r/dbcooper

• KENNETH CHRISTIANSEN

Information about Kenneth Peter Christiansen (1926–1994) emerged in 2003, when his brother Lyle realized that Kenneth—who had already passed away—bore a resemblance to Cooper while watching a television documentary.

Kenneth joined the Army in 1944, where he served in World War II and trained as a paratrooper. He joined Northwest Orient Airlines (an earlier name for Northwest Airlines) in 1954, working on an island near Alaska, and was a flight attendant for the airline at the time of the hijacking. He also collected whiskey bottles and enjoyed Bourbon.

The FBI even interviewed Lyle (who initially remained anonymous) but concluded that, beyond those parallels, no evidence linked Kenneth to the crime, ultimately ruling out the possibility.

In 2010 and 2011, a book and a History Channel documentary—both produced with Lyle's assistance—brought these similarities, as well as other evidence, to light. Two of these points are financial: Kenneth allegedly amassed wealth after the kidnapping, and after his death, $2,000 was reportedly found at one of his properties.

Curiously, this evidence supports the opposite of what was intended: none of the bills from that $2,000 haul matched Cooper’s money, and if Kenneth did become wealthy, it certainly did not involve Cooper’s cash—either directly or through money laundering—since, after more than 50 years, at least one bill would have surfaced by now.

The book also included an email exchange (https://thedbcooperhijacking.wordpress.com/2022/03/26/d-b-cooper-how-senior-fbi-agent-dr-john-jarvis-leaked-to-friends-that-kenny-christiansen-was-indeed-d-b-cooper/) in which Troy Bentz, a Navy engineer and friend of FBI agent John Jarvis, reported that Kenneth had been confirmed by the FBI as Cooper, but the decision was made to close the case as a result.

Jarvis is still alive but has never spoken out. Once again, claims made in a book—without any supporting evidence—lack confirmation and should be treated with caution. Furthermore, Lyle appeared to have a vested interest in maintaining his version of events; before having his story published in the book—and profiting from it—he had reached out to the FBI, numerous journalists, and even FBI agents at their personal home addresses.

There is also a curious detail: a 1972 photograph exists (https://www.reddit.com/r/dbcooper/comments/1ht8ftz/thoughts\_on\_this\_legendary\_kenny\_christiansen/) in which Kenneth poses wearing a trench coat and carrying a suitcase and a bag—just like D. B. Cooper. When Northwest Airlines colleagues were contacted about it, they confirmed that the image was a joke among the staff—in which Kenneth participated—highlighting just how absurd the possibility was.

• JACK COFFELT

Bryant Jack Coffelt (1917–1975) was a con artist who, starting in 1972, publicly claimed to be D.B. Cooper, initially attempting to sell the story to a film studio.

Given a certain physical resemblance and a leg injury Jack had—which could be explained by a parachute jump—the FBI investigated his life but uncovered several factors that undermined the suspicion: at the time, Jack was undergoing treatment for alcoholism—a trait not associated with Cooper—and many acquaintances revealed that he had previously made equally fantastic claims, such as being a confidant of Abraham Lincoln's last descendant.

Ultimately, the FBI concluded that many details provided by Jack were inconsistent with information about the case that had not yet been made public, and also that, by the end of his life, he had earned at least $10,000 by posing as Cooper.

• LYNN COOPER

Lynn Doyle Cooper (1931–1999) was a Korean War veteran who, in 2011, was named as a suspect by his niece, Maria Cooper. As evidence, she stated that around the time of the incident, she recalled Lynn and another uncle planning something "very mischievous" that involved the use of walkie-talkies; furthermore, the day after the hijacking, Lynn appeared wearing a bloodstained shirt, claiming the stain was the result of a car accident. Maria also mentioned that Lynn enjoyed the Dan Cooper comic books and had a poster of the character on his wall.

The family provided a DNA sample from Lynn, as well as a leather guitar strap he had crafted. There was no DNA match with the tie, and no fingerprints could be obtained from the strap.

Furthermore, the FBI concluded in its profile that Cooper acted alone, whereas Maria believed Lynn had been aided by his brother. Had Cooper’s plan been to parachute into a familiar area and call his uncle for a rescue, one would have expected him to choose the route accordingly or carry walkie-talkies—steps Cooper never took.

The fact that Lynn was a fan of Dan Cooper, on the other hand, has a simpler explanation: they shared the same surname, and that similarity would certainly have caught the attention of Lynn, who was in her early twenties when the magazine was published.

• WILLIAM GOSSET

William Gosset (1930–2003) served in the Navy, Army, and Air Force in both Korea and Vietnam, with experience in parachuting and survival skills. According to a lawyer who investigated Gosset independently, he was obsessed with the Cooper case and once showed his children a lockbox in Vancouver that he claimed contained the ransom money.

Curiously, Gosset led an eccentric lifestyle: in addition to styling himself "D.B. Cooper," he appeared as a radio commentator on a talk show discussing paranormal topics (https://abcnews.com/TheLaw/story?id=5472865&page=1), and in 1988, he adopted the surname Wolfgang and became a priest in a denomination of the so-called Old Catholic Church (https://ultrarunning.com/featured/run-d-b-cooper/)—any Western church that considers itself part of the apostolic tradition but broke away from the Vatican at the time of the First Vatican Council.

However, the FBI noted that no other evidence linked Gosset to Cooper, indicating that he likely merely admired the hijacker. His DNA also did not yield a match with the DNA from the tie.

• JOE LAKICH

Joe Lakich (1921–2017) drew public attention because, two months prior to the crime, his daughter had died after being kidnapped—an event resulting from a botched negotiation led by the FBI, which could explain the alleged "grudge" mentioned by Cooper.

At the time of the hijacking, Lakich was working at an electronics component factory in Nashville—a detail that raised suspicions given the presence of titanium in the tie. We now know that the titanium likely came from a dye, and Lakich was never even investigated by the FBI because there was no evidence linking him to the crime.

• TED MAYFIELD

Theodore Ernest Mayfield (1935–2015) served in the Special Forces as a pilot and was also a competitive skydiver and skydiving instructor. In 1994, he was convicted and imprisoned for manslaughter after two of his students died when their parachutes failed to open, and he was subsequently linked to other accidents. In 2010, he was placed under supervised release for piloting an aircraft after having lost his pilot's license.

At the time, Ralph Himmelsbach, an FBI agent who knew him, was contacted by him just two hours after the plane landed in Reno to offer information on parachuting that might assist the FBI; this phone call backfired, and Mayfield came under suspicion.

However, the FBI determined that the witnesses' descriptions were inconsistent with Mayfield, and subsequent investigations showed that the phone call—made a mere two hours after landing—was physically inconsistent with the location where Cooper had jumped.

• FORREST FEN

Forrest Fenn (1930–2020) was an Air Force pilot with experience in parachuting who later became an art dealer. In 2010, he published a book titled The Thrill of the Chase, in which he hinted that he had hidden a chest containing art, jewelry, bronze, and gold somewhere in the United States.

In online discussions (https://web.archive.org/web/20200920040326/https:/www.chasechat.com/showthread.php?tid=11140), some have suggested that this chest might contain Cooper's money, thereby proving Forrest's secret identity.

The chest was found in 2020 (https://thefinder.medium.com/a-statement-on-the-disclosure-of-my-identity-602d95f04b9f), and D.B. Cooper's banknotes were not among the items, which rules out that possibility.

• DON BURNWORTH

Don Burnworth (1931–2012) was jailed for a week in 1972 when, during a marital dispute, he refused to reveal the whereabouts of his three daughters. Burnworth drew the FBI's attention because he bore a strong resemblance to the final sketch of Cooper and—having been a United Airlines pilot—was certainly familiar with the aircraft.

The FBI even placed an undercover informant in the same cell, hoping he would confess to the crime, but that never happened. Subsequently, his alibi proved solid, as he was in Germany with his daughters at the time of the kidnapping.

• JOHN LIST

John List (1925–2008) was an American murderer who, on November 9, 1971, killed his wife, mother, and three children before disappearing; he remained a fugitive—assuming a new identity and remarrying—until his capture in 1989. In 1972, List became a suspect due to his disappearance, a physical resemblance, and the fact that he had nothing to lose.

Even so, List would have been a poor match for the profile drawn up by the FBI, since it envisioned Cooper as someone with no criminal record and experience in parachuting, whereas List—who served as a laboratory technician in the Army during World War II—later earned a degree in business administration.

Upon his capture, List confessed to the murders but denied being D.B. Cooper. Furthermore, his 1971 flight was traced—involving travel between New Jersey, Michigan, and Colorado before he assumed a new identity in Denver—yet there was no suspicion of involvement in the hijacking.

• JAMES KLANSINC

James Klansinc (1920–2014) served in World War II, piloting a B-17 and parachuting from it in 1944 after the aircraft was shot down by German fighters. His identification as a suspect is championed by a website titled I Found D.B. Cooper (https://ifounddbcooper.wordpress.com/), although he was never considered a suspect by the FBI.

On the website, the author argues that the money from the Tena Bar was planted there by Klansinc to taunt Ralph Himmelsbach—an FBI agent who was set to retire months later—a theory also supported by the fact that, around the same time, Klansinc returned to the site in Europe where his plane had been shot down and joked about having hidden a wallet.

Beyond the lack of any evidence, the hypothesis requires the money at Tena Bar to have remained there for only a few months, yet we know that anaerobic decomposition indicates a timeframe of several years.

• JESSE LEE SMITH

Jesse Lee Smith was 47 years old in 1971; he had served in the Army during the New Guinea campaign of World War II and had experience with survival techniques—and reportedly with parachuting as well.

Although never considered a suspect by the FBI, Daniel Baer argued that Cooper was Jesse Lee because the latter had worked for two chemical fertilizer companies—Rayon Chemical Company and Agrico Chemical Company—which could explain the presence of chemicals on the tie; however, chemicals typical of agricultural industries, such as ammonia and other nitrogen compounds, were not found.

However, the accusation stems from Lee's daughter, who claims that during an allergic reaction, her father confessed to being D.B. Cooper; as with many other witnesses, a single account must be treated with caution, especially given the lack of evidence actually linking Lee to Cooper. Finally, Lee was from Alabama and had a distinct Southern accent—something never reported by witnesses.

• MELVIN LUTHER WILSON

Melvin Luther Wilson disappeared in 1971, two months before the hijacking, and was put forward as a suspect for Cooper by his daughter, Vicki Wilson, who spoke to the FBI in 2011; however, the agency showed no interest in pursuing the investigation.

Wilson remains missing: on April 20, 1971, he was arrested for participating in a counterfeit banknote scheme, but was released and subsequently disappeared. As part of his activities, Wilson counterfeited approximately $200,000 in $20 bills, which he discarded into the Mississippi River while fleeing—the barrel was found months later by a fisherman.

However, Wilson had no aeronautical experience, and while the amount is indeed a genuine coincidence, the denomination of the bills is not, since Cooper never asked for $20 bills. Furthermore, it seems unlikely that a fugitive whose face was already on wanted posters would decide to get involved in another high-profile crime, which could make it easier to track him down.

• JACK COLLINS

Jack Collins was an experienced parachutist whose brother flew a Boeing 727 for Northwest Orient—a background that would have given him the knowledge to pull off the feat. However, he was never considered a suspect by the FBI; it was his son, Bradley Scott Collins, who raised his name as a possible suspect.

Collins's argument, however, relies on evidence based solely on the fact that Jack missed the family Thanksgiving celebration in 1971, ostensibly to visit his brother in Portland. Yet, his argument rests entirely on this intuition, and given the myriad personal reasons that might cause someone to miss a family gathering, this seems like an excessive leap of logic.

• ROBERT LEPSY

Robert Richard Lepsy disappeared in Michigan in October 1969; he left work under the pretext of going to lunch, said he would take the rest of the day off, and never returned. Given the physical resemblance, the smoking habit, and the similarity of the suit, the family contacted the FBI, which found no evidence linking him to Cooper.

Days after his disappearance in 1969, his car was found at an airport with the keys still in the ignition, and it was concluded that he had fled to Mexico after stealing a sum of money from his employer. Furthermore, Lepsy worked at a grocery store and had no experience with skydiving or aviation.

• HOWARD HUNT

Howard Hunt (1918–2007) was an American intelligence officer who served in the CIA between 1949 and 1970, playing a role in significant events in Latin America; he also served in World War II, where he was a paratrooper. Hunt is best known for his involvement in the Watergate scandal, as part of the group that orchestrated the break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters during the Nixon administration in 1972.

The reasons why Howard might be D.B. Cooper involve his prior experience, which would certainly have qualified him to commit the crime; however, he was never considered a suspect by the FBI because there was no evidence linking him to the hijacking.

Furthermore, other reasons include experience with offshore money laundering (which, fifty years later, we know did not happen with Cooper’s money) and the withdrawal of a sum between $100,000 and $200,000 from a safe the day after the break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters—the amount in question likely relates to Watergate itself, and if it was Cooper’s money, then he never spent it.

• BARBARA DAYTON

Barbara Dayton (1926–2002) was a trans woman; born Robert Dayton, she underwent sex reassignment surgery in 1969, having possibly started hormone therapy prior to that. Before her transition, she flew planes recreationally and served in the Merchant Marine; she also aspired to a career in civil aviation but did not obtain her pilot's license.

Suspicion falls on her due to a confession made to two friends, in which Barbara admitted to dressing in men's clothing and committing the act in retaliation for having her pilot's wings denied. She also stated that she hid the money in a cistern near Portland.

The FBI has a brief file on her indicating that she was considered a suspect. However, the file notes that her friends heard all sorts of stories from her and generally regarded them as fabrications. Yet, regarding Cooper, Barbara would become defensive whenever it was suggested that he had died during the jump, and she disliked the story being told outside her circle of friends.

At one point, Barbara claimed her story was merely a lie—one she had told because she believed the statute of limitations for the crime had already expired, but upon discovering it had been extended, she decided to retract the story to avoid trouble. Despite this, her friends believed she was, in fact, Cooper.

Since Barbara was shorter than the descriptions of Cooper, and the only evidence linking her to the crime was a confession made amidst other false confessions, the FBI did not consider her a likely suspect.

• DUANE WEBER

Duane Weber (1924–1995) was a World War II veteran who served at least six months in prison for robbery and fraud between 1945 and 1968. Duane also smoked and enjoyed bourbon, and on his deathbed, he confessed to his wife that he was Dan Cooper.

The name meant nothing to her, but after mentioning it to friends, she learned about the kidnapping and went to the local library, where she found a book on the subject containing notes in her husband's handwriting. She also says that Duane used to talk in his sleep and, at one point, complained about having left fingerprints on the staircase. When questioned, he said he had dreamed about the prison.

Furthermore, Duane had a leg injury that he never fully explained, limiting himself to mentioning that he had hurt himself during “the big one”.

Other evidence presented by his wife, however, does not hold up. She claimed to have a tie at home with a gold, pearl-shaped clip—identical to the one Cooper wore that day. Yet, Cooper had left his tie on the plane, and it was already in the FBI's possession, not at Duane's home.

DNA and fingerprint tests were conducted, but both proved negative. The FBI interviewed other acquaintances of Duane who did not believe that aircraft hijacking was the sort of crime he would commit. Ultimately, the FBI concluded that Duane was likely just obsessed with the case and that his accent and protruding ears did not match the description of Cooper.

• WALTER RECA

Walter Reca (1933–2014) was a parachutist and, according to his friend, an intelligence agent. In 2008, he confessed to Carl Laurin that he was Cooper; Laurin secretly recorded the statement and later published a book titled D.B. Cooper & Me (https://www.uspa.org/uspa-news/memoirs-and-documentary-address-db-cooper-case?utm\_source=chatgpt.com).

In the book, Carl tracked down a truck driver, Jeff Osiadacz, who said he had encountered a strange person that night at the Teanaway Junction Café in Cle Elum, Washington. That person then asked Jeff to make a phone call on their behalf, explaining the directions to the diner.

Cle Elum is a considerable distance from the aircraft's flight path, though that wouldn't necessarily be a problem, as Cooper could have hitched a ride there. However, the testimony transcribed by Laurin also mentions a landing in Cle Elum—a location completely off-route in every respect, situated 134 kilometers east of Victor 23, 145 kilometers northeast of where the door opened, and 200 kilometers northeast of the estimated landing zone.

For this to be the point where Cooper bailed out, both the Northwest Airlines pilots and the three military aircraft tracking Cooper's flight would have had to be grossly mistaken about the location. Yet, this contradicts the Boeing 727 placard, which was found directly along the plane's flight path.

• JASON LANGSETH

Jason Langseth (1934–2009) was a parachutist and Navy veteran who served in the Korean War; he was one of the suspects most heavily investigated by the FBI starting in 1972, after multiple informants reported him due to his physical resemblance and relevant experience. Langseth had no criminal record but was described as a liar and a con artist who frequently spoke of committing the "perfect crime", and he had also taken night-time skydiving lessons in the months leading up to the hijacking.

When the FBI approached him, he stated that on the day of the kidnapping he was busy working as a salesperson at ABCO Chemicals in Colorado Springs, and he handed over sales records as proof.

While Langseth was indeed a salesperson at ABCO Chemicals, when the FBI called the cited customers, they denied having spoken with a salesperson from the company, and some even denied knowing the company.

A problem arose here that seriously compromised the investigation: FBI records indicated that Langseth was born in 1944—which would have made him only 27 at the time of the hijacking, causing him to be ruled out as too young. However, it was later discovered that the correct birth year was 1934, making him 37—very close to the estimated age range for Cooper, which was around 40 to 45.

In 1977, a new tip indicated that Langseth was receiving periodic payments from a Canadian bank, casting suspicion on him once again. We now know that these payments were likely unrelated to Cooper's money; however, upon being contacted by the FBI, Langseth immediately hired a lawyer and refused to speak to agents or undergo a polygraph test—which was still considered reliable at the time.

He remained on the FBI's list of suspects and was contacted again in 2004. However, this time Langseth voluntarily provided a saliva sample, which tested negative against the three samples from the tie.

• ROBERT RACKSTRAW

Robert Rackstraw (1943–2019) was a helicopter pilot who served in the Vietnam War and was already retired at the time of the hijacking. He came to the FBI's attention in 1978, when he was arrested in Iran for possession of explosives and bank fraud.

Months after being arrested, Rackstraw escaped, took control of a rented plane using false credentials, and attempted to stage an accident over Monterey Bay by notifying air traffic control that he was going to jump from the aircraft—thereby aiming to fake his own death. However, Rackstraw was ruled out as a suspect because he was only 28 years old at the time of the hijacking, and no evidence linked him to the case.

Even so, decades later, a History Channel documentary presented some evidence that could point to Rackstraw. One piece of evidence relies on a series of anonymous letters sent to the press after the event—letters generally dismissed as hoaxes perpetrated by the public; given that the Zodiac Killer was sending his own letters around the same time, this is a highly probable hypothesis.

In a letter, the author—identifying himself as D. B. Cooper—stated that the robbery was a way to quickly gain some peace of mind, given the hatred, torment, and hunger he had endured in his life, and noted that he had only 14 months left to live.

This letter dates back to 1971, and Rackstraw did not pass away until 2019, yet the documentary's creators ignored this fact and concluded that the numbers and letters at the end of it constitute a code.

More specifically, deciphering it would require considering this version alongside others containing the same text—but received by different newspapers (https://dailyastorian.com/2018/08/07/d-b-cooper-buffs-reveal-codes-behind-theory/)—and then checking the number appearing next to the newspaper's name. In this way, we would obtain the names of the units in which Rackstraw served in Vietnam.

The next letter was sent to The Portland Oregonian newspaper and mentions how Cooper was spending his money in the Bahamas—which also did not happen.

Lines of reasoning like this, when correct, usually yield a verifiable result—such as definitive proof that Rackstraw is Cooper—but that never happened. All the reasoning actually supports is the single premise upon which it is based.

Furthermore, the reasoning employs different procedures for identical clues (such as the card sequences for the newspapers)—meaning it is not even possible to establish a pattern—and the letter combination in the second card does not even use anagrams: in the second part, a 23-letter phrase is derived from a 63-letter phrase, which is extremely simple.

• TED BRADEN

Theodore Burdette Braden Jr. (1928–2007) served in World War II at the age of 16 with the 101st Airborne, becoming one of the Armed Forces' top paratroopers in the years that followed; in the 1960s, he served with the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group, where he led covert operations during the Vietnam War.

However, in December 1966, Braden deserted and fled to the Congo, where he served as a mercenary for a few months before being captured by the CIA and court-martialed. Despite having committed a capital offense, Braden was merely discharged in exchange for maintaining secrecy regarding operations in Vietnam.

It is known that in 1971, Braden was a truck driver in Vancouver—close to where Cooper carried out the hijacking. Furthermore, Braden had an extensive criminal record: around that same time, he was investigated by the FBI for stealing $250,000 in a scam; in 1980, he was accused of driving a truck containing stolen goods; in 1982, he was arrested for driving a stolen vehicle; and in the late 1980s, he was sent to federal prison.

His family described him as having a volatile and violent temperament—in the words of a relative, "a combination of high intelligence and criminality." Braden likely understood the workings of the Boeing 727 from his work in Vietnam, possessed the necessary experience for the jump, and had a physique similar to Cooper's.

However, Braden was a seasoned criminal, which contradicts the profile drawn up by the FBI and Cooper's relatively childish reaction upon receiving the money. Furthermore, the profile of Cooper noted an ease with interpersonal relationships and chivalry, whereas Braden was described as the exact opposite.

• SHERIDAN PETERSON

Sheridan Peterson (1926–2021) served in the Navy during World War II and later worked as a technical editor at Boeing. Additionally, Sheridan was a smokejumper and an avid participant in extreme sports.

Sheridan became a prime suspect after particles—identified as a titanium-antimony alloy consistent with an aeronautical patent—were found on the tie; however, the theory lost steam when it was determined that the particles did not actually exist in alloy form. Furthermore, Sheridan was a non-smoker, bald, and had a different eye color, in addition to claiming to have been in Nepal at the time of the hijacking; he was ultimately ruled out by the FBI.

• WILLIAM SMITH

William Smith (1928–2018) was a World War II veteran who worked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and fell victim to a bankruptcy in the railway sector that left him unemployed.

He had no skydiving experience and was not investigated by the FBI, but the apparent motive—combined with the fact that Ira Daniel Cooper, a World War II casualty, had been a high school classmate—led The Oregonian newspaper to argue in 2018 that Cooper was Smith.

Furthermore, the residue found on the tie—which matched steel-cutting debris—could have originated from his work on the railway. However, this detail constitutes circumstantial evidence that was also common to a large number of Americans, given that metal cutting is involved in all types of construction work.

• MILTON BERNARD VORDAHL

Milton Bernard Vordahl (1913–2002) was a scientist who worked for DuPont Chemicals, Crucible Steel, Remington Arms, and as a military contractor on the Manhattan Project, as well as serving as a consultant for Boeing; he held multiple patents, some of which involved chemicals found on Cooper's tie.

However, Milton was never investigated by the FBI; this possibility was only suggested decades later. Interestingly, Milton fit several of Cooper's psychological profiles and had a very similar physical build, but he lacked skydiving experience and was 58 years old at the time of the hijacking—well above the estimated age.

• RICHARD FLOYD MCCOY JR.

Richard Floyd McCoy Jr. (1942–1974), a parachutist, was investigated by the FBI as a possible suspect for the Cooper case after becoming one of Cooper's copycats in 1972; he hijacked a United Airlines Boeing 727-22C, parachuted out, and was arrested days later with the money. Although he escaped from prison, he was located months later in Virginia, where he exchanged gunfire with FBI agents and was killed.

The similarity in modus operandi was a strong argument, but his age (29), physical description, and accent ultimately led the FBI to rule McCoy out. Furthermore, the FBI was able to determine with confidence that McCoy was in Las Vegas at the time of the hijacking.

In 2024, a parachute was found on the property that had belonged to McCoy's mother and was turned over to the FBI (which has not yet issued a response); this might have been a strong lead, were it not for the fact that he was a parachutist who had committed a crime identical to Cooper's. Even so, his children believe their father was Cooper.

CONCLUSIONS

Cooper's psychological profile, combined with the evidence from Tena Bar, suggests that he indeed possessed experience in both aeronautics—since the possibility of opening the rear door in flight was something Cooper had planned from the start, a fact not known to the public—and parachuting, which narrows the list of suspects to some extent.

The suspects can be divided into a few categories:

Suggested by third parties and deemed unlikely or completely discarded:

Kenneth Peter Christiansen

Lynn Doyle Cooper

William Gosset

Joe Lakich

Ted Mayfield

Forrest Fen

James Klansinc

Jesse Lee Smith

Melvin Luther Wilson

Jack Collins

Robert Richard Lepsy

Howard Hun

Sheridan Peterson

William Smith

Milton Bernard Vordahl

Cases investigated by the FBI involving a confession that were determined to be unlikely or were completely ruled out:

Bryant Jack Coffelt

Barbara Dayton

Duane Weber

Walter Reca

Raised by the FBI and determined to be unlikely or completely ruled out:

Don Burnworth

John List

Robert Rackstraw

Richard Floyd McCoy Jr.

Raised by the FBI, but never ruled out by definitive evidence:

Jason Langseth

Theodore Burdette Braden Jr

It reveals that, among the most prominent suspects, only Langseth and Theodore Braden have not been ruled out by solid evidence, as the evidence against both of them is merely circumstantial.

Even so, it is highly suspicious that Langseth—on separate occasions decades apart—fabricated an alibi and refused to cooperate with the FBI, implying he had something to hide regarding November 1971. On the other hand, it is curious that in 2004, at age 70 and five years before his death, Langseth finally provided a DNA sample—by which time the limited utility of the DNA found on the tie was already public knowledge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so-gO5KG2bk

It is in Portuguese, but an English-dubbed version is available.

It is very comprehensive and reveals a lot of information that is often unknown or overlooked. Anyone with a genuine interest in the case should check it out.

DB Cooper Memorabilia with my good friend Darren Rovell

https://www.podbean.com/eas/pb-2bxza-1b348dd

The CIA has begun processing my request under the Freedom of Information Act for documents relating to the employment of William J Welk.

In May 1968, Welk was the pilot in command on the Boeing 727, operated by Southern Air Transport out of Takhli, Thailand, from which a team of smokejumpers and CIA agents made parachute jumps. Southern Air Transport, like its sister company Air America, was a front controlled by the CIA.

This mission, the second of its kind, confirmed that jumping from the ventral exit of a 727 was feasible and safe. This knowledge would have been useful to the man who, on November 24, 1971, hijacked a Boeing 727 operating as Northwest Flight 305, and parachuted to freedom.

There is no reason to believe that Welk was the hijacker. But he may have known who the hijacker was.

"Revisiting D.B. Cooper and Flight 305" is now listed on Schiffer's website, with release scheduled for the Spring 2027 catalog:

https://schifferbooks.com/products/revisiting-d-b-cooper-and-flight-305