CooperNWO305

I'll need to either mute Slim King or check this site every ten minutes. I step away for a bit and come back to pages of updates. Ok, so the TiSB is the same stub or item number for both suspects. You guys are just interpreting them differently, or interpreting them the same way, but with different conclusions on suspects?

I don't have the Excel file handy. I was particularly interested in the Zirconium and partially interested in the Silver and Tin. Is that further down the column? As I remember each stub had something like 30-40 particles listed. Are the Vordahl stubs the same as the Petersen ones or different? Eric was talking salt, which I'm guessing is Na. Where is that on these stubs (674 and 675)?

No one has Eric's particles listed or the location the McCrone report???

Are the Vordahl elements and the Petersen elements the same part #s on the McCrone sheets? I've got all of those on separate tabs and was hoping someone could point me to who is using which ones. The Crucible patent calls for Zirconium, Silver, Tin, and Aluminum along with the Titanium and Antimony that Petersen would have been in contact with. Are all those found together? I'm trying to understand what Zirconium is used for. I feel comfortable analyzing quite a bit of subjects, but mettalurgy is one of those areas I'd feel more comfortable talking to a PhD about. But figure for laymans terms, someone on this group can probably get us in the right area. It is all very interesting and I was going to chat with Tom Kaye, but on Citizen Sleuths he says "This data is complicated to look at. Please do not email asking how to interpret it." For full disclosure, I wrote on my blog a number of years ago that I was skeptical of the Titanium being from some Top Secret area of research, given that Titanium was in such demand that we had to import it from the Russians during the Cold War.

Thanks. It sounds like he is repeating what Tina told him versus actually seeing the matchbooks in the cockpit. When I was watching the whole video, he said that Cooper said "McChord is 20 miles from here." I've seen 20 miles, 20 minutes. I guess we won't know for sure what he said.

There was some discussion at CooperCon about the matchbooks and that Rataczak had seen them in the cockpit. He may have said this during one of his interviews? Anyone know which one? OleMiss it may have been you that brought it up.

There is some blocked out information on a number of documents, done by someone recently. His service number and address are not hidden, so I'm not certain what they blocked out. I don't think anyone questioned his skydiving skills. The questions came up about his military service and CIA stuff, and of course the Cooper hijacking. It may all be moot in that I saw a Facebook post that Cooper may have contacted the IRA to launder his money, and they used it to buy weapons. I had thought it was Colonel Mustard with the candlestick in the study.

Yea, that threw me off. I'm not sure exactly what is going on there. I do see that Reca/Peca did not seem to advance that far in rank, even in wartime. My guess is that he got himself in trouble, more than once. That does mix with what we know about his background. Lisa (his niece) posted some of these docs on Facebook. She did acknowledge that the CIA thing may be a little far fetched. Those docs did have a certificate of graduation from the Army Airborne school, and a pic of Reca with his jump wings on. The previous pictures may simply have been before he got his wings. What was not in those files is a DD214, which is a record of discharge and lists information regarding his overseas service, awards, etc. It is not a comprehensive list of everything he did, but it tells a lot. Back in the 1950s it may have had a different name. I would like to see if he did make it over to Korea during the war, and how long he actually served in Airborne units. Based off the insignia in one of the photos, it looks like he was Infantry. Given that his first discharge was in 1954, he falls into the over 63 years from discharge, and therefore anyone can get his military records. However, if they count his National Guard time and Air Force Reserve time in that calculation, they may not provide the information. My initial assessment is that Reca served a few years in the Army, jumped out of planes, then left the service, went into the Air Force Reserve, was activated for a month or so, then went back to weekend duty. He would have had the skills to jump out of a 727, and the balls. However, nothing in his background indicates that he was CIA or a secret agent, etc. He was a storyteller, and it sounds like he was a good one. He's a guy I'd like to have had a beer with, but with his blue eyes and stories, I don't see him as Cooper.

Is the “piercing brown eyes” in there or is it in a different part of the book?

Snip from Edward’s book summarizes things. 1/4 way down. There are more nuances in the 302s but I have not consolidated those all yet.

I would expect to see jump wings on that uniform. He has a patch and other insignia. It’s not an overcoat, it’s a uniform jacket. The overcoat would not have wings. He does have the jump boots though. Bottom line is that his background is suspicious. He’s a proven crook and it seems like he is a liar. No one would care, but he is claiming to be Cooper.

I’ve looked all those places. This picture tells me very little, and I know what to look for. On his grave the word Veteran is misspelled. Do you have someone with military service who has reviewed his files? I’m not asking for the actual originals. The Army keeps those. Copies.

Some comments. Someone born in 1920 is a lot less likely to have mixed heritage than someone born in the 40s to today. The Native American piece is interesting, in that I can’t think of a time when I confused a Native American for someone Latin. The eyes are what get me though for NA, the dark brown eyes. Remember, people from Latin America are heavily descended from the Spanish and Portuguese. Columbus was Italian. There is an FBI document that suggests possibly Italian, Catholic too. I don’t know how we can dismiss Gregory. I also wonder why Mitchell did not see dark or olive. However, enough people did. Swarthy for me conjures up memories of my friend’s Greek or Italian fathers. I’m from the Northeast, which is very mixed in terms of Europeans. If I was looking for Cooper, I would not be looking in Scandinavia or in Ireland/Scotland. This I’ve said long before Vordahl and Vince Peterson. I’ve visited Scandinavia many times, and frankly you see pale and light hair and skin. There are always outliers, yes, but the majority of people up there would not pass for Cooper. We went through this all with Sheridan. I might buy Finnish, but then I’d expect to see some distinct Finnish features, which I don’t. The Finns I’ve known have been mostly light, but darker than Scandinavians. The sketch does not say NA to me at all. It was and is a small group of people who didn’t really marry outside of their own at that point. But one witness did say it. Cooper may be a blonde hair Dane, but my guess is we are looking for someone of Eastern/Southern/Western European descent. Not Northern Germany. I’d start on the Mediterranean Sea and work around that. I study a lot of genealogy. Many ethnic groups in Europe came to the U.S., not from Italy to Norway or from Spain to Ireland. This was one of the main issues with Sheridan. The witnesses said olive, swarthy, Latin, Native American. Medium. Smooth. Dark. Etc. When we are dealing with this, color pictures are preferable. Hard to get, but necessary. High quality black and white maybe.

Right. It’s very difficult for Americans to learn the Asian or Arabic languages, and actually the Slavic/Eastern European languages too unless they have the ancestry. Much more common to see an American proficient in a Romance or Germanic language. Not all of the above like Reca claims. Also, wouldn’t you think someone with those skills might look for a white collar job as an interpreter or linguist and not one in welding or construction? Maybe he just didn’t want an office job. Hopefully the Reca team can release his official military files so we can corroborate some info. But I bet because he was CIA that most of what he did won’t be in the files. Like the assassination in The Netherlands.

He spoke all those languages? Any proof? Any recordings? I come from a family of linguists. I’ve studied some languages but not to the extent real linguists have. So many people claim proficiency in a language, even today. Just look at LinkedIn. The same people claim to be CEOs of companies, but these companies have three people. It’s very easy to fake these things, especially when they have friends telling them how good they are. Do Reca’s military files show language proficiency? These files should. Any other examples of him using those languages? Maybe his parents spoke some, but that does not make him proficient. His whole story is too good to be true. I read this book many years ago and was very surprised to see how many famous people had faked their backgrounds. It seemed that most of them had military service, but they embellished things and added to their story. I’m not sure who is worse, Reca for lying, or the Reca group for believing him. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor

Slim King: Do you have Reca’s military records? Official records?

Flyjack/OleMiss. You think this is Gregory? I can’t find smooth tied to a male. I have a 302 from this forum a while back showing Alice saw him too. She was in Denver at some point right?

Good find. Sounds like it would be Gregory or Labissionere.

It’s rough. Just a lot of cut and paste. I have a spreadsheet I was putting together. It may or may not ever get done. If someone has more 302s that I did not put in, let me know and I’ll cut and paste those. Does anyone know where the “piercing brown eyes” came from? It is definitely not in the 302s.

I put this together for myself for conversations like this. https://dbcooperhijack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Various-Witness-Descriptions-2.pdf

The question was not directed at me, but I’ll chime in. I don’t find it bothersome. There is nothing to indicate he was left handed. If it comes out that he is, ok. But for now the information actually points more to right handed. A much higher percentage of men are right handed. He had his dominant hand in the briefcase. I’ve read about tobacco stains on his right hand (might have been left). I would not rule out a lefty, but I would not automatically rule one in. This isn’t science, but as a righty I lean towards the right side of planes and boats etc. Fly can comment, but he had some thoughts on how Cooper carried the briefcase into the lavatory.

I enjoy Tom’s presentations. They always make me think. He showed a pic of massive flooding at the Fazio’s place near Tena Bar. He also showed a pic of where the money had moved south from where he put it in a creek. I’m not totally convinced that the money didn’t wash down to the Columbia or that the flooding didn’t have anything to do with it. Another sort of related point came from a chat with two locals who told me that the rivers there can sometimes act like tidal rivers, and that the back flow at high tide can be significant, possibly moving the Tena Bar $ upstream or moving it around the upstream tributaries. He made a point of something to do with the parachute shroud lines as well, during an offline chat. I did not totally grasp what he meant, but he seemed to think the way Cooper cut the para cord one line at a time was interesting.

There was a question about the guitar I mentioned. This is the article. It mentions DB Cooper. There are some pretty solid researchers on the case. Here is one. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2021/10/16/entertainment/bachman-guitar-found-trnd/index.html

Darren: We all love your podcast and can appreciate your neutrality. But I don't have the same obligations you have. The difference between the Reca group and the rest of us is that they get the facts of the case completely wrong. We all argue about suspects, but that is around the interpretation of information, not making up information. Complete fantasy. I have serious issue with people like this, especially if they vote in our elections. I'm a few miles from the January 6th incident. I've served in the military and come from a decent family line of service. These guys invoking Walt's embellished military career is a disgrace. No I haven't read the book or seen the movies or whatever else they have. I didn't finish Mein Kampf either, but I read enough know what is in there. If someone reads one paragraph on Wiki and comments, then ok, I get that they should probably get more information. But how many in the Vortex have only read one paragraph on Reca? Did I hear that one of their editors came to them about their uncle? No bias there. Walt assassinated someone in The Netherlands? Lisa was a nice woman, but she really wants to believe this. Vern says a gust carried Walt to Cle Elum. A wind gust carried him 100 miles? He discounts the side door of the plane as an issue. I've skydived many times, and not tandem. You don't go out the side door of a 727 going that fast. This group comes across as better than the rest of us. Like we are stupid, like we should believe things they believe. If I lie to you and you take a lie detector test, you will pass. You are being honest.

It would be good if we can stick to discussing the suspect and the information. This is not the first time someone has questioned Flyjack’s information. So I’ll step in and say that I am one of the people who has seen it and heard about other information. I find it compelling and even possibly useful to parts of my case, but it is his info and he can decide what he wants to share. I won’t discuss things told to me in confidence. I find he is rarely wrong, and I have not known him to lie. He is pretty well known in certain circles for the guitar find. I like music, but not as much as some people in the industry. I’ve had people very well versed tell me how cool that guitar story is. Once someone gets on the radar outside of the Vortex, they have to play by new rules, especially with the media. So if he is waiting to reveal info about Hahneman then that’s his choice. Hahneman has a story of his own outside of DB Cooper. I’ve seen more than one Cooperite have to play their cards close once they get a little famous. I’m happy for them. The spotlight is not where I want to be a lot. When it comes to information sharing, I find it much better when we all generally get along. I understand there is some bad blood between some of you. I’d like to see all of you stay on the case. I come to DZ almost exclusively to interact with Fly and Georger because they are not on the other boards much. Not using them as a resource is a loss for anyone who wants to learn more. Flyjack was the first one I interacted with who had the bills cataloged and searchable and all the 302s searchable. Long before I met many of you, I said he was the best researcher on the case. That bothers some of my other friends. Oh well. He could probably cool down here and there, but so could some of you. I’ve learned that once you have a suspect, you’re going to get called out. It happens to all of us. It happened to Eric with Sheridan, and to me, and to Reca and others. Fighting every battle will wear you out.