Death of Ted Mayfield - Initial Report:
I spoke with Ted Mayfield's daughter, Gwen, today in Sheridan. Initially, I spoke with Gwen's daughter, who passed the phone over to her mother. I could hear lots of voices in the background.
Gwen confirmed that Ted died from an accident with his airplane. She gave me details, and also a commentary on the family's interaction the night of November 24, 1971. First, his death.
Gwen said that Ted died Friday, about 2:30 pm. He was hand-starting a plane located in his backyard and the prop caught, nearly severing his arm. Gwen said that Ted "just wanted to listen to the engine."
Because Ted had been taking a blood-thinning medicine called Warfarin, he bleed out within minutes.
"There were a lot of people around, and the paramedics were on the line, but there wasn't anything anyone could do," Gwen told me.
Although Gwen was cautious in talking with me initially, she eagerly shared her memories of the night DB Cooper stole his airplane.
"I was living in Bellevue at the time with my mother, and the skyjacking was all over the news. I told my mom, 'I gotta call Dad and see what he thinks!'
"I called my father and he was sitting right at his desk. He told me that the FBI had already called him looking for parachutes and that he had told them to call Earl Cossey. Then he said that he had to hang up because the FBI had just arrived and they wanted to go through his records. He sounded very casual the whole time.
"Now, does that sound like someone who had just hijacked an airplane?"
Gwen also told me how she perceived her father.
"He was a good man, benevolent. He was a man of good will."
I countered and said that a lot of people had a different view of her father.
"We can argue about that all day long," she said laughing.
We also argued about the skyjacking.
"I have a theory on what happened to skyjacker," she said. "I think that when he opened the stairwell doors the air rushed out and pulled him into the stairway, where he hit his head and fell down the stairs unconscious. I don't think he ever opened his chute, and that's why his body has never been found and the money was scattered down by the river."
Again, I countered with my facts and said, "Then what happened to the bomb, the briefcase, the other parachute - all the stuff that wasn't found on the plane at Reno?"
"Well, you have your opinion and I have mine, and we can argue all day long if you want to!" she said. "I'm just as bull-headed as my father," she added playfully, but firmly.
We both laughed, and she eventually took my contact information. I confirmed her name, but she declined to give me her last name.
I thanked her, and reluctantly hung up. Gwen was certainly a font of good stories and sharp opinions.
