Eight Raleighs

Sometimes you guys argue back and forth, it's good to pin someone down on their precise position!

As we sit here today, on a scale of 1 being least likely and 100 being most likely, how likely do you think it is that one of the Rem-Cru "persons of interest" is Cooper?

Arguably the folk legend would grow if it is established that he survived and lived another 10, 20, 30 years. It would just be a different legend, I suppose.

I have a philosophical question: Do you and your fellow Remcru investigators anticipate feeling at least a wee bit of wistfulness if you indeed crack the Cooper case? He is one of the last true American folk heroes. And that status is largely dependent upon the fact that the man is a phantom, a wisp. (I would add that the folk hero status is also highly and perhaps mostly dependent upon persons such as yourself and everyone else here who is trying, without avail, to identify Dan Cooper.)

The conspiracy theories strike me as mostly utter nonsense. Dan Cooper was almost certainly Pacific Northwest resident who hijacked an airplane in order to secure $200,000. He acted alone. Short of legitimate evidence indicating otherwise, everything else strikes me as an embellishment intended to kill time or as a grift.

The Cooper case over the last 20 years (or maybe more) makes for a great case study in how people will selectively cherry-pick "evidence" to push a particular conclusion, in this case the veracity of their "suspects." Such a book would make a fine addition to the Cooper oeurve. Perhaps I'll take it on myself!

It does complicate things quite a bit. However, if you realized or suspected that your husband or father or brother was hijacker D.B. Cooper, you might hold off on reporting that person missing in the event he turned up alive, right?

Is it your belief that Cooper died in the jump? (Or shortly thereafter.)

He’s drinking with his right hand in the GIF. That said, just a short while ago, my wife and I were playing Scrabble. I was drinking with my left hand and playing with my right - the drink was set to my left so as not to interfere with the game play. So it’s not like people exclusively use their dominant hand.

OleMissCub has speculated that Cooper was left-handed, including on Darren S.’s podcast.

Do you find it bothersome that Milton appears to be right-handed?

No fighting on D.B. Cooper Day!

Unquestionably. I view what has been performed thus far as an entry point to 1. identifying a possible suspect; and 2. then seeking out more “actionable” evidence.

I suspect these guys would like nothing more than to set up a wide-ranging, airtight scientific inquiry, given unlimited time and resources. Short of that, they are working with what they have.

I try not to get too much into the "profiling" part of this - the science is the science. But it is difficult to believe that a successful scientist would risk his freedom, not to mention life and limb, to skyjack a passenger jet. You can appreciate why it is difficult for some to wrap their heads around.

It makes little sense to me that, aside from protocol regarding name redactions, for example, the FBI won't just share everything it knows at this point. I assume it is because they don't want to reveal certain investigatory techniques, generally. But they don't care about solving this case any more, so aside from how sharing might impact its processes in other cases, I am not sure what supports the need for secrecy.

I had read someone state on a sub-Reddit regarding the Idaho college murders that there is "no such thing as touch DNA." (I think that is where I read it.) This may be semantics, though.

This is part of the William Smith theory, correct? Didn't he go to high school with a Dan Cooper?

Vince Petersen has sure faded from the discussion quickly Is there any reason, in your (or anyone else's) opinion to favor Petersen over Vordahl? Does Petersen check any "boxes" that Vordahl may not?

Do you know if Tom Kaye is certain that the titanium-antimony particles are an alloy? Has he suggested that there are other possibilities? That was a point of discussion at this site over the last few days. Perhaps it was addressed during the Rem-Cru session last weekend.

I am willing to be patient on this - certainly the researchers will lay out their factual case, sooner than later. Whether that's a video from CooperCon, a separate video, or a blog post or post at this site or another, I expect that the cards will be on the table.

It is frustrating that essentially financial resources hold this back. Think about if the Discovery and/or Travel Channel had not jumped in, at some point? Think about if there were not Tom Kaye? This is probably what frustrates and/or fascinates many about this case - the idea that the answers are in reach, given the desire by people or agencies of means to actually solve it. But the ones who have graciously stepped in have only been able to move the ball forward incrementally and arguably left more questions than answers in their wake, to no fault of their own.

Unless it’s heroin or something, I never understand why anybody wants to busybody about what someone else’s hobby may be.

Is the science necessarily all that complicated, though, for purposes of what Ulis and others are performing? I understand that none of these guys are going to be able to view particles under an electron miscroscope and identify molecules. But GIVEN the knowledge imparted by Kaye, a layman with some free time could take the ball and run with it, no?

I’ll bite: How did you?