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[dramatic music]
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[officer 1] Here he is.
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[officer 2] Stay low, guys.
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[officer 1]
Target is at the place of business now.
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-[police dispatch] Copy.
-[officer 2] This could go south quickly.
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[officer 1]
He's getting out of the car.
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Blue ball cap. Tan short-sleeve shirt.
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Blue jeans, white sneakers.
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Bob, why won't you just come out
and say that you are not D.B. Cooper?
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[seagulls squawking]
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[airplane engines whirring]
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[reporter 1] On Thanksgiving eve, 1971,
a Northwest flight was commandeered…
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[reporter 2]
The FBI couldn't crack the case…
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[reporter 3] Cooper became a legend
after hijacking a plane
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and parachuting out of it
with $200,000 cash.
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…the daredevil thief called D.B. Cooper.
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[man] D.B. Cooper…
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-D.B. Cooper…
-D.B. Cooper…
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-D.B. Cooper…
-D.B. Cooper…
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The most clever and certainly
the most audacious airplane hijacker
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of all time.
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[Gray] It's incredible to think
we've just passed the 50th anniversary
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of the D.B. Cooper case,
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and it's still
the only unsolved skyjacking
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in the history of our time.
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[man 1]
What he accomplished was truly amazing.
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He got away with it,
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he stuck it to the man,
and he didn't hurt any civilians doing it.
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That is why he is the legend
that he's become today.
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[man] We have eyewitnesses
that have you in Oregon
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at the time of the hijacking.
Were you there?
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[Colbert] My team has no doubt
we have found D.B. Cooper.
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We have over a hundred pieces of evidence.
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We're dealing with a man who has
multiple identities, and is a con artist.
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I'm here because I want the truth out.
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If it hurts, it hurts.
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This case is a marathon.
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It's a sacrifice, it's a gauntlet.
It forces you to question your own sanity.
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It forces you to truly believe
in the impossible.
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Bottom line is, I don't do theories,
I don't do folklore, I don't do legends.
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I do facts.
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[phone line rings]
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[Rackstraw] Hello?
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[reporter]
A team of cold case investigators
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are convinced that you are
the infamous D.B. Cooper.
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[Rackstraw] Infamous or famous?
I thought it was famous.
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[reporter] Okay.
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[dramatic music playing]
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[men and women vocalizing rhythmically]
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-[music stops]
-[airplane signal dings]
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[men and women vocalizing rhythmically]
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-[music stops]
-[traffic rushing]
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[Colbert] This ten-year journey is
the longest I've been on a case.
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I just want to share
a question I always get,
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and that is, "Why?"
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[laughs]
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Why am I tackling, and my wife too,
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why we tackled a 50-year-old case?
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It's affected my family members.
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I watched my wife and I have frustration.
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I watched my children grow up.
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And we spent a lot of our own money
through the whole thing.
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But everyone agreed in our family
to stick with it,
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because they all believed
we had the truth.
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[suspenseful music]
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[Gray] What Cooper was able
to pull off was really, really difficult,
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and he orchestrated it perfectly.
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Especially when you consider this was
the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
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One of the busiest travel days
of the year.
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Fifty years ago, I was a sophomore
at University of Oregon.
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I had called my parents
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and said, "I got this 37-minute flight
from Portland to Seattle."
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The sun was out, but it was cloudy.
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Walked up the back steps,
sat in the back on the left.
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And I didn't notice anybody around me
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until we took off.
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I noticed the guy sitting next to me…
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had sunglasses on.
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And I thought, "That's kind of different."
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"Who does he think he is?"
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[Gray] The flight from Portland to Seattle
is a puddle jump.
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There's barely even time to have a drink
on the plane.
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After the plane takes off…
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this strange-looking man
passes a note to the stewardess.
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[Schaffner]
I just ignored him.
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Then he said,
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"I want you to read the note."
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It was printed,
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"Miss, I have a bomb in my briefcase."
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"I want you to sit beside me."
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This is the beginning
of the extraordinary drama of D.B. Cooper.
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[indistinct radio chatter]
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I can remember her talking,
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and then she'd get up and go to the phone.
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But had no clue what was going on.
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[Gray] He asks for $200,000
in American currency and four parachutes.
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It's one thing to ask for money,
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but parachutes?
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Why does this man want parachutes?
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[Colbert] He was very smart.
He didn't order one or two.
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He ordered four.
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He thought they were gonna
dummy up a parachute on him,
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so he'd die.
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But if he's ordering four,
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"He's taking a hostage.
We can't dummy him up."
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Very smart, brilliant.
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[sign chimes]
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The pilot comes on and says,
"We have engine trouble,
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and we're going to run out the fuel."
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"Everybody can move up
to the front of the plane."
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During that incident,
I didn't know what's going on.
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We're still flying, so there was nothing
to worry about.
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Cooper did not want the jet
to land in Seattle until all the stuff
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was properly staged at the airport,
so the jet had to circle around.
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[thunder crashes]
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[Gray]
It's now getting dark.
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This is turning
into a dark and stormy night.
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And once the hijacker knows
that his demands have been met,
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$200,000 in cash,
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about $1,000,000 in today's currency,
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and the parachutes he wants
waiting for him…
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the plane comes down
for a landing in Seattle.
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Snipers are watching the plane.
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Cooper asks the stewardess
to shut the windows.
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The plane goes dark.
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One stewardess comes out,
a detective hands her the big money bag.
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She then goes out for the parachutes,
and all the passengers come off.
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[Mitchell]
We're a mile away from the terminal,
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so a bus comes and we get on a bus
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and ride back to the airport.
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[news anchor] Thirty-six passengers got
off the jetliner in Seattle last night,
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left aboard, four crew members
and the hijacker.
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And there's probably a hundred
news people out there.
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FBI agents there who are
interviewing everybody.
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Said, "Yeah, you were hijacked."
And so that's the first I'd heard of it.
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[man] The crew kept us ignorant
of what was taking place,
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I guess to avoid a panic.
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And so we really didn't know
what was taking place.
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We cruised around
for two and a half hours up there.
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Nobody knew anything was happening.
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-[reporter] When did you find out?
-After we landed.
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When they brought the money aboard.
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[news anchor]
The hijacker, dressed in a business suit,
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demanding $200,000
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and carrying a plain briefcase
which he told the crew held explosives.
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[Schaffner] I saw a big battery
with six dynamite sticks
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wrapped around the battery.
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And he said to me, "All I have to do
is attach this wire to this gadget here,
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and we'll all be dead."
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[distant siren wailing]
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[Mitchell] I got home,
and it started catching up to me.
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The fact that, yeah,
you know, I was sitting next to a bomb.
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[ominous music playing]
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In the fall of 1971,
when this hijacking took place,
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the experience of airline travel
was vastly different than it is now.
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Walking into an airport back then
was like walking into a supermarket.
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[jovial swing music]
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-Hi.
-Hi.
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-Destination?
-Let's just say, "Where the action is."
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[Burrough] I love when people ask
about airport security back in the 1970s,
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because the answer,
at least in my memory, was,
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"What airport security?"
I don't remember any at all.
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[upbeat pop music playing]
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[Gray]
You didn't need metal detectors.
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You didn't have to take off your shoes.
You didn't have dogs smelling you.
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[Burrough] Certainly nobody searched you,
or wanded you, or anything like that.
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♪ Ah, ah, ah… ♪
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You just walked in, put down 20 bucks,
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and got a flight to Dallas.
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That was pretty much it.
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[Gray]
And that is what Cooper did.
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He went and bought a ticket that day.
It was very, very casual.
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♪ Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo ♪
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♪ Ah, ah, ah… ♪
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[Gray] Remember, this was the beginning
of the boom of mass air travel.
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[upbeat music playing]
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00:11:04,665 --> 00:11:07,292
[Gray] They wanted to make
the experience a fun, good time.
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00:11:07,376 --> 00:11:09,211
What kind of flying is that?
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00:11:09,712 --> 00:11:11,088
A champagne flight.
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00:11:11,797 --> 00:11:16,301
[Gray] But unfortunately, at the time,
the stewardesses became fetishized.
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00:11:16,385 --> 00:11:18,220
[sultry music playing]
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[announcer] When a Braniff International
hostess meets you on the airplane…
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00:11:26,145 --> 00:11:27,688
she'll be dressed like this.
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[Rymsza-Pawlowska] In the early '70s,
flight attendants have a really hard time.
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They're sexually harassed constantly.
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They're not paid as much
as the men that they work with.
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00:11:39,241 --> 00:11:40,743
They have an impossible schedule.
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00:11:40,826 --> 00:11:45,372
They're held to really rigorous
and unfair standards about their looks.
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She's not just pretty. She's pretty smart.
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00:11:50,252 --> 00:11:53,172
[Rymsza-Pawlowska] When D.B. Cooper
passed the stewardess the note,
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00:11:53,756 --> 00:11:56,884
he was probably the, like, tenth person
that day to pass her a note.
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00:11:58,510 --> 00:12:00,763
[Gray] At that time,
being a stewardess is difficult,
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00:12:00,846 --> 00:12:04,224
and it quickly evolved
into the realm of the dangerous.
194
00:12:06,185 --> 00:12:10,022
Guerrilla hijack teams struck
four airlines almost simultaneously.
195
00:12:10,105 --> 00:12:14,234
One ticket agent in Houston, Texas,
is dead, another agent is wounded.
196
00:12:14,318 --> 00:12:17,196
[news anchor] Aerial piracy is not exactly
a new phenomenon.
197
00:12:21,283 --> 00:12:22,868
[Mendez]
I was in the CIA.
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00:12:23,786 --> 00:12:26,038
We would get these reports of hijackings.
199
00:12:26,622 --> 00:12:29,750
And maybe there'd be a report every month.
200
00:12:29,833 --> 00:12:32,961
And then it just kept growing
and it kept growing and it kept growing.
201
00:12:33,629 --> 00:12:35,756
[news anchor]
Fifteen Japanese radical students
202
00:12:35,839 --> 00:12:37,341
armed with samurai swords,
203
00:12:37,424 --> 00:12:41,720
pistols, and homemade bombs,
hijacked a Japan Airlines jetliner.
204
00:12:42,179 --> 00:12:45,474
[Mendez] And, of course, those hijackings,
they all had a political goal.
205
00:12:45,557 --> 00:12:48,268
They were punishing a country,
they were punishing a group.
206
00:12:48,352 --> 00:12:53,357
They were making themselves bigger
and badder than they actually were.
207
00:12:53,857 --> 00:12:55,776
[reporter]
What made you think he had a gun?
208
00:12:55,859 --> 00:12:58,403
He confronted me
with something hard in my back.
209
00:12:58,487 --> 00:13:02,241
He said, "We're going to Havana, Cuba.
Take me to the cockpit."
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00:13:03,617 --> 00:13:06,495
[Burrough] There were only two reasons
that you hijacked a plane.
211
00:13:06,578 --> 00:13:09,581
You either did it to threaten
to kill people and get money,
212
00:13:09,665 --> 00:13:11,792
or you wanted to get someplace,
typically Cuba.
213
00:13:11,875 --> 00:13:14,586
The Cuban ones were
almost all young radicals
214
00:13:14,670 --> 00:13:16,463
who needed to get out of town.
215
00:13:17,047 --> 00:13:18,590
[reporter]
What did it turn out to be?
216
00:13:18,674 --> 00:13:23,053
It turned out to be a metal comb
with a pen on top wrapped with a sweater.
217
00:13:23,136 --> 00:13:25,138
[suspenseful music playing]
218
00:13:30,435 --> 00:13:33,522
[Gray] One of the things about crime,
like any art form, it evolves.
219
00:13:34,231 --> 00:13:37,317
And so with hijackings,
the art form evolved,
220
00:13:37,401 --> 00:13:40,946
and the greatest artist
of them all was D.B. Cooper.
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00:13:43,156 --> 00:13:45,659
[news anchor] With the full ransom,
collected from Seattle banks,
222
00:13:45,742 --> 00:13:48,579
and four parachutes aboard,
the plane headed for Reno.
223
00:13:51,164 --> 00:13:53,792
[Gray] Cooper looks into the money bag,
he's happy.
224
00:13:53,876 --> 00:13:55,085
And he has instructions.
225
00:13:57,629 --> 00:14:02,217
He's asking to fly at 250 miles an hour,
which is slow for a jet,
226
00:14:02,301 --> 00:14:06,179
with the flaps down, at minimum height.
227
00:14:07,264 --> 00:14:08,640
Even the pilots didn't know
228
00:14:08,724 --> 00:14:12,269
the aircraft was capable
of flying that slow and that low.
229
00:14:12,352 --> 00:14:15,063
And he said, "It can be done, do it."
230
00:14:17,649 --> 00:14:21,069
[Gray] They head south over this area
called "the dark divide."
231
00:14:22,237 --> 00:14:25,824
Tina Mucklow was alone with him
sitting in the last row.
232
00:14:26,533 --> 00:14:29,620
He was not nervous.
He seemed rather nice, and…
233
00:14:30,329 --> 00:14:33,540
other than he wanted
certain things to be done.
234
00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:38,337
[Ulis] At that point, Cooper sent
Tina Mucklow to the cockpit
235
00:14:38,420 --> 00:14:40,130
and told her not to come out.
236
00:14:40,213 --> 00:14:42,674
He was in the back all by himself.
237
00:14:45,052 --> 00:14:49,973
Around 8:12, there was a popping sensation
in the ears of the pilots.
238
00:14:50,766 --> 00:14:52,851
The pressure in the cabin has changed.
239
00:14:53,352 --> 00:14:55,938
The aft stairs have gone down.
240
00:14:56,521 --> 00:15:00,233
I told the air traffic controllers
that our friend just took leave of us.
241
00:15:00,317 --> 00:15:01,485
[indistinct radio chatter]
242
00:15:03,779 --> 00:15:06,239
[Gray]
To truly appreciate what Cooper did…
243
00:15:07,491 --> 00:15:12,079
close your eyes and take a step,
and imagine walking down those aft stairs.
244
00:15:12,162 --> 00:15:13,830
[wind gusting]
245
00:15:13,914 --> 00:15:15,999
It's late at night, there's a lot of rain.
246
00:15:16,708 --> 00:15:19,419
You're hearing the engines
of this jet in your ear.
247
00:15:20,420 --> 00:15:23,882
Imagine looking out
in the middle of the darkness…
248
00:15:24,967 --> 00:15:28,720
and then walking down
another step and another step…
249
00:15:30,263 --> 00:15:33,016
and just looking out,
asking yourself the question…
250
00:15:33,684 --> 00:15:34,935
"When's the time to jump?"
251
00:15:47,280 --> 00:15:48,699
[birds tweeting]
252
00:15:54,579 --> 00:15:55,831
[Cotton]
Well, he either got away
253
00:15:55,914 --> 00:15:58,041
or else he sure made a big hole
in the ground out there.
254
00:15:59,668 --> 00:16:02,129
And if he made a hole in the ground,
he's gonna be hard to find.
255
00:16:03,422 --> 00:16:06,216
By "hole in the ground,"
you mean slammed into a mountainside?
256
00:16:06,299 --> 00:16:08,885
Right. It's possible
that if his chute didn't open,
257
00:16:08,969 --> 00:16:10,637
he's taking somewhat of a chance,
I'm sure.
258
00:16:10,721 --> 00:16:12,681
And if his chute didn't open, why,
259
00:16:12,764 --> 00:16:15,434
he's going to probably be
pretty hard to find.
260
00:16:16,018 --> 00:16:19,271
Suppose his chute did open,
you think he landed safely
261
00:16:19,354 --> 00:16:20,731
and just made a clean getaway?
262
00:16:22,315 --> 00:16:25,777
Well, at this point, he doesn't appear
to be hung up in any trees.
263
00:16:25,861 --> 00:16:28,030
At least this is what we're looking for
from the air.
264
00:16:29,823 --> 00:16:33,660
And so if he did bail out there
and did make a successful landing,
265
00:16:33,744 --> 00:16:36,997
it's possible that he has succeeded
in hiding his parachute
266
00:16:37,080 --> 00:16:38,081
and did get away.
267
00:16:39,124 --> 00:16:41,460
[reporter] Hundreds of troops
combed the woods near Woodland,
268
00:16:41,543 --> 00:16:42,919
and east to the town of Ariel,
269
00:16:43,003 --> 00:16:47,716
but nobody knew where he bailed out,
where he landed, or even if he survived.
270
00:16:49,342 --> 00:16:52,471
[Mendez] The main problem
that the FBI faced initially
271
00:16:52,554 --> 00:16:55,474
is they didn't know
exactly where that plane was
272
00:16:55,557 --> 00:16:57,225
when he exited the plane.
273
00:16:58,560 --> 00:17:01,688
There were all these variables.
What about the wind?
274
00:17:01,772 --> 00:17:03,899
"Maybe the wind had you
a little off-course."
275
00:17:04,483 --> 00:17:08,570
So the terrain that they're searching
would be rather huge.
276
00:17:08,653 --> 00:17:10,030
[Cotton]
Right at this point,
277
00:17:10,113 --> 00:17:14,076
probably a slim chance
of actually finding him in this area.
278
00:17:14,159 --> 00:17:17,829
But at least we may develop information
that'll give us leads on where to go next.
279
00:17:18,580 --> 00:17:22,125
[reporter] It was from these steps,
the rear of the 727,
280
00:17:22,209 --> 00:17:25,504
that the FBI believes the skyjacker
used his parachute
281
00:17:25,587 --> 00:17:28,799
to bail out somewhere
between Seattle and Portland.
282
00:17:28,882 --> 00:17:33,512
Earlier, it was felt that he perhaps
bailed out somewhere nearer to Reno,
283
00:17:33,595 --> 00:17:36,431
but all search efforts in this area
now have been discontinued.
284
00:17:37,265 --> 00:17:38,600
[Gray]
On Thanksgiving Day,
285
00:17:38,683 --> 00:17:41,603
people all around the world
got wind of the story.
286
00:17:42,562 --> 00:17:44,147
The man had disappeared.
287
00:17:46,900 --> 00:17:51,238
The case went from being
a truly phenomenal act of air piracy…
288
00:17:51,738 --> 00:17:53,573
into an American folk legend.
289
00:17:53,657 --> 00:17:55,534
[jazz playing]
290
00:18:00,122 --> 00:18:03,125
When he got on a plane last night,
he was just another passenger.
291
00:18:03,208 --> 00:18:06,419
But today, after hijacking
a Northwest Airlines jet,
292
00:18:06,503 --> 00:18:08,755
ransoming the passengers in Seattle,
293
00:18:08,839 --> 00:18:12,968
then making a getaway by parachute
somewhere between there and Reno,
294
00:18:13,051 --> 00:18:16,429
the description on one wire service:
master criminal.
295
00:18:16,513 --> 00:18:19,516
Man, don't you know what that is?
That's Jesse James come back.
296
00:18:19,599 --> 00:18:21,393
It was a hundred years ago.
Just think it over.
297
00:18:21,476 --> 00:18:25,814
They kill Lincoln a hundred years ago,
and Kennedy, it's all going back.
298
00:18:25,897 --> 00:18:27,732
-[reporter] Do you think he's a hero?
-Oh, sure.
299
00:18:27,816 --> 00:18:28,900
[reporter] Why?
300
00:18:28,984 --> 00:18:33,738
'Cause the guy, evidently, really took
a lot of time to plan the whole thing out.
301
00:18:34,406 --> 00:18:39,619
And I respect a man
who takes his time to do a job well done.
302
00:18:40,203 --> 00:18:43,832
He's one of the slickest cats
to ever walk on the face of the Earth.
303
00:18:45,125 --> 00:18:48,753
[Gray] The riches in the case,
the details that you just can't make up,
304
00:18:48,837 --> 00:18:51,047
started with the hijacker's alias.
305
00:18:51,131 --> 00:18:53,967
D.B. Cooper was not the hijacker.
306
00:18:55,343 --> 00:18:59,681
[Ulis] In Portland, he gave the name
Dan Cooper to the ticket agent.
307
00:18:59,764 --> 00:19:01,892
So D.B. Cooper really is Dan Cooper.
308
00:19:01,975 --> 00:19:03,310
What happened, though,
309
00:19:03,393 --> 00:19:06,730
is there's an enormous amount
of media attention focused
310
00:19:06,813 --> 00:19:09,941
on this thing,
and somebody made a mistake.
311
00:19:11,359 --> 00:19:14,362
[Colbert] The authorities
were going down some log they had,
312
00:19:14,446 --> 00:19:17,073
and a reporter overheard it
as "D.B. Cooper."
313
00:19:17,157 --> 00:19:19,492
Dan Cooper became D.B. Cooper
314
00:19:19,576 --> 00:19:22,495
because of a couple of sloppy reporters.
315
00:19:22,579 --> 00:19:24,915
Everybody pretty quickly realized
within a day or so, that,
316
00:19:24,998 --> 00:19:27,542
"No, it's not D.B. Cooper,
it's Dan Cooper."
317
00:19:27,626 --> 00:19:31,338
But, frankly, D.B. Cooper is
a more bad-ass name than Dan Cooper,
318
00:19:31,421 --> 00:19:32,964
so D.B. Cooper stuck.
319
00:19:33,048 --> 00:19:35,967
[Gray] Thus begins
the D.B. Cooper branding, you know,
320
00:19:36,051 --> 00:19:38,595
because every folk hero
needs a good brand.
321
00:19:38,678 --> 00:19:39,804
D.B. Cooper. Oh.
322
00:19:40,347 --> 00:19:42,182
"Oh, D.B. Who is that?"
323
00:19:42,265 --> 00:19:45,894
And so D.B. Cooper the skyjacker
dropped out of the air,
324
00:19:45,977 --> 00:19:48,355
and he landed on Earth as a hero.
325
00:19:48,438 --> 00:19:51,233
In the Pacific Northwest,
you might even say
326
00:19:52,484 --> 00:19:54,027
he was a kind of a god.
327
00:19:54,110 --> 00:19:55,987
[man] The man's beat the system,
so to speak.
328
00:19:56,071 --> 00:19:58,657
I just think that any time
that a fella's got this much nerve,
329
00:19:58,740 --> 00:20:01,076
and is successful this far,
that everybody's rooting for him.
330
00:20:05,038 --> 00:20:07,499
[news anchor]
People wrote songs, sold T-shirts,
331
00:20:07,582 --> 00:20:12,545
all in honor of the first and only man
to get away with hijacking a US plane.
332
00:20:12,629 --> 00:20:17,092
I do think that D.B. Cooper will live on,
because they never have found him.
333
00:20:17,759 --> 00:20:19,427
[Gray]
This case is so American.
334
00:20:19,511 --> 00:20:22,847
You have the underdog hero
sticking it to the man.
335
00:20:22,931 --> 00:20:25,642
Cooper resurrected this cultural anthem,
336
00:20:26,393 --> 00:20:29,354
almost going back
to the heroes like Billy the Kid.
337
00:20:31,147 --> 00:20:33,984
And all the famous bandits
and bank robbers.
338
00:20:34,067 --> 00:20:35,860
[announcer]
George "Machine Gun" Kelly,
339
00:20:36,444 --> 00:20:37,904
"Baby Face" Nelson,
340
00:20:38,571 --> 00:20:39,739
and John Dillinger.
341
00:20:40,448 --> 00:20:41,950
[man]
We prize the outlaw.
342
00:20:42,033 --> 00:20:44,828
We are fascinated
with those who break the rules
343
00:20:44,911 --> 00:20:47,205
because 95% of us don't.
344
00:20:49,499 --> 00:20:51,501
[screams]
345
00:20:54,087 --> 00:20:56,589
[Ulis] Everybody wants to know
who D.B. Cooper was.
346
00:20:56,673 --> 00:20:59,175
And as time has gone by,
347
00:20:59,259 --> 00:21:01,636
it's become this ever-larger mystery.
348
00:21:03,471 --> 00:21:06,725
The evidence suggests that Cooper
must have had military experience
349
00:21:06,808 --> 00:21:09,769
to be able to plan
and successfully execute such a crime.
350
00:21:09,853 --> 00:21:12,939
[Robert Stack] When we return,
we'll reveal an important new clue
351
00:21:13,023 --> 00:21:15,442
to the identity of D.B. Cooper.
352
00:21:15,525 --> 00:21:19,404
[man] At this point, so many people
have played the role of D.B. Cooper.
353
00:21:19,487 --> 00:21:21,656
[Rymsza-Pawlowska]
There's a lot of different reasons why
354
00:21:21,740 --> 00:21:24,743
D.B. Cooper has remained so prevalent
355
00:21:24,826 --> 00:21:26,995
in so many different types
of popular culture.
356
00:21:27,537 --> 00:21:29,164
You know, like Amelia Earhart,
357
00:21:29,247 --> 00:21:32,167
we know so little
about what actually happened.
358
00:21:34,961 --> 00:21:37,797
[Heubusch] The Western world
has to have an answer to every question.
359
00:21:40,008 --> 00:21:43,219
And it's really frustrating to them
when a story doesn't have an ending.
360
00:21:43,303 --> 00:21:45,096
Doesn't have to be a happy ending,
361
00:21:45,180 --> 00:21:47,515
but it needs a period
at the end of the sentence.
362
00:21:47,599 --> 00:21:50,018
The D.B. Cooper case is a prime example
363
00:21:50,101 --> 00:21:52,979
of a sentence
that's been left uncompleted.
364
00:21:55,565 --> 00:21:58,568
[Ulis] At this point, there have been
something north of a thousand suspects
365
00:21:58,651 --> 00:22:00,362
that the FBI has looked at.
366
00:22:01,196 --> 00:22:04,908
And some of those suspects
have actually been really compelling.
367
00:22:06,117 --> 00:22:09,037
Richard Floyd McCoy
was an outstanding suspect.
368
00:22:11,164 --> 00:22:13,917
He was in Vietnam.
He was an expert parachutist.
369
00:22:14,501 --> 00:22:17,921
[Smith] McCoy skyjacked another 727
and jumped out
370
00:22:18,922 --> 00:22:21,508
five or six months after D.B. Cooper.
371
00:22:24,719 --> 00:22:26,971
[Ulis]
But there's one very big problem.
372
00:22:27,055 --> 00:22:30,475
All the witnesses that saw D.B. Cooper
looked at Richard Floyd McCoy
373
00:22:30,558 --> 00:22:31,935
and said, "He ain't the guy."
374
00:22:34,896 --> 00:22:36,898
[Gray]
Duane Weber had a deathbed confession
375
00:22:37,607 --> 00:22:39,275
and looked like the second sketch.
376
00:22:39,359 --> 00:22:41,027
And he was living a double life.
377
00:22:41,778 --> 00:22:43,863
One as a charming insurance salesman,
378
00:22:43,947 --> 00:22:46,574
the other as a career criminal.
379
00:22:47,867 --> 00:22:50,412
[Smith]
He was arrested, I think, 16 times,
380
00:22:51,037 --> 00:22:53,873
but there's absolutely no proof
that he had any parachute training.
381
00:22:53,957 --> 00:22:57,377
And he was a criminal
that had a hard time staying out of jail.
382
00:22:57,460 --> 00:22:59,796
And then there is Barb Dayton.
383
00:23:01,172 --> 00:23:03,842
She confessed to being D.B. Cooper.
384
00:23:04,592 --> 00:23:07,470
She had the first sex change operation
in Washington state.
385
00:23:08,763 --> 00:23:10,265
She used to be Bobby.
386
00:23:10,348 --> 00:23:12,684
And Bobby was a tough guy, a brawler.
387
00:23:12,767 --> 00:23:15,603
And Barb was a librarian and sweet.
388
00:23:17,730 --> 00:23:19,607
[Gray]
It was the ultimate disguise.
389
00:23:19,691 --> 00:23:23,236
As a man, Bob Dayton
was a guy with a grudge.
390
00:23:23,319 --> 00:23:26,239
Merchant Marine, he could jump
out of airplanes.
391
00:23:26,948 --> 00:23:28,074
[Ulis]
But the problem is,
392
00:23:28,158 --> 00:23:32,704
there's absolutely no concrete evidence
that ties Barb Dayton
393
00:23:32,787 --> 00:23:35,248
in with the D.B. Cooper case whatsoever.
394
00:23:36,666 --> 00:23:38,877
[Gray] Some people thought
it was Ken Christiansen.
395
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:40,962
He worked for Northwest Orient Airlines.
396
00:23:42,297 --> 00:23:44,716
[Ulis] Other people thought
it was Sheridan Peterson.
397
00:23:44,799 --> 00:23:46,593
Peterson worked at Boeing.
398
00:23:46,676 --> 00:23:48,970
[Gray]
But for a bunch of technical reasons,
399
00:23:49,053 --> 00:23:50,638
both of them have been ruled out.
400
00:23:52,432 --> 00:23:54,476
Even though we still don't know
who Cooper was,
401
00:23:55,226 --> 00:23:56,686
to me, what's remarkable is actually
402
00:23:56,769 --> 00:23:59,606
how much people identify with Cooper
50 years later.
403
00:24:00,315 --> 00:24:02,984
[waitress] We're in Vancouver, Washington,
at Victor-23.
404
00:24:03,067 --> 00:24:05,278
This is a D.B. Cooper-themed bar.
405
00:24:05,361 --> 00:24:08,364
We've got our pilsner Schaffner here,
406
00:24:08,448 --> 00:24:10,700
our Flight 305 amber here,
407
00:24:10,783 --> 00:24:14,496
our Skyjacker IPA, our Headless Hijacker,
408
00:24:14,579 --> 00:24:16,206
and our Jet Fuel IPA.
409
00:24:16,748 --> 00:24:22,378
And also why people still look
to embed him into film and culture.
410
00:24:22,462 --> 00:24:24,214
[intense music playing]
411
00:24:28,551 --> 00:24:29,719
You'd better be ready.
412
00:24:32,305 --> 00:24:34,182
The far more interesting story
413
00:24:34,265 --> 00:24:37,936
than just some guy who jumped
out of a plane and disappeared,
414
00:24:38,019 --> 00:24:39,562
is the fascination with it.
415
00:24:40,146 --> 00:24:42,815
Check out this map.
He pinpointed D.B.'s landing.
416
00:24:43,608 --> 00:24:44,859
That's crazy.
417
00:24:44,943 --> 00:24:47,862
With respect to D.B. Cooper
over the last 50 years,
418
00:24:47,946 --> 00:24:52,534
arguably, we are no closer
to knowing who D.B. Cooper was.
419
00:24:53,159 --> 00:24:54,244
Oh, look at you.
420
00:24:54,827 --> 00:24:57,497
Should I call the FBI
and tell 'em I found D.B. Cooper?
421
00:24:57,580 --> 00:24:58,456
[laughs]
422
00:24:58,581 --> 00:24:59,582
Joking.
423
00:24:59,666 --> 00:25:04,045
Everybody wants to solve a mystery
that's been unsolved
424
00:25:04,128 --> 00:25:08,258
by some of the brightest minds
and the best agencies in the country.
425
00:25:09,509 --> 00:25:11,010
[Kleinsmith] After 50 years,
426
00:25:11,094 --> 00:25:16,015
the Cooper case is almost a holy grail
of cold cases to solve.
427
00:25:19,060 --> 00:25:21,563
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tom Colbert.
428
00:25:23,565 --> 00:25:26,859
I'm the person, with my wife,
Dawna Kay, at the machine in the corner.
429
00:25:27,527 --> 00:25:29,404
We're the ones
that brought the case forward.
430
00:25:29,487 --> 00:25:30,697
We received the tip.
431
00:25:33,741 --> 00:25:36,995
[Colbert] For me, the whole thing
started when a friend of mine
432
00:25:37,078 --> 00:25:39,038
named Rich Kashanksi called me.
433
00:25:39,122 --> 00:25:43,376
I've known Rich for 25 years.
I drop everything when Rich calls.
434
00:25:44,836 --> 00:25:48,131
I was in the middle of another project
and I said, "Rich, what's up?"
435
00:25:51,217 --> 00:25:55,054
I was in Vegas.
I was shooting a series of infomercials.
436
00:25:55,138 --> 00:25:56,639
And a friend of a friend
437
00:25:56,723 --> 00:26:00,435
told me they knew some gambler
who knew who D.B. Cooper was.
438
00:26:01,936 --> 00:26:04,772
I rolled my eyes, and he said,
"No, Tom, you need to listen."
439
00:26:04,856 --> 00:26:06,316
"I have a guy on camera."
440
00:26:06,399 --> 00:26:08,901
I told him, "This guy seems credible
441
00:26:09,485 --> 00:26:12,447
and he's willing
to have lie detector tests."
442
00:26:12,530 --> 00:26:14,449
"It's the only way
that you're gonna believe me,
443
00:26:14,532 --> 00:26:16,326
and I'm much willing to do that."
444
00:26:17,201 --> 00:26:19,579
[Colbert]
I realized if this tip checked out,
445
00:26:19,662 --> 00:26:22,457
we would be solving
one of the most high-profile cases
446
00:26:22,540 --> 00:26:23,791
in cold-case history.
447
00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:28,212
What I found on Ron Carlson's tape
was a game-changer.
448
00:26:29,088 --> 00:26:33,217
["Born to Move"
by Creedence Clearwater Revival playing]
449
00:26:33,301 --> 00:26:36,387
♪ Every day I'm gonna strut that stuff ♪
450
00:26:37,722 --> 00:26:40,516
♪ When the music's loud
I can't get enough… ♪
451
00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,186
[Kashanski]
The story started with Ron Carlson
452
00:26:43,269 --> 00:26:45,897
running drugs up and down the coast
with his fast car.
453
00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:48,775
♪ People shufflin' up and down again ♪
454
00:26:50,109 --> 00:26:52,445
♪ Unhappy faces ain't gonna get you in ♪
455
00:26:52,528 --> 00:26:57,867
I'm here to tell a story
that I truly believe is factual
456
00:26:58,701 --> 00:27:02,205
and it concerns D.B. Cooper.
457
00:27:02,288 --> 00:27:04,916
I did not meet D.B. Cooper
458
00:27:04,999 --> 00:27:06,709
until 1978.
459
00:27:07,335 --> 00:27:09,962
And I met him…
460
00:27:10,880 --> 00:27:12,298
quite frankly,
461
00:27:12,382 --> 00:27:14,884
he was my cocaine supplier.
462
00:27:17,553 --> 00:27:19,180
A guy, name of Dick Briggs.
463
00:27:19,263 --> 00:27:21,974
[mysterious music playing]
464
00:27:22,058 --> 00:27:23,976
Almost from the time we met…
465
00:27:24,686 --> 00:27:27,855
he was telling us
that he was, in fact, D.B. Cooper.
466
00:27:27,939 --> 00:27:30,233
And he kept saying,
"You don't believe me, do you?
467
00:27:30,316 --> 00:27:32,902
And we ended up being at a party in 1980.
468
00:27:33,653 --> 00:27:39,242
And he says, "I'm gonna tell you something
that will prove to you who I am."
469
00:27:39,325 --> 00:27:42,286
He said, "That couple over there."
We said, "Yeah?"
470
00:27:42,370 --> 00:27:47,083
He says, "They and their son…"
They were a hippie-looking couple.
471
00:27:47,166 --> 00:27:49,961
"…are the ones
that are going to find my money."
472
00:27:52,046 --> 00:27:55,216
[Colbert] Dick Briggs says,
"On that north shore, in three days,
473
00:27:55,717 --> 00:27:57,343
they're gonna find some of my money."
474
00:27:57,427 --> 00:27:58,678
Meaning Cooper's money.
475
00:27:59,512 --> 00:28:01,431
And that's when I knew, "Whoa."
476
00:28:03,433 --> 00:28:04,976
[reporter]
The money was found here,
477
00:28:05,059 --> 00:28:07,770
just a few yards from the shoreline
of the Columbia river.
478
00:28:07,854 --> 00:28:11,357
I was gonna build a fire,
and I had some wood in my arm.
479
00:28:11,441 --> 00:28:15,027
I got ready to set it down,
and my son ran up and said, "Wait, Daddy."
480
00:28:15,111 --> 00:28:18,281
So he raked a place in the sand there,
and there it was.
481
00:28:18,364 --> 00:28:19,991
It kind of tumbled up on the top.
482
00:28:20,074 --> 00:28:23,202
A child has led the FBI
to the start of a trail
483
00:28:23,286 --> 00:28:26,622
it hopes will help them solve
the eight-and-a-half-year-old mystery
484
00:28:26,706 --> 00:28:28,791
of skyjacker D.B. Cooper.
485
00:28:29,792 --> 00:28:31,586
[Carlson]
A few days after that party,
486
00:28:31,669 --> 00:28:33,421
all of a sudden this news alert come by.
487
00:28:34,422 --> 00:28:39,135
And it said that they had found,
I believe it was like $6,000
488
00:28:39,218 --> 00:28:40,970
of D.B. Cooper's money.
489
00:28:41,053 --> 00:28:44,348
And when they showed
the people who found the money,
490
00:28:44,432 --> 00:28:46,684
it was that same couple
that was at the party.
491
00:28:48,186 --> 00:28:51,105
[Kaye] In my years of knowing
Brian Ingram and his family,
492
00:28:51,189 --> 00:28:55,401
I've seen nothing that would indicate
they had any nefarious connection
493
00:28:55,485 --> 00:28:56,319
to the money.
494
00:28:56,402 --> 00:28:59,322
So I believe Brian Ingram
is an innocent bystander,
495
00:28:59,405 --> 00:29:01,824
along with his family, in the Cooper case.
496
00:29:01,908 --> 00:29:04,827
[reporter] Though these are the first
pieces of this complex puzzle
497
00:29:04,911 --> 00:29:09,165
to surface in all these years,
they are not falling into place easily.
498
00:29:09,248 --> 00:29:11,626
[Colbert]
Suddenly, 40 years later, we have a guy
499
00:29:11,709 --> 00:29:15,087
who claims, basically, that Dick Briggs
planted the money on the beach,
500
00:29:15,171 --> 00:29:18,466
showing that it was set up,
and that Cooper could be alive.
501
00:29:18,549 --> 00:29:22,553
And that's when I turned to my wife
and I said, "I think we got a wild one."
502
00:29:28,559 --> 00:29:30,853
[Carlson]
Dick Briggs was perfectly capable
503
00:29:30,937 --> 00:29:33,773
of doing what it took
to hijack this airplane.
504
00:29:33,856 --> 00:29:34,982
According to him,
505
00:29:35,066 --> 00:29:38,069
he'd been a Special Forces soldier
during the Vietnam War.
506
00:29:39,070 --> 00:29:41,447
I mean, he was an accomplished
parachutist.
507
00:29:41,531 --> 00:29:44,408
He was familiar with the area.
I'm sure he'd planned it out.
508
00:29:45,576 --> 00:29:48,162
I mean, he had the physical
and mental abilities.
509
00:29:48,246 --> 00:29:49,664
Very, very intelligent man.
510
00:29:50,206 --> 00:29:52,583
But he was kind of out of control.
511
00:29:53,918 --> 00:29:58,130
[Colbert] One of his buddies from college
told me that Dick lost his temper a lot.
512
00:29:58,214 --> 00:29:59,674
He felt he was bipolar.
513
00:29:59,757 --> 00:30:01,425
He would get angry after a few beers
514
00:30:01,509 --> 00:30:03,719
and throw trash cans
through windows at bars.
515
00:30:03,803 --> 00:30:05,388
[Robert] A lot of people feared him.
516
00:30:05,471 --> 00:30:08,808
He was a weightlifter,
bench-pressed 425 pounds.
517
00:30:09,892 --> 00:30:13,229
You know, they called him Bugsy
because he was a little squirrelly.
518
00:30:14,146 --> 00:30:16,440
[Hunt] The first time I met Dick Briggs,
519
00:30:16,524 --> 00:30:19,193
my husband offers him a cocktail.
520
00:30:19,277 --> 00:30:22,196
Dick does a straight shot of bourbon
521
00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,074
and immediately proceeds to eat the glass.
522
00:30:25,658 --> 00:30:28,411
Blood is dripping down his face.
He's chewing the glass.
523
00:30:30,037 --> 00:30:33,708
[Carlson] According to his family,
Dick Briggs did lots of parlor tricks.
524
00:30:33,791 --> 00:30:37,420
He could take a woman's hat pin,
stick it all the way through his forearm,
525
00:30:37,503 --> 00:30:38,921
pull it out, draw no blood.
526
00:30:40,715 --> 00:30:43,175
One time, we'd gone up to a little town
527
00:30:43,259 --> 00:30:46,888
that, every year,
held an annual D.B. Cooper festival.
528
00:30:49,056 --> 00:30:52,518
All he'd keep saying is, "I just want
to tell these people who I am."
529
00:30:52,602 --> 00:30:54,312
And "They're here for me."
530
00:30:54,395 --> 00:30:55,938
He had that kind of ego
531
00:30:56,022 --> 00:30:58,524
that was necessary to be D.B. Cooper.
532
00:30:58,608 --> 00:31:01,736
I think D.B. is, like,
the coolest guy in America.
533
00:31:08,117 --> 00:31:09,118
[music stops]
534
00:31:16,125 --> 00:31:17,376
-[Colbert] Is it on?
-[man] Yeah.
535
00:31:17,460 --> 00:31:19,462
-Let me get focused.
-[Colbert] Perfect.
536
00:31:20,379 --> 00:31:23,049
When I realized
Dick Briggs could be Cooper,
537
00:31:23,132 --> 00:31:25,384
I started to document the investigation,
538
00:31:25,468 --> 00:31:28,346
so that I could eventually
sell it as a documentary.
539
00:31:30,097 --> 00:31:33,434
When Rich brought me
this drug trafficker, Ron Carlson,
540
00:31:33,517 --> 00:31:37,521
I did due diligence to make sure
he's telling the truth about Dick Briggs.
541
00:31:37,605 --> 00:31:41,400
We interviewed Ron Carlson three times,
once under a lie detector.
542
00:31:42,109 --> 00:31:43,986
Okay, I'm gonna turn the chair.
543
00:31:44,070 --> 00:31:47,365
[Colbert] We had FBI agent
Jack Trimarco do the test.
544
00:31:47,448 --> 00:31:49,533
[Trimarco]
I went to polygraph school
545
00:31:49,617 --> 00:31:52,328
at the Department of Defense
Polygraph Institute
546
00:31:52,411 --> 00:31:54,914
at Fort McClellan, Alabama.
547
00:31:54,997 --> 00:31:59,043
Jack Trimarco is the best of the best
when it comes to polygraph.
548
00:31:59,126 --> 00:32:02,463
He has administered over 3,500 polygraphs.
549
00:32:02,546 --> 00:32:04,590
[Trimarco]
I'll ask you to lean forward in the chair
550
00:32:04,674 --> 00:32:07,259
and put your arms out in front
like you're gonna dive into a pool.
551
00:32:07,343 --> 00:32:09,261
That's it.
This'll go around your midsection.
552
00:32:10,012 --> 00:32:12,807
Anything that's going on
that's physiological,
553
00:32:12,890 --> 00:32:16,060
that's an anomaly, is gonna come through
loud and clear to me.
554
00:32:16,143 --> 00:32:19,814
Meaning how the body changes
for those few precious seconds…
555
00:32:20,356 --> 00:32:23,484
when a person knows
that they're telling a lie.
556
00:32:24,151 --> 00:32:25,778
The test is about to begin.
557
00:32:29,115 --> 00:32:31,951
Did Dick Briggs ever tell you
that he was D.B. Cooper?
558
00:32:32,576 --> 00:32:33,411
Yes.
559
00:32:35,454 --> 00:32:36,622
[Trimarco]
For the question,
560
00:32:36,706 --> 00:32:39,875
"Were you told by Dick Briggs
that he was D.B. Cooper?"
561
00:32:39,959 --> 00:32:42,169
he did very well on that issue.
562
00:32:44,046 --> 00:32:46,549
Have you ever lied to an authority figure?
563
00:32:47,133 --> 00:32:47,967
No.
564
00:32:48,926 --> 00:32:51,721
[Colbert]
After the lie detector test, I told Rich,
565
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:54,056
"I think he's telling the truth."
566
00:32:54,724 --> 00:33:00,271
So then we started doing the research
to see if Dick Briggs was D.B. Cooper.
567
00:33:00,354 --> 00:33:03,983
[man] D.B. Cooper was
a Walter Mitty kind of man.
568
00:33:04,066 --> 00:33:07,903
Ever since boyhood,
he had bolstered his self-confidence
569
00:33:07,987 --> 00:33:13,909
by fantasizing wild adventures
in which he, of course, was the hero.
570
00:33:13,993 --> 00:33:15,995
[mysterious music playing]
571
00:33:18,789 --> 00:33:22,752
[Colbert] One day, we found out
that Dick Briggs died mysteriously.
572
00:33:23,252 --> 00:33:25,129
His friends think he was murdered.
573
00:33:25,212 --> 00:33:28,257
It was a one-car accident
in the middle of nowhere in Portland.
574
00:33:31,218 --> 00:33:33,929
Before this, he talked about Vietnam.
575
00:33:35,347 --> 00:33:38,225
But that's where his story
had a real problem.
576
00:33:39,143 --> 00:33:41,437
I spent eight months on that thread.
577
00:33:42,730 --> 00:33:44,440
I actually believed he was Cooper.
578
00:33:45,566 --> 00:33:49,695
But then I find out he's never been
to Vietnam, can't parachute.
579
00:33:49,779 --> 00:33:53,365
He was a part-time weekend warrior
for the Air Force,
580
00:33:53,449 --> 00:33:54,992
so he didn't have to go to Vietnam.
581
00:33:55,868 --> 00:33:56,869
Right at that point,
582
00:33:56,952 --> 00:34:00,289
I'm looking at this man and thinking,
"I got the wrong guy."
583
00:34:00,372 --> 00:34:02,625
[news anchor]
Here are the facts as we know them.
584
00:34:02,708 --> 00:34:05,127
Cooper was a tall, dark man.
585
00:34:05,628 --> 00:34:12,301
Dick Briggs was a short, stocky,
just gigantic, muscular man.
586
00:34:13,636 --> 00:34:15,096
[Kashanski]
Briggs wasn't the guy.
587
00:34:15,930 --> 00:34:20,101
He was just some braggart
saying, "I'm D.B. Cooper," you know?
588
00:34:20,768 --> 00:34:23,395
We were thinking, "Hey, this is over."
589
00:34:25,064 --> 00:34:26,649
[Colbert]
Ron Carlson felt terrible,
590
00:34:27,441 --> 00:34:30,152
'cause for 40 years,
he was told this man was Cooper.
591
00:34:30,236 --> 00:34:31,362
Didn't even look like him,
592
00:34:31,445 --> 00:34:33,447
but he believed him
because he had the money found.
593
00:34:34,406 --> 00:34:37,535
You know, the twists and turns
of this whole thing has, uh,
594
00:34:37,618 --> 00:34:40,162
changed my opinion
about almost everything.
595
00:34:40,746 --> 00:34:43,124
So, I guess nothing will surprise me.
596
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:52,091
All who look for Cooper experience
something called the Cooper curse.
597
00:34:52,591 --> 00:34:56,303
We don't know who he is or was,
where he came from or where he went.
598
00:34:58,222 --> 00:35:00,015
[Gray]
This case is booby-trapped.
599
00:35:00,099 --> 00:35:03,519
Just as you get close to really thinking
you know who the hijacker is,
600
00:35:03,602 --> 00:35:06,897
something comes along the way
and shows you that it's wrong.
601
00:35:06,981 --> 00:35:11,193
This one is not solved,
and we're still after D.B. Cooper.
602
00:35:11,902 --> 00:35:15,573
[reporter] We may never know
what happened to D.B. Cooper or who he is,
603
00:35:15,656 --> 00:35:18,617
but the allure
of the unsolved mystery endures.
604
00:35:18,701 --> 00:35:21,537
[Gray] When I started the case,
I thought I could solve it too.
605
00:35:21,620 --> 00:35:22,997
I thought I could solve this case.
606
00:35:27,251 --> 00:35:28,919
[distant police siren]
607
00:35:29,003 --> 00:35:33,132
At the time, I was working as a reporter
and writer in southern Manhattan.
608
00:35:33,841 --> 00:35:35,134
I was covering crime.
609
00:35:36,886 --> 00:35:39,763
One of the things I love
about being an investigative reporter
610
00:35:39,847 --> 00:35:41,807
is taking on the hard cases.
611
00:35:41,891 --> 00:35:44,143
You know, the stuff that is just
impossible to solve.
612
00:35:44,768 --> 00:35:47,855
And when I first got a tip
about D.B. Cooper,
613
00:35:47,938 --> 00:35:49,231
I knew that he was mine.
614
00:35:51,275 --> 00:35:52,359
I had to go after him.
615
00:35:53,527 --> 00:35:56,238
I wrote a book about the case,
my first book.
616
00:35:56,322 --> 00:35:58,324
I thought, "If I solve the case, oh,
617
00:35:58,407 --> 00:36:02,077
the Pulitzer Prizes and all the rewards
that would come in."
618
00:36:06,040 --> 00:36:10,878
Random House Audio presents
Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper
619
00:36:11,503 --> 00:36:12,546
by Geoffrey Gray.
620
00:36:13,422 --> 00:36:14,840
This is Geoffrey Gray.
621
00:36:15,424 --> 00:36:16,967
It took me over four years,
622
00:36:17,051 --> 00:36:18,802
and I'm here to tell you
the curse is real.
623
00:36:21,180 --> 00:36:22,848
[Gray's voice] Over the decades,
624
00:36:22,932 --> 00:36:26,894
some suspects disappeared,
some suspects faked their own deaths.
625
00:36:26,977 --> 00:36:29,480
One man nearly died
in a custom-built submarine,
626
00:36:29,563 --> 00:36:31,732
scanning the bottom of a lake
for the hijacker's ransom.
627
00:36:33,567 --> 00:36:36,695
One renowned reporter attempted suicide
after his suspect
628
00:36:36,779 --> 00:36:38,364
was proven to be a fraud.
629
00:36:42,701 --> 00:36:45,371
Only a steady program
of electroshock treatment
630
00:36:45,454 --> 00:36:47,373
jolted him back into coherency.
631
00:36:48,207 --> 00:36:49,375
[Gray] I started to see
632
00:36:49,458 --> 00:36:51,460
that the Cooper case
was not about Cooper himself,
633
00:36:51,543 --> 00:36:53,045
but about the people chasing Cooper.
634
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:59,051
People like Tom Colbert
and others, and people like me.
635
00:36:59,635 --> 00:37:00,970
Can't help but admire this guy.
636
00:37:02,388 --> 00:37:06,058
[Gray] Psychologically, this case
takes you into the dark divide.
637
00:37:07,184 --> 00:37:10,604
This is a case that questions
who you are and what you believe,
638
00:37:10,688 --> 00:37:13,107
what you want to believe,
and what really happened.
639
00:37:15,276 --> 00:37:17,987
The only one more famous
in the world than D.B. Cooper
640
00:37:18,070 --> 00:37:19,405
is the person who finds him.
641
00:37:22,157 --> 00:37:24,827
I came to a point
where I had four suspects,
642
00:37:24,910 --> 00:37:27,246
and I actually thought
that they were all D.B. Cooper.
643
00:37:27,913 --> 00:37:30,499
I pulled myself back, and I was like,
"Why have I gone to this point
644
00:37:30,582 --> 00:37:32,626
where I believe that four people
are the same guy?"
645
00:37:33,544 --> 00:37:36,547
That's the thing, you know,
it's gold fever, in a way.
646
00:37:36,630 --> 00:37:39,758
You so want to prove
that your suspect is the one
647
00:37:39,842 --> 00:37:42,928
that your belief systems
take over your logic.
648
00:37:43,012 --> 00:37:46,557
Four people can't be him,
and some things just can't be true.
649
00:37:53,897 --> 00:37:55,357
[Colbert]
Okay, we're back here.
650
00:37:56,275 --> 00:37:57,735
Wait a minute,
we got the train again.
651
00:37:58,402 --> 00:37:59,278
Hang on. Sorry.
652
00:38:01,030 --> 00:38:04,408
When we finally figured out
Dick Briggs was not D.B. Cooper,
653
00:38:04,491 --> 00:38:06,827
I said, "Could he have had a partner?"
654
00:38:06,910 --> 00:38:10,331
Tom's tenacity is amazing.
I mean, he just won't give up.
655
00:38:10,414 --> 00:38:13,292
You know, when he sees a dead end,
I'm going, "Okay, that's it,"
656
00:38:13,375 --> 00:38:14,793
he just keeps on going.
657
00:38:16,545 --> 00:38:17,880
[Colbert] I make a decision.
658
00:38:17,963 --> 00:38:19,965
I'm going to call
the police department in Portland,
659
00:38:20,049 --> 00:38:22,051
and I'm gonna find some old narcs.
660
00:38:22,718 --> 00:38:26,513
And so I call and I said, "You got a narc
that remembers a guy named Dick Briggs?"
661
00:38:27,556 --> 00:38:28,807
And sure enough, a week later,
662
00:38:28,891 --> 00:38:31,393
I get an 80-some-odd-year-old guy
who's still alive.
663
00:38:31,977 --> 00:38:36,106
They give me a half-dozen to a dozen
neighborhood friends of Dick Briggs.
664
00:38:36,690 --> 00:38:39,485
I started peeling them back,
going one by one,
665
00:38:39,568 --> 00:38:41,111
and hearing stories about him.
666
00:38:41,195 --> 00:38:44,448
And the last guy I decide to call
is the one that scares me…
667
00:38:45,199 --> 00:38:46,992
by the name of Pudgy Hunt.
668
00:38:47,076 --> 00:38:48,744
I've watched too many cowboy movies
669
00:38:48,827 --> 00:38:50,954
with a guy named Pudgy,
pulls out a sawed-off shotgun.
670
00:38:51,038 --> 00:38:51,872
[laughs]
671
00:38:54,375 --> 00:38:56,168
[interviewer]
Why do they call you Pudgy?
672
00:38:56,251 --> 00:38:57,753
[Pudgy] When I was nine months old,
673
00:38:57,836 --> 00:39:01,048
I weighed 36 pounds, I believe.
674
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,510
[interviewer]
Tell us about Briggs' friend.
675
00:39:05,094 --> 00:39:08,305
[Pudgy] One time, Dick Briggs
introduced a friend of his.
676
00:39:08,389 --> 00:39:13,519
And this guy pulled out some clippings
from the local newspapers…
677
00:39:15,062 --> 00:39:19,817
talking about him being a Green Beret
and a medal winner in the service.
678
00:39:21,318 --> 00:39:23,362
[Colbert] That's when I found out
Dick Briggs' partner
679
00:39:23,445 --> 00:39:25,322
was a guy named Robert Rackstraw.
680
00:39:26,365 --> 00:39:28,075
And that changed everything.
681
00:39:33,622 --> 00:39:36,291
[Kashanski] We compared a picture
of Rackstraw at that age
682
00:39:36,375 --> 00:39:38,919
with the police drawing of D.B. Cooper.
683
00:39:41,171 --> 00:39:44,550
And Rackstraw's picture
was almost identical.
684
00:39:47,845 --> 00:39:50,389
[reporter] You have parachute training,
as you mentioned yourself.
685
00:39:50,472 --> 00:39:54,810
Your background suggests
that you could have been D.B. Cooper.
686
00:39:55,394 --> 00:39:57,771
Could have been. Could have been.
687
00:39:59,773 --> 00:40:02,109
This man has the skill set.
688
00:40:02,192 --> 00:40:05,112
At that point, I knew we had D.B. Cooper.
689
00:40:06,405 --> 00:40:08,157
And I said, "Thank you, Jesus."
690
00:40:09,074 --> 00:40:13,704
With Rackstraw, I believe
we have cracked a 50-year-old case.
691
00:40:13,787 --> 00:40:16,832
I mean, there's a lot
of little God miracles going on here,
692
00:40:16,915 --> 00:40:19,710
where I'm whacked on the head,
"Oh my God, how did I find that?"
693
00:40:19,793 --> 00:40:21,837
Are you willing to state
one way or the other
694
00:40:21,920 --> 00:40:23,797
whether or not you're D.B. Cooper?
695
00:40:24,339 --> 00:40:25,507
With a story like that,
696
00:40:25,591 --> 00:40:27,301
should it be fiction
or should it be fact?
697
00:40:28,469 --> 00:40:32,097
Primarily up to the American people
someday how that comes out.
698
00:40:33,307 --> 00:40:36,101
[Colbert]
Once my team began researching Rackstraw,
699
00:40:36,185 --> 00:40:40,230
they started to find out what he was doing
when he wasn't jumping from a plane.
700
00:40:44,985 --> 00:40:48,447
He had all these fake identities,
multiple criminal titles.
701
00:40:49,114 --> 00:40:50,657
The guy is off the scale.
702
00:40:51,366 --> 00:40:53,577
You won't believe how crazy it gets.
703
00:40:53,660 --> 00:40:55,287
[reporter]
Are you D.B. Cooper?
704
00:40:55,370 --> 00:40:57,498
I can't talk about things like that.
705
00:40:58,081 --> 00:41:00,042
I can't talk about
any of that sort of thing.
706
00:41:04,505 --> 00:41:06,507
[dramatic music playing]