Congratulations, Marty. I'll wait for the hard copy version, as I really don't like digital books.

If you'd like to write up a little summary of your book, I'll post it on the Mountain New-WA.

So, here we go...

 I was looking for a new writing project.  I had just read Skyjack and I had been somewhat interested in this case for years. However, this was my first time diving in (I had a lot of unexpected free time when I lost my job about two years ago, I found researching the case to be cathartic). My goal was to write a novella, as accurate to the evidence as possible, for how this skyjacking was planned, executed and what happened after Cooper left the aircraft. That novella didn’t happen, because I stumbled onto something else.

To be thorough in my research for the novella, I decided to go through all the Cooper books and stories. Norjak, Tosaw’s book, then Kaye’s and Sluggo’s respective websites. What interested me most was the tie evidence found by Kaye. The titanium made pretty much all of the Cooper confessions and theories falsifiable. So I decided to do just that, go through all the Cooper stories and check them against the titanium evidence. From there I figured I could begin my fiction piece.

Cutting to the chase, there was one book that had been ridiculed from the beginning, Max Gunther’s “DB Cooper; what really happened” and the story contained therein was not eliminated by Kaye’s evidence. Gunther’s suspect, “Dan LeClair” was, among other things, a salesman, manager and then executive for several industrial chemical companies in the years before the hijacking.

This revelation happens rather late in the book, so I had to reread the damn thing because I was ignoring important details just trying to get it done. By the time I had reviewed everything, the case seemed very strong, with little contraindicatory evidence.

My book simply makes the connection between the Gunther story and the evidence we know about the case. A nonfiction book was never my intention, so this whole things feels weird to me. In the book, I try to quantify how unlikely it is Gunther’s Dan LeClair and Kaye’s tie analysis would match up. I also take a look at Cooper’s jump, the flight path, and I included all the suspect profiles I’ve been writing over the last two years. My father, a jump-trained Air Force veteran, airline pilot (specifically a 727 pilot), and hyper-literate son of two language teachers, helped with the book immensely. It’s actually our first collaboration.

For a conclusion, I lay out the process by which I believe we can find “Dan LeClair” using available databases such as the US Census (Gunther gives interesting details about Dan LeClair that make this possible). There are other details that can be used to check the story as well. My thesis is falsifiable, since there is a limited pool of suspects to research. I do want to make it clear that I’m limiting my claims. I do not claim to have solved the Cooper hijacking. I believe this is our best lead in the case and worthy of attention. That’s it.

When I finally finish the print edition, it should be nearly 50% larger than the Kindle version. It's going to be a couple of months, so I'd love to hear feedback from anyone who reads the book. (again, just pm me, free pdf version)

So, here we go...

 I was looking for a new writing project.  I had just read Skyjack and I had been somewhat interested in this case for years. However, this was my first time diving in (I had a lot of unexpected free time when I lost my job about two years ago, I found researching the case to be cathartic). My goal was to write a novella, as accurate to the evidence as possible, for how this skyjacking was planned, executed and what happened after Cooper left the aircraft. That novella didn’t happen, because I stumbled onto something else.

To be thorough in my research for the novella, I decided to go through all the Cooper books and stories. Norjak, Tosaw’s book, then Kaye’s and Sluggo’s respective websites. What interested me most was the tie evidence found by Kaye. The titanium made pretty much all of the Cooper confessions and theories falsifiable. So I decided to do just that, go through all the Cooper stories and check them against the titanium evidence. From there I figured I could begin my fiction piece.

Cutting to the chase, there was one book that had been ridiculed from the beginning, Max Gunther’s “DB Cooper; what really happened” and the story contained therein was not eliminated by Kaye’s evidence. Gunther’s suspect, “Dan LeClair” was, among other things, a salesman, manager and then executive for several industrial chemical companies in the years before the hijacking.

This revelation happens rather late in the book, so I had to reread the damn thing because I was ignoring important details just trying to get it done. By the time I had reviewed everything, the case seemed very strong, with little contraindicatory evidence.

My book simply makes the connection between the Gunther story and the evidence we know about the case. A nonfiction book was never my intention, so this whole things feels weird to me. In the book, I try to quantify how unlikely it is Gunther’s Dan LeClair and Kaye’s tie analysis would match up. I also take a look at Cooper’s jump, the flight path, and I included all the suspect profiles I’ve been writing over the last two years. My father, a jump-trained Air Force veteran, airline pilot (specifically a 727 pilot), and hyper-literate son of two language teachers, helped with the book immensely. It’s actually our first collaboration.

For a conclusion, I lay out the process by which I believe we can find “Dan LeClair” using available databases such as the US Census (Gunther gives interesting details about Dan LeClair that make this possible). There are other details that can be used to check the story as well. My thesis is falsifiable, since there is a limited pool of suspects to research. I do want to make it clear that I’m limiting my claims. I do not claim to have solved the Cooper hijacking. I believe this is our best lead in the case and worthy of attention. That’s it.

When I finally finish the print edition, it should be nearly 50% larger than the Kindle version. It's going to be a couple of months, so I'd love to hear feedback from anyone who reads the book. (again, just pm me, free pdf version)

Interesting. Gunther's book received some attention at DZ so you might want to do post searches at DZ if you haven't already. Jo tried to tie Weber and Gunther together. Nobody bought that connection. You will find a number of posts by Jo about Gunther back at DZ... that much I recall.

A new German crime magazine called STERN, is doing a retrospective on DB Cooper and will include a bit on Duane Weber. Their NY-based photo editor Katharina Poblotzki contacted me today for advice on how to gather Norjak photos, especially from Jo Weber.

I gave her what contact info I had, and leads on authorization. Mag comes out in early October. In German, of course.

If your Deutshe is up to speed, you can also follow a piece on DB Cooper penned by a journalist from Vienna, who interviewed me a few weeks ago while he was on an internship in Portland. Florian Niederndorfer, writing in The Standard.

Does anyone know if Galen Cook ever finished/published his book outlining Wolfgang Gossett as the prime suspect?

3rd Edition Review

I've been working on the 3rd Edition, and I thought a review of the following chapter might be worthwhile since we have so many new voices - and eyeballs - here. If you think I should add anything, or present it in a different manner, please let me know your thoughts. Thanks, BAS.


Chapter 39
Why Can’t The FBI Find DB Cooper?


Is there a cover-up? In the preceding chapters I have cited numerous instances of sloppy police work, systemic deficiencies within the FBI, and problematic decision-making. But does this mean there is an actual attempt to prevent us from knowing the truth of DB Cooper?

I don’t know. I have no direct evidence that supports a cover up. All I have been able to produce is circumstantial evidence that suggests Norjak has been compromised. But I do have a long list of facts, decisions, and behaviors that the FBI needs to explain, regardless of whether the case is closed or not. Here is my top ten questions for the Bureau:

Top Ten Questions for the FBI

1. Cigarette Butts
Where are they?
If lost, is anyone looking for them?
Were they processed for DNA analysis, as indicated by case agent Larry Carr?
If so, where is the paperwork?

2. Ground Search
Why was the initial ground search outsourced only to Sheriff Departments?
Why weren’t there checkpoints and roadblocks established once LZ-A was determined, understood to be approximately 11 pm, November 24, 1971?
Why was the ground search called off on Monday, November 29, 1971?
Why did Seattle FO tell FBI HQ that there was too much snow on the ground to continue, when there was no snow reported in the LZ-A by local officials.

3. Clip-on Tie
Why did it enter the Seattle evidence cache four days after the hijacking?
Where was it for that time?
Was the chain of custody broken?
What does it mean that no one involved in the evidence retrieval could remember the tie?

4. Reno, fingerprints
Who conducted the fingerprint search aboard 305?
What was obtained in that search?
Why weren’t the “In-flight” magazines gathered into evidence?
Have any reconstructions of the fingerprints been undertaken?

5. Reno, behaviors of FBI agents
What happened to cause the memories of the agents on evidence retrieval to be forgetful, fuzzy or in conflict with each other?
Were these agents “victims of some strange post-hypnotic suggestion,” as Bernie Rhodes has written?
Did MKULTRA play a part in Norjak?

6. SOG and 727s
What was the nature of the investigation of SOG troopers regarding Norjak?
What was the role of 727s in the Vietnam War?
Were they used to deploy soldiers into combat?
Did any units utilize techniques similar to those of DB Cooper, ie: jumping from a 727 with flaps at 15, gear down and locked, etc.?

7. Money Retrieval
How many shards of money were found at Tina Bar?
Where are they, currently?
Did the FBI find part of DB Cooper’s briefcase at Tina Bar, as reported by PIO Dorwin Schreuder?
Why was the money found in a highly compressed state?
What kinds of follow-up were done along the Columbia River, i.e.: fishermen interviewed, other sites dug-up, etc.?

8. Richard McCoy
What was he doing in Las Vegas on November 24–25, 1971?
What was he doing there on November 2–3, 1971?
How did he learn the details of hijacking an airplane?
What was his relationship with “Dan Cooper?”
Why does the Seattle FO accept McCoy’s alibi that he was home with family on Thanksgiving, refuting the findings from Salt Lake City FBI agents?

9. Radar Findings
What did SAGE radar record the night of November 24, 1971?
When will the public be able to view its findings?
Did the F-106s following Flight 305 have any radar findings of Cooper or his jump? If not, why not?
Why did NORAD tell Major Dawson to “back off” the F-106s?

10. Earl Cossey
What was the role of Earl Cossey in the Norjak investigation?
Did he own the “back” parachutes delivered to the hijacker?
Did Cossey influence the FBI’s perspective that Cooper was an inexperienced skydiver?
Why did the FBI flip-flop on their assessment of Cooper’s skills?
Why was Cossey murdered?

Besides these specific concerns, there is a more compelling, overarching dynamic that has impacted the case in every dimension, and that is the failure of leadership. At times, no one seems to be in charge of Norjak—certainly in the early stages of the investigation. Farrell was in charge of Seattle-based activities, Manning on the ground near Ariel, Mattson in Portland and later Himmelsbach, and Campbell and his Las Vegas-based crew in Reno. Why didn’t Charlie Farrell jump on a plane and fly to Reno to insure a proper retrieval of evidence, thus minimizing the predictable bureaucratic turf battles that followed?

Additionally, Farrell and his team worked in secrecy, and they still reside there, apparently. Farrell is reported to have penned a 300-page account of his experiences in Norjak, and Geoffrey Gray says he has read it. But my efforts to obtain access to a copy have been met by resistance from the Farrell family, Geoffrey, and the other FBI agents from the Seattle office that I’ve asked to intercede in my behalf.

Similarly, the Norjak case agent at the time of the money find, Ron Nichols, remains silent on the money find, shards, and documentation. Coupled with the stonewalling by Himmelsbach on these controversies, I find the whole situation unacceptable.

Another example of poor supervision is the care given to the evidence that is stored in Seattle. Before being shipped to HQ in 2016, the main pieces were stored loosely in a cardboard box that looked like it once held knickknacks from someone's grandmother’s attic. Concerns over the chain of custody pepper Norjak as well, such as the clip-on tie being torn apart by the Citizen Sleuths. It appears they were able to review physical evidence without any FBI agent present, although Alan Stone refutes that assumption.

Nevertheless, these breaks in the chain of custody are serious concerns. The DBC Forum's 377, an attorney in the Bay Area, offers a cogent view of the matter:

   The FBI has been amazingly cavalier about the handling of physical evidence (in Norjak). It’s not normal practice. As a defense lawyer, when I had my experts examine physical evidence or run lab tests the prosecution enforced strict protocols so that the custody chain was unbroken and fully documented and that contamination or alteration of evidence was prevented.
   Even in minor cases this was how things were handled. I represented a ghetto bar    owner who the cops hated. He was arrested for serving alcohol to a minor. It was a major hassle just to get a sample of the drink which was preserved. My lab had to sign for the sample and document its handling at every step. The prosecution wisely only gave my lab a portion of the sample so that they had a control if my findings were later to be disputed. My client got really lucky. My lab tested zero    alcohol. When the police lab repeated their test they found the same thing. Case dismissed.
   It might be that the FBI has some undisclosed evidence that has been very carefully handled and that is highly probative in identifying Cooper, enough so that a conviction could be secured without any other evidence. Cigarette butts might fit this description. It just makes no sense that they would be ‘lost.’
   Peterson, a highly qualified suspect, was ruled out on DNA. Maybe it wasn’t tie DNA but cigarette DNA which would be more confidently linked to DB Cooper.

In addition, there has been an uncanny passivity to the FBI’s work at times. Ralph Himmelsbach never interviewed Tina even though she moved to Portland after the skyjacking, nor when she received medical treatment. Is this a proper handling of a primary witness in a major case? More troubling, Himmelsbach’s book reveals—and Dorwin Schreuder confirms—that for much of the Norjak era, the Portland FO had a reactionary stance to the investigation, and only responded to leads as they came in to the office. Similarly, Seattle agents, such as Bob Sale and Sid Rubin, have also indicated that the Cooper case was near-dormant in the Seattle FO between the money find in 1980 and the resurgence in the late 1990s.

Further, does silence on the details of the case really serve the investigation? Why didn’t a single FBI agent attend the DB Cooper Symposium in 2011 or 2013? What did that avoidance achieve? What kind of investigatory integrity did that maintain?

At times, it appears that FBI agents don’t talk with one another, either, even when working on the same case. Galen has a telling story on this subject:

   Seems like the NORJAK agents die by the vine, but DB Cooper lives on. The Bureau must hate that. No one ever hears from Carr since he left. He e-mailed me about six months after I started talking with Eng, but Eng wasn’t too enthused that I was still talking with Carr about the case. Led me to believe that the agents aren’t necessarily on the same page, and rather territorial of their own turf, even among other agents.
   
Part of this non-sharing with fellow agents was fostered by J Edgar Hoover. As discussed previously, Hoover awarded cash bonuses to agents who busted tough cases, so field agents had an incentive not to share since it could cost them money. Plus, we have the pressures seeping from the mundane area of internal politics, promotions based upon performance, and assignments determined by one's status within the office, as described by Schreuder, who felt like an outcast in the Portland FO.

As for my relationship with FBI agents, when I ask questions beyond their initial set story, they balk. I call it the “One and Done” scenario. I get one good interview—usually a recitation of their well-rehearsed narrative—then, nothing. Follow-up phone calls and emails go unanswered. Sadly, even Russ Calame seems to be avoiding my calls at this point. Thus, I strongly suspect that what I was told initially was a spin job, and they don’t want me to scratch beneath the surface.

Formal communications with the FBI become strained in 2015. Then, the official policy of the FBI became absolute silence about Norjak unless the media contact was specifically authorized. After years of exchanging increasingly opaque emails with PIO Ayn Dietrich-Williams, she finally stated the obvious on December 7, 2015:

   The FBI’s media policy prohibits discussing ongoing investigations unless a release is specifically thought to have potential benefit to the investigation.
   â€ŚI understand your continued interest in our investigation and apologize that I will not be able to share additional information to answer your questions.

Nevertheless, I have not abandoned all hope in the FBI, and I will be providing them with a “Special Edition” of this book, complete with phone numbers and contact information for all of the major figures of the case. At least then, the Bureau will have a comprehensive overview of the case for future investigators to consult.

Of course, they can call me anytime for assistance.

I, too, sent a PM to Larry a few years ago. He responded and asked me to contact him through normal channels, which I assumed was his FBI email address. I did so, but I never heard back.

Thanks for reposting this information, 377. It's just as valid and enlightening as it was before.