Eric Ulis recently conducted an interview with now retired Special Agent Larry Carr on Facebook Live. The interview didn't offer any shocking revelations, but it was interesting. Here are the major takeaways"
Carr believes that the DNA evidence on the tie is a dead end. ("multiple, fragmented DNA with the pool of donors in the millions"). His understanding is that the DNA in the Cooper case is "worthless".
Tried to locate the missing hairs but to no avail.
Carr says Tom Kaye's diatom research matches his belief that the money didn't arrive on Tena Bar the night of the hijacking:
"I always believed from what evidence exists in this case that the money didn't arrive there [Tena Bar] that night that he jumped. I always believed it ended up there several years later. So, that [Tom Kaye’s diatom research] fits with the narrative I’m familiar with."
Carr remains convinced that Cooper perished the night of the jump:
“Yeah, yeah! Just based on the fact…one, in 32 years of investigative experience, I have never known a criminal to keep something to themselves - even if it’s murder. They talk about it. At some point in time, DB Cooper would have talked about this had he lived. And the very moment that you talk is the very moment you are going to eventually get caught."
Carr believes Cooper had military experience and a working knowledge of parachutes along with a connection of some type with Boeing, but was not an expert or criminal genius:
"I just look at the case…I try to take everything and look at the overview of what it says, and to me it says there was MAJOR lack of planning on Cooper’s part. MAJOR lack of planning. It does no good to get the money and not have an escape plan, and from what I can tell, he didn’t have a great escape plan. Also, the choices he made during that evening…it just boggles my mind that he made those choices expecting to be successful when he was free to make the choices that would have put him in a position to be successful. It’s not like his back was up against the wall and he only made the choices he made because that’s the only choices he had. He could have chosen to do things FAR different that would have provided a better chance for a successful outcome. Even if everything was perfect, that jump was fraught with danger…given the things he did or didn’t do, even if he executed perfectly set him up for failure. I think, and I’ve said this many time, he was one of these individuals that had just enough knowledge to make himself a danger to himself and others…you gotta know what you’re doing in order to pull this off. When I look at…why didn’t he make demands on the types of equipment that he wanted? Why did he leave it up to everyone on the ground to interpret what he meant by “two front chutes and two back chutes”? Well, which two back chutes? Which two front chutes? What do you want? If he’s an expert, then he not only knows HOW the equipment works, but he knows WHY the equipment works, and he knows why it fails when it fails and how to avoid the failures. An expert knows if I do “XYZ” then this is going to be the outcome, but if I skip a step the outcome could be very different. An expert knows the chain of events that are likely to occur given the approach to things."
Carr says that the reason no missing person popped up with regards to Cooper is that communication between agencies was not what it is today, and it would be very easy for anyone back then to go missing and not be reported or missed.
Carr knew immediately that the Amboy chute was NOT related to the Cooper case. Knew instantly that it was a silk chute and not ripstop material. Cossey merely confirmed what Carr already believed.
Carr confirms that the tie was Cooper's. "It was the tie Cooper wore on the plane."
Carr says the FBI had no "holdback" information. Everything they know is publicly known.
Carr says all major suspects in the case have been confidently eliminated, specifically McCoy, Rackstraw, and Reca.
Carr is convinced the plane was flying down Victor 23, but that an interview with a guy in the Portland ATC indicated that the plane was a little further east as it approached Portland.
Carr believes there is "some play" with the jump time and it could be further south.
Carr believes the money became detached from Cooper during the jump and that he and the money bag ended up in the Washougal and years later arrived on Tena Bar:
"To me, it makes most sense, that when Cooper jumped…he tied the top of [the bank bag], tied it off at the top, the he wrapped it around, up and down, both sides, and then he tied the bag to his waist. So, I think when he jumped, the bag blew away, but the top stayed clamped where he had originally wrapped the cord around and tied it. I think that stayed intact, landed and didn’t burst open at that point in time. Then I think over several years the bag started decaying, but it still held the money together, and as the bag caught a snag out in the Columbia, washed up on Tena Bar. The bag was disintegrating at that point in time. The bundles came out stacked on top of each other, and then the bag continued on with the snag…to me that makes the most sense of how it got there by natural means."
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