1
00:00:15,475 --> 00:00:17,560
We all have this desire to be free,
2
00:00:17,643 --> 00:00:21,022
but there's one force
that keeps us trapped all our lives,
3
00:00:21,105 --> 00:00:22,231
and that's gravity.
4
00:00:24,067 --> 00:00:27,153
D.B. Cooper did something
that all of us sort of yearn to do,
5
00:00:27,236 --> 00:00:28,488
even though we don't know it…
6
00:00:30,031 --> 00:00:31,616
and that is to become an individual.
7
00:00:33,618 --> 00:00:35,578
To stand up against gravity,
8
00:00:36,454 --> 00:00:38,247
against the system.
9
00:00:40,541 --> 00:00:43,419
It's the classic American mystery story,
10
00:00:43,503 --> 00:00:46,005
that we're still watching 50 years later.
11
00:00:46,089 --> 00:00:49,926
And yet, there are elements of it
out there that anybody with a laptop
12
00:00:50,009 --> 00:00:53,387
can look into and feel like
they're investigating now.
13
00:00:55,264 --> 00:00:58,893
In that way, it's a great mystery
for the Internet age.
14
00:01:01,437 --> 00:01:03,481
It's beautiful in its purity.
15
00:01:06,567 --> 00:01:08,736
I call it the James Bond component.
16
00:01:08,820 --> 00:01:12,156
The dapper gentleman
who shows up with the suit, the tie,
17
00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,243
orders the bourbon seven,
and jumps out of a damn jet
18
00:01:15,326 --> 00:01:18,454
in the middle of the night.
There's something badass about that.
19
00:01:19,956 --> 00:01:22,875
He never hurt anybody.
He let everybody off the plane.
20
00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,546
He got the $200,000, and he… jumped out.
21
00:01:26,629 --> 00:01:27,755
In a storm.
22
00:01:29,173 --> 00:01:31,801
And he got away with it.
Pretty slick, ain't he?
23
00:01:33,177 --> 00:01:36,305
Cooper satisfied
a lot of people's inner wish
24
00:01:36,848 --> 00:01:39,767
to get $200,000 and disappear.
25
00:01:40,852 --> 00:01:43,146
I think the case will live forever.
26
00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,946
This investigation was a difficult period.
27
00:02:34,030 --> 00:02:35,990
We spent a lot of our own money,
28
00:02:36,073 --> 00:02:40,494
and I spent five years tightening it up
and selling it to History Channel.
29
00:02:40,578 --> 00:02:42,538
It was quite a journey
to get to that point.
30
00:02:44,457 --> 00:02:48,336
It was an exciting moment
when Tom finally sold it to History,
31
00:02:48,419 --> 00:02:52,089
because there's just so much money
you can pour into a project
32
00:02:52,173 --> 00:02:54,175
without anything coming back.
33
00:02:55,593 --> 00:02:59,722
The History Channel wanted Tom and I
to be a part of the storytelling.
34
00:03:01,474 --> 00:03:03,100
Okay, convince us.
35
00:03:03,184 --> 00:03:04,769
-Let's go for it.
-All right.
36
00:03:08,064 --> 00:03:12,777
We would present this case,
and try to convince Tom Fuentes,
37
00:03:12,860 --> 00:03:15,154
longtime FBI executive,
38
00:03:15,238 --> 00:03:16,113
now retired,
39
00:03:16,864 --> 00:03:18,449
and a crime writer.
40
00:03:22,078 --> 00:03:25,998
Tom Fuentes gave a phenomenal
description of our case, saying,
41
00:03:26,082 --> 00:03:30,002
"This is fantastic.
It's probably him. It's nine out of ten."
42
00:03:39,095 --> 00:03:40,554
But within six months,
43
00:03:41,305 --> 00:03:42,556
everything changed.
44
00:03:44,016 --> 00:03:47,144
I thought all the evidence
that they were uncovering
45
00:03:47,228 --> 00:03:49,563
in the History Channel
was pretty compelling,
46
00:03:49,647 --> 00:03:51,274
but talking to Tom,
47
00:03:51,357 --> 00:03:55,361
I think he was told one thing
about what they were going to do,
48
00:03:55,444 --> 00:03:57,530
and then it went
into a different direction.
49
00:03:57,613 --> 00:03:59,657
We're here to bring you up to date
50
00:03:59,740 --> 00:04:03,369
on some of the latest work
that we've done in this case.
51
00:04:05,454 --> 00:04:06,747
We were bushwhacked.
52
00:04:09,083 --> 00:04:12,712
In the second episode, the FBI arranged
53
00:04:12,795 --> 00:04:14,880
for the key flight attendant
54
00:04:15,673 --> 00:04:18,884
to come and view, on-camera,
55
00:04:18,968 --> 00:04:23,597
a photo array
of potential D.B. Cooper suspects.
56
00:04:24,181 --> 00:04:26,434
I remember going, "This is weird."
57
00:04:26,517 --> 00:04:31,439
This woman had not given
an interview for ever.
58
00:04:34,567 --> 00:04:37,611
Does he look like this could be
the guy you were sitting next to?
59
00:04:37,695 --> 00:04:38,988
No, I don't think so.
60
00:04:39,822 --> 00:04:40,823
I don't think so.
61
00:04:40,906 --> 00:04:42,700
In the end of the episode,
62
00:04:42,783 --> 00:04:46,954
she looks at the photo array
with the FBI and Fuentes there.
63
00:04:47,038 --> 00:04:48,664
And she crushes it.
64
00:04:48,748 --> 00:04:51,542
Crushes the entire theory of the case.
65
00:04:52,668 --> 00:04:57,506
When that happened,
I could feel the deflation to my right.
66
00:04:58,632 --> 00:05:01,886
Eyewitnesses, as we know,
are really unreliable.
67
00:05:01,969 --> 00:05:03,637
And 40-plus years later,
68
00:05:03,721 --> 00:05:07,683
and not seeing him
as she saw him there on the plane,
69
00:05:07,767 --> 00:05:09,769
I never expected her to say yes.
70
00:05:09,852 --> 00:05:12,521
And if she did,
I would have been blown away, frankly.
71
00:05:13,439 --> 00:05:15,274
Trial attorneys will tell you that
72
00:05:15,358 --> 00:05:17,151
when you have an actual witness
73
00:05:17,735 --> 00:05:20,154
they're maybe 50% accurate at best.
74
00:05:20,237 --> 00:05:22,573
You know, four people can see an incident
75
00:05:22,656 --> 00:05:25,701
and every one of them
will describe it differently.
76
00:05:25,785 --> 00:05:27,745
And it's not just their perceptions
77
00:05:27,828 --> 00:05:28,996
that they're reporting.
78
00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:30,581
It's also their biases.
79
00:05:30,664 --> 00:05:33,250
I am convinced Rackstraw is not Cooper.
80
00:05:34,794 --> 00:05:39,090
For the History Channel documentary,
we had 93 pieces of evidence.
81
00:05:39,173 --> 00:05:41,133
We had cracked codes,
82
00:05:41,217 --> 00:05:44,845
we had witnesses,
we even had the perfect skill sets.
83
00:05:44,929 --> 00:05:47,306
We thought they were
all really convincing.
84
00:05:47,390 --> 00:05:52,228
Are one of those 93 pieces
of evidence money or the parachute?
85
00:05:52,812 --> 00:05:56,148
No, Billy, we know that's not in there.
This is circumstantial.
86
00:05:56,732 --> 00:05:58,818
Of the 93 pieces of information,
87
00:05:58,901 --> 00:06:01,695
there's nothing in here
that puts him on the plane.
88
00:06:01,779 --> 00:06:05,032
There's nothing in here that even puts him
in Portland that day.
89
00:06:05,116 --> 00:06:09,745
Regardless of where you want to fall,
"Is Rackstraw D.B. Cooper or not?",
90
00:06:10,246 --> 00:06:14,667
this is a disingenuous, unfair portrayal
91
00:06:15,167 --> 00:06:17,086
of what the evidence is.
92
00:06:17,169 --> 00:06:20,464
And that was just infuriating me
at the time.
93
00:06:20,548 --> 00:06:21,715
And still does.
94
00:06:24,218 --> 00:06:27,138
I'll never forget,
the director said to me,
95
00:06:27,221 --> 00:06:29,557
"Don't you owe
an apology to Rackstraw now?"
96
00:06:31,767 --> 00:06:35,813
I said, "I have nothing to apologize for,
and I stand with my team."
97
00:06:36,981 --> 00:06:41,944
Tom was being set up as one
of the conspiracy nuts that are out there,
98
00:06:42,027 --> 00:06:46,031
instead of the methodical investigator
that he had been his entire life.
99
00:06:46,991 --> 00:06:50,494
I just felt bad for Tom
because he had done years of work
100
00:06:50,578 --> 00:06:51,745
in a legitimate way.
101
00:06:51,829 --> 00:06:55,624
And to be discredited like he was,
wasn't good for his reputation.
102
00:06:55,708 --> 00:06:57,960
Not only that, it was just wrong.
103
00:07:00,588 --> 00:07:02,173
-How are you doing?
-I'm doing fine.
104
00:07:02,256 --> 00:07:05,634
My conclusion was…
I believe Tom asked me this on camera.
105
00:07:06,385 --> 00:07:07,887
He said, "So you don't think it's him?"
106
00:07:09,180 --> 00:07:11,098
I said, "No, I don't."
107
00:07:11,182 --> 00:07:14,602
'Cause they have access
and information within the FBI
108
00:07:14,685 --> 00:07:15,561
that we don't.
109
00:07:16,270 --> 00:07:17,271
It's that simple.
110
00:07:19,565 --> 00:07:20,691
Tom and I,
111
00:07:20,774 --> 00:07:23,819
um, we didn't really communicate
after that.
112
00:07:27,364 --> 00:07:31,327
At the very end of the documentary,
they slam the door on him.
113
00:07:32,328 --> 00:07:33,579
They shut the case down.
114
00:07:38,876 --> 00:07:40,461
Following one of the longest
115
00:07:40,544 --> 00:07:42,838
and most exhaustive investigations
in our history,
116
00:07:42,922 --> 00:07:45,382
the FBI will be redirecting resources
117
00:07:45,466 --> 00:07:48,427
allocated to the 45-year-old
D.B. Cooper case.
118
00:07:48,511 --> 00:07:51,388
It was the same week
that the documentary aired,
119
00:07:51,472 --> 00:07:53,265
the FBI closed the case.
120
00:07:53,349 --> 00:07:54,850
So is this case closed?
121
00:07:56,310 --> 00:07:57,811
Administratively, yes.
122
00:07:58,395 --> 00:08:01,232
In my view,
the FBI colluded with the show.
123
00:08:01,815 --> 00:08:05,945
And the day after it broadcast,
there's the FBI at the microphone, saying…
124
00:08:06,028 --> 00:08:08,739
Everything that has come in,
we've taken a look at it.
125
00:08:08,822 --> 00:08:12,618
"We looked at Colbert's information
and there was nothing new."
126
00:08:13,202 --> 00:08:14,870
There isn't anything new out there.
127
00:08:31,053 --> 00:08:33,847
Did he get away with it?
Did he die trying?
128
00:08:33,931 --> 00:08:37,101
It's now safe to say
we'll probably never know.
129
00:08:39,395 --> 00:08:42,815
After 45 years,
why did they close the case?
130
00:08:43,566 --> 00:08:45,234
Ha! That's a good question.
131
00:08:47,319 --> 00:08:48,779
I can't give you that answer.
132
00:08:49,613 --> 00:08:53,492
There's clearly something fishy going on.
133
00:08:54,827 --> 00:08:56,870
Yeah, and I don't have
a fishing pole either.
134
00:08:59,248 --> 00:09:02,209
When somebody tells you,
"There's nothing you can do,"
135
00:09:02,293 --> 00:09:03,294
that is just…
136
00:09:03,919 --> 00:09:06,839
That's what's motivating
everyone on this team.
137
00:09:06,922 --> 00:09:09,216
I want to talk about the stonewalling,
138
00:09:09,758 --> 00:09:13,262
the disinformation,
the lies that have come out
139
00:09:13,762 --> 00:09:16,682
to stumble this investigation
after seven years.
140
00:09:18,434 --> 00:09:22,354
Colbert's group should start
accepting what the evidence shows,
141
00:09:22,438 --> 00:09:25,774
all of which indicates that Rackstraw
was not D.B. Cooper.
142
00:09:26,984 --> 00:09:30,863
For the one thing,
all the witnesses that saw D.B. Cooper
143
00:09:30,946 --> 00:09:32,865
said he looked in his mid-40s.
144
00:09:33,365 --> 00:09:36,327
But Robert Rackstraw was
only 28 years of age
145
00:09:36,410 --> 00:09:39,163
at the time of the skyjacking,
which is a very big problem.
146
00:09:39,246 --> 00:09:42,833
With Colbert's group,
instead of accepting reality,
147
00:09:42,916 --> 00:09:45,794
it's easier to head down a certain path
148
00:09:45,878 --> 00:09:49,632
which implicates the FBI and others
in some grand conspiracy.
149
00:09:49,715 --> 00:09:52,092
Because there has to be an explanation
150
00:09:52,176 --> 00:09:55,179
for why they haven't been able
to pin it on Rackstraw,
151
00:09:56,305 --> 00:09:59,892
and the explanation
has to be conspiratorial in nature.
152
00:10:00,976 --> 00:10:04,355
We're not here to question those
that keep us safe in the shadows,
153
00:10:04,438 --> 00:10:08,484
but we're here to question ones
that have multiple identities,
154
00:10:09,026 --> 00:10:10,653
various criminal titles,
155
00:10:11,362 --> 00:10:14,490
and when they're arrested,
he has a get-out-of-jail card
156
00:10:14,573 --> 00:10:16,200
because he was a CIA pilot.
157
00:10:20,663 --> 00:10:24,166
The story was that Rackstraw
worked for the CIA.
158
00:10:24,249 --> 00:10:28,879
And because of the things
that he did for the CIA,
159
00:10:28,962 --> 00:10:32,091
they did not want
that information to come out.
160
00:10:32,174 --> 00:10:36,136
So they cut a deal
with the FBI to give him a pass.
161
00:10:36,220 --> 00:10:37,930
That's the rumor I had.
162
00:10:38,013 --> 00:10:40,891
I got nothing for facts on that.
163
00:10:40,974 --> 00:10:44,353
FBI would just pounce
on everybody about things like that.
164
00:10:44,436 --> 00:10:48,357
When I saw that Rackstraw interview,
he talked like a Navy SEAL.
165
00:10:49,191 --> 00:10:52,820
Specialist in underwater explosives,
demolitions, underwater operations.
166
00:10:52,903 --> 00:10:54,071
Air, sea, land.
167
00:10:54,863 --> 00:10:57,116
He'd talk like a ex-military guy.
168
00:10:57,199 --> 00:10:59,451
He didn't talk like a CIA guy.
169
00:10:59,535 --> 00:11:01,787
A CIA guy with those experiences
170
00:11:01,870 --> 00:11:04,373
wouldn't just spill them
out to you anyway.
171
00:11:04,456 --> 00:11:06,792
I mean, we don't spill out stuff.
172
00:11:08,627 --> 00:11:10,504
I said, "If the FBI's turning us down,
173
00:11:10,587 --> 00:11:11,839
I'm gonna call the team."
174
00:11:11,922 --> 00:11:15,801
We're thinking, "Why are you hiding this?"
We didn't know about the CIA.
175
00:11:17,636 --> 00:11:19,430
Stop. Stop. Stop.
176
00:11:20,889 --> 00:11:23,350
The FBI and the CIA
are covering it all up?
177
00:11:23,434 --> 00:11:25,310
Would you stop with this?
178
00:11:25,394 --> 00:11:28,814
If the FBI and the CIA and space aliens
179
00:11:28,897 --> 00:11:31,692
went in together and cover up something,
180
00:11:31,775 --> 00:11:36,321
do you think they'd really cover up
something as fundamentally inconsequential
181
00:11:36,989 --> 00:11:39,908
as a hijacking in the Pacific Northwest
182
00:11:39,992 --> 00:11:41,618
in 1971
183
00:11:42,119 --> 00:11:46,498
that didn't even raise enough money
for you to buy an Arby's franchise?
184
00:11:51,962 --> 00:11:52,838
$2.99?
185
00:11:52,921 --> 00:11:56,800
I got nothing against conspiracy theories.
They're fine for crazy people.
186
00:11:56,884 --> 00:12:02,639
But the idea that these are people
who just deny provable facts
187
00:12:02,723 --> 00:12:06,351
that are right in front of us,
just… It drives me crazy.
188
00:12:08,228 --> 00:12:09,980
NBC Sports presents…
189
00:12:12,232 --> 00:12:14,443
the 1970 Rose Bowl Game.
190
00:12:16,111 --> 00:12:18,530
I know that people think I could be crazy,
191
00:12:19,281 --> 00:12:22,201
but to understand how I tick,
192
00:12:22,284 --> 00:12:25,329
you have to go back to January of '70.
193
00:12:25,412 --> 00:12:26,955
I was watching the Rose Bowl,
194
00:12:27,790 --> 00:12:31,043
and, suddenly,
something was happening to me.
195
00:12:31,710 --> 00:12:33,587
My eyes are going on and off.
196
00:12:33,670 --> 00:12:35,422
Going in is Mike Oldham.
197
00:12:35,506 --> 00:12:36,507
Third and eight.
198
00:12:40,886 --> 00:12:43,013
Heavy gonging in my head.
199
00:12:43,096 --> 00:12:46,767
And my dad, who's an MD,
psychiatrist, and my mom said,
200
00:12:46,850 --> 00:12:49,102
"We're gonna take you
to St. John's in Santa Monica."
201
00:12:50,479 --> 00:12:53,190
And in the elevator, I fell into a coma.
202
00:12:55,943 --> 00:12:59,488
The doctors gave me a death sentence.
They said, "There's nothing we can do."
203
00:13:00,072 --> 00:13:01,532
Mom went out and got a black dress.
204
00:13:04,409 --> 00:13:06,495
And then suddenly my eyes opened.
205
00:13:09,289 --> 00:13:11,416
They said, "We don't know
why you're here."
206
00:13:11,500 --> 00:13:13,710
And moments later,
207
00:13:13,794 --> 00:13:17,923
Dad came back and said,
"You need to find out why you're here."
208
00:13:18,423 --> 00:13:22,386
We're a very spiritual family,
and that was quite a marching order.
209
00:13:23,554 --> 00:13:24,888
I was 11 years old,
210
00:13:25,597 --> 00:13:28,976
and I had to learn to walk and talk
and read all over again.
211
00:13:30,269 --> 00:13:32,855
The thing that saved me was newspapers.
212
00:13:32,938 --> 00:13:34,606
Dad was always at the table,
213
00:13:34,690 --> 00:13:36,859
looking at the headlines.
We all remember that.
214
00:13:37,943 --> 00:13:40,779
It was basically because
of those newspapers every day,
215
00:13:40,863 --> 00:13:44,157
I went into news, I went to CBS,
I went to Paramount.
216
00:13:44,241 --> 00:13:47,286
Ever since that day,
my folks were over me, saying,
217
00:13:47,369 --> 00:13:50,080
"You gotta find out why."
This is why I'm here.
218
00:13:50,664 --> 00:13:51,915
And so on History,
219
00:13:51,999 --> 00:13:53,667
when they came back and told us…
220
00:13:53,750 --> 00:13:56,044
There is no possibility
of getting a conviction,
221
00:13:56,128 --> 00:13:58,422
when the best witness says, "Not him."
222
00:13:59,006 --> 00:14:01,425
"…it's not him.
We're not gonna look at the case."
223
00:14:01,508 --> 00:14:05,512
"We're moving the file
to the Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse."
224
00:14:07,139 --> 00:14:08,307
"And it's over."
225
00:14:09,016 --> 00:14:12,185
It made us steadfast that,
"We know who the enemy is now."
226
00:14:12,686 --> 00:14:15,022
So right after the first documentary,
227
00:14:15,105 --> 00:14:17,316
we got an attorney in DC to sue.
228
00:14:21,737 --> 00:14:24,990
A lawsuit that's now being filed in DC
229
00:14:25,073 --> 00:14:28,744
says the D.B. Cooper case is not unsolved.
230
00:14:33,081 --> 00:14:35,709
Tom Colbert, he and his attorney
231
00:14:35,792 --> 00:14:38,545
have made a significant contribution
232
00:14:38,629 --> 00:14:40,672
by suing the FBI.
233
00:14:40,756 --> 00:14:43,508
The lawsuit compels the FBI
234
00:14:43,592 --> 00:14:46,678
to release its entire investigative file.
235
00:14:47,804 --> 00:14:49,389
It took a half year to sue.
236
00:14:49,473 --> 00:14:52,184
The judge agreed with us.
We got the full file.
237
00:14:53,268 --> 00:14:56,605
We've been getting monthly releases
from the FBI
238
00:14:56,688 --> 00:15:00,359
of at least 500 pages of new information
239
00:15:00,442 --> 00:15:03,487
that people have never seen
outside of the FBI.
240
00:15:05,781 --> 00:15:09,618
When Tom Colbert opened up
all that FBI data,
241
00:15:09,701 --> 00:15:12,788
I ended up reading
about 25,000 pages worth
242
00:15:12,871 --> 00:15:15,666
of original FBI files,
with respect to the case,
243
00:15:15,749 --> 00:15:17,834
learned information about the tie,
244
00:15:17,918 --> 00:15:19,795
learned information
about the cigarette butts,
245
00:15:19,878 --> 00:15:21,463
what happened to that stuff.
246
00:15:22,297 --> 00:15:24,424
It's like a document blizzard.
247
00:15:24,508 --> 00:15:26,510
Some of it's newspaper clippings.
248
00:15:27,094 --> 00:15:29,096
Some of it is interoffice memos.
249
00:15:29,179 --> 00:15:32,808
Some of it's letters
to the FBI or from the FBI.
250
00:15:33,809 --> 00:15:37,813
There were a few diamonds in there,
and the diamonds primarily revolved
251
00:15:37,896 --> 00:15:41,775
around the witness testimony
from the flight attendants and others.
252
00:15:41,858 --> 00:15:45,070
And some of the actual analysis
that the FBI had done
253
00:15:45,153 --> 00:15:47,614
in terms of specific suspects and things,
254
00:15:47,698 --> 00:15:51,743
which actually provided
an awful lot of valuable information
255
00:15:51,827 --> 00:15:53,412
and insight and so forth.
256
00:15:54,413 --> 00:15:56,206
That's really kind of how
I got sucked into it,
257
00:15:56,289 --> 00:15:59,126
you know, having it get kicked
to the next level
258
00:15:59,209 --> 00:16:00,752
as far as interest.
259
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,009
The FBI couldn't crack the case,
but now scientists think
260
00:16:07,092 --> 00:16:09,219
they've narrowed
the search for the suspect
261
00:16:09,302 --> 00:16:12,055
with evidence found in his necktie.
262
00:16:12,723 --> 00:16:16,435
A group of scientists
calling themselves amateur sleuths
263
00:16:16,518 --> 00:16:19,187
have identified
more than 100,000 particles
264
00:16:19,271 --> 00:16:21,273
of rare-earth elements…
265
00:16:21,356 --> 00:16:24,609
Names like strontium
and yttrium and cerium.
266
00:16:24,693 --> 00:16:26,987
…coating D.B. Cooper's tie.
267
00:16:27,487 --> 00:16:29,948
These days, when it comes to D.B. Cooper,
268
00:16:30,032 --> 00:16:33,160
a lot of good research
is being done by private citizens.
269
00:16:33,785 --> 00:16:38,123
There are a handful of people
that are in the orbit and contribute,
270
00:16:38,206 --> 00:16:42,544
you know, applying science to this,
combing through the FBI files,
271
00:16:43,128 --> 00:16:46,173
putting boots on the ground,
actually searching.
272
00:16:47,215 --> 00:16:48,091
You've got me.
273
00:16:48,592 --> 00:16:52,304
You've got Tom Kaye, who's the scientist.
274
00:16:52,387 --> 00:16:57,976
There's a gentleman
who goes by the name "Anonymous,"
275
00:16:58,060 --> 00:17:01,605
who put forward a suspect
called William J. Smith.
276
00:17:01,688 --> 00:17:04,232
There's another gentleman
named Marty Andrade,
277
00:17:04,316 --> 00:17:08,195
who has done some really solid research
on the survivability
278
00:17:08,278 --> 00:17:10,447
of jumping with a parachute.
279
00:17:11,323 --> 00:17:15,494
Probably the most enjoyable place
that the public can go to
280
00:17:15,577 --> 00:17:19,331
for D.B. Cooper
is the Cooper Vortex podcast.
281
00:17:19,831 --> 00:17:21,333
I think about, all the time,
282
00:17:21,416 --> 00:17:24,252
"What was it like
when his boots hit the ground?"
283
00:17:24,336 --> 00:17:27,422
"What did he see?
What were his first thoughts?"
284
00:17:27,506 --> 00:17:30,801
And the idea that I might never
get to know those answers
285
00:17:31,301 --> 00:17:32,427
drives me crazy.
286
00:17:33,220 --> 00:17:36,306
One of the biggest appeals
for the Cooper case to me
287
00:17:36,389 --> 00:17:38,683
is just that unsolved heist.
288
00:17:38,767 --> 00:17:41,228
Like, seeing myself in his shoes.
289
00:17:41,311 --> 00:17:46,399
Like, "I planned this and I executed it,
and I got away with it."
290
00:17:46,983 --> 00:17:49,319
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tom Colbert.
291
00:17:49,402 --> 00:17:51,530
And then you have Thomas Colbert,
292
00:17:51,613 --> 00:17:54,199
who is a strange character
in his own right.
293
00:17:55,075 --> 00:17:57,160
Tom Colbert's one of the heroes,
294
00:17:57,244 --> 00:18:00,413
in the sense
that he opened up all that FBI data,
295
00:18:00,497 --> 00:18:04,084
which is spectacular,
but then there's this other part
296
00:18:04,167 --> 00:18:06,336
where I just think
they've gone a little sideways.
297
00:18:09,047 --> 00:18:12,134
Tom is so convinced
and remains so convinced,
298
00:18:12,217 --> 00:18:14,261
which is something I respect.
299
00:18:15,512 --> 00:18:17,639
A problem with being that convinced
300
00:18:17,722 --> 00:18:20,350
is that there's the possibility
301
00:18:20,433 --> 00:18:23,728
that you turn every shred
of evidence in your favor.
302
00:18:23,812 --> 00:18:25,981
It is a smorgasbord of evidence.
303
00:18:26,565 --> 00:18:27,983
The Colbert story,
304
00:18:28,066 --> 00:18:31,027
I followed it closely,
like everything with D.B. Cooper.
305
00:18:31,111 --> 00:18:34,322
And when it first came out,
I thought it was really interesting.
306
00:18:34,406 --> 00:18:37,200
But Tom, I think, has transitioned more
307
00:18:37,284 --> 00:18:40,912
from proving his theory to selling it.
308
00:18:40,996 --> 00:18:42,622
Most people that I know
309
00:18:42,706 --> 00:18:45,667
think, basically, that Colbert's push
310
00:18:45,750 --> 00:18:49,796
to make the world think
that Robert Rackstraw is D.B. Cooper
311
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,091
is nothing but a Hollywood ploy
for fame and fortune.
312
00:18:53,592 --> 00:18:56,970
But Colbert has become
the underground conduit,
313
00:18:57,053 --> 00:18:59,306
the guy that a lot of things go to.
314
00:18:59,806 --> 00:19:02,017
And then in turn,
he gives them to Cooper people.
315
00:19:03,393 --> 00:19:04,936
I never was a Cooperite.
316
00:19:06,188 --> 00:19:09,733
I've never engaged the blogs.
They're on there arguing with each other.
317
00:19:09,816 --> 00:19:11,318
"It's my guy, your guy, this guy."
318
00:19:12,110 --> 00:19:13,111
They're obsessed.
319
00:19:14,196 --> 00:19:17,908
In the Cooper case,
the perfect storm was the Internet.
320
00:19:20,035 --> 00:19:23,330
A fragmented group of people had a means
321
00:19:23,413 --> 00:19:25,457
to communicate with each other.
322
00:19:26,625 --> 00:19:31,796
And like anything else,
you're full of facts being misrepresented,
323
00:19:32,297 --> 00:19:33,381
crazy theories.
324
00:19:33,965 --> 00:19:36,927
Inside job, black op situation.
325
00:19:37,469 --> 00:19:40,847
I don't know, D.B. Cooper was from Mars
and he got zapped up by a UFO.
326
00:19:40,931 --> 00:19:43,058
That's the direction it goes.
327
00:19:43,141 --> 00:19:48,855
We are in such
a conspiracy-driven modality right now.
328
00:19:49,731 --> 00:19:52,150
Trying to discern truth
329
00:19:52,234 --> 00:19:57,155
is now a major occupation
of the American public.
330
00:19:58,907 --> 00:20:04,621
And the Cooper case is
a tiny piece of that dynamic.
331
00:20:06,706 --> 00:20:10,502
On many of the Cooper forums,
as one hunter wrote to another,
332
00:20:10,585 --> 00:20:12,420
"You're seeing Jesus in the toast."
333
00:20:12,504 --> 00:20:15,590
Linda Lowe says
she's looking at an image of Jesus
334
00:20:15,674 --> 00:20:16,841
in melted cheese.
335
00:20:16,925 --> 00:20:21,763
It just… There's a sweetness
on this particular image
336
00:20:21,846 --> 00:20:25,558
that just makes me
want to smile when I look at it.
337
00:20:26,142 --> 00:20:28,770
In a way, everyone in this story
is seeing Jesus in the toast.
338
00:20:28,853 --> 00:20:31,731
We all see what we want to see.
We're projecting our selves.
339
00:20:31,815 --> 00:20:35,610
As humans, we look to make
connections between different things.
340
00:20:35,694 --> 00:20:39,823
And sometimes when things align,
we declare those connections truth.
341
00:20:40,490 --> 00:20:42,367
So whether it's Jesus in the toast,
342
00:20:42,450 --> 00:20:44,494
or your brother in Bing Crosby's face,
343
00:20:44,577 --> 00:20:45,829
that's what Cooper does.
344
00:20:45,912 --> 00:20:48,290
In the gaps and alleys
between information,
345
00:20:48,373 --> 00:20:50,375
the mind comes in and puts belief systems
346
00:20:50,458 --> 00:20:53,211
onto this information
and onto the suspects we want.
347
00:20:57,465 --> 00:20:59,843
In the online Cooper research community,
348
00:20:59,926 --> 00:21:02,512
most people have strongly held opinions.
349
00:21:04,723 --> 00:21:07,892
The environment online
can be a little toxic,
350
00:21:07,976 --> 00:21:11,062
and not particularly inviting
for new people to enter.
351
00:21:12,272 --> 00:21:15,567
You're getting hundreds of comments a day,
352
00:21:15,650 --> 00:21:18,278
and it got mean and angry real quick.
353
00:21:19,321 --> 00:21:23,241
I've been subjected to cyberattacks.
I had files stolen.
354
00:21:23,325 --> 00:21:26,828
It affected my computer.
Everything had to be cleaned out.
355
00:21:26,911 --> 00:21:28,204
And they were quite vicious.
356
00:21:28,288 --> 00:21:32,792
Some of them came, apparently,
from other D.B. Cooper investigators.
357
00:21:35,337 --> 00:21:38,548
I had someone post
on a picture of my family
358
00:21:38,631 --> 00:21:40,425
that my wife and kids were ugly.
359
00:21:40,508 --> 00:21:42,302
I mean, it just got wild,
360
00:21:42,385 --> 00:21:46,181
people trying to defend
the information that they had.
361
00:21:50,810 --> 00:21:52,312
My name is Tim Evans.
362
00:21:52,395 --> 00:21:54,773
I'm an investigative reporter
at the Indianapolis Star.
363
00:21:56,066 --> 00:22:00,236
In 2018, the newspaper got a call
from Tom Colbert pitching a story.
364
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:02,947
And somebody said,
"Well, that'd be a good story for Tim."
365
00:22:03,031 --> 00:22:04,491
And I got on the phone,
366
00:22:04,574 --> 00:22:07,327
and Tom was very eager
to get his story out.
367
00:22:07,410 --> 00:22:09,871
He was very confident
that he had a great story.
368
00:22:09,954 --> 00:22:12,791
He had a smooth demeanor,
complimenting me on my prior work.
369
00:22:12,874 --> 00:22:15,752
He'd done at least a little homework
and knew something I'd written before.
370
00:22:15,835 --> 00:22:18,880
Kind of schmoozing me a little bit,
drawing me in.
371
00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:22,801
Tom said, "You're the guy
I want to share the story with."
372
00:22:22,884 --> 00:22:26,346
Um, I know he went to other papers,
so I'm not sure how sincere that was,
373
00:22:26,429 --> 00:22:28,306
but he was active
in following up regularly.
374
00:22:28,390 --> 00:22:30,600
"Are you making progress?
Have you talked to so-and-so?"
375
00:22:30,683 --> 00:22:32,811
Much more aggressive and persistent
376
00:22:32,894 --> 00:22:34,729
than the typical source
that I would deal with.
377
00:22:34,813 --> 00:22:37,482
Most of the people I talk to,
I have to pry things out of them,
378
00:22:37,565 --> 00:22:39,818
and he was kind of like
drinking from a fire hose.
379
00:22:41,903 --> 00:22:44,489
Tom has a lot of energy toward the case,
380
00:22:44,572 --> 00:22:46,950
and he's got a lot invested.
381
00:22:47,575 --> 00:22:50,036
And he needs for it to turn out well.
382
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,207
Tom wanted to drive as much as he could
383
00:22:54,290 --> 00:22:55,667
how the story was going to be done,
384
00:22:55,750 --> 00:22:58,211
who I would talk to,
but that's not the way I work.
385
00:22:58,294 --> 00:23:01,256
You know, I appreciated his help
and in pointing me to sources,
386
00:23:01,339 --> 00:23:03,633
but I need to research and get my facts,
387
00:23:03,716 --> 00:23:05,969
and find out if Rackstraw
actually was Cooper or not.
388
00:23:10,723 --> 00:23:12,016
This is Bob.
389
00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:14,352
Yeah, Mr. Rackstraw,
my name is Tim Evans.
390
00:23:14,436 --> 00:23:17,147
I'm a reporter
with the Indianapolis Star newspaper.
391
00:23:17,230 --> 00:23:19,065
I'm sorry to call you
out of the blue like this,
392
00:23:19,149 --> 00:23:21,985
but I've been contacted
by a guy named Colbert.
393
00:23:22,068 --> 00:23:24,404
He's alleging that you are, uh,
394
00:23:24,487 --> 00:23:27,073
the guy who did
the D.B. Cooper hijacking and--
395
00:23:27,157 --> 00:23:29,993
I have no idea.
But Colbert has been attacking me
396
00:23:30,076 --> 00:23:31,536
for a number of years,
397
00:23:31,619 --> 00:23:34,581
resulting in a big massive lawsuit.
398
00:23:34,664 --> 00:23:38,460
So now what he's doing is
he's sending out six pages of information
399
00:23:38,543 --> 00:23:41,463
to a whole bunch of small-town newspapers,
400
00:23:41,546 --> 00:23:43,965
and then we'll do the old Nazi Blitzkrieg
401
00:23:44,048 --> 00:23:46,176
and hammer Rackstraw once again.
402
00:23:46,259 --> 00:23:47,927
So that's where it is.
403
00:23:48,011 --> 00:23:49,888
And have you filed
a lawsuit against him?
404
00:23:51,431 --> 00:23:53,641
-It's coming.
-It's coming? Okay.
405
00:23:53,725 --> 00:23:56,144
Do not print anything about me.
406
00:23:56,227 --> 00:23:58,104
-I will sue the crap out of you.
-Mm-hmm.
407
00:23:58,188 --> 00:24:00,148
So are you, are you not…
408
00:24:00,231 --> 00:24:02,984
Are you denying that you're--
what he's saying is true?
409
00:24:03,985 --> 00:24:07,405
Don't get to the bottom line.
That's a $40 million question.
410
00:24:07,489 --> 00:24:10,241
-Let him answer it. What did he say?
-He says you are,
411
00:24:10,325 --> 00:24:13,036
and that's why I'm trying to give you
an opportunity to say you're not.
412
00:24:13,536 --> 00:24:16,915
Well, opportunity to dig
into whether he's telling the truth.
413
00:24:17,499 --> 00:24:19,209
During my interview with Rackstraw,
414
00:24:19,292 --> 00:24:22,629
I gave him at least four opportunities
to say, "I'm not D.B. Cooper."
415
00:24:22,712 --> 00:24:24,631
"I'm not the person responsible for that."
416
00:24:24,714 --> 00:24:27,509
And he continued
kind of teasing people
417
00:24:27,592 --> 00:24:30,553
that maybe he is,
"Maybe I know more than I'm telling."
418
00:24:30,637 --> 00:24:33,264
And I felt like he liked
being considered Cooper,
419
00:24:33,348 --> 00:24:35,558
keeping that mystery alive,
being a part of it.
420
00:24:35,642 --> 00:24:37,685
And he knew, certainly,
what Colbert was doing.
421
00:24:37,769 --> 00:24:40,438
He knew the schedule
Colbert was working on.
422
00:24:40,939 --> 00:24:44,526
That also was intriguing.
You know, how did he know that much?
423
00:24:44,609 --> 00:24:47,779
Were they part of a team,
or were they really adversaries?
424
00:24:47,862 --> 00:24:48,947
Or what was really going on?
425
00:24:50,615 --> 00:24:53,243
Were they involved together
in selling the story?
426
00:24:54,035 --> 00:24:57,789
You know, if they could have
put something together,
427
00:24:57,872 --> 00:25:01,000
I think Rackstraw would've
definitely been into that.
428
00:25:01,084 --> 00:25:06,464
I think the only thing holding him back
was, you know, confessing to the crime.
429
00:25:07,048 --> 00:25:09,968
But I've heard rumors
that Colbert offered him some money to…
430
00:25:10,468 --> 00:25:11,553
to confess to it.
431
00:25:12,845 --> 00:25:15,098
We're here to tell you
that there's good news.
432
00:25:15,181 --> 00:25:18,935
And it starts
with a $20,000 cashier's check
433
00:25:19,018 --> 00:25:21,020
to get you to tell your true story.
434
00:25:21,104 --> 00:25:25,024
It was an interesting relationship,
I can tell you that.
435
00:25:26,192 --> 00:25:28,820
Rackstraw was a narcissistic sociopath.
436
00:25:28,903 --> 00:25:30,321
He really was.
437
00:25:30,405 --> 00:25:31,823
He tried to engage us,
438
00:25:31,906 --> 00:25:34,534
but we never responded after the ambush.
439
00:25:35,118 --> 00:25:37,245
I never spoke to Rackstraw again.
440
00:25:37,328 --> 00:25:40,915
I stayed focused on gathering
the evidence for the investigation.
441
00:25:41,791 --> 00:25:45,628
Do you know anything about the guy
in Indiana that he had supposedly
442
00:25:45,712 --> 00:25:48,131
decoded the messages, or…?
443
00:25:48,214 --> 00:25:50,800
Yeah. His name is Sherwood, is that it?
444
00:25:50,883 --> 00:25:52,260
Yeah, I think. Yeah, yeah.
445
00:25:52,343 --> 00:25:56,055
It was a hurrah moment,
I guess, eureka moment for Colbert,
446
00:25:56,139 --> 00:25:57,807
grasping at the last straw.
447
00:26:04,522 --> 00:26:07,609
It was December of 2017
448
00:26:08,234 --> 00:26:09,485
when I was on the Internet,
449
00:26:09,569 --> 00:26:13,823
and I actually seen a letter
that D.B. Cooper wrote
450
00:26:13,906 --> 00:26:14,907
to newspapers.
451
00:26:16,451 --> 00:26:18,578
In the aftermath of the skyjacking,
452
00:26:19,245 --> 00:26:22,165
an individual purporting to be D.B. Cooper
453
00:26:22,665 --> 00:26:28,087
was sending letters,
essentially taunting the FBI.
454
00:26:28,671 --> 00:26:29,505
"Ha, ha."
455
00:26:29,589 --> 00:26:31,132
"You can't catch me."
456
00:26:31,883 --> 00:26:35,053
And whoever the person was,
was providing information
457
00:26:35,136 --> 00:26:37,555
that only the skyjacker
458
00:26:37,639 --> 00:26:39,515
conceivably would have known.
459
00:26:40,808 --> 00:26:45,480
Some of these letters
were made known contemporaneously.
460
00:26:45,563 --> 00:26:49,859
But we found out there had been
other letters that had been received,
461
00:26:49,942 --> 00:26:52,278
and intentionally not released.
462
00:26:53,321 --> 00:26:56,824
So we got access to these letters
that had been unpublished
463
00:26:56,908 --> 00:27:00,787
through the FOIA lawsuit,
the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
464
00:27:00,870 --> 00:27:02,413
So I called Tom.
465
00:27:02,497 --> 00:27:05,875
I said, "What's this about the numbers
that nobody could ever figure out?"
466
00:27:05,958 --> 00:27:08,252
He goes,
"Yeah, the FBI couldn't break her."
467
00:27:08,753 --> 00:27:11,464
I used to work with codes,
so I said, "Send me the letter."
468
00:27:12,298 --> 00:27:13,549
I said, "Humor me."
469
00:27:15,134 --> 00:27:19,514
So he sent it to me, and I spent,
I don't know, eight, ten hours a day,
470
00:27:19,597 --> 00:27:22,100
seven days a week, about two weeks.
471
00:27:23,142 --> 00:27:24,977
I used everything I could think of,
472
00:27:25,061 --> 00:27:28,147
threw all the codes
and everything that I was trained on.
473
00:27:28,815 --> 00:27:30,149
I got to the point where I said…
474
00:27:32,652 --> 00:27:34,195
"If this is Rackstraw,"
475
00:27:34,278 --> 00:27:37,407
I said, "I have to know,
'What does he think like?'"
476
00:27:37,490 --> 00:27:38,741
"'What makes him tick?'"
477
00:27:41,244 --> 00:27:43,788
I kept looking
at that one set of numbers we had.
478
00:27:44,539 --> 00:27:47,291
"Why'd he put 71 three times on there?"
479
00:27:47,375 --> 00:27:48,376
Wait a minute.
480
00:27:48,459 --> 00:27:51,713
371? I said,
"Man, that was my unit in Vietnam."
481
00:27:53,089 --> 00:27:56,092
And Rackstraw wanted
to be with the unit back then.
482
00:27:58,469 --> 00:28:02,306
So, I wrote down everything
that we did in 'Nam,
483
00:28:02,890 --> 00:28:05,518
and started putting numbers to everything.
484
00:28:06,352 --> 00:28:09,313
And at the top of that letter
has seven Cs.
485
00:28:11,065 --> 00:28:12,775
Seven Cs, that's 21.
486
00:28:14,068 --> 00:28:15,319
Army Security Agency,
487
00:28:15,987 --> 00:28:18,281
which all our units were a part of.
488
00:28:18,865 --> 00:28:20,742
ASA, 21.
489
00:28:21,576 --> 00:28:23,786
I'm going, "Whoa, there it is."
490
00:28:24,662 --> 00:28:25,538
Bingo.
491
00:28:28,958 --> 00:28:31,544
Rick Sherwood used a technique
492
00:28:31,627 --> 00:28:34,630
that could be called
simple English gematria.
493
00:28:35,214 --> 00:28:38,634
Taking the letters
and converting them to numbers.
494
00:28:38,718 --> 00:28:41,888
A equals one, B equals two, and so forth.
495
00:28:42,388 --> 00:28:45,057
What you do in gematria
is you add them up.
496
00:28:45,141 --> 00:28:48,936
If two phrases add up to the same value,
497
00:28:49,020 --> 00:28:51,355
then somehow
they're supposed to be related.
498
00:28:52,148 --> 00:28:55,985
For example, George W. Bush
and John F. Kerry,
499
00:28:56,068 --> 00:29:00,156
these, of course, are the candidates
in the 2004 US presidential election.
500
00:29:00,656 --> 00:29:03,034
Do they have some sort
of mystical connection?
501
00:29:03,117 --> 00:29:05,995
Uh, I think it's just a coincidence.
502
00:29:06,746 --> 00:29:08,623
Because Dennis Rodman,
503
00:29:09,499 --> 00:29:11,918
if you add up the letters, also 130.
504
00:29:13,878 --> 00:29:16,172
I'm not a conspiracy theorist
or anything like that.
505
00:29:16,672 --> 00:29:19,425
You know, for me to be the one
that broke it…
506
00:29:21,719 --> 00:29:23,679
that's only because I was in that unit.
507
00:29:26,599 --> 00:29:30,436
371st, which was Radio Research Unit,
508
00:29:31,187 --> 00:29:34,065
Army Security Agency,
which we were part of,
509
00:29:34,982 --> 00:29:38,152
and our top secret helicopters
flew out of 11th GS.
510
00:29:39,529 --> 00:29:42,949
So us, in entirety,
511
00:29:43,991 --> 00:29:45,827
was top secret.
512
00:29:48,496 --> 00:29:52,959
All four of them things would add up,
and they all were my unit,
513
00:29:54,377 --> 00:29:55,545
that he wanted to be in.
514
00:29:55,628 --> 00:29:58,297
That he was, temporarily, for six weeks.
515
00:30:00,633 --> 00:30:02,051
What's the odds of that?
516
00:30:03,678 --> 00:30:05,763
There was a correlation between
517
00:30:05,847 --> 00:30:08,266
what he used in Southeast Asia
518
00:30:08,349 --> 00:30:09,809
and then what was found
519
00:30:09,892 --> 00:30:11,811
and decrypted
520
00:30:11,894 --> 00:30:14,480
from the D.B. Cooper letters.
521
00:30:14,564 --> 00:30:16,607
That's a pretty strong correlation.
522
00:30:19,694 --> 00:30:24,031
D.B. Cooper is the case
where people want the idea
523
00:30:24,782 --> 00:30:27,326
to fit this kind of preconceived notion,
524
00:30:27,410 --> 00:30:31,038
and they will discard
the parts of it that don't fit.
525
00:30:31,122 --> 00:30:34,292
They will just find
the pieces that fit in the box
526
00:30:34,375 --> 00:30:35,543
and then…
527
00:30:36,127 --> 00:30:39,338
And it's hard to argue with,
because those pieces do fit in the box.
528
00:30:39,422 --> 00:30:41,632
But all the stuff
that's left on the floor,
529
00:30:42,466 --> 00:30:45,261
never really gets addressed again.
530
00:30:47,221 --> 00:30:48,848
Codes are made not to be broken.
531
00:30:48,931 --> 00:30:49,974
That's why they're codes.
532
00:30:50,808 --> 00:30:53,644
But if you're going to have
any chance at all of breaking a code,
533
00:30:54,645 --> 00:30:57,607
you have to know the one that wrote it.
534
00:30:58,816 --> 00:31:01,444
I had a pretty good grasp on Rackstraw.
535
00:31:01,527 --> 00:31:04,447
He was just showing
he was smarter than everybody.
536
00:31:05,031 --> 00:31:07,700
It was depicted in everything he wrote.
537
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:10,620
But the last letter,
538
00:31:11,203 --> 00:31:12,204
that was the key.
539
00:31:12,288 --> 00:31:14,790
That's the one
where Rackstraw's name is in it.
540
00:31:16,959 --> 00:31:19,545
Tom says, "I don't think it's him.
He's talking about his uncle."
541
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,090
I said, "Tom, he's not talking
about his uncle."
542
00:31:23,174 --> 00:31:24,800
I said, "He's talking about Uncle Sam."
543
00:31:25,843 --> 00:31:29,931
I read this thing twice.
I said, "That's Rackstraw's MO."
544
00:31:30,014 --> 00:31:31,807
I said, "That's D.B. Cooper."
545
00:31:32,808 --> 00:31:34,268
And that last line there,
546
00:31:34,352 --> 00:31:37,980
"Please tell the lackey cops
D.B. Cooper's not my real name."
547
00:31:38,689 --> 00:31:42,360
I said, "I wonder if he actually put
his full name in there."
548
00:31:43,069 --> 00:31:46,948
So, I just took that section out
and it come up 269.
549
00:31:48,491 --> 00:31:50,826
Robert W. Rackstraw,
he had it all written down.
550
00:31:50,910 --> 00:31:54,372
I said, "He was a lieutenant, right?"
He said, "Yep." There's "LT."
551
00:31:54,455 --> 00:31:55,373
And "I'm."
552
00:31:56,207 --> 00:31:58,334
From your letters to numbers…
553
00:32:00,086 --> 00:32:00,962
equals…
554
00:32:02,046 --> 00:32:04,256
269.
555
00:32:10,596 --> 00:32:12,723
So, he actually put his name
556
00:32:13,683 --> 00:32:14,600
in there.
557
00:32:15,101 --> 00:32:17,895
That was pretty much
an "aha" moment there.
558
00:32:20,690 --> 00:32:22,358
When you look at something, you say,
559
00:32:22,441 --> 00:32:24,610
"There's got to be some sort
of cryptic message in here,"
560
00:32:24,694 --> 00:32:27,154
you have an infinite number
of possibilities.
561
00:32:27,238 --> 00:32:30,533
You can make these documents
say anything you want them to say.
562
00:32:30,616 --> 00:32:33,202
It's really a form of confirmation bias.
563
00:32:34,286 --> 00:32:39,375
So in my opinion,
the letters are not in any way
564
00:32:40,334 --> 00:32:43,504
material evidence showing
that Rackstraw was Cooper.
565
00:32:44,296 --> 00:32:48,259
I worked out that,
"I am SpongeBob SquarePants"
566
00:32:48,342 --> 00:32:50,261
has the magic sum.
567
00:32:50,344 --> 00:32:54,390
I don't think that means
that D.B. Cooper is SpongeBob SquarePants.
568
00:33:01,272 --> 00:33:04,942
You can come up with SquarePants,
SpongeBob, whatever?
569
00:33:05,026 --> 00:33:06,902
Yeah, but is it relevant to it?
570
00:33:08,070 --> 00:33:11,532
Is it foolproof?
No, I wouldn't say it's foolproof.
571
00:33:12,033 --> 00:33:15,119
You can come up
with different interpretations,
572
00:33:15,619 --> 00:33:19,498
but this is the way Rackstraw
communicates and does things.
573
00:33:20,499 --> 00:33:22,501
You know, it's interpretive coding.
574
00:33:23,461 --> 00:33:27,256
Just the way he goes
about things in writing,
575
00:33:27,798 --> 00:33:29,175
and knowing about him,
576
00:33:29,258 --> 00:33:32,636
that's how I come up with the solutions.
577
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:33,846
Interpretive.
578
00:33:35,639 --> 00:33:38,225
Mistaking ideal connections
for real connections.
579
00:33:38,309 --> 00:33:41,228
That is a real danger
when you are trying to do
580
00:33:41,312 --> 00:33:43,564
any sort of scientific investigation.
581
00:33:43,647 --> 00:33:45,775
You're not actually getting information
out of the data,
582
00:33:45,858 --> 00:33:47,902
you're getting information
out of your own mind
583
00:33:47,985 --> 00:33:50,071
based on your preconceived notions.
584
00:33:51,697 --> 00:33:54,700
We believe that decoding process
was accurate,
585
00:33:54,784 --> 00:33:56,786
and accurately describes
586
00:33:57,703 --> 00:34:01,165
what Rackstraw said himself that he did.
587
00:34:01,916 --> 00:34:04,877
Rackstraw's name is in coded letters.
588
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,922
And these are codes
that go all the way back to World War I.
589
00:34:08,547 --> 00:34:14,470
The translations were not only done
by a three-time NSA code buster,
590
00:34:15,012 --> 00:34:17,598
but the lieutenant-colonel
of Robert Rackstraw.
591
00:34:17,681 --> 00:34:20,518
He also looked at the codes
and said, "Those are bona fide."
592
00:34:21,227 --> 00:34:24,688
So I'm not going to argue
with a hundred-year-old codebook,
593
00:34:24,772 --> 00:34:28,734
or a lieutenant-colonel,
or a three-time NSA man.
594
00:34:28,818 --> 00:34:31,362
When they say the codes matched,
they matched.
595
00:34:32,238 --> 00:34:34,907
Is it Rackstraw? Yep, it's him.
596
00:34:35,991 --> 00:34:36,909
It's confirmed.
597
00:34:36,992 --> 00:34:41,288
But don't take it any farther.
Get him as the hijacker, that's it.
598
00:34:41,956 --> 00:34:44,291
So this is CIA. I mean, come on.
599
00:34:45,167 --> 00:34:47,044
Was he involved in other things? Yes.
600
00:34:50,047 --> 00:34:51,882
But I'm not at liberty to say.
601
00:35:05,396 --> 00:35:07,231
How disappointed are you
602
00:35:07,815 --> 00:35:10,192
if you can't prove what your case is,
603
00:35:10,276 --> 00:35:13,195
or gain the recognition
or acknowledgment of it?
604
00:35:15,281 --> 00:35:18,242
It takes a certain type
of person to keep pushing.
605
00:35:32,047 --> 00:35:33,048
Cycle…
606
00:35:36,218 --> 00:35:40,931
We are here today
because of Russ and Kristy.
607
00:35:41,515 --> 00:35:45,477
They have new information
dealing with his loot and the parachute.
608
00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,899
Kristy and Russ came to us
right after the first documentary.
609
00:35:50,441 --> 00:35:52,985
Their last name is Cooper. No relations.
610
00:35:53,694 --> 00:35:57,865
So, Kristy told us, "My husband and I
mapped the escape route."
611
00:35:58,490 --> 00:36:01,702
"We also know where the parachute
may be buried." Really?
612
00:36:02,536 --> 00:36:05,122
When he told me the story
and everything was connecting,
613
00:36:05,664 --> 00:36:07,374
I said, "You know, we need to share this."
614
00:36:07,458 --> 00:36:11,503
This was all told at the table,
at this small-plane airport.
615
00:36:12,296 --> 00:36:14,423
And according to our source, Russ Cooper,
616
00:36:14,506 --> 00:36:16,675
who was at the table and heard the story,
617
00:36:16,759 --> 00:36:19,178
Wally is the name of the man
telling the story,
618
00:36:19,261 --> 00:36:21,472
and he's one of the four
that were involved
619
00:36:21,555 --> 00:36:23,432
in the escape of Cooper.
620
00:36:26,143 --> 00:36:29,396
According to Wally,
on the night of the skyjacking,
621
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,651
Cooper had landed roughly
1,300 feet from Goheen's airstrip.
622
00:36:34,235 --> 00:36:36,862
There was three gentlemen waiting for him.
623
00:36:37,488 --> 00:36:40,032
And they loaded into a small aircraft,
624
00:36:40,115 --> 00:36:44,328
along with $50,000 of the money
and the bomb.
625
00:36:45,412 --> 00:36:50,209
They flew over Vancouver Lake,
where they dumped the money and the bomb,
626
00:36:50,793 --> 00:36:54,588
in order to leave a false trail
that he had fallen into the lake
627
00:36:54,672 --> 00:36:55,589
and drowned.
628
00:36:56,590 --> 00:37:01,679
And then Cooper changed clothes,
changed aircraft at Scappoose Airport,
629
00:37:01,762 --> 00:37:04,932
and he was flown back
into Portland International,
630
00:37:05,015 --> 00:37:07,393
where he boarded a flight for Las Vegas.
631
00:37:09,311 --> 00:37:12,606
The other $150,000 and the parachute
632
00:37:12,690 --> 00:37:16,902
was loaded into a pickup
that went to a certain location,
633
00:37:16,986 --> 00:37:20,864
and when Wally described it,
I knew this spot.
634
00:37:22,491 --> 00:37:25,995
We made a few trips up there.
Got together 13 team members.
635
00:37:28,163 --> 00:37:31,625
We're here to answer questions
that thousands of people
636
00:37:31,709 --> 00:37:34,503
have been digging
and trying to find the truth on.
637
00:37:36,130 --> 00:37:38,799
-What do you think so far?
-I think we're gonna find it.
638
00:37:41,176 --> 00:37:43,429
If it was a buckle or a clip or something,
639
00:37:43,512 --> 00:37:46,056
even within five or six inches,
it'd be ringing up.
640
00:37:52,354 --> 00:37:53,522
Look at what she's got.
641
00:37:54,398 --> 00:37:55,691
Whoa! What is this?
642
00:37:55,774 --> 00:37:57,276
-We don't know.
-Fabric.
643
00:37:58,027 --> 00:38:00,696
-Damn, that looks like nylon.
-A gunnysack.
644
00:38:01,322 --> 00:38:02,781
Uh, or a potato sack.
645
00:38:03,949 --> 00:38:07,411
It could be many things,
including a parachute.
646
00:38:08,704 --> 00:38:09,955
It was laying right here.
647
00:38:10,039 --> 00:38:11,040
Oh.
648
00:38:11,123 --> 00:38:13,000
-On the surface?
-Yeah.
649
00:38:13,083 --> 00:38:14,710
We'll have to kind of keep looking here.
650
00:38:14,793 --> 00:38:16,587
Yeah, see what else we got here, huh?
651
00:38:18,172 --> 00:38:19,673
-Here we go.
-There it is.
652
00:38:20,507 --> 00:38:21,675
There it is.
653
00:38:21,759 --> 00:38:23,177
Piece of pipe or something.
654
00:38:23,886 --> 00:38:25,346
Not part of a parachute.
655
00:38:28,432 --> 00:38:31,018
-Pipe.
-You're gonna keep that, right?
656
00:38:31,101 --> 00:38:33,520
-Oh yeah, absolutely.
-See what that is.
657
00:38:33,604 --> 00:38:37,191
I mean,
that could be part of the outer bag.
658
00:38:38,317 --> 00:38:40,069
Oh, it's hard to tell.
659
00:38:40,152 --> 00:38:41,278
Could be a harness.
660
00:38:47,576 --> 00:38:51,705
I still think we're on the right spot.
It's hard to find nylon
661
00:38:51,789 --> 00:38:55,084
with a metal detector.
That's what I have to say about it.
662
00:38:55,167 --> 00:38:56,335
And we may have.
663
00:38:56,418 --> 00:38:57,544
And we may have.
664
00:38:57,628 --> 00:39:01,131
We find what we believe
to be pieces of the parachute.
665
00:39:01,673 --> 00:39:02,633
A strap.
666
00:39:02,716 --> 00:39:04,885
We brought it to the FBI.
667
00:39:05,844 --> 00:39:08,472
We were tipped
the location of the parachute,
668
00:39:09,056 --> 00:39:12,518
we found the parachute,
we brought them five materials.
669
00:39:12,601 --> 00:39:14,686
We haven't heard from the FBI since.
670
00:39:14,770 --> 00:39:18,482
Tom sometimes fell into the trap
671
00:39:18,565 --> 00:39:22,277
of, "I wouldn't have seen it
if I hadn't believed it."
672
00:39:22,861 --> 00:39:25,322
They found a piece of nylon strap,
673
00:39:25,406 --> 00:39:28,992
and there are statements made
like, "We found the strap,
674
00:39:29,076 --> 00:39:31,995
showing that this was the area
they buried the parachute."
675
00:39:32,079 --> 00:39:33,539
What? That's a leap.
676
00:39:34,373 --> 00:39:36,500
And things like that disturb me.
677
00:39:37,668 --> 00:39:40,796
That area was a logging area
678
00:39:41,338 --> 00:39:44,341
in which a lot of activity
had taken place over the years.
679
00:39:45,676 --> 00:39:49,012
I don't know that the analysis
of those items
680
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,141
were conclusive that it was a parachute.
681
00:39:52,641 --> 00:39:53,892
I don't think it was.
682
00:39:54,393 --> 00:39:55,894
Maybe it turned out to be nothing.
683
00:39:56,854 --> 00:39:58,313
Maybe it turned out to…
684
00:39:58,397 --> 00:39:59,773
Who knows what it turned out to be?
685
00:40:00,357 --> 00:40:06,321
Uh, but I would dare say,
and wager and willing to bet,
686
00:40:06,822 --> 00:40:11,326
that the FBI never did
a damn thing with that parachute.
687
00:40:11,410 --> 00:40:15,789
They have no interest in solving
the D.B. Cooper skyjacking.
688
00:40:16,373 --> 00:40:17,499
None whatsoever.
689
00:40:21,462 --> 00:40:24,965
This case is one
of the most interesting things
690
00:40:25,048 --> 00:40:27,134
that I participated in in the FBI,
691
00:40:27,217 --> 00:40:29,261
just because it endures.
692
00:40:30,471 --> 00:40:31,972
It's been 50 years.
693
00:40:32,473 --> 00:40:35,142
We're no closer
to knowing Cooper's identity.
694
00:40:35,225 --> 00:40:37,269
I mean, we have suspects.
695
00:40:37,352 --> 00:40:40,647
There are new suspects all the time.
Suspects fade away.
696
00:40:41,148 --> 00:40:44,109
But really, there's no direct link
to any of them.
697
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,947
Now, where we are,
at the 50th anniversary of the case,
698
00:40:49,031 --> 00:40:53,619
I cannot say with any certainty
who Dan Cooper is or was.
699
00:40:53,702 --> 00:40:57,247
I don't think anybody can,
and to do so is just irresponsible.
700
00:40:57,873 --> 00:40:58,874
What I can say is,
701
00:40:58,957 --> 00:41:02,461
I feel like I know a lot more
about who he is and was
702
00:41:02,544 --> 00:41:04,338
than last year and the year before.
703
00:41:05,672 --> 00:41:09,009
Every year we know a little bit more,
new information comes out,
704
00:41:09,092 --> 00:41:11,553
new clues are analyzed in different ways.
705
00:41:11,637 --> 00:41:14,806
And I don't have a crush
on a suspect right now.
706
00:41:15,849 --> 00:41:18,644
But I do have a point of my compass.
707
00:41:19,770 --> 00:41:23,023
And the point of my compass
heads north to Canada.
708
00:41:24,608 --> 00:41:27,402
I feel that there are
so many clues in Canada
709
00:41:27,486 --> 00:41:29,613
that have never truly
been vetted all the way.
710
00:41:30,906 --> 00:41:35,244
The FBI never truly investigated
the significant meaning of Dan Cooper.
711
00:41:36,245 --> 00:41:38,539
Dan Cooper was the name
of a French comic book hero
712
00:41:39,665 --> 00:41:42,793
who flew airplanes and jumped out of them
in conical-shaped parachutes.
713
00:41:43,877 --> 00:41:47,047
If the FBI says something,
people truly believe it.
714
00:41:47,798 --> 00:41:50,801
But the real truth is,
the FBI are made up of human agents,
715
00:41:50,884 --> 00:41:54,888
and the best work in the case
has been done recently by citizen sleuths.
716
00:41:57,474 --> 00:42:00,811
People who have a passion,
who have chased down these leads,
717
00:42:00,894 --> 00:42:04,982
who have found French comic books,
who have googled their way to the truth.
718
00:42:09,611 --> 00:42:10,612
I would go north.
719
00:42:11,613 --> 00:42:13,490
I wouldn't waste any time in the States.
720
00:42:14,241 --> 00:42:16,201
I would go straight to Canada.