DNA
Andrade is helping me get the 2nd Edition ready for print, on paper(!) and the section on DNA needs work. He has suggested that I look at the existing information on documented screw-ups at the FBI's Crime Lab, and other forensic debacles. I'm taking a look, but that is a huge topic and I wonder how much it might apply to Norjak. But, if you have any information, thoughts, or perspectives to share, here is where I'm at on the DNA question:
Chapter 15
Emergence of DNA as a forensic tool
One of the primary dynamics fueling the resurgence of the Cooper case has been the widespread use of DNA to evaluate suspects. Developed initially in the 1980s, DNA analysis was in full swing by the late 1990s and with it came the ability to trump Cooper’s careful efforts to mask his identity. In essence, DNA testing has re-opened the case and the FBI has re-examined its top Cooper suspects.
However, the DNA in Norjak is suspect. Case agent Larry Carr told me in 2008 that the DNA sample now being used by the FBI to compare Cooper suspects comes from epithelial cells found on the clasp of the clip-on tie. He also acknowledged that the skin samples on the clasp could be DB Cooper’s, or any number of people who have handled the tie since the recovery in Reno. “The DNA could be Cooper’s, or not,” Carr told me, acknowledging the unreliably of this sample.
More troubling is the fact that not all sources of DNA are equal. Apparently, the best samples come from bodily fluids, such as saliva. Next are skin tissues, such as epithelial cells. Last are hair samples, which were reported obtained from the head-rest cloth of seat 18-E.
Compounding the problem, Carr confirmed that the eight cigarette butts, retrieved in Reno from the ashtray in 18-E, were now missing. In addition, Carr acknowledged that he and the Seattle FO never had possession of them, and that the cigarettes had been stored in the Las Vegas FO. Why Carr and other Norjak case agents in Seattle did not have absolute authority to gather all pertinent evidence from all FBI field offices has never been explained. Nevertheless, the best source for DB Cooper's DNA is gone.
But information from the Formans put this catastrophe into an even darker light—the best DNA samples went missing just as their contributions were called upon to solve the case. In our first meeting, Ron and Pat Forman told me that the FBI did have the Reno cigarette butts as of 2000 and had tested it for DNA, developing a highly reliable profile of DB Cooper's genetic markers. The Formans say they learned this from a KING-5 TV news broadcast in 200,1 describing how the FBI had profiled Cooper’s DNA from dried saliva taken from the Reno cigarette butts.
I have not been able to confirm this claim by searching KING-5 archives, but the Formans heard the broadcast just as they were beginning the research on their Barb Dayton book so they fully expected that the documentation would be available to them as investigators. They were shocked in 2006 when Special Agent Jeremy Blauser told them that it wasn’t, which suggests that the documentation on the cigarette saliva DNA tests is also missing.
Although the DNA evidence that seems to be available at this time is from a questionable sample, it is sufficient, apparently, for the FBI to advance the hunt for DB Cooper.
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