if they did, I highly doubt they would do it at such a serious time in their life. Facing your own death is not the time for fun and games! This is a very serious matter that I'd believe most people would find humbling and would want to speak their mind as honestly as possible. When I spoke to my grandfather for the last time, while he was on his deathbed, part of me knew it would be final time we’d ever speak. This was not a time for practical jokes or flippant behavior; this was a time to tell him that I loved him and to leave him with what could very well be my final words. Beginning with the confession, there's plenty of evidence to support the confession being real and not some prank that Duane decided to play on his wife just following the serious matter of handing over his living will to his doctors. 1. Skyjack71 witnessed Duane having an intense nightmare (1977) where Duane said "I left fingerprints on the aft stairs, I'm going to die, (loud scream)" I think most of us would remember witnessing our spouse having such a nightmare. She remembers asking him what aft stairs were and he said stairs from jail or something to that effect. 2. In Fall of 1979, Duane took Skyjack71 to the NW for a sentimental journey. This journey is chalk full of circumstantial evidence that supports his confession some 15 years later. First, he "had to do something" one morning while just outside of Portland. He left very early and came back several hours later all dirty. Second, he drove Skyjack71 to an area near LaCamas lake and actually said the words "that's where Cooper came out of the woods" and when Skyjack71 asked him how he would know, he replied "maybe I was the one on the ground". Later on that trip, Duane appeared to be looking for a tower and mentioned that he had buried something behind a shed at a tower nearby. Third, they stopped near the river for an extended period of time and he made Skyjack71 stay in the car. He took something out of the trunk and went into a wooded area down near the water. No one knows why and no one knows for how long. Fourth, they stopped by a hotel adjacent to the I-5 and Columbia river just before leaving. Duane had a paper sack with him that he claimed had trash in it. Within 5 months of this sentimental journey, Brian Ingram found four bundles of money close to the water's edge just downriver from each of these two points. While traveling up to Seattle, Duane took an unnecessary detour, heading over to the Sea Tac airport. He drove around the airport and to the backside (west) of it. When questioned why they were doing this, Duane said it was a shortcut to Seattle. Skyjack71, pulling out the map, could see clearly that a detour into the SeaTac/Burien area is no shortcut to downtown Seattle. Throughout the entire trip to the Northwest, Duane never used a map. In fact, he continually pointed out odd points of interest, such as an out of sight dollar corner store that Skyjack71 was able to confirm 21 years later. 3. In Feb 1980 when the money was found, Skyjack71 was reading the newspaper article to Duane. Referring to the money that had been unearthed, Duane simply said, “it’s worthless.” 4. Shortly thereafter, a television special came out on DB Cooper and the money that had recently been found. Skyjack71 remarked to Duane that she was eager to watch the special, but as it turned out, something “came up” that night that prevented her from seeing it. Duane made arrangements for them to go out with another couple which was something they had never done on a week day. During the dinner conversation, Skyjack71 spoke to the other woman and commented on the fact that they never went out this way on weeknights. This is how she recollects the incident so well. It turned out that throughout their 17 year marriage, this would be the first and only time Duane made such dinner arrangements without consulting Skyjack71 first. Further, they never socialized with other couples unless it was through his work or was business related. 5. Shortly after the television special aired, Duane told Skyjack71 that his company was reducing his territory and assigning it to someone else. He promptly moved to Alabama, leaving his family behind for a few months. After Duane died, Skyjack71 discovered an old resume and a letter of resignation written to his boss in early 1980. The explanation he had stated to his boss in this letter of resignation was that he was resigning because Skyjack71 and her daughter wanted to “move back to the South.” This, of course, was patently false because Skyjack71 and her daughter (who was still in school at the time), loved living in the Colorado suburb of Fort Collins. Duane completely resigned from his company, moved to Alabama, and began working for a familiar company he had worked for previously. The new job was for a fledgling company trying to stay in business, and Duane was well aware that the company may not remain in business long. In short, Duane had told Skyjack71 that his employer in F. Collins was taking away his territory which turned out to be a lie. Duane had actually resigned even though he was making substantial money at the time. 6. In the 1960s, Duane worked for the insurance company that funded the Cooper ransom. The dollar amount on the insurance policy just so happened to be $200,000. 7. Skyjack71 can only recall Duane reading one book during their 17 year marriage. Duane bought a copy of Norjack and he sat in his favorite chair and read it cover to cover. Skyjack71 asked him what it was about and he said it was about a hijacking. Skyjack71 told him it sounded interesting and to let her read it when he was finished. He agreed, but then days later when Skyjack71 asked him about the book, he claimed someone from work borrowed it from him. The book was never seen again. What’s more is that in the following weeks after reading the book, Duane grew out his hair and took on a full mustache. 8. In 1990, Skyjack71 actually did see a book amongst Duane's possessions. It was during a brief separation due to his emotional stress of becoming dependent on kidney machines. This may have been a similar stress he would have felt in 1971 when he first was told he had kidney disease, a condition he’d seen his mother suffer through until her death. Skyjack71 happened to notice a book in Duane’s trailer that he lived in during this time. 6 years later, she saw the book once again.... she had checked it out from the library. In some of the margins, she noticed Duane's handwritten notes. The book turned out to be about DB Cooper. Skyjack71 immediately called the FBI the night she read the first few pages of this book and learned for the first time about some of the details of the crime. 9. Discovery channel's Unsolved History did a story on the Cooper case. As part of their story, they took the 1972 composite sketch of Cooper and fed it into the FRS of a Vegas Casino. They added several pictures to the database, including a handful of the top suspects, such as McCoy and Duane, and then ran a search amongst the entire database against the composite sketch. Of everyone in the database and all the top suspects, Duane's photo came up as the top biometric match. 10. When Skyjack71 pursued Duane's ex-wife (whom he was married to at the time of the heist) regarding Cooper, his ex-wife was reticent. She told Skyjack71 to "leave the past behind". At no time did she ever deny the allegation that Duane was Cooper and she remained reticent about the topic. She was deliberate and adamant that they were separated from October 1971 until February 1972 and she did not have any contact with Duane during that time. 11. Years later, this ex-wife was preparing to move into assisted living. With no prompting, she sent Skyjack71 some old original photos (not reprints) of Duane. Amongst the photos was one of the ex-wife and not Duane. It wasn’t as though the widow and the ex-wife had been close, and therefore this picture seemed a little out of place. As she examined this particular photo, it happened to have an unusual object in the foreground... some wrap around sunglasses. Why the ex-wife sent these pictures and also included this photo will always be a mystery as the ex-wife has since died. 12. This ex-wife had a daughter who once told Skyjack71, “I know that Duane was Cooper,” and made some type of elaboration that Skyjack71 has never mentioned. She says the FBI knows what was said because she had called them to interview this daughter who has since passed away. 13. At some point in 1990, Skyjack71 happened to come across a ticket stub of some kind with the SeaTac or Sea-Tac printed on it. It was sitting on his desk in his shop and she saw it there and thought it peculiar. 14. In 1994, Duane had broken his leg. The shop had been closed for years, and there were some boxes with tax information in it. Skyjack71 decided to clean and organize a box from 1990 that had been packed when they closed the shop and she did this despite Duane’s protest. She dumped out the box and began to sort the box from the 1990 tax year. She began throwing some items away and then filing others. One of the items she picked up was an old airline ticket from the year 1971. According to her memory, the ticket was a Portland to Seattle ticket. She remembered this because this was the year she had flown for the first time. Seeing the old ticket, she went to ask Duane about it, and he said that it used to mean something, “but now it doesn’t” and instructed her to throw it away. She then placed it in the garbage bag with all the other non-relevant papers and items she threw away from that box. Later on that day, he asked her what she did with the old ticket. She replied that she threw it away as per his instructions and that it was in a garbage bag in the garage. She then grabbed another old box out of his closet and he again told her not to sift through his things and that he would do it later. She left the second box alone. That night, she went out to the garage and sifted through the garbage bag and did not see the ticket. A few weeks later, Skyjack71 folded up Duane’s clothing and went to put away his socks and undergarments like she always did. This time, Duane told her not to and that he’d put them away himself. Ignoring his comments, she went to his drawer as she frequently did to put away his garments. Upon opening one of the drawers, she saw the old airline ticket lying in the drawer. At this point, she knew Duane well enough not to ask him about the ticket. 15. In the late fall of 1994, the same year as the above incidents, the Webers held a garage sale. Duane had gotten to the point where she had to drive him to and pick him up from dialysis. Amongst the items that would be sold were some false books; the kind that you could hide items in. When Skyjack71 went to pick up Duane from dialysis, there was a young woman who was helping her with the garage sale. The helper asked both of them what to do with one of these false books. Duane instructed her to put it aside and that he’d take care of it. Later that evening, Duane instructed Skyjack71 to retrieve the book for him and she was unable to find it. Many of the items for sale that day were old items from the shop that they had closed. Skyjack71 then called the helper and the helper told Skyjack71 there were old papers and such in the false book and claimed “it should be there.” A weakened Duane was so upset about the lost book that Skyjack71 felt it was important to search through the garage until late at night to find it. Duane finally told her that he would search for himself later on when he could muster the strength. Two years later, Skyjack71 contacted this helper, who may have suffered from addiction, and the helper claimed no recollection of the events or the false book. Skyjack71 happened to find this odd because this helper purposely came in and asked what to do with it and they contacted her later to ask her about it. Incidentally, the old ticket was never seen after 1994. It may or may not have been in the false book. 16. There was a second garage sale after Duane's death. One item was something Duane had kept in his desk. Skyjack71 had no idea what it was, but someone who visited the garage sale purchased it because he collected these sorts of things and told her that it was part of a parachute. 17. On Duane's deathbed, he instructed Skyjack71 to check his van and told her specifically what to check, but Skyjack71’s focus was to comfort him and really wasn’t listening to him. This was during his confession and she thought he was talking non-sense. Skyjack71 just told him she’d take care of it and not to worry. Skyjack71 wound up selling the van. Later, the new owner contacted Skyjack71 and gave her a wallet that only contained some peculiar identification. It was a military ID and some other ID of Duane's under various names. The returned wallet appeared to have held many more items at one time in its life. The purchasers of the van told Skyjack71 about the wallet on the phone there was a license and papers in it and when she arrived they told her they never opened it and could not comment on the contents. Skyjack71 maintains a belief that there may have been more items in the van, but cannot nor will not say for sure. It was subsequently torn apart from top to bottom for “rebuilding purposes.” We did read earlier on this thread that the new owners began to fly every other weekend to south Florida right after purchasing the van. Whether or not this happened to be related to them purchasing the van, we’ll never know and at best could only speculate. They may have inherited money or won the state lottery or just enjoyed prosperous sales in their flea market endeavors… we do not know. 18. In 1990, around the same time that Skyjack71 saw the ticket stub with SeaTac printed on it, Skyjack71 and Duane were in his van. He left her in the van to go grab something out of the shop. On the console, Skyjack71 happened to notice a grayish money bag. From her recollection, it had printing on one side of it, but she did not pull the bag out of the console all the way because Duane was coming back to the van. This was a very trying time of their marriage (he was staying in the trailer) and she didn’t want to get him upset. Duane later was arrested for attempting to obtain a fraudulent driver’s license. Among his possessions was a new, or barely used, hand gun. In his paranoia, Duane blamed Skyjack71 for the arrest thinking she ratted him out. She actually saved him from more serious charges because her and his doctor pleaded with authorities and told them Duane only attempted this because of his illness. The real reason Duane attempted to obtain a fraudulent driver’s license is unknown. 19. In 1971/early 72, a Reno newspaper received a letter or note of some kind from someone claiming to be Cooper. There were several of these received by various news outlets at the time, but this one in Reno had been postmarked in a suburb of one of Duane's family member's. 20. According to his ex-wife, Duane was unaccounted for in the fall of 1971 through February of 1972. In February of 1972, Duane got back together with his wife. Further, his employer at the time was unaware of his whereabouts. In February of 1972, Duane returned to work and claimed he was injured when he fell out of a tree in his yard. He told them he had been trimming the tree. Skyjack71 later got the ex-wife to confess that there was no tree in their yard at the time. 21. Duane and his wife made very little money in 1972. Their tax return, however, shows that they claimed a significant portion of their income from selling things they already owned. From what I've heard, this wasn't filed on any capital gain or investment schedule. Do most people who hold a garage sale claim 25% of their income from items they sold around the house? Why was Duane and his wife so eager to claim income that could never be traced? 22. In June of 1972, according to the ex-wife’s daughter, Duane and the ex-wife had recently purchased a brand new car. The daughter vividly remembered this because she helped them move to Kansas and she had the privilege of driving the new car. 23. Shortly before Duane passed away, in March of 1995, Skyjack71 was helping him get dressed since he was injured with a broken arm and several broken fingers. She was attempting to help him put on long johns when she asked him if he was ever going to disclose how he had hurt his leg. He didn’t have trouble with the leg, but due to scarring and/or deformity, it was apparent to Skyjack71 that he had once injured it fairly severely. She had asked him about it before but he never disclosed the cause of his injury. Duane’s response was that he had injured his leg jumping out of a plane once. Skyjack71 immediately laughed at his answer because she found it funny. Duane later reiterated this story during his confession. 24. At various points throughout their marriage, but only beginning in the very late 1980s, Duane would tell Skyjack71 that a famous invention was named after him. Time and time again, she'd say Weber grill. She even once made a sarcastic reply saying "Weber Bread". Every time she made one of her guesses, Duane just gave her a childlike grin and would say "you'll never know". We don't know of any invention named specifically after Duane Weber. We do know, however, that an invention was named after Dan Cooper, and it was called The Cooper Vane. 25. In 1987, Duane and Skyjack71 were on a commercial airliner in Miami. They were either boarding or exiting, and Duane pointed at a door with a wheel on it as they walked by. He mentioned to Skyjack71 that if a person were to turn that wheel that stairs would lower from the belly of the plane. 26. Skyjack71 just made a post about Duane serving time in McNeil prison. This prison is located in Tacoma. According to Ckret, Cooper stated that McCord "is only 20 minutes from Tacoma. It shouldn't take that long." I have included some photos of Duane along side some composite sketches of Cooper.

Skyjack71, I had never heard that a family member of Duane's ever said they knew or even suspected that he was Cooper. What you just wrote, as plainly as I can say it... shocking. I've been doing some reading on some of your many posts on this board and others, and I'm compiling a list that hopefully I can post sometime tomorrow. I'd like to put some key points I've read into one post.