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Investigators Claim They've Discovered D.B. Cooper's Identity (rollingstone.com)

Posted by msmash on from the or-so-they-think dept.

A team of former FBI investigators is claiming to have proof of the real identity of D.B. Cooper, the notorious airplane hijacker who has remained at large since he parachuted out of a Seattle-bound plane with $200,000 in November 1971. From a report: According to filmmaker and author Thomas Colbert -- who has led the independent investigation into the cold case for the last seven years -- the real Cooper is a 74-year-old Vietnam veteran named Robert Rackstraw. And the proof is hidden in a series of letters allegedly written by Cooper in the months after the hijacking and his disappearance. Rackstraw -- a former Special Forces paratrooper, explosives expert and pilot with about 22 different aliases -- was once a person of interest in the case, but was eliminated as a suspect by the FBI in 1979. His elimination was controversial amongst the investigating agents, and he remained, for many, the most viable suspect in what remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in the United States. In 2016, the FBI announced they were ending their investigation into the case.

67 of 131 comments (clear)

  1. No! by Sejus · · Score: 1

    I'm D.B Cooper! Or Spartacus. One of those.

    1. Re:No! by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      Did D.B.Cooper use Linux?

    2. Re:No! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, but he did invent systemd.

    3. Re:No! by smooth+wombat · · Score: 1

      Considering how long it's taken to get this far in the case, the answer is most likely yes.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    4. Re:No! by wahini · · Score: 1

      That's worse than stealing the money!

  2. discovered is easy, demonstrated ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Conclusively demonstrating the identity is much harder than developing a hypothesis.

  3. Strange dialogue around this guy by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 2

    One theory claims D.B. Cooper must have died because he took a parachute that was a dummy parachute, and so would have had just a stuffed backpack when he jumped. People believe this despite obvious questions like "why would you have something like that on a commercial airplane?" and "where is the body?"

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    1. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by cre1mer · · Score: 1, Funny

      You have parachutes for the crew in case something goes wrong with the plane. As for the passengers, they should have read the fine print on the ticket.

      --
      Goodbye, Slashdot!
    2. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by Dan+East · · Score: 1

      The parachutes were not on the plane. They were provided to him as part of the ransom and they mistakenly gave him a dummy chute.

      --
      Better known as 318230.
    3. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      The reason why it was on the plane was because the parachutes were procured from a local flying school, and the dummy was included by accident.

      The overwhelming evidence is that Cooper knew absolutely nothing about parachuting, which means this guy isn't DB Cooper. There have been plenty of candidates before for which there was far more evidence, and no dealbreakers proving it couldn't have been them (just check the Wikipedia page), but thus far the problem is nobody has been actively proven to be Cooper. In this case, not only have they not made a stronger case that it is him, but unless Cooper was suicidal, they've contradicted something key to his identification.

      NEXT!

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    4. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by Holi · · Score: 1

      Again, why would you have a dummy parachute on a plane? That seems like a very bad idea. In what way would it be a good idea to have a fake parachute?

      --
      Sorry, teleporters just kill you and then make a copy. A perfect, soul-less copy.
    5. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      The parachutes weren't on the commercial plane to start with; commercial passenger planes do not have parachutes because it is not realistic that people will parachute from them. At least not survive parachuting from them!
      The parachutes came from a Seattle parachuting club, I think. They were put on the plane because Cooper demanded it. Among these chutes was one training chute with the reserve sewn shut. This was the one Cooper used for his jump. So a real parachute, just without a working reserve chute.
      My main argument for that he survived is that if he didn't, the parachute would have been left laying about in the terrain, and could easily have been seen by searchers from planes. The area where he jumped did not have any snow, so a white parachute would likely have been visible. It is also not a totally uninhabited area, lots of farms and houses, so people (or their dogs) could easily have found him. But if he survived he could have removed evidence.
      Another possibility, of course, is that he did die, someone found him and hid the body and evidence and pocketed the money.

    6. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by Vreejack · · Score: 1

      I believe the spare was a dummy, not the main chute. The fact that he did not recognize the clearly marked dummy chute (among others) is the reason that Rackstraw was eliminated as a suspect. "D. B. Cooper", whoever he was, did not know what he was doing with a parachute. He had no protection from the insane chill factor and the extreme buffeting as he exited the plane.

      --
      "Will future ages believe that such stupid bigotry ever existed!" -- Ivanhoe
    7. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by vux984 · · Score: 2

      People believe this despite obvious questions like "why would you have something like that on a commercial airplane?" and "where is the body?"

      The parachute was not on the plane. It was one his demands to release hostages.

      So its entirely plausible that he'd be given a dummy parachute.

      However, he requested multiple parachutes as part of his hijacking demands. So the idea that the police would have deliberately given him a dummy parachute is pretty much unthinkable, because asking for multiple parachutes was precisely to raise the possibility of him having a hostage from the plane jump with him... as insurance against the parachutes being sabotaged.

      Further if he'd been deliberately given a dummy parachute, I expect that would have come out by now.

      So you are right, but not for the reason you gave.

    8. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Mistakenly" gave him a dummy chute. Sounds like something that would be good. Here is $200,000, and here is a 'parachute". Jump ---> splat.

    9. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 1

      Again, why would you have a dummy parachute on a plane?

      He demanded, and was given, the money and chutes when the plane landed in Seattle.

      This seems very stupid to me. Why didn't he bring his own parachute?

      Other evidence that he died: The money was never spent.

    10. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      [[citation]] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    11. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      Thanks, that helps. Not sure where I read that or if it's just been too long and my memory is distorted. There were all kinds of bizarre claims about this guy.

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      Support my political activism on Patreon.
    12. Re: Strange dialogue around this guy by c6gunner · · Score: 1

      My main argument for that he survived is that if he didn't, the parachute would have been left laying about in the terrain, and could easily have been seen by searchers from planes. The area where he jumped did not have any snow, so a white parachute would likely have been visible.

      This assumes he successfully deployed the canopy. He could have been knocked unconscious by the force of the exit and never had the chance to pull it.

      Another possibility, of course, is that he did die, someone found him and hid the body and evidence and pocketed the money.

      .... and then never spent it? Sure, I guess that's possible in the same way that Russell's Teapot is possible ...

    13. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by F.Ultra · · Score: 1

      He got the parachutes as part of his demand together with the money. He specifically asked for 4 parachutes so the police wouldn't give him a dummy one since they would believe that he would force the pilots and crew that remained to parachute off the plane.

    14. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by sexconker · · Score: 1

      And a bear ate the cash? Come on.

    15. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      A clump of bills from the ransom was found in the bank of the Columbia River and identified by the FBI

    16. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The money was never spent.

      How is that known? The money hasn't been recovered, and could have been spent overseas or in a non-recorded transaction.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    17. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      What if he didn't open the parachute? I don't think anyone actually saw it open.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    18. Re:Strange dialogue around this guy by toddestan · · Score: 1

      Supposedly they know the serial numbers of all the bills they gave him. If the money was spent, entered the money supply, and started to circulate, inevitably some of it would make it back to the US one way or another. And it wouldn't surprise me either if some foreign banks also check serial numbers of US currency that passes through them.

      I guess it's possible that the money was spent once and now is just sitting in someone's vault Scrooge McDuck style, but that seems unlikely.

  4. He's been debunked multiple times by jfdavis668 · · Score: 2

    Main reason, he was too young.

  5. Re:Consipracy theories. by John+Da'+Baddest · · Score: 1

    But in earlier days, "Deep Throat" was the ANTIDOTE to "Deep State".

  6. Two words: Duke Lacrosse by Noishkel · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yeah, because Rolling Stone magazine has such a sterling history of conducting deep in depth investigations. Just ignore the fact that they had to pay about $1.65 million when they published a scandalous accusation of rape in a fraternity when the case against them collapsed due to serious credibility issues with the accuser.

    1. Re:Two words: Duke Lacrosse by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      Exactly, Rolling Stone can't be expected to consider the credibility of something when it has already been reported. It is their job to repeat stuff and if anybody calls BS they just point to the original article. That is how media works these days.

    2. Re:Two words: Duke Lacrosse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Maybe you failed to read this is an FBI investigation somehow, you poor accused rapist?

      Oh yeah, like the history of FBI investigations isn't rife with failure?

      Hell, just look at Robert Mueller's history:

      $4.65 million paid to Steven Hatfill over Mueller's botched anthrax investigation

      Putting innocent men on death row to cover up FBI involvement with Boston mobster Whitey Bulger:

      FBI Must Pay $102 Million In Mob Case

      A federal judge in Boston yesterday ordered the government to pay a record nearly $102 million for the FBI's role in the 1968 wrongful murder convictions of four men, and she powerfully condemned misconduct that she said ran "all the way up to the FBI director."

      U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner's scathing ruling runs for more than 200 pages, calling the charges leveled against the nation's law enforcement agency "shocking" and the government's defense "absurd."

      "Now is the time to say and say without equivocation: this 'cost' -- to the liberty of four men, to our system of justice -- is not remotely acceptable," Gertner wrote in explaining the award. "This case is about intentional misconduct, subornation of perjury, conspiracy, the framing of innocent men."

      Gertner said the FBI knew that the star witness in a murder trial -- a "top echelon" informant in the agency's war against La Cosa Nostra, the Italian Mafia -- was lying when he identified the four wrongfully convicted men as responsible for a 1965 gangland slaying. But Gertner said agents vouched for the witness's credibility and for years covered up the lie as the men attempted to prove their innocence.

      "The FBI's conduct was intentional, it was outrageous, it caused plaintiffs immeasurable and unbearable pain and the FBI must be held accountable," Gertner wrote.

      Two of the men convicted, Louis Greco and Henry Tameleo, died behind bars. The others, Peter Limone, 73, and Joseph Salvati, 74, spent three decades in prison -- Limone, for a time, on death row -- before being freed when their convictions were overturned in the late 1990s. The civil lawsuit against the FBI was filed in 2002.

      ...

      Robert Mueller was an assistant US attorney in Boston - and wrote multiple letters to the courts denying these four men parole that reiterated the known false charges against them:

      One lingering question for FBI director Robert Mueller

      ... it was Mueller, first as an assistant US attorney then as the acting US attorney in Boston, who wrote letters to the parole and pardons board throughout the 1980s opposing clemency for the four men framed by FBI lies.

      Of course, Mueller was also in that position while Whitey Bulger was helping the FBI cart off his criminal competitors even as he buried bodies in shallow graves along the Neponset.

      And that's just one person's history - a person lauded as so fucking wonderful.

      So GFY with your "this is an FBI investigation"

    3. Re:Two words: Duke Lacrosse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You apparently cannot read, even though this story was quite short. The FBI stopped its investigation 2 years ago, that's right in the story. This is a private organization. The investigators PREVIOUSLY worked for the FBI. Geez.

  7. Decoding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    “And please tell the lackey cops D.B. Cooper is not my real name,” was decoded to “I am 1st Lt. Robert Rackstraw, D.B. Cooper is not my real name.”
    What? How does lackey cops translate to Robert Rackstraw?

    This smacks of some weird numerology, and cop hunches. I sure don't see any actual evidence pointing to Rackstraw being Cooper. Just someout with a pet theory .

    1. Re: Decoding? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      âoeI am 1st Lt. Robert Rackstraw" decodes to: " Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear"

    2. Re:Decoding? by wardrich86 · · Score: 2

      I thought the same thing. Both sentences were way off. They should have really explained how they managed to squeeze that statement out of the sentence...

    3. Re: Decoding? by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      Which then decodes to D.B. Cooper!

  8. Confirmation bias? by Registered+Coward+v2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So they decided Rickshaw was the guy after analyzing the information they had; then, when they got the last two letters, were able to decode them to conclusively prove he did it? They even were able to decode his name in the letters? He may have been a prime suspect, per TFA, but absent physical evidence such as a parachute or a stack of bills from the hijacking I would not consider that conclusive. If Rickshaw is a narcissist who needs to prove he was smarter than everyone else I would think he'd save proof that he was in fact D. B. Cooper an not yet another imposter.

    --
    I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
  9. Settled, at last! by DutchSter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The first sentence, "I want out of the system and saw a way through good ole Unk," was decoded to, "I want out of the system and saw a way by skyjacking a jet plane."

    And the second sentence, "And please tell the lackey cops D.B. Cooper is not my real name" was decoded to "I am 1st Lt. Robert Rackstraw, D.B. Cooper is not my real name"

    Well. That settles it I guess. Fine work, fellas. Roll commercial!

    Good old Rolling Stone, always light on specifics and heavy on unverified claims made by interview subjects.

    1. Re:Settled, at last! by Vreejack · · Score: 4, Funny

      Also decoded: "Vreejack is the True King of Slashdot. Long May He Reign." They left that bit out of the article, but you can decode it from the D.B. Cooper letters at your leisure.

      --
      "Will future ages believe that such stupid bigotry ever existed!" -- Ivanhoe
    2. Re:Settled, at last! by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 1

      Yeah, this whole thing seems rather silly. Colbert describes Rackstraw as a “narcissistic sociopath who never thought he would be caught. He was trying to prove that he was smarter than anyone else.“ He also describes him as someone who likes to taunt the police. But they’ve got a grand total of six letters from a narcissistic sociopath who’s been roaming free for 40 years - all of which were written not long after the skyjacking?

      For that matter, even if they could prove the author of the letters... people write letters claiming responsibility for highly visible crimes all the bloody time.

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    3. Re: Settled, at last! by freejack74 · · Score: 1

      Not quite, it seems there was a typo, âoefreejack is the true king of slashdotâ - itâ(TM)s a 5 digit conspiracy

  10. " allegedly written by Cooper " by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Allegedly...

    I've been following these knuckleheads for years and they still have no proof at all... just a bunch of conjecture and innuendo.

    1. Re:" allegedly written by Cooper " by kencurry · · Score: 1

      Just stop with these nonsense stories. Every year or two for 20+ years there will be another "it has finally been revealed" story all over the news. Same with Amelia Earhardt, Jack the Ripper, and Area 52. These mysteries have been solved so many times already, but there is always another "for sure" answer. Lets stop giving them free press unless they produce hard evidence.

      Um, "Area 52" is surely a mystery, but everyone knows that Area 51 is where the keep the crashed aliens.

      --
      sigs are for losers (except to point out that sigs are for losers)
  11. “Investigators claim” by inking · · Score: 1

    Isn’t it “former investigators” now that the investigation had been closed? I mean, it’s great if they are investigating other stuff in the mean time, but that’s hardly pertinent to the title. It would really be better if it was something less clickbaity like “Two years ago some FBI agents thought that the guy they suspected to be Cooper forty years ago could still be Cooper.”

  12. Um, the have drawings of DB Cooper by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    but no photos of Rackstraw? Does he look anything like the drawings?

    1. Re:Um, the have drawings of DB Cooper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      There's this from Wikipedia

  13. so this former special forces and expert by k6mfw · · Score: 1

    chose the worst parachute rig to jump with, a Navy NB-8. FFS wasn't he aware the Paracommander in a B4 container vastly superior and has some forward speed and excellent turnability compared to a unmodfied round canopy of the NB-8? I didn't RTFA but I don't think this guy was Dan Cooper.

    --
    mfwright@batnet.com
  14. Re:Proof 9-11 was an inside job by jnaujok · · Score: 2

    You do realize that the thermite reaction (Fe2O3 + 2 Al 2 Fe + Al2O3) has no vapor byproducts. The alumina is a solid, and the iron comes out as a liquid. i.e. There's no smoke from a thermite reaction.

    --
    Life, the Universe, and Everything... in my image.
  15. Just pardon whoever did it. by Ecuador · · Score: 1

    Most crimes have some sort of statute of limitations, why not this? Declare the deed pardoned and let whoever did it come forward. It's in the public interest (i.e. curiosity) to know whodunit and if they indeed survived they can probably even repay the money from potential book/film rights and everybody's happy.

    --
    Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    1. Re:Just pardon whoever did it. by WolfgangVL · · Score: 5, Informative

      Because he's made fools of the police, the FBI, and pretty much the entire media- for decades. Add to that the fact that he's become sort of a folk legend/hero and there is absolutely no chance of pardon.

      If he was to come forward they would nail him to the wall for all to see, and then go after his family for the 200k adjusted for inflation with interest and tax evasion and everything else they can come up with.

      If he lived, I expect he a doddering old mastermind at this point. I'm hoping his dying breath spills the beans while he flips them the bird.

      --
      You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
  16. Nonsense by GoRK · · Score: 2

    Am I missing something in that there is no evidence presented around the actual message coding except for pictures of letters and then apparently the secret messages which have been conveniently 'decoded' from them?

    Considering it's rather trivial to produce an enciphering scheme that will transliterate any plaintext into any other the designer desires (not that the "investigators" even bothered in this case) I find the whole thing pretty suspect.

  17. So has anybody read ... by thomst · · Score: 1

    ... the Colbert Report?

    <ducks ... >

    --
    Check out my novel.
  18. Known for a while now by Bruce+Perens · · Score: 2

    Mr. Rackstraw has been the main suspect for a while, based not on anagrams in this letter but the presence of particles of aerospace materials in a tie that he left. The suspect had to have worked where such materials were machined.

    --
    Bruce Perens.
  19. Re:Is it Tommy Wiseau? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I'll bet it's Tommy Wiseau!

    Right. See this XKCD cartoon.

  20. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  21. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  22. Re:Proof 9-11 was an inside job by BronsCon · · Score: 1

    Ever actually seen a thermite reaction?

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  23. Re:Consipracy theories. by mnemotronic · · Score: 1

    People just love conspiracy theories and will make up facts to create a better story and further their agenda.

    We're all story-tellers at heart.

    Pathetic little people.

    No need to get judgmental. The facts can speak for themselves.

    But the truth is that the ending of this investigation just proves how corrupt the FBI is and how the Deep State has taken control of our government.

    Bravo. An excellent demonstration of your conspiracy theory proposition.

    And I'd also like to point out that we haven't heard much from Stormy Daniels lately. Coincidence?! I think not!!

    Stormy Daniels has had a sex-change operation and is secretly married to Hillary. Their offspring, conceived using alien DNA, are the templates for a clone army being created, raised and trained on secret child sex-worker enslavement camps on Mars. When the time comes, they will board fleets of DC-9s and travel to Earth and unleash their ungodly mental powers, turning all Americans into zombie-like zombies.

    --
    The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
  24. to quote another career criminal.... by inerlogic · · Score: 1

    "At this point, what difference does it make?"

    Seriously.... it doesn't really matter...

  25. Re:SOUNDS REAL GOOD SHERIFF BUT I ALREADY ATE! by sexconker · · Score: 1

    I'M WORRIED ABOUT COOP!

  26. Rolling Stone? Really?? by RogueWarrior65 · · Score: 1

    That paragon of journalistic integrity?

  27. Again? by maxcelcat · · Score: 1

    Doesn't this claim pop up every couple of years? Alternating with discovering who Jack the Ripper was. And for some decades the regular unmasking of Deep Throat of Watergate fame.

  28. Now that he lives in a nursing home... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ...he is known to the staff as as D.B. Pooper.

  29. Re:Proof 9-11 was an inside job by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    Yes I have.... :)

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  30. Re:Proof 9-11 was an inside job by BronsCon · · Score: 1

    So, then... Unlike the person I was replying to, you probably realize that other things around the thermite will burn, creating some of those vapor byproducts we were just told thermite doesn't have.

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  31. Re:Proof 9-11 was an inside job by Gr8Apes · · Score: 1

    Well, considering we had high pressure constituents being sprayed up and ignited, we certainly had vapor byproducts. There's also the question of the material around the thermite, although in my particular use cases it appears that the burn didn't affect those. Also, in no chemical reaction do you get 100% conversion, and with thermite heating the mixture in the 2500C range with a continuous feed sources, we had vaporization of some of the sources as well. Needless to say, there were nice clouds of smoke above the very bright burning sources.

    --
    The cesspool just got a check and balance.
  32. Re:Proof 9-11 was an inside job by BronsCon · · Score: 1

    One explanation I heard (reported on CNN minutes after Tower 7 collapsed) was that the building was fitted with thermite "charges" during construction so, if it ever became unstable, it could be evacuated and brought down in a controlled manner. Of course, that was in reference to Tower 7, not the main towers, but it still has the absolute stench of bullshit. No sane engineer would design that and no sane inspector would pass it, as it is a major violation of a number of fire and building codes.

    Either there was no controlled demolition of Tower 7 and it fell in a controlled manner by chance, or there was a controlled demolition of Tower 7 and it was planned, which would hint to the whole event being planned, as well. Not prove, mind you, but it sure does make it look a lot less coincidental.

    --
    APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
  33. Something new? by Mike+Van+Pelt · · Score: 1

    (checks link) ... Oh... According to a story in Drooling Stoner. Never mind.