dbcoopercatcher

I know it isn't part of the evidence, but things are not part of the evidence until they are found out. That does not mean they didn't happen. If there is any hope of solving this case, it must come from the understanding that there is so much more about the case that is not known than is known. This includes me and ergo, the case is still unsolved. There are solved cases with convictions where there is still plenty parts within the case unsolved but only speculated. I speculate (and still find it neither likely or unlikely - but possible) that he got close, jumped with a walkie talkie to a beaconed accomplice that picked him up. His buddy had been sitting in the car listening to the news about it and knew they needed an alibi. Speculation, yes. Possible, yes. Cooper didn't give a route? He said no to some alternatives and picked Reno below 10,000 ft. with the plane in a fuel guzzling attitude. There was only one safe route - the one down I-5. Blind?

I have never been on a thread with you that got shut down. Tina talked with us enough to let us know she wouldn't talk with us - two different senses of the phrase. Does that satisfy you? With our limited resources and access, Tina was very difficult to find and I will not share her info with anyone. The FBI could probably find her near instantaneously, I'm sure. This also contradicts something I said but was tongue in cheek. Okay?

Good thinkin.

In reply to Tina never being uncooperative, Ralph must have been mistaken. Have you talked to her? I can give you her number.

The person that Dan talked to from treasury said that they only destroy old, worn bills and did not check numbers. Likely if Cooper suvived and spent, the odds are they would have passed unnoticed.

And maybe the FBI is still making mistakes. You state assumptions, however probable, as facts and then stack them together to support a conclusion. There is no way to know that he had no idea where he was. Totally blind? Guess that explains the dark glasses. What time exactly did he call? The FBI does tests to come up with emperical evidence and timelines sometimes. Here? I'm only interested in empirical evidence. Speaking of opinions of I don't see how, So Cooper was badly injured enough that he hiked miles away from I-5 way up and over into a different (Washougal) drainage and then died. Money into a creek or several, bounced down into the Washougal and then Columbia and lands with rubber bands unbroken to be found burried, but never a body a buckle or a canopy. Likely?

Tina wouldn't talk to us. Can't blame her, She did evidently become uncooperative on the case fairly quickly - even to the FBI. I wonder why.

Excellent question. Also, cooper may not have left any of his prints, but Ted's are on file. Have all the prints from the plane been run through AFIS? It wasn't around back then.

What is a viable lead? Who's opinion? Himmelsbach? FBI agents throughout history have made mistakes. I think it would be a fairly safe assumption (but I'm not turning it into a fact) that some mistakes were made in this case.

What time frame? Any vacation homes in the area? Or maybe the guy got people to assume that he had less of a plan than he did.

Because there is no evidence of a negative, does that mean you rule it out? I repeat my question, how many people arecertain of what he had when there was no reason yet to notice him. This would be impressive. Or does the info come mostly from Tina or Florence that remeber the bag and the breifcase and that is all the baggage they remember. Did the 'magician' show them what they remember? Himmelsbach may not know how the questions were asked (very important, of course). It is my understanding that he never interviewed them face to face.

Ted told Dan and I that he was a green beret. I don't know enough about his military service to know the veracity of this. I wonder if he knew the copycat, Mccoy. Also, people have always assumed that he had no aids to navigation, accomplices, RDF, etc. It is not a fact if it is not a fact.

I wonder if the FBI checked out the possibility with the local PD's of any stolen vehicles in the area that night. Also, I find it amazing the assumption that the only unsolved skyjacking in US history happened by sheer luck on an amateurish plan by someone with no experience or familiarity and no need for disguising himself in any way. Yes, I am overstating on purpose somewhat, but if I was the FBI and these are the assumptions, I would stick to the 'he died' story like loafers under rubber overboots. Speaking of which, the last time you were on a commercail flight (pre 9-11), did you take notice of everyone that got on the plane and exactly what articles they brought on and stowed, including the people that got on behind you and sat in the back, when there was no reason to take note of them yet? Even when there is reason to take note of someone, eyewitness accounts are notoriously bad. Sometimes people have a problem saying, "I just can't be sure," when they really should say that. Take me, for example.

The hijacking was in the news way before the jump after 8 PM. If I'm not mistaken, there was a news crew at the Seattle airport.

In my butt-in opinion, the DNA on the tie is not a rock solid lock, but is much more than 'much less of a sure thing.' It would be enough to shut me up about this, permanently. No conspiracy theory talk. If I was Ted, I would drive some of my spit up to the Seattle field office and volunteer it for DNA testing to shut up an idiot like Matt Myers and clear my soiled name (well some of it.) But then if I was Ted, I wouldn't have lied about my alibi all these years and on two news programs. I'm not holding my breath. BTW, it was not our idea to out Ted's name in connection with this on the air. We were very careful about that for 6 years. KOIN 6 news did that for their sweeps week. We found that out from Ted when we visited with him about this. If for nothing else, there is a slight possibility that it could've been dangerous for us showing up at Ted's without that helpful heads up from KOIN. But then again, I guess we would've refused free skydiving from him, so maybe we wouldn't have been numbers 14 and 15.

The grocery store conviction was just before the heist and one of the reasons he was in dire straights at the time. Other things were years later. Many people in the community where he lives now refuse to believe that such a nice guy like Ted would ever do such things. It is my beleif that under the smile and handshake is evidence of sociopathic behavior.

First, let me say that this thread has some real quality that would have been very helpful had Al Gore invented the internet before this heist. All of these great ideas bouncing around are fantastic. Next, as my tag indicates (for those who know the claims associated with it) I am biased and in the 'Mayfield is the best suspect' camp. I know the tag is uber-arrogant but I have had it a while and will keep it - apologies. I am Matt Myers and, although I would not go so far as to say we have solved the case, (100% certainty or very near is not possible for someone who was not on the plane - either for or against a suspect) I do beleive that with the knowledge we have available, Mayfield is by far the best suspect so far and should have been / still should be investigated. In a lunch interview we had with former agent Himmelsbach in 2001, he said Ted would have been a great suspect had he not called in. We asked him if there was no possible way Ted could have gotten to a phone in an hour and three quarters and called in. He replied, "but the man was wearing loafers." He further said ,"I wouldn't rule out the possibility that Ted planned it or was in on it in some way." Couple this with Himmelsbach not knowing where Ted lived at the time, or from where the call originated and Ted lying about his alibi to us, Koin and Inside Edition, and motive, experience, need, unexplained gain after, etc. etc. etc. I'd just like to see him compeled for his DNA, him cleared or convicted, and I can get onto another goose chase. A final note that is not unrelated, it is my sad duty to inform you that Jack Wilson who posted here on this case lost a long struggle with a debilitating and painful form of Muscular Dystrophy. He was my partner in investigating this for the past 8 years (more accurately, I was his.) His name was Dan Dvorak. He used a fictitious name to avoid specific arguments from people he had previously argued with and to help thwart his being found by those he did not wish to be found by. He was a good man with a passion for justice. He and I repeatedly put ourselves in a position where our case could be desroyed come what may. An example of this is asking Himmelsbach if he called prior to 8:13 PM. We were willing to be shut down right then and there. Dan was certainly about due dilligence in an investigation whatever the result. Skills probably honed while working as a financial statements analyst for Delloitte and Touche before he became disabled. Oh, and he can be placed in a parachute a few times in the late 80's.