Getting a phone call from Jo was like encountering an element of nature. Think tsunamis, F-4s, derechos... etc.

I wonder what her nurses think of Duane and DBC?

My mother went through the same thing. It's a hard hard thing to watch. I remember sitting with her on the front porch talking one day and she seemed together that day. I was thinking, "she's having a good day today". Then she asked me if I knew her son Jamie. I then realized that she didn't even know who she was sitting on the porch with. I don't wish death on anyone, but it's tough to watch someone go on that has already mentally checked out. But they don't realize it. It's the ones close to them that it really hits.

Altz is a toughie. When my grandmother forget who I was it was not that big a deal. but when she forgot who her son was - my father - and got combative with him, now that was tough to watch.

Sorry to hear that Bruce.  I can only imagine.  Its a tough one.

I remember someone stating (georger? Bruce?) that there were witnesses on the ground who reported seeing flames or something burning falling from the plane. Can someone refresh my memory on this please?

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I remember someone stating (georger? Bruce?) that there were witnesses on the ground who reported seeing flames or something burning falling from the plane. Can someone refresh my memory on this please?

The Janet story. Do a search at DZ. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Simply: Janet and her husband (and children) were backing out of their drive in Vancouver the evening of 11/24/71 and claimed to have seen a flare or bright flame dropping from the sky, during the same period of time 305 might have been passing overhead. The next day Janet and her husband contacted the FBI and LE. Janet claimed two guys in black suits arrived at her door and told her to bury the story and STFU. The family dropped pursuing their story publicly. Except Janet and her husband shared their story with several people at their workplace (Wilhelm Trucking in Portland) and at their church in Vancouver. Those people in turn passed the story on to others ....

By 1984 Richard Tosaw was being widely publicized in area newspapers for his work in the Cooper case. Janet ______ went to one of Tosaw's book signings and related her story to Tosaw. After Tosaw's death on 9/16/2009, Galen Cook inherited some of Tosaw's files and discovered the Janet story. Cook found and interviewed Janet _______ and brought the Janet story to life. see DZ notes on the Janet story.

From there the story gets very complicated. Galen Cook found and confronted a member of Janet's original church at Vancouver, and Cook caused quite a stir! The people Cook was looking for were no longer even alive! Cook's confrontational actions caused people to go silent and some became very angry at Cook's intrusion into 'church' activities.  At length Cook began to claim there were other witnesses to what Janet and her husband saw. That Janet and others had actually seen DB Cooper leaving 305 (with a flare or flare dropping) as 305 flew west over Vancouver.  Cook may have even  publicized his claims on late night radio ? Cook's actions caused everyone to go silent for self protection! Maybe Bruce Smith can say something about this debacle ?

No independent witnesses to Janet and her husband's claim has ever been found at Vancouver, or anywhere else so far as I know ...

I believe this has been mentioned before but could the flares of been an effort they used to light up the area hoping to see Cooper?

I believe this has been mentioned before but could the flares of been an effort they used to light up the area hoping to see Cooper?

So far as I know, no exact time has ever been assigned to the Janet sighting?  What was the exact time Janet and her husband backed out of their drive and had their sighting ?

Were Janet and her husband aware of the Cooper hijacking in progress at the time?  How were they aware of it? Were Janet and her husband listening to news about the hijacking on the car radio as they backed out of their drive?

Who exactly did Janet and her husband tell about their sighting, outside of law enforcement people?  When and where did they divulge this information to others? Did these people pass that information on to others immediately after 11/24/71 say on 11/25/71?     ................................. 

Was 305 even available in Vancouver airspace for anyone to see, at the time the Janet family was backing out of their drive?   

I think the Janet thing is bunk after looking into it. However, could the supposed flares in the briefcase have been used by Cooper somehow to assist in his jump? As some sort of guide or target? Or could the six road flares have gotten so hot that they completely destroyed the briefcase which would explain why it was never found?

who knows !   But, I am convinced somebody looked into Janet and her husband's claims at the time. There have to be records about that somewhere ...

There is concrete evidence a small circle of people became of aware of Janet and her husbands claims, shortly after 11/24/71, and passed the story on to others even beyond the State of Washington. at length, the media became aware of the Janet Story and published it. But the story never made it on CBS News in 1971 ....