Just spoke with Vern Jones, the publisher of Carl's book on Walter Reca. I'll be having an in-depth phone interview with him on Tuesday.
In the meantime, he told me that he didn't seek our input because he wanted to keep his surprise factor intact. It was a gamble, and he acknowledges it, but doesn't really seem to fully appreciate how flawed his investigation has been.
He has intense confidence in his investigator, Joe Koenig, but from what I saw at the conference that trust is profoundly misplaced.
Vern is willing to talk about the "what if" factor and explore other possibilities - ie: what if Walter Reca wasn't DB Cooper? What does that mean for the evidence that seems to be legit, such as Walter being in Cle Elum on the night of the skyjacking, soaking wet, and not knowing where he was?
Also, what do the plethora of foreign passports, vaccinations, etc., that Vern and his team found at Vern's place mean? Are they real? Fake? Is anyone checking them for authenticity? Did Koenig? If not, why not?
Vern is stuck in the DB Cooper case circa 2008. He repeatedly talked about Larry Carr. He never mentioned Curtis Eng once. Nor Frank Montoya, Jr.
Intriguingly, Vern said that Carl's niece, Lisa Story, gave Walter's signed and notarized DBC confession to a retired FBI agent. Reportedly, the agent was rebuffed by the Seattle Division, and the agent was shocked.
