DB Cooper IDed?

[Herlock Sholmes]

Hi Herlock - just in case you haven't seen it, wikipedia covers the Cooper case at some length with an overview of suspects and a list of further reading.

Best regards,
OneRound

Cheers OneRound

[OneRound]

Thanks for that Erobitha. I don't know if there's been a book written on this guy or whether he's been mentioned in other books? The problem for me, as someone that's never read a book on the case, is that I don't want a specific suspect book but I do want a book which assessed at least some of the suspects.

Hi Herlock - just in case you haven't seen it, wikipedia covers the Cooper case at some length with an overview of suspects and a list of further reading.

Best regards,
OneRound

[Herlock Sholmes]

I thought the culprit was William J Smith who used the alias Dan Cooper after a friend of his by the same name was killed in action during WWII

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry...per-skyja.html

Thanks for that Erobitha. I don't know if there's been a book written on this guy or whether he's been mentioned in other books? The problem for me, as someone that's never read a book on the case, is that I don't want a specific suspect book but I do want a book which assessed at least some of the suspects.

[erobitha]

I thought the culprit was William J Smith who used the alias Dan Cooper after a friend of his by the same name was killed in action during WWII

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html

[Herlock Sholmes]

Can anyone recommend a decent book on the case? I was looking at the book Skyjack but it's over £20 which puts me off for a book which might be the only one that I buy on the case. Basically I'm looking for a good run through of the case with suspects mentioned/evaluated. Any suggestions guys?

Cheers

[Dupin]

I found this interesting but over-long. The makers assumed knowledge of the case, which may be so on the other side of the Atlantic, but here in the UK I believe Cooper is not widely known. The Ozzy website is more illuminating but of course centres on suspect Smith, who to my mind does not resemble the photofit or the descriptions of witnesses who all insisted on a fine and thin nose. The puzzle for me was why Cooper would flit out over what appeared in the film to be dense woodland, underlining the possibility that he simply didn't make it and will be found somewhere at some time. The oregonlive site suggests he bailed over fields - could all those trees have grown since 71? And what did he do with the dosh? The FBI would have been looking for sudden prosperity and none of the suspects seemed to display any. Burying a hoard and digging some up when times get short sounds like hard work and pretty much my own banking arrangement! Pah. Who knows. Another Wallace case. :-(

[NickB]

I saw the programme and also would have liked it to focus more on the event itself rather than the suspects, none of which I found convincing. Clearly a lot of effort and time had been put into it, and they interviewed some key people, so it seemed like a lost opportunity to dig more deeply into the case. For example they bemoaned the lack of evidence but there was no mention of the clip-on tie.

There were also significant departures from the traditional accounts of events on board and it was not clear whether they were consciously correcting them or in error themselves. For example what happened and what was said in the period just before the jump.

Also I found it peculiar that they said they did not know how the stewardess knew what his eyes looked like because he was wearing dark glasses, but the traditional accounts say he only put on his glasses after initial conversations with the stewardess during the flight.

[OneRound]

Hi Herlock and all - there's a new documentary on this truly fascinating case on BBC4 tonight at 9 o'clock. Should certainly be worth watching or recording.

Best regards,
OneRound

Ended up disappointed by this. Although a fascinating case as I said yesterday, it was spoiled for me by too many weirdos having a claim to know who Cooper was. The carrying out of the crime and, as far as can be known or reasonably speculated, the planning for it merited greater coverage.

Apologies for the recommendation,
OneRound

[OneRound]

Guys, Ive never read anything on the DB Cooper case. Any recommendations for books to get?

Hi Herlock and all - there's a new documentary on this truly fascinating case on BBC4 tonight at 9 o'clock. Should certainly be worth watching or recording.

Best regards,
OneRound

[Ozzy]

There's a piece on the oregonlive website about a new suspect - William J. Smith, who died in January 2018.

Check the DB Cooper sketch and a photo of William J. Smith.

https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/11/e18eba2aa14557/new-suspect-in-db-cooper-skyja.html

[c.d.]

But these are the same people who interviewed the pilot and the stewardess who spent the most time with the hijacker and both of them when shown a photo of Rackstraw adamantly said he was not the hijacker. I think they have a fixation on Rackstraw and are just pulling things out of their butt at this point.

c.d.

[gallicrow]

Ack!

"ack" over "ack" and a mere one letter too long:

A nd pleas et ellthe lackeycops
I am first LT Robert Rackstraw

That proves it conclusively for me...

[Herlock Sholmes]

Guys, I’ve never read anything on the DB Cooper case. Any recommendations for books to get?

[Mayerling]

Maybe they will publish what this decipherment was like. Maybe it really does not prove anything.

Interesting thing to me about this case (like that of the three convicts who fled Alcatraz in 1962 but were never found (it may be, oddly enough, one of them recently wrote to the FBI from South America that they did escape to the mainland)). I keep hoping it isn't solved - part of me enjoying the physical testing these people (the convicts, "Cooper") put into their schemes - sort of like wishing they succeeded.


Jeff

[Pcdunn]

Rackstraw may have been the skyjacker, but the decoder doesn't offer enough info about his method for us to know what he means by "a system of letters and numbers", so at this point it seems like a suspect-based "proof."