DB Cooper dies at age 73?

[Drache]

A researcher claims the $200,000 ransom that legendary American hijacker D.B. Cooper had with him when he jumped from a plane in 1971 is stashed in Vancouver.

Galen Cook, a Spokane, Wash., lawyer, said he believes William "Wolfgang" Gossett was D.B. Cooper.

"We're working on the theory that Gossett had a safety-deposit box in Vancouver," said Cook.

Gossett, who died in 2003 aged 73, told his family that he was Cooper.

"I honestly believe my father did that jump," said Kirk Gossett, 51, who lives in Gilbert, Ariz., and is a corrections officer at the state prison.

"He was exmilitary, survival expert, and a parachutist who had experience in low-level jumping."

Gossett said his father talked in his dying days of being Cooper, and Gossett believed him.

"Every time he told me about D.B Cooper, his story never changed," said Gossett.

Gossett recalls taking a two-day trip to Vancouver with his father in 1973.

"It was a strange trip," Gossett said.

"In the morning, he told me he had some business to do and about three hours later he came back and said, 'I've got everything done, it's time to go back home.' "

He said he believes his father had a safety-deposit box at a bank in Vancouver.

Dan "D.B." Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 on Nov. 21, 1971, after it took off from Portland, Ore.

He showed a female flight attendant what appeared to be a bomb in his briefcase and demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes.

He allowed the 36 passengers to get off in Seattle in exchange for the ransom.

The pilots and an attendant remained on the plane with Cooper, who demanded they fly to Mexico.

Shortly after takeoff, Cooper parachuted into the darkness with the money from the rear stairs at 3,000 metres, as the Boeing 727 was going 315 km/h, about 32 kilometres north of Portland.

The weather was stormy, with a wind chill well below zero at that altitude.

Cook, who plans to turn his two decades of research into a book, said Gossett had a military background, including wilderness survival and parachuting experience.

"Gossett certainly had the skills and ability to do it," said Cook.

"It started out with a physical profile and Gossett is a dead-on match."

Cook said he has submitted Gossett's fingerprints to the FBI in Seattle in the hope they match the skyjacker's.

FBI special agent Larry Carr told The Province investigators have not been able to link Gossett to Cooper.

"There is no evidence to put Mr. Gossett in the Pacific Northwest in November 1971," he said. "No aspect of the story [by Cook] can be verified."

Carr said he feels the person who jumped from the plane did not survive.

"I believe Cooper paid for the jump with his life," he said.

He said the case has been the subject of an intense investigation. Last December, the FBI reopened its investigation and released previously unseen photographs of evidence.

"People are profoundly interested in this case," said Carr.

Authorities believe Cooper jumped near the Washington-Oregon border, an area of pine trees, lakes and unforgiving terrain.   

The serial numbers on all of the $20 bills given to the hijacker were recorded.

The only evidence that has ever been positively identified as coming from the skyjacking is $6,000 in cash that was discovered along the banks of the Columbia River in 1980.

The bills were waterlogged and destroyed, but their serial numbers were among those on the currency given to Cooper.

The rest of the money has never been found and none of the other bills has turned up in circulation.

Cook would not reveal the name of the financial institution in Vancouver where he believes the money is held.

Would a man on his death bed really lie about something like that? They are going to track down and see if there is a safety deposit box and if so see if any money which might be inside has the same serial numbers as the ones Cooper had. Seems doubtful considering that none of the Cooper money ever made it into circulation so says the FBI. Would Cooper really hold onto the cash for this long with spending it? 

[Steve P.]

Sounds like a book in the making...

It would have been too easy to wash the money in another country back then.  How many drug deals could have been made with it. Many ways to wash money... 

The $6k was more than likely a plant to make people stop wondering and looking for it.. With it coming up in every paper the person with the money knows the money is definitely  marked..

[rusty lee]

wow and i just watched without a paddle this weekend.   

[Big Lebowski]

    I think DB & his un-opened parachute plowed into the soft Forest floor at 300 mph.

[mikepmcs]

    I think DB & his un-opened parachute plowed into the soft Forest floor at 300 mph.

+1

This guy is just out to make money, damn he's smart

[Drache]

    I think DB & his un-opened parachute plowed into the soft Forest floor at 300 mph.

actually terminal velocity for a horizontal skydiver in an arch position is about 130, in a tracking straight vertical it's at around 200 

This guy is just out to make money, damn he's smart

The dead guy?

[Steve P.]

Not the dead guy... The jail keeper.. 

[Mike DC]

   
I think that mystery has basically been solved a long time ago, but the public collectively just likes it better unsolved.

 

[Drache]

   
I think that mystery has basically been solved a long time ago, but the public collectively just likes it better unsolved.

 

The FBI claims that the only "proof" was that $6000 in $20 bills matching those (serial numbers) given to DB Cooper were found in 1980 on the bank of the Columbia River if I'm not mistaken. No other money was found. Of course it's been about 5 years since I followed the story so I might have missed something.

The only way this will be put to rest is if the money is found and the serial numbers match or not....

[mikepmcs]

I was just +1 on the fact that I think DB is dead and didn't survive the jump.  Just my opinion.  I wasn't getting into the terminal velocity ruling whatsoever.

And no, not the dead guy, the dude doing the research is gonna make the cash on the book that is being written.  We all love a good story and I'm with Mike on this one about the public liking the thought that it/he might still be out there or whatever.l

[twenty mike mike]

Sounds like Geraldo's milking of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre story, when he broke through the brick wall and found nothing.

I'll bet ol' D.B. never got a day older after the jump.

[mikepmcs]

Ahhhhhhh..."Al Capone's vault"

I watched that darn show in 86' live and was very disappointed in the findings.  That's when I stopped listening to the media.  Thanks Geraldo, you have tainted me for life.

Although I still believe in his theory about JFK(throw bobby in there too ) and Marylin Monroe(which he was fired for), I think he nailed that one!!!

[Dodge Don]

I heard DB Cooper was selling bogus Chrysler parts and violating their patent rights so Chrysler had him whacked