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Post by Scumhunter on Nov 15, 2015 0:58:22 GMT -5
 (Above photo credit: Unsolved Mysteries Wikia) Everyone by now is familiar with the story of D.B. Cooper, who has been aired numerous times on both AMW and Unsolved Mysteries. Technically, this is an "unsolved" case and not a fugitive case. However, since AMW once aired the case of "JC Giles" a wanted suspect known only by an alias- I'm placing this case in the fugitives section. I will give a brief refresher via the Unsolved Wikia website: Details: On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper boarded a Northwest Airlines Boeing 727 from Portland, Oregon. Once the plane was in flight, he gave the stewardess a note that he had a bomb and would detonate it unless the plane diverted to Seattle. Once there, he released the passengers but kept the flight crew captive as he made a request for four parachutes and $200,000 in cash weighing over twenty pounds. He then had the plane take off again, having it stay at a speed of 200 mph. Over the Lewis River in southern Washington, Cooper opened the rear exit door while in flight and jumped with the cash, no visible protective gear and only a parachute into obscurity. He, the money and parachutes were never seen again. To date, this is the only unsolved sky-jacking in the history of aviation. The FBI thoroughly investigated the case, chasing several leads and suspects. The press dubbed this character "D.B. Cooper," who was only known on the flight manifest as Dan Cooper. No one could find a trace of him nor locate any of the stolen traceable cash. A plastic sign from a Boeing 727 and a parachute were discovered in the woods near the bail-out area, and in 1980, some of the marked cash was found dredged in the mud near the Columbia River. These clues suggest to some that Cooper either perished in the woods or landed in the Columbia and drowned. However, others believe from his coolness and planning that he actually survived and got away with one of the most daring crimes of the twentieth century. When Unsolved Mysteries re-examined the case, they had a new composite made of the famous artist one of the Cooper. Working with a new forensic artist, they gave Florence Schaffner, the stewardess to which he handed the note, a chance to recommission a new likeness. Most of the Americans who heard his voice said that he had a Mid-Western accent. It was also believed that due to Cooper's demand for parachutes and his escape that the man was a military veteran, likely certified as a paratrooper. Thoughts? Obviously a lot of leads were chased over the years. Notorious AMW capture #50 John List was once considered a suspect but was eventually ruled out. Now the focus seems to be on a man named Lynn Doyle Cooper who died in 1999. Lynn Cooper was a surveyor who worked for Boeing and his niece claims to have overheard him admitting to the crime. In my opinion, while there was always a controversy of whether D.B. Cooper died after his jump, many speculated he could have died in the rugged terrain, I believe he survived. I think a lot of people don't want to admit the bad guy gets away sometimes, so they'll write off the Anglin brothers and/or D.B. Cooper as they must have died to not get caught by now. While I hate to give fugitives credit, sometimes people underestimate their cunning. L.D. Cooper makes a great suspect. I think the problem is evidence-wise, there needs to be more to officially declare the case closed. unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/D.B._Cooperunsolved.com/archives/db-cooperwww.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/db-cooper-suspect-was-surveyor-brother-worked-for-boeing/Admin Note #1: Because we are unsure if any agencies are still investigating, our advice for anyone with any tips on this case is to just contact the Unsolved Mysteries website: unsolved.com/content/tips
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates on this case, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form |
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Post by тσρтєиhυитєя on Jul 5, 2016 22:07:26 GMT -5
As I've stated in the other thread, there will be a special on DB Cooper this Sunday on the History Channel.
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Post by Scumhunter on Jul 11, 2016 12:42:10 GMT -5
OK so I saw part 1 today (via DVR so I didn't cheat on The Hunt!). Two journalists seem to think it's a man named Robert Wesley Rackstraw. Apparently he was in Vietnam and had a storied military career where he did just about everything and had all sorts of training- air, ground, etc... He is basically like the real life version of "the most interesting man in the world."
Anyway after 1971 he is dishonorably discharged for lying about going to college. The theory is that he committed the skyjacking as revenge against the Army for dumping him- basically, I did all this good for you and you get rid of me for one small lie- well I'm going to show you what I'm going to do.
An FBI and an independent journalist (Billy Jensen- who is also a correspondent for Crime Watch Daily) are also part of the show and listen intently to what the journalists discovered while they themselves have done some investigative groundwork.
What is interesting here is Rackstraw is still alive. So he could still theoretically could be arrested if he is D.B. Cooper- in my opinion.
Part 2 will air tonight.
I'm not really "holy crap, Cooper is Rackstraw" yet but I guess obviously they want to build up to whatever that supposed moment may be.
Rackstraw may be a good suspect at the moment, so I'm interested to see where this all goes.
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Post by тσρтєиhυитєя on Jul 11, 2016 14:23:32 GMT -5
Robert Wesley Rockstraw seems like someone who'd be honorably discharged, he's done just about everything and anything which says a lot about him.
Well this is sounding like it's going somewhere, the motive for why Robert Wesley Rockstraw did it seems to make a lot of sense, and if he were to do anything, a skyjacking would have been a good way to get back at them in his mind.
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Post by Scumhunter on Jul 12, 2016 4:24:34 GMT -5
Granted I haven't seen part 2 yet but for however compelling or not compelling the evidence against Rackstraw is, the FBI has announced they're no longer investigating the case: www.kiro7.com/news/local/db-cooper-case-no-longer-actively-investigated-by-fbi/397251270I think I read a comment somewhere else that in the episode not even the surviving members of the flight identified Rackstraw as Cooper and that it ends with basically the FBI closing the case. So while I'll still watch out of curiosity, it does seem like it was somewhat of a waste of time. |
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Post by Scumhunter on Jul 12, 2016 4:25:42 GMT -5
Anyway, I don't think we'll ever find out who Cooper was unless the guy is alive and shows dollar bills with serial numbers that can be traced back to the hijacked flight ransom. (Plenty of men have actually claimed to be Cooper, however, they would still need to prove it also).
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Post by Scumhunter on Jul 13, 2016 4:21:18 GMT -5
OK I finished the program, while the title "case closed" was misleading and I give credit to the journalists for the hard work, it became pretty ridiculous when NO ONE could say for sure Rackstraw was Cooper. (It's also not mentioned that Rackstraw would have been in his mid-late 20's at the time of the hijackings and I believe D.B. Cooper was thought to be older).
It was still worth watching because it was interesting to see the key players in the case interviewed- the pilot, the stewardess who was the main go-between, and the son and father who had found some of Cooper's money washed ashore nine years later. (Who I felt were unfairly accused of being in on the money find).
However, the key concept, that there would be conclusive evidence of a Cooper suspect, was severely overrated.
We may never know who Cooper was, although many of us will probably pick someone and hold on to our beliefs it was them.
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Post by eal22 on Jul 27, 2016 21:51:35 GMT -5
The money find is the most perplexing part of the case to me. Some of the bills were missing, it is possible the money wasn't there the whole time and arrived at a later date, yet multiple bags showed up in the same location. I can see why some believe the money to have been strategically placed.
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Post by Scumhunter on Jul 27, 2016 23:42:37 GMT -5
It's understandable and perhaps someone wanted the money to be found but the father just seemed like an unassuming hippie to me. He seemed to get pretty emotional on the history channel show. It was a lot for them to be put in the spotlight.
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Post by eal22 on Nov 24, 2016 23:19:18 GMT -5
Today is the anniversary of DB Cooper. I doubt we will ever know anything more about this case than we do now. The most bizarre part of this case is the money that was found, it only seemed to produce more questions. Why was some missing? Why did it all wash up in the same place? Why did it take so long to appear?
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Post by Scumhunter on Nov 25, 2016 0:06:24 GMT -5
I don't think we'll ever find out who Cooper was. Perhaps someone's theory is already correct or perhaps one day there may be a consensus on who he *probably* was but proving it beyond a reasonable doubt will in my opinion forever be an issue.
One theory I have is perhaps although it's sort of been suggested before is that whoever Cooper was didn't hijack the plane for the money. They did it for the thrill. A few years passed and they figured it was a safe time to release some of the money, kept the rest as a keepsake, perhaps they were upset they faded from the news and wanted it to be found by someone eventually, to get attention again.
But yeah the money find is the most puzzling aspect of this case.
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Post by eal22 on Nov 25, 2016 0:30:51 GMT -5
Cooper must have known he could never spend the money without being caught. Is there anyway you can use it undetected?
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Post by Scumhunter on Nov 25, 2016 0:51:31 GMT -5
That is a great question. Someone smart enough to hijack a plane and possibly get away with it is obviously smart enough to know the money would be traced. What exactly was his end game here?
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Post by eal22 on Nov 25, 2016 8:46:54 GMT -5
If you just spend it and never put it in a bank will it still be traced back to you eventually? How does the government keep track of the location of money? I really know little about this kind of stuff.
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Post by Scumhunter on Nov 25, 2016 9:43:03 GMT -5
I'm not the best expert either but according to the History channel show I watched it's basically every bill has a serial number and when you use it it can be traced. And apparently before they gave him the money, they made sure to make note of the serial numbers and such. So if D.B. Cooper were to like buy something from a Wal-Mart in Chattanooga, Tennessee using one of those bills, the FBI would be alerted and they'd all be rushing over there, or something like that. I'm sorry I'm not the best at explaining this either.
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