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Richard and Al were eating when the feds knocked on their door before they started digging. This is reported in an article in The Times (London). I know Richard was there the entire time. Not sure about Al.

The small pieces you're referring to--the largest being the size of a quarter or 50-cent piece--were secured with the larger pieces from the original money find. The small fragments--those found and those which were broken off from the original larger pieces--are what is displayed in the two plastic boxes.

I asked TK if the two plastic boxes contained the totality of the shards and fragments collected and he said yes.

WOW. We have some real differences of information.

I never heard the story that Richard and Al were eating when the feds showed up. Rather, Al was quite specific and lengthy in his description to me of how he found out about the money find.

He had no idea that any money had been found - by Brian or the FBI - until he returned from his cattle auction trip on Tuesday, Feb 12. By then the FBI had fully secured the area and were present in force - enough to post guards at the entrance to the property. Those fellows refused entrance to Al, which annoyed him no end - to be denied access to his property! Al was quite effusive on this point!

Not exactly sure what happened next, but I do know that Richard and Al were not present at the beach for any extended period of time until they were asked to bring their backhoes to the party and start digging.

At this point, Al again got effusive about his opinions of the (damn) FBI, "government crap," and the question of who found what and where. Richard was mostly silent, but was attentive as his brother and I spoke on this subject.

When I asked the Fazios about the report from McPheters, Al surprised me and said - "Yeah, there was money at the tide line. It washed up from the three bundles," or words to that effect. How Al would know that, since presumably McPheters had already dug up his shards before Al arrived at the beach, has never been resolved as far as I know.

Further, I believe TK believed Carr, who believed that all of the shards were in Seattle, and so TK was not wrong in his statement that he had photographed all of the shards. But, I think Carr was lacking information about the mid-sized shards since he hadn't seen the KATSU video and probably was unaware of their existence. I don't think they were part of the Ingram-Global Insurance settlement - remember, the FBI only got 14 bills out of that deal, and they appear all to be full-sized.

So where did the mid-sized pieces go? I don't know, and I don't know anyone who does know. But that is our next point of inquiry at this point, imho.

Actually it was The Telegraph.

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Al was at home and Richard was out eating lunch when the feds showed up. The next day they started digging.

Ah, the good ol' Telegraph. The piece is written by our old friend Alex Hannaford, an excellent free-lancer based in Dallas. I met with Alex at the Fish Tale Pub in Olympia just after he had returned from the Fazios, I believe.

Alex's piece is meticulous and well-researched. At the time, I felt he was helped in his research, possibly by GG, and I still believe that. I do know that Alex had an advanced copy of GG's SKYJACK. Alex's knowledge of the case is exceptional and was far beyond what most free-lancers can achieve in a few days or weeks of interviews.

But he takes the Fazios at their words - who told Alex basically what they told me;

1. They were unaware of any money find until the feds showed up.
2. Al was off-property when the feds set up shop and started digging, not returning until the FBI operation was well underway.
3. Richard and Al were not a major presence on the beach until they were asked to bring in their backhoes
4. When they did, they didn't see any shards in the sand while they were digging.

I accept what the Fazios say as their perspective. But their information does not align with other photos, documents, and eye-witnesses.

To wit:
1. Himmelsbach's pic in his book showing him in a trench showing a shard.
2. Dorwin's testimonies, commentaries to me, Georger, and others.
3. KATU videos.
4. McPheters' personal dig, finding shards at 8-12 inches.

Hence, we need to keep "digging" so to speak... Especially to find the mid-sized shards.

Yes. That's what his book says, and pix verify.

EU's theory is interesting but how does it result in the packets ending up stacked and flat with respect to the sand surface?

If Cooper accidentally spilled some bundles from the bag during its retrieval, wouldn't they be oriented differently than what Ingram found?

If there is a deep and wide distribution of shards it rules out a plant IMO, but now I am not so sure about how extensively distributed the shard field was in area and depth. Was the shard field the result of dredge tailings pumped onto T bar or was it a local field of rubbed off edges from nearby planted currency?

Had archaeologists supervised the dig, the location of nearly every shard found would be recorded. Instead, all we have is a fairly small number of bagged shards and a TV news spot implying a wide field of distribution. No metrics. No precise positions or boundaries of the shard finds.

Also, how likely is it that $5800 would be lost during retrieval? The bundles are fairly large items, not easily overlooked.

Norjack is a machine. It produces mysteries, inconsistent clues, and endless frustration. It seemingly never runs out of fuel or output.

It would be so neat to tie it all up, name the culprit, call it solved and move on to the Zodiac or Jack the Ripper.

But we are so far from having sufficient evidence even for an arrest let alone a conviction.   

Case closed? Hardly.

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Given the money bag profile--which I assume was the largest standard coin bank bag which is 12" X 19" and no depth until filled--it would have likely been placed in the hole sideways and at night. This means that a few of the bundles, themselves only about 1/2" thick apiece, could have simply settled out of the side of the bag immediately after it was placed in the hole. This would mean that retrieving the bag out of the hole, again at night, wouldn't indicate anything amiss.

The TV news coverage supports my assertions that the shards that were found were found very near the original money find spot. The footage clearly shows all of the FBI agents digging, and retrieving small pieces, in the same spot.

It's possible a lot of the hardcore evidence could be in DC...

When I say mid-sized, I am referring to the nickel, dime or quarter-sized pieces that Dorwin has talked about, and is seen placing into a plasticine envelope on the KATU video.

Does Brian have them? I don't think so. We should ask him.

Global? Hmmm. I don't know. In fact, I have no idea where their stack and a half of bills is, presently.

FBI? If they had it and it was in Seattle, TK most likely would have seen it and Larry would have known about it. Since both claim the little plastic boxes are the totality, that suggests there is no known depository of mid-sized shards.

Hence, I suspect Himmelsbach, or the Portland Division took them. I wonder if Dorwin can shed any light on this dimension of the T-Bar find? This latter potential has precedence as Red Campbell took most of the stuff to Las Vegas and only gave Seattle a little. Cigarette butts anyone?

It's possible a lot of the hardcore evidence could be in DC...

Many agents think and say the same thing. 

Ah, the good ol' Telegraph. The piece is written by our old friend Alex Hannaford, an excellent free-lancer based in Dallas. I met with Alex at the Fish Tale Pub in Olympia just after he had returned from the Fazios, I believe.

Alex's piece is meticulous and well-researched. At the time, I felt he was helped in his research, possibly by GG, and I still believe that. I do know that Alex had an advanced copy of GG's SKYJACK. Alex's knowledge of the case is exceptional and was far beyond what most free-lancers can achieve in a few days or weeks of interviews.

But he takes the Fazios at their words - who told Alex basically what they told me;

1. They were unaware of any money find until the feds showed up.
2. Al was off-property when the feds set up shop and started digging, not returning until the FBI operation was well underway.
3. Richard and Al were not a major presence on the beach until they were asked to bring in their backhoes
4. When they did, they didn't see any shards in the sand while they were digging.

I accept what the Fazios say as their perspective. But their information does not align with other photos, documents, and eye-witnesses.

To wit:
1. Himmelsbach's pic in his book showing him in a trench showing a shard.
2. Dorwin's testimonies, commentaries to me, Georger, and others.
3. KATU videos.
4. McPheters' personal dig, finding shards at 8-12 inches.

Hence, we need to keep "digging" so to speak... Especially to find the mid-sized shards.

I think I agree with every word of this. In addition to this I am tempted to say and so far as I know Tom agrees: Brian remembers very little. Brian was eight years old at the time and a complete passive bystander after his father saw the money and took over. Virtually everything Brian says today he got from the Fazio's - every chapter and verse almost verbatim.