It still begs the question where this statement came from?

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Also, it's worth mentioning again, Linn Emrich is the guy who fingered Sheridan as Cooper to the FBI. Sheridan is the guy that Linn is referring to in the 1971 Issaquah Press article that has recently been posted on this site. Linn hadn't seen Sheridan for 6 1/2 years at this point.

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I still fail to see a connection to Emerich fingering Peterson. this would imply he had two people involved while suspecting who he thought was Cooper. he states he thinks he knows who it was and it's appears to be Whitney vs Peterson.

Now that I've read further, he does mention the word accomplice as a possibility but doesn't explore it. He mentions the name Whitney as prime suspect. But there's no date on those papers, so I don't know if this is an earlier theory or a later one.  He could have thought Peterson at first but someone else later, vice versa, or never had SP on the radar for it at all; if he did think SP was in on it, the only conceivable reason he wouldn't mention it is that SP was still alive and he had no proof - we don't know how long this Whitney lived or if Emrich was aware of his alive-or-dead status. From this, however, there is nothing to link to SP.

Personally, I've never been into accomplice theories, though there's nothing to  rule them out; however, this Willard Whitney is a question mark entirely. Anyone I can find with the name online is either a little outside the age range or has no apparent connection to the region, and nothing re skydiving. I figured as expert skydivers are a narrower group, the name might pop up among older skydivers but I'm finding nada; Whitney could have been a frequent visiting amateur to Issaquah but not an expert, maybe? There's a famous journalist with the same name but he seems too young, and a famous racing driver but he doesn't appear to have any connection to skydiving or any need for money. A deeper dig is needed as a lot of people have a variation on that name. But Emrich didn't pull the name out of a hat; he existed. Whitney is at minimum a new suspect and a wholly unknown quantity at this point - NO old photos online of anyone with that name. Emrich said Whitney was a "lookalike skydiver" to the Cooper sketch, but I'm unsure which sketch version.

The other thing is, SP said he knew Emrich - not the other way around. To my knowledge so far, Emrich never mentioned SP by name, but he apparently kept lots of stuff on the case and this is only a fragment. I'm not ruling out aliases; however, if SP had been operating under an alias at Issaquah, I don't think that he would even have mentioned the place online at all. Any other stories SP has told about his skydiving online have, as far as I know, been verified, and he was a known figure among skydivers.

Of course, at the end of the day, Emrich THINKING someone could be Cooper doesn't make it so, but it is interesting he focused on this Whitney guy and again, I REALLY would like to see the members lists of that skydiving club. (It's also possible Whitney was outside any club but was a frequent flying loner Emrich remembered.) I hope we will learn more.

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It still begs the question where this statement came from?

Quote

Also, it's worth mentioning again, Linn Emrich is the guy who fingered Sheridan as Cooper to the FBI. Sheridan is the guy that Linn is referring to in the 1971 Issaquah Press article that has recently been posted on this site. Linn hadn't seen Sheridan for 6 1/2 years at this point.

I believe it was just an assumption on EU's part.

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I still fail to see a connection to Emerich fingering Peterson. this would imply he had two people involved while suspecting who he thought was Cooper. he states he thinks he knows who it was and it's appears to be Whitney vs Peterson.

Now that I've read further, he does mention the word accomplice as a possibility but doesn't explore it. He mentions the name Whitney as prime suspect. But there's no date on those papers, so I don't know if this is an earlier theory or a later one.  He could have thought Peterson at first but someone else later, vice versa, or never had SP on the radar for it at all; if he did think SP was in on it, the only conceivable reason he wouldn't mention it is that SP was still alive and he had no proof - we don't know how long this Whitney lived or if Emrich was aware of his alive-or-dead status. From this, however, there is nothing to link to SP.

Personally, I've never been into accomplice theories, though there's nothing to  rule them out; however, this Willard Whitney is a question mark entirely. Anyone I can find with the name online is either a little outside the age range or has no apparent connection to the region, and nothing re skydiving. I figured as expert skydivers are a narrower group, the name might pop up among older skydivers but I'm finding nada; Whitney could have been a frequent visiting amateur to Issaquah but not an expert, maybe? There's a famous journalist with the same name but he seems too young, and a famous racing driver but he doesn't appear to have any connection to skydiving or any need for money. A deeper dig is needed as a lot of people have a variation on that name. But Emrich didn't pull the name out of a hat; he existed. Whitney is at minimum a new suspect and a wholly unknown quantity at this point - NO old photos online of anyone with that name. Emrich said Whitney was a "lookalike skydiver" to the Cooper sketch, but I'm unsure which sketch version.

The other thing is, SP said he knew Emrich - not the other way around. To my knowledge so far, Emrich never mentioned SP by name, but he apparently kept lots of stuff on the case and this is only a fragment. I'm not ruling out aliases; however, if SP had been operating under an alias at Issaquah, I don't think that he would even have mentioned the place online at all. Any other stories SP has told about his skydiving online have, as far as I know, been verified, and he was a known figure among skydivers.

Of course, at the end of the day, Emrich THINKING someone could be Cooper doesn't make it so, but it is interesting he focused on this Whitney guy and again, I REALLY would like to see the members lists of that skydiving club. (It's also possible Whitney was outside any club but was a frequent flying loner Emrich remembered.) I hope we will learn more.

I can ask on the oldschool skydivers facebook page if anbody had heard of this guy. If he was a regular skydiver even for a brief stint chances are somebody on there would of heard of him. If this willard whitney or whitney willard was cooper and was trying to get some training in before the heist he would of surely been under an alias cover at ISP.

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I still fail to see a connection to Emerich fingering Peterson. this would imply he had two people involved while suspecting who he thought was Cooper. he states he thinks he knows who it was and it's appears to be Whitney vs Peterson.

Now that I've read further, he does mention the word accomplice as a possibility but doesn't explore it. He mentions the name Whitney as prime suspect. But there's no date on those papers, so I don't know if this is an earlier theory or a later one.  He could have thought Peterson at first but someone else later, vice versa, or never had SP on the radar for it at all; if he did think SP was in on it, the only conceivable reason he wouldn't mention it is that SP was still alive and he had no proof - we don't know how long this Whitney lived or if Emrich was aware of his alive-or-dead status. From this, however, there is nothing to link to SP.

Personally, I've never been into accomplice theories, though there's nothing to  rule them out; however, this Willard Whitney is a question mark entirely. Anyone I can find with the name online is either a little outside the age range or has no apparent connection to the region, and nothing re skydiving. I figured as expert skydivers are a narrower group, the name might pop up among older skydivers but I'm finding nada; Whitney could have been a frequent visiting amateur to Issaquah but not an expert, maybe? There's a famous journalist with the same name but he seems too young, and a famous racing driver but he doesn't appear to have any connection to skydiving or any need for money. A deeper dig is needed as a lot of people have a variation on that name. But Emrich didn't pull the name out of a hat; he existed. Whitney is at minimum a new suspect and a wholly unknown quantity at this point - NO old photos online of anyone with that name. Emrich said Whitney was a "lookalike skydiver" to the Cooper sketch, but I'm unsure which sketch version.

The other thing is, SP said he knew Emrich - not the other way around. To my knowledge so far, Emrich never mentioned SP by name, but he apparently kept lots of stuff on the case and this is only a fragment. I'm not ruling out aliases; however, if SP had been operating under an alias at Issaquah, I don't think that he would even have mentioned the place online at all. Any other stories SP has told about his skydiving online have, as far as I know, been verified, and he was a known figure among skydivers.

Of course, at the end of the day, Emrich THINKING someone could be Cooper doesn't make it so, but it is interesting he focused on this Whitney guy and again, I REALLY would like to see the members lists of that skydiving club. (It's also possible Whitney was outside any club but was a frequent flying loner Emrich remembered.) I hope we will learn more.

I can ask on the oldschool skydivers facebook page if anbody had heard of this guy. If he was a regular skydiver even for a brief stint chances are somebody on there would of heard of him. If this willard whitney or whitney willard was cooper and was trying to get some training in before the heist he would of surely been under an alias cover at ISP.

I just received a letter from Linn's step-daughter, and she told me that when the sketch was first released, they all thought it looked like a frequent skydiver they knew named Bill Whitney. A lot of people thought so, and he was investigated, but he had a credible alibi. She was a teen, worked at Issaquah, and does remember the night clearly but does not mention any other names coming up; some of the top suspects she has only learned of recently, and she wishes she could go back and ask Linn about them. I can tell you she doesn't remember hearing of Sheridan Peterson or Rackstraw till this week, though Petey did jump at Issaquah at one point - 6
 years before, (and he went to Asia after that, so she wouldn't likely have remembered him in person as she was a child then.) The family were as intrigued by the case as the rest of us and she doesn't believe they have any additional info that would be of help. She knew Cossey, and was very upset by the manner of his death, but the last time she talked with him they had a lot else to reminisce about and Cooper did not come up. She looks for the parachute info in any book she reads as that's usually her tip-off if the writer is accurate. She was most impressed by Tosaw's book, and thought Calamie's theory was also well-reasoned. She says the club meetings were informal and she has no notes from them, though it is possible her sister may come across some. She was shocked the dummy chute was turned over, but in fairness to Linn notes that he really didn't have much to do with the training equipment. That's about it.

You know what, though, nickyb233, I am now curious about this Bill Whitney person. Apparently people looked at the sketch and just went "That's Bill Whitney!" I'd love to know more about him and what his alibi was. I mean, since when did "had an alibi" mean anything in Cooperland? LOL. I stand by my top suspect, but we all need to keep open to new possibilities. If the Internet had been around in 1971, there'd be a lot more to find on these people. That's why the people who still remember them are key.