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[airplane flying]
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[Gray]
We all have this desire to be free,
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but there's one force
that keeps us trapped all our lives,
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and that's gravity.
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[mysterious music playing]
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[Gray] D.B. Cooper did something
that all of us sort of yearn to do,
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even though we don't know it…
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and that is to become an individual.
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To stand up against gravity,
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against the system.
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[Burrough]
It's the classic American mystery story,
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that we're still watching 50 years later.
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And yet, there are elements of it
out there that anybody with a laptop
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can look into and feel like
they're investigating now.
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In that way, it's a great mystery
for the Internet age.
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It's beautiful in its purity.
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[Ulis]
I call it the James Bond component.
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The dapper gentleman
who shows up with the suit, the tie,
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orders the bourbon seven,
and jumps out of a damn jet
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in the middle of the night.
There's something badass about that.
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[Sherwood] He never hurt anybody.
He let everybody off the plane.
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He got the $200,000, and he… jumped out.
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In a storm.
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[thunder crashing]
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And he got away with it.
Pretty slick, ain't he?
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[snickers]
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[Schreuder] Cooper satisfied
a lot of people's inner wish
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to get $200,000 and disappear.
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I think the case will live forever.
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[jazzy scatting, funky music playing]
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[airplane alert dings]
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[Motown music playing]
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[Colbert]
This investigation was a difficult period.
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We spent a lot of our own money,
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and I spent five years tightening it up
and selling it to History Channel.
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It was quite a journey
to get to that point.
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[Zaid] It was an exciting moment
when Tom finally sold it to History,
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because there's just so much money
you can pour into a project
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without anything coming back.
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The History Channel wanted Tom and I
to be a part of the storytelling.
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♪ Come a long way ♪
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Okay, convince us.
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-Let's go for it.
-[Colbert] All right.
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♪ You know, I hope and I pray ♪
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♪ That you believe me ♪
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[Forbes] We would present this case,
and try to convince Tom Fuentes,
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longtime FBI executive,
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now retired,
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and a crime writer.
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♪ You are the best thing ♪
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[Colbert] Tom Fuentes gave a phenomenal
description of our case, saying,
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"This is fantastic.
It's probably him. It's nine out of ten."
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♪ You are the best thing ♪
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♪ You're the best thing, ooh ♪
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♪ That ever happened to me ♪
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[Colbert]
But within six months,
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everything changed.
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I thought all the evidence
that they were uncovering
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in the History Channel
was pretty compelling,
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but talking to Tom,
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I think he was told one thing
about what they were going to do,
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and then it went
into a different direction.
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[Fuentes]
We're here to bring you up to date
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on some of the latest work
that we've done in this case.
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We were bushwhacked.
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[Zaid]
In the second episode, the FBI arranged
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for the key flight attendant
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to come and view, on-camera,
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a photo array
of potential D.B. Cooper suspects.
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I remember going, "This is weird."
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This woman had not given
an interview for ever.
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[Colbert] Does he look like this could be
the guy you were sitting next to?
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[Mucklow] No, I don't think so.
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I don't think so.
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[Zaid] In the end of the episode,
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she looks at the photo array
with the FBI and Fuentes there.
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And she crushes it.
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Crushes the entire theory of the case.
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When that happened,
I could feel the deflation to my right.
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Eyewitnesses, as we know,
are really unreliable.
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And 40-plus years later,
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and not seeing him
as she saw him there on the plane,
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I never expected her to say yes.
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And if she did,
I would have been blown away, frankly.
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[Edward]
Trial attorneys will tell you that
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when you have an actual witness
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they're maybe 50% accurate at best.
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You know, four people can see an incident
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and every one of them
will describe it differently.
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And it's not just their perceptions
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that they're reporting.
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It's also their biases.
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I am convinced Rackstraw is not Cooper.
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For the History Channel documentary,
we had 93 pieces of evidence.
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We had cracked codes,
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we had witnesses,
we even had the perfect skill sets.
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We thought they were
all really convincing.
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Are one of those 93 pieces
of evidence money or the parachute?
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No, Billy, we know that's not in there.
This is circumstantial.
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Of the 93 pieces of information,
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there's nothing in here
that puts him on the plane.
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There's nothing in here that even puts him
in Portland that day.
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Regardless of where you want to fall,
"Is Rackstraw D.B. Cooper or not?",
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this is a disingenuous, unfair portrayal
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of what the evidence is.
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And that was just infuriating me
at the time.
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And still does.
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[Colbert] I'll never forget,
the director said to me,
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"Don't you owe
an apology to Rackstraw now?"
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I said, "I have nothing to apologize for,
and I stand with my team."
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Tom was being set up as one
of the conspiracy nuts that are out there,
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instead of the methodical investigator
that he had been his entire life.
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[Kashanski] I just felt bad for Tom
because he had done years of work
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in a legitimate way.
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And to be discredited like he was,
wasn't good for his reputation.
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Not only that, it was just wrong.
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-How are you doing?
-I'm doing fine.
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My conclusion was…
I believe Tom asked me this on camera.
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He said, "So you don't think it's him?"
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I said, "No, I don't."
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'Cause they have access
and information within the FBI
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that we don't.
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It's that simple.
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Tom and I,
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um, we didn't really communicate
after that.
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At the very end of the documentary,
they slam the door on him.
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They shut the case down.
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[Montoya]
Following one of the longest
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and most exhaustive investigations
in our history,
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the FBI will be redirecting resources
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allocated to the 45-year-old
D.B. Cooper case.
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It was the same week
that the documentary aired,
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the FBI closed the case.
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So is this case closed?
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Administratively, yes.
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In my view,
the FBI colluded with the show.
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And the day after it broadcast,
there's the FBI at the microphone, saying…
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Everything that has come in,
we've taken a look at it.
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"We looked at Colbert's information
and there was nothing new."
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There isn't anything new out there.
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[reporter] Did he get away with it?
Did he die trying?
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It's now safe to say
we'll probably never know.
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After 45 years,
why did they close the case?
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Ha! That's a good question.
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I can't give you that answer.
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[woman]
There's clearly something fishy going on.
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Yeah, and I don't have
a fishing pole either.
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When somebody tells you,
"There's nothing you can do,"
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that is just…
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That's what's motivating
everyone on this team.
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I want to talk about the stonewalling,
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the disinformation,
the lies that have come out
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to stumble this investigation
after seven years.
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[Ulis] Colbert's group should start
accepting what the evidence shows,
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all of which indicates that Rackstraw
was not D.B. Cooper.
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For the one thing,
all the witnesses that saw D.B. Cooper
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said he looked in his mid-40s.
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But Robert Rackstraw was
only 28 years of age
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at the time of the skyjacking,
which is a very big problem.
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With Colbert's group,
instead of accepting reality,
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it's easier to head down a certain path
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which implicates the FBI and others
in some grand conspiracy.
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Because there has to be an explanation
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for why they haven't been able
to pin it on Rackstraw,
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and the explanation
has to be conspiratorial in nature.
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[Colbert] We're not here to question those
that keep us safe in the shadows,
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but we're here to question ones
that have multiple identities,
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various criminal titles,
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and when they're arrested,
he has a get-out-of-jail card
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because he was a CIA pilot.
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[explosion]
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[Schreuder] The story was that Rackstraw
worked for the CIA.
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And because of the things
that he did for the CIA,
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they did not want
that information to come out.
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So they cut a deal
with the FBI to give him a pass.
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That's the rumor I had.
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I got nothing for facts on that.
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FBI would just pounce
on everybody about things like that.
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When I saw that Rackstraw interview,
he talked like a Navy SEAL.
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Specialist in underwater explosives,
demolitions, underwater operations.
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Air, sea, land.
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[Mendez]
He'd talk like a ex-military guy.
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He didn't talk like a CIA guy.
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A CIA guy with those experiences
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wouldn't just spill them
out to you anyway.
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I mean, we don't spill out stuff.
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[Colbert]
I said, "If the FBI's turning us down,
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I'm gonna call the team."
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We're thinking, "Why are you hiding this?"
We didn't know about the CIA.
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[Burrough] Stop. Stop. Stop.
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The FBI and the CIA
are covering it all up?
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[laughing]
Would you stop with this?
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If the FBI and the CIA and space aliens
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went in together and cover up something,
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do you think they'd really cover up
something as fundamentally inconsequential
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as a hijacking in the Pacific Northwest
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in 1971
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that didn't even raise enough money
for you to buy an Arby's franchise?
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♪ Bacon, cheddar, curly fries
Bacon, cheddar, curly fries ♪
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♪ Bacon, cheddar, curly fries
And only for $2.99 ♪
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$2.99?
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I got nothing against conspiracy theories.
They're fine for crazy people.
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But the idea that these are people
who just deny provable facts
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that are right in front of us,
just… It drives me crazy.
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[announcer]
NBC Sports presents…
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00:12:12,232 --> 00:12:14,443
the 1970 Rose Bowl Game.
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[Colbert]
I know that people think I could be crazy,
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but to understand how I tick,
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you have to go back to January of '70.
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I was watching the Rose Bowl,
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and, suddenly,
something was happening to me.
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My eyes are going on and off.
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[announcer] Going in is Mike Oldham.
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Third and eight.
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[Colbert]
Heavy gonging in my head.
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And my dad, who's an MD,
psychiatrist, and my mom said,
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"We're gonna take you
to St. John's in Santa Monica."
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And in the elevator, I fell into a coma.
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The doctors gave me a death sentence.
They said, "There's nothing we can do."
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Mom went out and got a black dress.
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And then suddenly my eyes opened.
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[monitor beeping]
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They said, "We don't know
why you're here."
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And moments later,
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Dad came back and said,
"You need to find out why you're here."
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We're a very spiritual family,
and that was quite a marching order.
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I was 11 years old,
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and I had to learn to walk and talk
and read all over again.
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The thing that saved me was newspapers.
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Dad was always at the table,
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looking at the headlines.
We all remember that.
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It was basically because
of those newspapers every day,
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I went into news, I went to CBS,
I went to Paramount.
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Ever since that day,
my folks were over me, saying,
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"You gotta find out why."
This is why I'm here.
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And so on History,
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when they came back and told us…
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There is no possibility
of getting a conviction,
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when the best witness says, "Not him."
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"…it's not him.
We're not gonna look at the case."
241
00:14:01,508 --> 00:14:05,512
"We're moving the file
to the Raiders of the Lost Ark warehouse."
242
00:14:05,596 --> 00:14:07,055
[laughs]
243
00:14:07,139 --> 00:14:08,307
"And it's over."
244
00:14:09,016 --> 00:14:12,185
It made us steadfast that,
"We know who the enemy is now."
245
00:14:12,686 --> 00:14:15,022
So right after the first documentary,
246
00:14:15,105 --> 00:14:17,316
we got an attorney in DC to sue.
247
00:14:21,737 --> 00:14:24,990
[reporter]
A lawsuit that's now being filed in DC
248
00:14:25,073 --> 00:14:28,744
says the D.B. Cooper case is not unsolved.
249
00:14:33,081 --> 00:14:35,709
[Smith]
Tom Colbert, he and his attorney
250
00:14:35,792 --> 00:14:38,545
have made a significant contribution
251
00:14:38,629 --> 00:14:40,672
by suing the FBI.
252
00:14:40,756 --> 00:14:43,508
The lawsuit compels the FBI
253
00:14:43,592 --> 00:14:46,678
to release its entire investigative file.
254
00:14:47,804 --> 00:14:49,389
[Colbert]
It took a half year to sue.
255
00:14:49,473 --> 00:14:52,184
The judge agreed with us.
We got the full file.
256
00:14:53,268 --> 00:14:56,605
We've been getting monthly releases
from the FBI
257
00:14:56,688 --> 00:15:00,359
of at least 500 pages of new information
258
00:15:00,442 --> 00:15:03,487
that people have never seen
outside of the FBI.
259
00:15:05,781 --> 00:15:09,618
[Ulis] When Tom Colbert opened up
all that FBI data,
260
00:15:09,701 --> 00:15:12,788
I ended up reading
about 25,000 pages worth
261
00:15:12,871 --> 00:15:15,666
of original FBI files,
with respect to the case,
262
00:15:15,749 --> 00:15:17,834
learned information about the tie,
263
00:15:17,918 --> 00:15:19,795
learned information
about the cigarette butts,
264
00:15:19,878 --> 00:15:21,463
what happened to that stuff.
265
00:15:22,297 --> 00:15:24,424
[Smith]
It's like a document blizzard.
266
00:15:24,508 --> 00:15:26,510
Some of it's newspaper clippings.
267
00:15:27,094 --> 00:15:29,096
Some of it is interoffice memos.
268
00:15:29,179 --> 00:15:32,808
Some of it's letters
to the FBI or from the FBI.
269
00:15:33,809 --> 00:15:37,813
There were a few diamonds in there,
and the diamonds primarily revolved
270
00:15:37,896 --> 00:15:41,775
around the witness testimony
from the flight attendants and others.
271
00:15:41,858 --> 00:15:45,070
And some of the actual analysis
that the FBI had done
272
00:15:45,153 --> 00:15:47,614
in terms of specific suspects and things,
273
00:15:47,698 --> 00:15:51,743
which actually provided
an awful lot of valuable information
274
00:15:51,827 --> 00:15:53,412
and insight and so forth.
275
00:15:54,413 --> 00:15:56,206
That's really kind of how
I got sucked into it,
276
00:15:56,289 --> 00:15:59,126
you know, having it get kicked
to the next level
277
00:15:59,209 --> 00:16:00,752
as far as interest.
278
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:07,009
The FBI couldn't crack the case,
but now scientists think
279
00:16:07,092 --> 00:16:09,219
they've narrowed
the search for the suspect
280
00:16:09,302 --> 00:16:12,055
with evidence found in his necktie.
281
00:16:12,723 --> 00:16:16,435
[reporter] A group of scientists
calling themselves amateur sleuths
282
00:16:16,518 --> 00:16:19,187
have identified
more than 100,000 particles
283
00:16:19,271 --> 00:16:21,273
of rare-earth elements…
284
00:16:21,356 --> 00:16:24,609
Names like strontium
and yttrium and cerium.
285
00:16:24,693 --> 00:16:26,987
…coating D.B. Cooper's tie.
286
00:16:27,487 --> 00:16:29,948
[Smith]
These days, when it comes to D.B. Cooper,
287
00:16:30,032 --> 00:16:33,160
a lot of good research
is being done by private citizens.
288
00:16:33,785 --> 00:16:38,123
[Ulis] There are a handful of people
that are in the orbit and contribute,
289
00:16:38,206 --> 00:16:42,544
you know, applying science to this,
combing through the FBI files,
290
00:16:43,128 --> 00:16:46,173
putting boots on the ground,
actually searching.
291
00:16:47,215 --> 00:16:48,091
You've got me.
292
00:16:48,592 --> 00:16:52,304
You've got Tom Kaye, who's the scientist.
293
00:16:52,387 --> 00:16:57,976
There's a gentleman
who goes by the name "Anonymous,"
294
00:16:58,060 --> 00:17:01,605
who put forward a suspect
called William J. Smith.
295
00:17:01,688 --> 00:17:04,232
There's another gentleman
named Marty Andrade,
296
00:17:04,316 --> 00:17:08,195
who has done some really solid research
on the survivability
297
00:17:08,278 --> 00:17:10,447
of jumping with a parachute.
298
00:17:11,323 --> 00:17:15,494
Probably the most enjoyable place
that the public can go to
299
00:17:15,577 --> 00:17:19,331
for D.B. Cooper
is the Cooper Vortex podcast.
300
00:17:19,831 --> 00:17:21,333
[Schaefer] I think about, all the time,
301
00:17:21,416 --> 00:17:24,252
"What was it like
when his boots hit the ground?"
302
00:17:24,336 --> 00:17:27,422
"What did he see?
What were his first thoughts?"
303
00:17:27,506 --> 00:17:30,801
And the idea that I might never
get to know those answers
304
00:17:31,301 --> 00:17:32,427
drives me crazy.
305
00:17:33,220 --> 00:17:36,306
One of the biggest appeals
for the Cooper case to me
306
00:17:36,389 --> 00:17:38,683
is just that unsolved heist.
307
00:17:38,767 --> 00:17:41,228
Like, seeing myself in his shoes.
308
00:17:41,311 --> 00:17:46,399
Like, "I planned this and I executed it,
and I got away with it."
309
00:17:46,983 --> 00:17:49,319
Good morning, everyone. I'm Tom Colbert.
310
00:17:49,402 --> 00:17:51,530
[Smith]
And then you have Thomas Colbert,
311
00:17:51,613 --> 00:17:54,199
who is a strange character
in his own right.
312
00:17:55,075 --> 00:17:57,160
[Ulis] Tom Colbert's one of the heroes,
313
00:17:57,244 --> 00:18:00,413
in the sense
that he opened up all that FBI data,
314
00:18:00,497 --> 00:18:04,084
which is spectacular,
but then there's this other part
315
00:18:04,167 --> 00:18:06,336
where I just think
they've gone a little sideways.
316
00:18:09,047 --> 00:18:12,134
[Forbes] Tom is so convinced
and remains so convinced,
317
00:18:12,217 --> 00:18:14,261
which is something I respect.
318
00:18:15,512 --> 00:18:17,639
A problem with being that convinced
319
00:18:17,722 --> 00:18:20,350
is that there's the possibility
320
00:18:20,433 --> 00:18:23,728
that you turn every shred
of evidence in your favor.
321
00:18:23,812 --> 00:18:25,981
It is a smorgasbord of evidence.
322
00:18:26,565 --> 00:18:27,983
[Schaefer] The Colbert story,
323
00:18:28,066 --> 00:18:31,027
I followed it closely,
like everything with D.B. Cooper.
324
00:18:31,111 --> 00:18:34,322
And when it first came out,
I thought it was really interesting.
325
00:18:34,406 --> 00:18:37,200
But Tom, I think, has transitioned more
326
00:18:37,284 --> 00:18:40,912
from proving his theory to selling it.
327
00:18:40,996 --> 00:18:42,622
[Smith] Most people that I know
328
00:18:42,706 --> 00:18:45,667
think, basically, that Colbert's push
329
00:18:45,750 --> 00:18:49,796
to make the world think
that Robert Rackstraw is D.B. Cooper
330
00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:53,091
is nothing but a Hollywood ploy
for fame and fortune.
331
00:18:53,592 --> 00:18:56,970
But Colbert has become
the underground conduit,
332
00:18:57,053 --> 00:18:59,306
the guy that a lot of things go to.
333
00:18:59,806 --> 00:19:02,017
And then in turn,
he gives them to Cooper people.
334
00:19:03,393 --> 00:19:04,936
[Colbert] I never was a Cooperite.
335
00:19:06,188 --> 00:19:09,733
I've never engaged the blogs.
They're on there arguing with each other.
336
00:19:09,816 --> 00:19:11,318
"It's my guy, your guy, this guy."
337
00:19:12,110 --> 00:19:13,111
They're obsessed.
338
00:19:14,196 --> 00:19:17,908
In the Cooper case,
the perfect storm was the Internet.
339
00:19:20,035 --> 00:19:23,330
A fragmented group of people had a means
340
00:19:23,413 --> 00:19:25,457
to communicate with each other.
341
00:19:26,625 --> 00:19:31,796
And like anything else,
you're full of facts being misrepresented,
342
00:19:32,297 --> 00:19:33,381
crazy theories.
343
00:19:33,965 --> 00:19:36,927
[Ulis] Inside job, black op situation.
344
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.
345
00:19:40,931 --> 00:19:43,058
That's the direction it goes.
346
00:19:43,141 --> 00:19:48,855
We are in such
a conspiracy-driven modality right now.
347
00:19:49,731 --> 00:19:52,150
[Smith] Trying to discern truth
348
00:19:52,234 --> 00:19:57,155
is now a major occupation
of the American public.
349
00:19:58,907 --> 00:20:04,621
And the Cooper case is
a tiny piece of that dynamic.
350
00:20:06,706 --> 00:20:10,502
On many of the Cooper forums,
as one hunter wrote to another,
351
00:20:10,585 --> 00:20:12,420
"You're seeing Jesus in the toast."
352
00:20:12,504 --> 00:20:15,590
[reporter] Linda Lowe says
she's looking at an image of Jesus
353
00:20:15,674 --> 00:20:16,841
in melted cheese.
354
00:20:16,925 --> 00:20:21,763
It just… There's a sweetness
on this particular image
355
00:20:21,846 --> 00:20:25,558
that just makes me
want to smile when I look at it.
356
00:20:26,142 --> 00:20:28,770
[Gray] In a way, everyone in this story
is seeing Jesus in the toast.
357
00:20:28,853 --> 00:20:31,731
We all see what we want to see.
We're projecting our selves.
358
00:20:31,815 --> 00:20:35,610
As humans, we look to make
connections between different things.
359
00:20:35,694 --> 00:20:39,823
And sometimes when things align,
we declare those connections truth.
360
00:20:40,490 --> 00:20:42,367
So whether it's Jesus in the toast,
361
00:20:42,450 --> 00:20:44,494
or your brother in Bing Crosby's face,
362
00:20:44,577 --> 00:20:45,829
that's what Cooper does.
363
00:20:45,912 --> 00:20:48,290
In the gaps and alleys
between information,
364
00:20:48,373 --> 00:20:50,375
the mind comes in and puts belief systems
365
00:20:50,458 --> 00:20:53,211
onto this information
and onto the suspects we want.
366
00:20:57,465 --> 00:20:59,843
[Smith]
In the online Cooper research community,
367
00:20:59,926 --> 00:21:02,512
most people have strongly held opinions.
368
00:21:04,723 --> 00:21:07,892
[Ulis] The environment online
can be a little toxic,
369
00:21:07,976 --> 00:21:11,062
and not particularly inviting
for new people to enter.
370
00:21:12,272 --> 00:21:15,567
[Schaefer]
You're getting hundreds of comments a day,
371
00:21:15,650 --> 00:21:18,278
and it got mean and angry real quick.
372
00:21:19,321 --> 00:21:23,241
I've been subjected to cyberattacks.
I had files stolen.
373
00:21:23,325 --> 00:21:26,828
It affected my computer.
Everything had to be cleaned out.
374
00:21:26,911 --> 00:21:28,204
And they were quite vicious.
375
00:21:28,288 --> 00:21:32,792
Some of them came, apparently,
from other D.B. Cooper investigators.
376
00:21:35,337 --> 00:21:38,548
I had someone post
on a picture of my family
377
00:21:38,631 --> 00:21:40,425
that my wife and kids were ugly.
378
00:21:40,508 --> 00:21:42,302
I mean, it just got wild,
379
00:21:42,385 --> 00:21:46,181
people trying to defend
the information that they had.
380
00:21:50,810 --> 00:21:52,312
[Evans] My name is Tim Evans.
381
00:21:52,395 --> 00:21:54,773
I'm an investigative reporter
at the Indianapolis Star.
382
00:21:56,066 --> 00:22:00,236
In 2018, the newspaper got a call
from Tom Colbert pitching a story.
383
00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:02,947
And somebody said,
"Well, that'd be a good story for Tim."
384
00:22:03,031 --> 00:22:04,491
And I got on the phone,
385
00:22:04,574 --> 00:22:07,327
and Tom was very eager
to get his story out.
386
00:22:07,410 --> 00:22:09,871
He was very confident
that he had a great story.
387
00:22:09,954 --> 00:22:12,791
He had a smooth demeanor,
complimenting me on my prior work.
388
00:22:12,874 --> 00:22:15,752
He'd done at least a little homework
and knew something I'd written before.
389
00:22:15,835 --> 00:22:18,880
Kind of schmoozing me a little bit,
drawing me in.
390
00:22:19,839 --> 00:22:22,801
Tom said, "You're the guy
I want to share the story with."
391
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,
392
00:22:26,429 --> 00:22:28,306
but he was active
in following up regularly.
393
00:22:28,390 --> 00:22:30,600
"Are you making progress?
Have you talked to so-and-so?"
394
00:22:30,683 --> 00:22:32,811
Much more aggressive and persistent
395
00:22:32,894 --> 00:22:34,729
than the typical source
that I would deal with.
396
00:22:34,813 --> 00:22:37,482
Most of the people I talk to,
I have to pry things out of them,
397
00:22:37,565 --> 00:22:39,818
and he was kind of like
drinking from a fire hose.
398
00:22:41,903 --> 00:22:44,489
Tom has a lot of energy toward the case,
399
00:22:44,572 --> 00:22:46,950
and he's got a lot invested.
400
00:22:47,575 --> 00:22:50,036
And he needs for it to turn out well.
401
00:22:52,080 --> 00:22:54,207
[Evans]
Tom wanted to drive as much as he could
402
00:22:54,290 --> 00:22:55,667
how the story was going to be done,
403
00:22:55,750 --> 00:22:58,211
who I would talk to,
but that's not the way I work.
404
00:22:58,294 --> 00:23:01,256
You know, I appreciated his help
and in pointing me to sources,
405
00:23:01,339 --> 00:23:03,633
but I need to research and get my facts,
406
00:23:03,716 --> 00:23:05,969
and find out if Rackstraw
actually was Cooper or not.
407
00:23:06,052 --> 00:23:08,012
[phone line ringing]
408
00:23:10,723 --> 00:23:12,016
[Rackstraw, on phone]
This is Bob.
409
00:23:12,100 --> 00:23:14,352
[Evans] Yeah, Mr. Rackstraw,
my name is Tim Evans.
410
00:23:14,436 --> 00:23:17,147
I'm a reporter
with the Indianapolis Star newspaper.
411
00:23:17,230 --> 00:23:19,065
I'm sorry to call you
out of the blue like this,
412
00:23:19,149 --> 00:23:21,985
but I've been contacted
by a guy named Colbert.
413
00:23:22,068 --> 00:23:24,404
He's alleging that you are, uh,
414
00:23:24,487 --> 00:23:27,073
the guy who did
the D.B. Cooper hijacking and--
415
00:23:27,157 --> 00:23:29,993
[Rackstraw] I have no idea.
But Colbert has been attacking me
416
00:23:30,076 --> 00:23:31,536
for a number of years,
417
00:23:31,619 --> 00:23:34,581
resulting in a big massive lawsuit.
418
00:23:34,664 --> 00:23:38,460
So now what he's doing is
he's sending out six pages of information
419
00:23:38,543 --> 00:23:41,463
to a whole bunch of small-town newspapers,
420
00:23:41,546 --> 00:23:43,965
and then we'll do the old Nazi Blitzkrieg
421
00:23:44,048 --> 00:23:46,176
and hammer Rackstraw once again.
422
00:23:46,259 --> 00:23:47,927
So that's where it is.
423
00:23:48,011 --> 00:23:49,888
[Evans] And have you filed
a lawsuit against him?
424
00:23:51,431 --> 00:23:53,641
-[Rackstraw] It's coming.
-[Evans] It's coming? Okay.
425
00:23:53,725 --> 00:23:56,144
[Rackstraw]
Do not print anything about me.
426
00:23:56,227 --> 00:23:58,104
-I will sue the crap out of you.
-[Evans] Mm-hmm.
427
00:23:58,188 --> 00:24:00,148
So are you, are you not…
428
00:24:00,231 --> 00:24:02,984
Are you denying that you're--
what he's saying is true?
429
00:24:03,985 --> 00:24:07,405
[Rackstraw] Don't get to the bottom line.
That's a $40 million question.
430
00:24:07,489 --> 00:24:10,241
-Let him answer it. What did he say?
-[Evans] He says you are,
431
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.
432
00:24:13,536 --> 00:24:16,915
[Rackstraw] Well, opportunity to dig
into whether he's telling the truth.
433
00:24:17,499 --> 00:24:19,209
During my interview with Rackstraw,
434
00:24:19,292 --> 00:24:22,629
I gave him at least four opportunities
to say, "I'm not D.B. Cooper."
435
00:24:22,712 --> 00:24:24,631
"I'm not the person responsible for that."
436
00:24:24,714 --> 00:24:27,509
And he continued
kind of teasing people
437
00:24:27,592 --> 00:24:30,553
that maybe he is,
"Maybe I know more than I'm telling."
438
00:24:30,637 --> 00:24:33,264
And I felt like he liked
being considered Cooper,
439
00:24:33,348 --> 00:24:35,558
keeping that mystery alive,
being a part of it.
440
00:24:35,642 --> 00:24:37,685
And he knew, certainly,
what Colbert was doing.
441
00:24:37,769 --> 00:24:40,438
He knew the schedule
Colbert was working on.
442
00:24:40,939 --> 00:24:44,526
That also was intriguing.
You know, how did he know that much?
443
00:24:44,609 --> 00:24:47,779
Were they part of a team,
or were they really adversaries?
444
00:24:47,862 --> 00:24:48,947
Or what was really going on?
445
00:24:49,030 --> 00:24:50,532
[no audible speech]
446
00:24:50,615 --> 00:24:53,243
[Schaefer] Were they involved together
in selling the story?
447
00:24:54,035 --> 00:24:57,789
You know, if they could have
put something together,
448
00:24:57,872 --> 00:25:01,000
I think Rackstraw would've
definitely been into that.
449
00:25:01,084 --> 00:25:06,464
I think the only thing holding him back
was, you know, confessing to the crime.
450
00:25:07,048 --> 00:25:09,968
But I've heard rumors
that Colbert offered him some money to…
451
00:25:10,468 --> 00:25:11,553
to confess to it.
452
00:25:12,845 --> 00:25:15,098
[Colbert] We're here to tell you
that there's good news.
453
00:25:15,181 --> 00:25:18,935
And it starts
with a $20,000 cashier's check
454
00:25:19,018 --> 00:25:21,020
to get you to tell your true story.
455
00:25:21,104 --> 00:25:25,024
It was an interesting relationship,
I can tell you that.
456
00:25:26,192 --> 00:25:28,820
Rackstraw was a narcissistic sociopath.
457
00:25:28,903 --> 00:25:30,321
He really was.
458
00:25:30,405 --> 00:25:31,823
He tried to engage us,
459
00:25:31,906 --> 00:25:34,534
but we never responded after the ambush.
460
00:25:35,118 --> 00:25:37,245
I never spoke to Rackstraw again.
461
00:25:37,328 --> 00:25:40,915
I stayed focused on gathering
the evidence for the investigation.
462
00:25:41,791 --> 00:25:45,628
[Evans] Do you know anything about the guy
in Indiana that he had supposedly
463
00:25:45,712 --> 00:25:48,131
decoded the messages, or…?
464
00:25:48,214 --> 00:25:50,800
[Rackstraw]
Yeah. His name is Sherwood, is that it?
465
00:25:50,883 --> 00:25:52,260
[Evans]
Yeah, I think. Yeah, yeah.
466
00:25:52,343 --> 00:25:56,055
[Rackstraw] It was a hurrah moment,
I guess, eureka moment for Colbert,
467
00:25:56,139 --> 00:25:57,807
grasping at the last straw.
468
00:26:04,522 --> 00:26:07,609
[Sherwood] It was December of 2017
469
00:26:08,234 --> 00:26:09,485
when I was on the Internet,
470
00:26:09,569 --> 00:26:13,823
and I actually seen a letter
that D.B. Cooper wrote
471
00:26:13,906 --> 00:26:14,907
to newspapers.
472
00:26:16,451 --> 00:26:18,578
[Zaid]
In the aftermath of the skyjacking,
473
00:26:19,245 --> 00:26:22,165
an individual purporting to be D.B. Cooper
474
00:26:22,665 --> 00:26:28,087
was sending letters,
essentially taunting the FBI.
475
00:26:28,671 --> 00:26:29,505
"Ha, ha."
476
00:26:29,589 --> 00:26:31,132
"You can't catch me."
477
00:26:31,883 --> 00:26:35,053
And whoever the person was,
was providing information
478
00:26:35,136 --> 00:26:37,555
that only the skyjacker
479
00:26:37,639 --> 00:26:39,515
conceivably would have known.
480
00:26:40,808 --> 00:26:45,480
Some of these letters
were made known contemporaneously.
481
00:26:45,563 --> 00:26:49,859
But we found out there had been
other letters that had been received,
482
00:26:49,942 --> 00:26:52,278
and intentionally not released.
483
00:26:53,321 --> 00:26:56,824
So we got access to these letters
that had been unpublished
484
00:26:56,908 --> 00:27:00,787
through the FOIA lawsuit,
the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
485
00:27:00,870 --> 00:27:02,413
So I called Tom.
486
00:27:02,497 --> 00:27:05,875
I said, "What's this about the numbers
that nobody could ever figure out?"
487
00:27:05,958 --> 00:27:08,252
He goes,
"Yeah, the FBI couldn't break her."
488
00:27:08,753 --> 00:27:11,464
I used to work with codes,
so I said, "Send me the letter."
489
00:27:12,298 --> 00:27:13,549
I said, "Humor me."
490
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,
491
00:27:19,597 --> 00:27:22,100
seven days a week, about two weeks.
492
00:27:23,142 --> 00:27:24,977
I used everything I could think of,
493
00:27:25,061 --> 00:27:28,147
threw all the codes
and everything that I was trained on.
494
00:27:28,815 --> 00:27:30,149
I got to the point where I said…
495
00:27:32,652 --> 00:27:34,195
"If this is Rackstraw,"
496
00:27:34,278 --> 00:27:37,407
I said, "I have to know,
'What does he think like?'"
497
00:27:37,490 --> 00:27:38,741
"'What makes him tick?'"
498
00:27:41,244 --> 00:27:43,788
I kept looking
at that one set of numbers we had.
499
00:27:44,539 --> 00:27:47,291
"Why'd he put 71 three times on there?"
500
00:27:47,375 --> 00:27:48,376
Wait a minute.
501
00:27:48,459 --> 00:27:51,713
371? I said,
"Man, that was my unit in Vietnam."
502
00:27:53,089 --> 00:27:56,092
And Rackstraw wanted
to be with the unit back then.
503
00:27:58,469 --> 00:28:02,306
So, I wrote down everything
that we did in 'Nam,
504
00:28:02,890 --> 00:28:05,518
and started putting numbers to everything.
505
00:28:06,352 --> 00:28:09,313
And at the top of that letter
has seven Cs.
506
00:28:11,065 --> 00:28:12,775
Seven Cs, that's 21.
507
00:28:14,068 --> 00:28:15,319
Army Security Agency,
508
00:28:15,987 --> 00:28:18,281
which all our units were a part of.
509
00:28:18,865 --> 00:28:20,742
ASA, 21.
510
00:28:21,576 --> 00:28:23,786
I'm going, "Whoa, there it is."
511
00:28:24,662 --> 00:28:25,538
Bingo.
512
00:28:28,958 --> 00:28:31,544
Rick Sherwood used a technique
513
00:28:31,627 --> 00:28:34,630
that could be called
simple English gematria.
514
00:28:35,214 --> 00:28:38,634
Taking the letters
and converting them to numbers.
515
00:28:38,718 --> 00:28:41,888
A equals one, B equals two, and so forth.
516
00:28:42,388 --> 00:28:45,057
What you do in gematria
is you add them up.
517
00:28:45,141 --> 00:28:48,936
If two phrases add up to the same value,
518
00:28:49,020 --> 00:28:51,355
then somehow
they're supposed to be related.
519
00:28:52,148 --> 00:28:55,985
For example, George W. Bush
and John F. Kerry,
520
00:28:56,068 --> 00:29:00,156
these, of course, are the candidates
in the 2004 US presidential election.
521
00:29:00,656 --> 00:29:03,034
Do they have some sort
of mystical connection?
522
00:29:03,117 --> 00:29:05,995
Uh, I think it's just a coincidence.
523
00:29:06,746 --> 00:29:08,623
Because Dennis Rodman,
524
00:29:09,499 --> 00:29:11,918
if you add up the letters, also 130.
525
00:29:13,878 --> 00:29:16,172
I'm not a conspiracy theorist
or anything like that.
526
00:29:16,672 --> 00:29:19,425
You know, for me to be the one
that broke it…
527
00:29:21,719 --> 00:29:23,679
that's only because I was in that unit.
528
00:29:26,599 --> 00:29:30,436
371st, which was Radio Research Unit,
529
00:29:31,187 --> 00:29:34,065
Army Security Agency,
which we were part of,
530
00:29:34,982 --> 00:29:38,152
and our top secret helicopters
flew out of 11th GS.
531
00:29:39,529 --> 00:29:42,949
So us, in entirety,
532
00:29:43,991 --> 00:29:45,827
was top secret.
533
00:29:48,496 --> 00:29:52,959
All four of them things would add up,
and they all were my unit,
534
00:29:54,377 --> 00:29:55,545
that he wanted to be in.
535
00:29:55,628 --> 00:29:58,297
That he was, temporarily, for six weeks.
536
00:30:00,633 --> 00:30:02,051
What's the odds of that?
537
00:30:03,678 --> 00:30:05,763
[Edward]
There was a correlation between
538
00:30:05,847 --> 00:30:08,266
what he used in Southeast Asia
539
00:30:08,349 --> 00:30:09,809
and then what was found
540
00:30:09,892 --> 00:30:11,811
and decrypted
541
00:30:11,894 --> 00:30:14,480
from the D.B. Cooper letters.
542
00:30:14,564 --> 00:30:16,607
That's a pretty strong correlation.
543
00:30:19,694 --> 00:30:24,031
[Mendez] D.B. Cooper is the case
where people want the idea
544
00:30:24,782 --> 00:30:27,326
to fit this kind of preconceived notion,
545
00:30:27,410 --> 00:30:31,038
and they will discard
the parts of it that don't fit.
546
00:30:31,122 --> 00:30:34,292
They will just find
the pieces that fit in the box
547
00:30:34,375 --> 00:30:35,543
and then…
548
00:30:36,127 --> 00:30:39,338
And it's hard to argue with,
because those pieces do fit in the box.
549
00:30:39,422 --> 00:30:41,632
But all the stuff
that's left on the floor,
550
00:30:42,466 --> 00:30:45,261
never really gets addressed again.
551
00:30:47,221 --> 00:30:48,848
[Sherwood]
Codes are made not to be broken.
552
00:30:48,931 --> 00:30:49,974
That's why they're codes.
553
00:30:50,808 --> 00:30:53,644
But if you're going to have
any chance at all of breaking a code,
554
00:30:54,645 --> 00:30:57,607
you have to know the one that wrote it.
555
00:30:58,816 --> 00:31:01,444
I had a pretty good grasp on Rackstraw.
556
00:31:01,527 --> 00:31:04,447
He was just showing
he was smarter than everybody.
557
00:31:05,031 --> 00:31:07,700
It was depicted in everything he wrote.
558
00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:10,620
But the last letter,
559
00:31:11,203 --> 00:31:12,204
that was the key.
560
00:31:12,288 --> 00:31:14,790
That's the one
where Rackstraw's name is in it.
561
00:31:16,959 --> 00:31:19,545
Tom says, "I don't think it's him.
He's talking about his uncle."
562
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,090
I said, "Tom, he's not talking
about his uncle."
563
00:31:23,174 --> 00:31:24,800
I said, "He's talking about Uncle Sam."
564
00:31:25,843 --> 00:31:29,931
I read this thing twice.
I said, "That's Rackstraw's MO."
565
00:31:30,014 --> 00:31:31,807
I said, "That's D.B. Cooper."
566
00:31:32,808 --> 00:31:34,268
And that last line there,
567
00:31:34,352 --> 00:31:37,980
"Please tell the lackey cops
D.B. Cooper's not my real name."
568
00:31:38,689 --> 00:31:42,360
I said, "I wonder if he actually put
his full name in there."
569
00:31:43,069 --> 00:31:46,948
So, I just took that section out
and it come up 269.
570
00:31:48,491 --> 00:31:50,826
Robert W. Rackstraw,
he had it all written down.
571
00:31:50,910 --> 00:31:54,372
I said, "He was a lieutenant, right?"
He said, "Yep." There's "LT."
572
00:31:54,455 --> 00:31:55,373
And "I'm."
573
00:31:56,207 --> 00:31:58,334
From your letters to numbers…
574
00:32:00,086 --> 00:32:00,962
equals…
575
00:32:02,046 --> 00:32:04,256
269.
576
00:32:10,596 --> 00:32:12,723
So, he actually put his name
577
00:32:13,683 --> 00:32:14,600
in there.
578
00:32:15,101 --> 00:32:17,895
That was pretty much
an "aha" moment there.
579
00:32:20,690 --> 00:32:22,358
[Ulis]
When you look at something, you say,
580
00:32:22,441 --> 00:32:24,610
"There's got to be some sort
of cryptic message in here,"
581
00:32:24,694 --> 00:32:27,154
you have an infinite number
of possibilities.
582
00:32:27,238 --> 00:32:30,533
You can make these documents
say anything you want them to say.
583
00:32:30,616 --> 00:32:33,202
It's really a form of confirmation bias.
584
00:32:34,286 --> 00:32:39,375
So in my opinion,
the letters are not in any way
585
00:32:40,334 --> 00:32:43,504
material evidence showing
that Rackstraw was Cooper.
586
00:32:44,296 --> 00:32:48,259
[Smithline] I worked out that,
"I am SpongeBob SquarePants"
587
00:32:48,342 --> 00:32:50,261
has the magic sum.
588
00:32:50,344 --> 00:32:54,390
I don't think that means
that D.B. Cooper is SpongeBob SquarePants.
589
00:32:54,932 --> 00:32:57,685
♪ I have never felt so free ♪
590
00:32:57,768 --> 00:33:01,188
♪ High in the sky
Is the place for me ♪
591
00:33:01,272 --> 00:33:04,942
You can come up with SquarePants,
SpongeBob, whatever?
592
00:33:05,026 --> 00:33:06,902
Yeah, but is it relevant to it?
593
00:33:08,070 --> 00:33:11,532
Is it foolproof?
No, I wouldn't say it's foolproof.
594
00:33:12,033 --> 00:33:15,119
You can come up
with different interpretations,
595
00:33:15,619 --> 00:33:19,498
but this is the way Rackstraw
communicates and does things.
596
00:33:20,499 --> 00:33:22,501
You know, it's interpretive coding.
597
00:33:23,461 --> 00:33:27,256
Just the way he goes
about things in writing,
598
00:33:27,798 --> 00:33:29,175
and knowing about him,
599
00:33:29,258 --> 00:33:32,636
that's how I come up with the solutions.
600
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:33,846
Interpretive.
601
00:33:35,639 --> 00:33:38,225
[Smithline] Mistaking ideal connections
for real connections.
602
00:33:38,309 --> 00:33:41,228
That is a real danger
when you are trying to do
603
00:33:41,312 --> 00:33:43,564
any sort of scientific investigation.
604
00:33:43,647 --> 00:33:45,775
You're not actually getting information
out of the data,
605
00:33:45,858 --> 00:33:47,902
you're getting information
out of your own mind
606
00:33:47,985 --> 00:33:50,071
based on your preconceived notions.
607
00:33:51,697 --> 00:33:54,700
We believe that decoding process
was accurate,
608
00:33:54,784 --> 00:33:56,786
and accurately describes
609
00:33:57,703 --> 00:34:01,165
what Rackstraw said himself that he did.
610
00:34:01,916 --> 00:34:04,877
[Colbert]
Rackstraw's name is in coded letters.
611
00:34:04,960 --> 00:34:07,922
And these are codes
that go all the way back to World War I.
612
00:34:08,547 --> 00:34:14,470
The translations were not only done
by a three-time NSA code buster,
613
00:34:15,012 --> 00:34:17,598
but the lieutenant-colonel
of Robert Rackstraw.
614
00:34:17,681 --> 00:34:20,518
He also looked at the codes
and said, "Those are bona fide."
615
00:34:21,227 --> 00:34:24,688
So I'm not going to argue
with a hundred-year-old codebook,
616
00:34:24,772 --> 00:34:28,734
or a lieutenant-colonel,
or a three-time NSA man.
617
00:34:28,818 --> 00:34:31,362
When they say the codes matched,
they matched.
618
00:34:32,238 --> 00:34:34,907
Is it Rackstraw? Yep, it's him.
619
00:34:35,991 --> 00:34:36,909
It's confirmed.
620
00:34:36,992 --> 00:34:41,288
But don't take it any farther.
Get him as the hijacker, that's it.
621
00:34:41,956 --> 00:34:44,291
[director]
So this is CIA. I mean, come on.
622
00:34:45,167 --> 00:34:47,044
Was he involved in other things? Yes.
623
00:34:50,047 --> 00:34:51,882
But I'm not at liberty to say.
624
00:34:55,010 --> 00:34:57,012
[mellow music playing]
625
00:35:05,396 --> 00:35:07,231
[Zaid] How disappointed are you
626
00:35:07,815 --> 00:35:10,192
if you can't prove what your case is,
627
00:35:10,276 --> 00:35:13,195
or gain the recognition
or acknowledgment of it?
628
00:35:15,281 --> 00:35:18,242
It takes a certain type
of person to keep pushing.
629
00:35:26,917 --> 00:35:29,044
[indistinct chatter]
630
00:35:30,171 --> 00:35:31,964
[laughter]
631
00:35:32,047 --> 00:35:33,048
Cycle…
632
00:35:33,883 --> 00:35:35,384
[beeping]
633
00:35:36,218 --> 00:35:40,931
We are here today
because of Russ and Kristy.
634
00:35:41,515 --> 00:35:45,477
They have new information
dealing with his loot and the parachute.
635
00:35:46,520 --> 00:35:49,899
Kristy and Russ came to us
right after the first documentary.
636
00:35:50,441 --> 00:35:52,985
Their last name is Cooper. No relations.
637
00:35:53,694 --> 00:35:57,865
So, Kristy told us, "My husband and I
mapped the escape route."
638
00:35:58,490 --> 00:36:01,702
"We also know where the parachute
may be buried." Really?
639
00:36:02,536 --> 00:36:05,122
When he told me the story
and everything was connecting,
640
00:36:05,664 --> 00:36:07,374
I said, "You know, we need to share this."
641
00:36:07,458 --> 00:36:11,503
This was all told at the table,
at this small-plane airport.
642
00:36:12,296 --> 00:36:14,423
And according to our source, Russ Cooper,
643
00:36:14,506 --> 00:36:16,675
who was at the table and heard the story,
644
00:36:16,759 --> 00:36:19,178
Wally is the name of the man
telling the story,
645
00:36:19,261 --> 00:36:21,472
and he's one of the four
that were involved
646
00:36:21,555 --> 00:36:23,432
in the escape of Cooper.
647
00:36:26,143 --> 00:36:29,396
[Russ Cooper] According to Wally,
on the night of the skyjacking,
648
00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,651
Cooper had landed roughly
1,300 feet from Goheen's airstrip.
649
00:36:34,235 --> 00:36:36,862
There was three gentlemen waiting for him.
650
00:36:37,488 --> 00:36:40,032
And they loaded into a small aircraft,
651
00:36:40,115 --> 00:36:44,328
along with $50,000 of the money
and the bomb.
652
00:36:45,412 --> 00:36:50,209
They flew over Vancouver Lake,
where they dumped the money and the bomb,
653
00:36:50,793 --> 00:36:54,588
in order to leave a false trail
that he had fallen into the lake
654
00:36:54,672 --> 00:36:55,589
and drowned.
655
00:36:56,590 --> 00:37:01,679
And then Cooper changed clothes,
changed aircraft at Scappoose Airport,
656
00:37:01,762 --> 00:37:04,932
and he was flown back
into Portland International,
657
00:37:05,015 --> 00:37:07,393
where he boarded a flight for Las Vegas.
658
00:37:09,311 --> 00:37:12,606
The other $150,000 and the parachute
659
00:37:12,690 --> 00:37:16,902
was loaded into a pickup
that went to a certain location,
660
00:37:16,986 --> 00:37:20,864
and when Wally described it,
I knew this spot.
661
00:37:22,491 --> 00:37:25,995
We made a few trips up there.
Got together 13 team members.
662
00:37:28,163 --> 00:37:31,625
We're here to answer questions
that thousands of people
663
00:37:31,709 --> 00:37:34,503
have been digging
and trying to find the truth on.
664
00:37:36,130 --> 00:37:38,799
-What do you think so far?
-I think we're gonna find it.
665
00:37:38,882 --> 00:37:40,050
[laughs]
666
00:37:41,176 --> 00:37:43,429
If it was a buckle or a clip or something,
667
00:37:43,512 --> 00:37:46,056
even within five or six inches,
it'd be ringing up.
668
00:37:48,267 --> 00:37:49,727
[warbling]
669
00:37:49,810 --> 00:37:51,520
[beeping]
670
00:37:52,354 --> 00:37:53,522
[man 1]
Look at what she's got.
671
00:37:54,398 --> 00:37:55,691
[man 2] Whoa! What is this?
672
00:37:55,774 --> 00:37:57,276
-[Kristy Cooper] We don't know.
-Fabric.
673
00:37:58,027 --> 00:38:00,696
-Damn, that looks like nylon.
-[Colbert] A gunnysack.
674
00:38:01,322 --> 00:38:02,781
Uh, or a potato sack.
675
00:38:03,949 --> 00:38:07,411
It could be many things,
including a parachute.
676
00:38:08,704 --> 00:38:09,955
It was laying right here.
677
00:38:10,039 --> 00:38:11,040
[man] Oh.
678
00:38:11,123 --> 00:38:13,000
-On the surface?
-Yeah.
679
00:38:13,083 --> 00:38:14,710
We'll have to kind of keep looking here.
680
00:38:14,793 --> 00:38:16,587
Yeah, see what else we got here, huh?
681
00:38:17,087 --> 00:38:18,088
[beeping]
682
00:38:18,172 --> 00:38:19,673
-Here we go.
-There it is.
683
00:38:20,507 --> 00:38:21,675
There it is.
684
00:38:21,759 --> 00:38:23,177
Piece of pipe or something.
685
00:38:23,886 --> 00:38:25,346
Not part of a parachute.
686
00:38:28,432 --> 00:38:31,018
-Pipe.
-You're gonna keep that, right?
687
00:38:31,101 --> 00:38:33,520
-[man] Oh yeah, absolutely.
-See what that is.
688
00:38:33,604 --> 00:38:37,191
[woman] I mean,
that could be part of the outer bag.
689
00:38:38,317 --> 00:38:40,069
[man 1] Oh, it's hard to tell.
690
00:38:40,152 --> 00:38:41,278
[man 2] Could be a harness.
691
00:38:47,576 --> 00:38:51,705
I still think we're on the right spot.
It's hard to find nylon
692
00:38:51,789 --> 00:38:55,084
with a metal detector.
That's what I have to say about it.
693
00:38:55,167 --> 00:38:56,335
[Colbert] And we may have.
694
00:38:56,418 --> 00:38:57,544
And we may have.
695
00:38:57,628 --> 00:39:01,131
[Colbert] We find what we believe
to be pieces of the parachute.
696
00:39:01,673 --> 00:39:02,633
A strap.
697
00:39:02,716 --> 00:39:04,885
We brought it to the FBI.
698
00:39:05,844 --> 00:39:08,472
We were tipped
the location of the parachute,
699
00:39:09,056 --> 00:39:12,518
we found the parachute,
we brought them five materials.
700
00:39:12,601 --> 00:39:14,686
We haven't heard from the FBI since.
701
00:39:14,770 --> 00:39:18,482
Tom sometimes fell into the trap
702
00:39:18,565 --> 00:39:22,277
of, "I wouldn't have seen it
if I hadn't believed it."
703
00:39:22,861 --> 00:39:25,322
They found a piece of nylon strap,
704
00:39:25,406 --> 00:39:28,992
and there are statements made
like, "We found the strap,
705
00:39:29,076 --> 00:39:31,995
showing that this was the area
they buried the parachute."
706
00:39:32,079 --> 00:39:33,539
What? That's a leap.
707
00:39:34,373 --> 00:39:36,500
And things like that disturb me.
708
00:39:37,668 --> 00:39:40,796
That area was a logging area
709
00:39:41,338 --> 00:39:44,341
in which a lot of activity
had taken place over the years.
710
00:39:45,676 --> 00:39:49,012
I don't know that the analysis
of those items
711
00:39:49,680 --> 00:39:52,141
were conclusive that it was a parachute.
712
00:39:52,641 --> 00:39:53,892
I don't think it was.
713
00:39:54,393 --> 00:39:55,894
Maybe it turned out to be nothing.
714
00:39:56,854 --> 00:39:58,313
Maybe it turned out to…
715
00:39:58,397 --> 00:39:59,773
Who knows what it turned out to be?
716
00:40:00,357 --> 00:40:06,321
Uh, but I would dare say,
and wager and willing to bet,
717
00:40:06,822 --> 00:40:11,326
that the FBI never did
a damn thing with that parachute.
718
00:40:11,410 --> 00:40:15,789
They have no interest in solving
the D.B. Cooper skyjacking.
719
00:40:16,373 --> 00:40:17,499
None whatsoever.
720
00:40:21,462 --> 00:40:24,965
This case is one
of the most interesting things
721
00:40:25,048 --> 00:40:27,134
that I participated in in the FBI,
722
00:40:27,217 --> 00:40:29,261
just because it endures.
723
00:40:30,471 --> 00:40:31,972
[Schaefer] It's been 50 years.
724
00:40:32,473 --> 00:40:35,142
We're no closer
to knowing Cooper's identity.
725
00:40:35,225 --> 00:40:37,269
I mean, we have suspects.
726
00:40:37,352 --> 00:40:40,647
There are new suspects all the time.
Suspects fade away.
727
00:40:41,148 --> 00:40:44,109
But really, there's no direct link
to any of them.
728
00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:48,947
[Gray] Now, where we are,
at the 50th anniversary of the case,
729
00:40:49,031 --> 00:40:53,619
I cannot say with any certainty
who Dan Cooper is or was.
730
00:40:53,702 --> 00:40:57,247
I don't think anybody can,
and to do so is just irresponsible.
731
00:40:57,873 --> 00:40:58,874
What I can say is,
732
00:40:58,957 --> 00:41:02,461
I feel like I know a lot more
about who he is and was
733
00:41:02,544 --> 00:41:04,338
than last year and the year before.
734
00:41:05,672 --> 00:41:09,009
Every year we know a little bit more,
new information comes out,
735
00:41:09,092 --> 00:41:11,553
new clues are analyzed in different ways.
736
00:41:11,637 --> 00:41:14,806
And I don't have a crush
on a suspect right now.
737
00:41:15,849 --> 00:41:18,644
But I do have a point of my compass.
738
00:41:19,770 --> 00:41:23,023
And the point of my compass
heads north to Canada.
739
00:41:24,608 --> 00:41:27,402
I feel that there are
so many clues in Canada
740
00:41:27,486 --> 00:41:29,613
that have never truly
been vetted all the way.
741
00:41:30,906 --> 00:41:35,244
The FBI never truly investigated
the significant meaning of Dan Cooper.
742
00:41:36,245 --> 00:41:38,539
Dan Cooper was the name
of a French comic book hero
743
00:41:39,665 --> 00:41:42,793
who flew airplanes and jumped out of them
in conical-shaped parachutes.
744
00:41:43,877 --> 00:41:47,047
If the FBI says something,
people truly believe it.
745
00:41:47,798 --> 00:41:50,801
But the real truth is,
the FBI are made up of human agents,
746
00:41:50,884 --> 00:41:54,888
and the best work in the case
has been done recently by citizen sleuths.
747
00:41:54,972 --> 00:41:56,723
[no audible speech]
748
00:41:57,474 --> 00:42:00,811
People who have a passion,
who have chased down these leads,
749
00:42:00,894 --> 00:42:04,982
who have found French comic books,
who have googled their way to the truth.
750
00:42:09,611 --> 00:42:10,612
I would go north.
751
00:42:11,613 --> 00:42:13,490
I wouldn't waste any time in the States.
752
00:42:14,241 --> 00:42:16,201
I would go straight to Canada.
753
00:42:16,285 --> 00:42:19,329
♪ Look out, California ♪
754
00:42:19,413 --> 00:42:21,832
♪ Ooh ooh, I gotta warn ya ♪
755
00:42:21,915 --> 00:42:25,252
♪ Here comes Canada ♪
756
00:42:25,335 --> 00:42:27,212
♪ Canada ♪
757
00:42:27,713 --> 00:42:29,965
♪ You got an open door ♪
758
00:42:30,048 --> 00:42:35,929
♪ You got so many things
I swear I never saw them before ♪
759
00:42:36,013 --> 00:42:38,056
♪ So much more ♪
760
00:42:38,140 --> 00:42:40,726
♪ You got a world in store ♪
761
00:42:40,809 --> 00:42:43,812
♪ You got a home from home
Got a hold so strong ♪
762
00:42:43,895 --> 00:42:46,815
♪ Can't seem to ignore ♪
763
00:42:47,316 --> 00:42:52,988
♪These things I do
I do for nobody else but me ♪
764
00:42:53,071 --> 00:42:56,158
♪ Look out, California ♪
765
00:42:56,241 --> 00:42:58,535
♪ Ooh ooh, I gotta warn ya ♪
766
00:42:58,619 --> 00:43:01,913
♪ Here comes Canada ♪
767
00:43:01,997 --> 00:43:03,915
♪ Canada ♪
768
00:43:04,416 --> 00:43:06,710
♪ You've proved your worth ♪
769
00:43:06,793 --> 00:43:09,880
♪ You got snow-peaked mountains
Tumbling down ♪
770
00:43:09,963 --> 00:43:12,758
♪ You've had them from birth ♪
771
00:43:12,841 --> 00:43:17,304
♪ Say it clear so the world can hear ♪
772
00:43:17,971 --> 00:43:23,602
♪ I swear I never left you
Without shedding a tear ♪
773
00:43:23,685 --> 00:43:26,313
♪ These things I do, I do for… ♪