Following up on old business, recent interviews have presented new evidence.
R2 reports of flares being dropped from a plane at Eugene the week before 11/24. It happened. The FAA and FBI got involved. The pilot and the plane involved were located/identified. There are 302s documenting the whole event, which people were talking about the evening of 11/24 after 305 cleared Eugene air space.
The Janet story. The Galen Cook/Janet story about black suits showing up at her door and telling Janet to STFU or else!, has never been resolved. Janet's letter to the FBI did find its way to Himmelsbach and the Portland office actually received several other tips about Janet's claims. Janet and her husband were both invited and had interviews with Himmelsbach! The Portland office canvassed people at Portland and Vancouver but could find no one who corroborated Janet's story or had had a similar experience. The story faded away only to be brought up later by Richard Tosaw and then Galen Cook. Janet was not ignored and in fact Janet's husband communicated with the local Sherriff's Dept about Janet's story. There are 302's documenting the whole thing - agents remember those 302's!
Search priority in the first days: Searches were divided into two regions: a northern search district with Portland and Seattle coordinating, and a southern search district with Eugene. Sacramento, Reno, and several other offices coordinating. This was an informal agreement but there are 302s that document this split in search efforts. Searches were done mainly by plane and helicopters supplied from a number of sources including Forest Service offices. A consensus developed that whoever Cooper was he probably was a trained individual with considerable technical skills/experience. Individuals with skydiving experience were brought in to assist all primary offices working the case (which included Reno). Searches north of Portland were hampered by bad weather for several days. The area south of Portland was far less affected and so the bulk of search flights run on the day after, occurred in that region.
Perhaps because of the influence of the sky diving community, a theory quickly developed that Cooper might have preferred to jump in the long open corridor of the Willamette valley. Some people insisted that it appeared to them that Cooper had actually steered 305 to fly over that exact area. Simultaneous with this, during the first days following 11/24, a second theory was developing in the northern district based on Cooper's last communication with the crew during the 8:05-8:10 period. The crew and especially engineers at NWA felt they had physical evidence indicating when and where Cooper jumped. [The NWA search map had yet to be drawn when these options were being debated]. In the end, the NWA search map based on physical evidence won the day.
