William P. Gossett and the D.B. Cooper Case
by John S. Craig
The identity of infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper has eluded the FBI since he jumped from the back of a Boeing 727-100 with 200,000 dollars somewhere over Woodland, Washington on the night of November 24, 1971.
Galen Cook, an attorney who has been investigating the case for years and plans to write a book, has released the name of the latest suspect: William "Wolfgang" Gossett. Information concerning Gossett as the elusive skyjacker was released in the Depoe Bay Beacon, an Oregon newspaper, May 28, 2008. Cook is investigating a possible witness to the parachute jump from the jet, the possibility that D.B. Cooper sent letters to newspapers, and the analysis of found Cooper money. The FBI has shown increasing interest in Cook's work and suspect Gossett. Cook was told in August 2011 by the FBI that Gossett is still a viable suspect along with another unnamed suspect.
Ever since that night, the FBI has investigated over 200 suspects but none has ever been confirmed as the skyjacker by the FBI.
The FBI has publicly stated that they do not believe the skyjacker survived the jump, a case code-named "Norjak," which remains officially unsolved though the FBI may have partial fingerprints from the elusive skyjacker left on a cocktail glass or other sources. In 2001, the FBI obtained DNA of the skyjacker from a clip-on tie he left on the plane, and possibly other sources like cigarettes the skyjacker smoked. Galen Cook was informed by the FBI that the DNA obtained from the tie was probably contaminated and not reliable. Whether there is any reliable DNA associated with Cooper is questionable.
Here is what we know of Willam P. Gossett as a D.B. Cooper suspect:
William Pratt Gossett was born in San Diego in 1930. He served with the U.S. Marines, Army Air Force, and then the U.S. Army, served tours and was decorated for action in Korea and Vietnam. He was a survivalist and experienced parachutist. He was an ROTC instructor and retired from the Army at Ft. Lewis, Washington in 1973, two years after the skyjacking.
Gossett died in Oregon on September 1, 2003 of natural causes at age 73.
The FBI has not eliminated him as a potential suspect in the case, and he is the only major suspect that has not been eliminated though the FBI has known of him for years.
He often spoke of the D.B. Cooper skyjacking. He told one of his wives that he could "write the epitaph for D.B. Cooper." William Gossett told his cousin Charles Gossett that he knew all about D.B. Cooper but could not talk to Charles about it. According to Gossett's son Greg, William Gossett told three of his sons he was the skyjacker. Cook says he confessed that he was the skyjacker to a retired Salt Lake City judge and a close friend he worked with in the Salt Lake City public defender's office.
The judge told Galen Cook, "In 1977, he walked into my office and closed the door and said he thought he might be in some trouble, that he was involved in a hijacking in Portland and Seattle a few years ago and that he might have left prints behind. He said he was D.B. Cooper. I told him to keep his mouth shut and don't do anything stupid, and not to bring it up again." Did Gossett turn over any incriminating evidence to the judge concerning this case as it relates to him?
Greg Gossett, contacted Cook in late 2007 and provided information that allowed Cook to investigate William Gossett as the real D.B. Cooper. Greg says his father kept numerous files filled with D.B. Cooper articles.
Greg Gossett claims his father was always strapped for cash and had a gambling problem. He says his father showed him wads of cash just before the Christmas of 1971, only weeks after the skyjacking. He believes he stored some of the cash in a Vancouver safe deposit box and may have blown much of it at Las Vegas casinos, though none of the recorded serial numbers of the cash has ever been found with the exception of the money found on the Columbia River in 1980 (see Tina Bar Investigation below). On the Coast to Coast radio show on November 26, 2011 a woman claiming to be William Gossett's niece said she remembers her uncle having an unusual large amount of money during Christmas of 1971, confirming Greg Gossett's similar claim. Gossett worked at Weber State College and became a private detective who specialized in money fraud, cults, and missing persons. He assisted and was commended by the FBI for his help in rescuing a woman from the Bhagwan Rajneesh's compound in Antelope, Oregon.
In the mid 1970s, Gossett began wearing a goatee and moustache and changed his name to "Wolfgang" or "Wolf." In 1988, he officially changed his name to "Wolfgang" and became a priest in the Old Catholic Church, SLC Diocese. These are only some of several incidents where Gossett seemingly tried to hide his identity. When serving as an ROTC instructor at Weber College in Ogden, Utah in the early 1970s, Gossett never mentioned to his fellow Army buddies that he had served ten years with the Marines and that he had parachute training, accomplishments any serviceman would be proud to admit. He never wore his jump wings on his uniform. When Cook shared this fact with a retired Lt. Colonel who had been with Gossett's ROTC unit, the colonel was amazed and noted that all Army guys who served first in the Marines let the Army buddies know that. This secret was verified in November 2011 when Cook released information concerning interviews with all of the living ROTC staff that knew Gossett at Weber State College in 1971, Cook reports that "not one of the ROTC personnel that I interviewed knew that Gossett had previously served for 10 years with the U.S. Marine Corps, and none of them knew that Gossett was 'jump-rated' with the Marine Recons. Gossett kept all that to himself, which is unusual in the military world. Gossett didn't want them to know that information, and they didn't know it until I told them. They were surprised as hell."
"Opportunity, and a brilliant plan, was the key to the whole D.B. Cooper thing," Cook said. The skyjacking started with a flight from Ogden to San Francisco to Portland where he hijacked the plane. It was flown to Seattle where he demanded the ransom and parachutes. He parachuted from a rear exit of the Northwest Orient jet near Portland. "He didn't have to be at work or at home," theorizes Cook. "He had the level of skills and ability to plan the entire thing with military precision, and to not only parachute from the plane but to survive . . . the reason he avoided detection on the night of the jump and the following days was because searchers were looking in the wrong state. D.B. Cooper cleared the Columbia River and landed in Oregon, where he made his way back to the airport and returned to Utah. It took him three days, in and out." Cook has collected DNA samples and fingerprints of Gossett and passed them along to the FBI. He has provided a full set of Gossett's fingerprints for the FBI and the Department of Justice. Cook is writing a book on Gossett saying that it will be an incredible story about a man "who became a priest and marries and buries people when he's not out helping the FBI solve criminal cases . . . becomes civic-minded by attending City Council meetings in Depoe Bay and becomes a late-life jogger who runs around town wearing his military parachute badge on his headband to remind himself of who he really is."
The only other solid evidence concerning the D.B. Cooper case, after the suspect parachuted from the jet, is $5880 found on the banks of the Columbia River by eight-year-old Brian Ingram in February of 1980. The money was found in three stacks of twenty dollar bills buried in the sand of the river bank. The money was found close to the top of the soil with the stacks resting on top of each other as if they were placed their by hand. The money had deteriorated but serial numbers confirmed it as part of the hijacked money. The found money brings up more key questions. Was the money buried by Cooper and if so why? Were these three stacks of bills the money he had offered the stewardess but when she refused he put it into his pocket and it flew out during the parachuting? Is this a clue that Cooper did not survive the jump? In January of 2012, Galen Cook and a scientific team completed a three-year study of the money found on the river. [See more about the found money below under Tina Bar Investigation.]
Cook, who sued the FBI in 2004 for files to the Cooper case, stated in the same broadcast that he is working on a paper trail that might link Gossett and the hijacked money to Northwest American/Canadian banks. Voice recordings of Gossett were played on the air and listeners had the opportunity to hear the demeanor of the latest suspect, though the subject matter of the recordings were unrelated to the case. Galen Cook has interviewed all of the five surviving crew members of the D.B. Cooper flight. Cook showed pictures of Gossett to one of the flight attendants (Florence Shaffner) who saw the Cooper hijacker at close range. She told Cook that Gossett looked like the hijacker and related that she believed the hijacker was wearing makeup to darken his skin. Cook is reserving his right to confidentiality concerning contact with flight attendant, Tina Mucklow, who spent the most time with Cooper. For information on a witness who sat in the same aisle as Cooper, see "William Mitchell" within the D.B. Cooper letters (letter 2).
Special Agent Carr of the FBI has been quoted as saying that "The two flight attendants who spent the most time with him on the plane were interviewed separately the same night in separate cities and gave nearly identical descriptions. They both said he was about 5'10" to 6', 170 to 180 pounds, in his mid-40s, with brown eyes. People on the ground who came into contact with him also gave very similar descriptions." At the time of the skyjacking, Gossett was 41 years old, 5' 10", 185 pounds with brown eyes and short, dark hair parted on the left.
On their Web site, the FBI still contends that no experienced parachutist would make the jump required by Cooper. As of May 2010, Carr was no longer part of the Norjak investigation. Norjak is now under the FBI's Northwest organized crime unit. In November 2010, the new Norjak case agent told Galen Cook that Ken Christiansen had been ruled out as a suspect and that Gossett was "a viable suspect."
Gossett was married numerous times but according to Cook was known to be a loner. At the time of the skyjacking, Gossett had separated from his first wife and was living alone in an apartment in Ogden, Utah.
Cook told the Standard Examiner in November of 2009 that he is negotiating with a British Columbia bank to gain access to a security box thought to be Gossett's, which may contain ransom money.
In a July 2008 interview with Dan Tilkin (Portland, Oregon, KATU), Gossett's wife of 25 years said that she was "kind of dumbfounded" when looking at Gossett's picture set next to the FBI sketch of the Cooper suspect. "It was a match," Marilyn Smith of Sherwood, Oregon said. "He never told me he was D.B. Cooper but he always used the third person. D.B. Cooper would have hiked out this way or he would have done this . . ." She admitted that he was eccentric and loved to tell stories but "in the D.B. Cooper story, that would never change."
Where was Gossett Thanksgiving Week 1971?
In November of 2011, Galen Cook released information concerning his investigation into Weber State College's attendance records for ROTC personnel. Cook also obtained Gossett's full DD-214 military file. Gossett was an instructor at Weber State at the time of the skyjacking and a Desk Sergeant with access to attendance records. Was Gossett ever seen during the crucial days of Thanksgiving week and was he able to officially cover any missing time he might have had? This is a key question concerning Gossett's possible role in the skyjacking, and Cook's continued investigation provides some important information about this time period.
Cook says he consulted three sources concerning the whereabouts of Gossett in November of 1971: the U.S. Army "duty roster" for the month of November 1971; U.S. Army's "morning reports" for as many days in late November, early December, as possible; and a personal interview with Gossett's immediate CO (commanding officer), Major Palletti.
Additionally, he extensively interviewed all of the living ROTC staff that worked with Gossett at Weber State during November of 1971.
Cook reports that "Gossett appeared on the duty roster for the months of November/December 1971, but this can be misleading because those rosters only provide the names of the persons who are 'scheduled' to be working at the Weber ROTC unit. They do not show who might not have shown up for work. The DR shows four commissioned officers and three NCO's, which included Gossett. This was the full complement of the ROTC staff."
The "morning reports" for November 28, 1971 document that ROTC Col. Knauer (Professor of Military Science) was to leave on that date and go to the Presidio in San Francisco for a week's worth of military-related work. On Friday, December 3, a new NCO, Sgt. Dumling, was assigned to the ROTC unit to take Gossett's position. Gossett would remain with the unit due to his approaching retirement. Col. Knauer's second in command, Maj. Palletti, was more relaxed and Gossett's best friend at the unit.
Cook reports that Palletti told him that "with Knauer gone for the week starting Monday, November 29, and Dumling coming in the following Friday, there wasn't much for Gossett to do." Additionally, Maj. Palletti told Cook "that Gossett didn't do that much anyway. Gossett was the first NCO (E-7) to arrive at Weber and he helped Maj. Palletti establish the entire ROTC unit in April 1971."
It is Maj. Palletti's opinion that Gossett could have easily taken off from Weber after work on Tuesday, November 23 and been gone until Thursday or Friday of the following week. "With Col. Knauer gone," said Cook, "and Sgt. Dumling not due to arrive until Friday Dec. 3, Gossett had little to do at the unit that week, according to Palletti. He wouldn't have even needed to fill out a 'leave' form, as long as he was back by Friday, Dec. 3. Moreover, Gossett was the desk sergeant and he would be in a position to alter any material records involving official leave."
When this information is placed in conjunction with the timeline of the letters, Cook says, "The first letter was sent out on Saturday, November 27th from California. The last letter was sent from California probably on Wednesday, December 1st. There were no more DB Cooper letters after that, because Gossett returned to Utah by Thursday, December 2, and he didn't want to give his position away on the cancelled envelope."
Possibility of Eye-witness Revealed
Galen Cook learned of a possible eyewitness to the Cooper parachuting in 2009 and revealed his information to the Standard-Examiner that published that information May 22, 2010. His friend and fellow investigator into the case, Richard Tosaw, interviewed a woman in 1985 that claimed she saw Cooper jump from the hijacked jet. Upon the death of Tosaw, a former FBI agent and California attorney, Cook was able to review some of Tosaw's documents and writings on the Cooper case.
"Nowhere, in any records that I have found, is there any reference to an eye-witness to the Cooper jump. Yet, there she was. There is something very credible and compelling about her story," Cook told Standard-Examiner reporter Scott Schwebke.
The eye-witness was interviewed in May of 2010 by the Standard-Examiner. She has requested that her last name be withheld. A picture of Janet now appears with the May 2010 Standard-Examiner story.
She told the Standard-Examiner that she was in the passenger seat of a car on the night of the skyjacking on the way to the Key Hotel near Vancouver, Washington. She saw a jet with a fireball arch from its tail and split into two. The streak of fire disappeared in the direction of the Columbia River.
Cook has theorized that the fireball was Gossett throwing road flares from the jet to judge wind direction. The road flares were probably shown as part of a bomb package to threaten the flight attendants.
A Continental Airlines 727 jet traveling from Seattle to Portland trailed the Cooper plane by a few minutes. Just before the Continental flight landed at Portland, the pilot reported 60-knot aloft winds from the south-east at about 168 degrees. While the ground-speed winds at the Portland airport were relatively low, the Continental pilot reported the winds aloft at a considerably faster speed. Cook checked with NOAA weather charts, weather balloon releases, National Weather Service, and pilot's back-up reports to confirm this information, and believes the flares were used by Cooper to check the wind directions before he made his jump.
Knowing the aloft wind speeds are crucial in understanding the possible direction the parachutist would have taken. The 60-knot, aloft winds could carry a parachutist in a north-north-west direction. "A pilot's report is crucial to the case," concludes Cook, "and the FBI never used it for back-up. That's why they spent all of their time looking in the wrong area."
Cook reports that Gossett kept road flares at his house. Gossett's son Greg told Cook, "My father had an obsession with road flares. He used to light them off for me when I was a kid. There were tons of them around our house growing up."
Cook researched Janet's claim to have seen the jet from her house. He told the Standard-Examiner that a radar map has confirmed the fact that the hijacked jet had passed over Janet's house. The direction of the fireball she saw was in alignment with the riverbank where some of the ransom money was discovered.
Janet told Cook that eight or nine days after she contacted the FBI two men identifying themselves as government officials came to her door and told her not to speak about what she saw. Cook believes Cooper landed very close to the city limits of Portland and in the correct flight path that Janet witnessed. The FBI was searching some 35 miles away in the wrong location.
Cook told the Standard-Examiner, "Her report could change the course and the scope of the case, and in part, answer some of the more intriguing questions." [Schwebke, Scott. "D.B. Cooper mystery -- Did witness see hijacker's parachute?" Standard-Examiner, May 22, 2010, and personal correspondence with Galen Cook.]
Dan Cooper and the French Connection
In March of 2009, the FBI proposed a theory concerning the origin of the hijacker's name "Dan Cooper." In the 1960's, a French comic book series by Albert Weinberg featured a Royal Canadian test pilot who was involved in parachuting from planes and other military style adventures. A cover of one of the comics featured Cooper parachuting. The name Dan Cooper was the name the hijacker used when he purchased his one way ticket to Seattle. The media incorrectly reported the name as "D.B. Cooper," and the name has stuck.
FBI Agent Larry Carr has officially theorized that the skyjacker Cooper served in the Air Force in Europe, became interested in the Cooper comic books, worked as a cargo loader on planes, and wore an emergency parachute when working with flying cargo planes. [FBI Home Page link under Sources]
Galen Cook told talk show host Ian Punnett on March 21, 2009 that he has read Gossett's military record and discovered that Gossett, an accomplished Army parachutist, was stationed in France in the mid-1960s and could read and write French. Gossett was stationed for several months at Brienne la Chateau, France, at an Army aircraft field maintenance center.
Carol Abraczinskas, a University of Chicago scientific illustrator, is part of a D.B. Cooper Research Team. Along with Tom Kaye, a paleontologist at Seattle's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, and Illinois-based metallurgical engineer Alan Stone, the team is investigating the significance of the French comic, "Dan Cooper" and related D.B. Cooper issues.
The comic was published only in French. A 1963 issue features a man who boards an airliner. Wearing a dark suit and mask over his eyes, he sits in the back of the plane, demands a briefcase to be brought to him that is in the cockpit, and like the 1971 version of D.B. Cooper parachutes from the plane into a wooded area in the rain at night.
"I'm looking at this as, are these comics a possible blueprint for the hijacker?" Abraczinskas said.
Tom Kaye, part of the investigating team, told KING-TV, Seattle, Nov. 24, 2011 that the clip-on tie that D.B. Cooper wore had traces of titanium on it. The metal is rare, which has led Kaye to believe that Cooper might have been part of a Boeing work team.
"In 1971 there was a big upheaval in the titanium industry with the cancelling of the SST project, which happened to be at Boeing, and that laid a lot of people off in the industry. So Cooper could have been part of the fallout," Kaye said.
Tina Bar Investigation
In 2009, Galen Cook assembled a "science team" to study and analyze the soils near the 1980 money found on the Columbia River. The team consisted of a set of applied science academics who work in the fields of sedimentary deposits, shoreline process, and soils engineering.
In January of 2011, Cook reported that he was working with a respected scientist from Oregon studying the effects of erosion, shoreline process, and saturation effects on paper currency at Tina Bar, the site of discovery of $5,880 in D.B. Cooper bills in 1980. Cook's partner in this scientific study has over 25 years of experience in soils and shoreline process studies. The money was not found in a remote area of the Columbia River but on a public beach area of the river called Tina Bar. This river bar was accessible to anyone who wanted to access the river for recreational purposes in the 1970s.
In February of 2012, Cook revealed that his science team had completed their three-year analysis of the 1980 money discovered at Tina Bar on the shore line of Columbia River. The analysis was concluded in January of 2012. His analysis started in the spring of 2008, where he spent many hours making assessments at the Lower River Road location near the old Fazio Farm House. He was granted permission by the Fazio's to conduct his research near their property. Later that summer, Cook utilized the expertise of a respected firm from the Portland area that specializes in soils erosion, shoreline process, and hydrological studies. "I got the right guys to work with me," said Cook.
Cook was also able to work with the Norjak case agent in Seattle and obtain a copy of the FBI's 1980 study of the Cooper money find. "The work performed by Dr. Palmer at Tina Bar," reported Cook, "was valuable, in that it gave a scientific analysis of the stratified soils and its contents. This produced a very accurate timeline for the arrival of the money at Tina Bar. What Dr. Palmer's report did not specify was how the money arrived and what caused its decomposed condition." Cook's investigation has focused on these crucial questions.
"We conducted a fairly controlled experiment and repeated it three times over the course of several years. Part of the experimentation was performed on site, and part was performed in a lab. This was really exciting stuff," said Cook.
Cook is holding back on the details of the experiments, because the senior scientist of the team is working on a white paper that he will present to peer scientists. Cook is counting on these science results, backed-up by Dr. Palmer's 1980 report, and specific information provided to him by a witness, to show that the Tina Bar money did not drift to shore by the river current.
By an agreement with the FBI, Cook cannot release the details of Dr. Palmer's 1980 report. However, Cook can reveal that according to Dr. Palmer the money arrived at Tina Bar in 1979.
The FBI believes the money floated down the Washougle River close to Cooper's drop, which they believe was near Arial or Woodland, Washington. Eventually, according to the FBI, the money was deposited on the banks of the Columbia some 18 miles south of its original source. This begs the question of how three stacks of bills could travel that distance and then end up shallowly buried in a single stack.
Cook's investigation into the money has been aided by Phil Scoles of Terra Science Inc. and a Lecturer at Wetland Training Institute and Portland State University. Cook and Scoles conducted various experiments within four different soil stratas that tested how the money would react to the soils, water, and oxygen.
In November of 2013, Cook revealed that after three years of experiments, the money found on the Columbia River could not have been there more than nine months. The Cooper money was in fact more weathered than the experimental money. Cook has speculated along with Scoles that the money could have been doctored by Cooper by trimming the bills, poking holes in them, and trying to weather them before planting them on the river bank.
Now it appears that two studies into the money conclude that the bills found were not in the elements since the time of the hijacking (approximately nine years) but in the elements for no longer than a year.
Did Cooper plant the money as a diversionary tactic to lead the FBI into thinking he had not survived? Did he weather the bills before burying them in an effort to make it look like the bills were there a long time? How or why did the three stacks of bills end up stacked upon each other? If Cooper didn't survive the jump and the hijack money got into the Washougle River, where's the rest of the cash?
The Continuing Investigation -- Where can Technology Take Us with This Case?
In an August 7, 2010 interview with radio host Ian Punnett, Cook said that he was working more closely than ever with the FBI as well as authorities in Canada concerning Gossett's possible link to the Cooper case. He is trying to uncover any of Cooper's money that may have been deposited in Canadian safety deposit boxes by Gossett. Cook reminded the radio audience that Gossett is the only major suspect of the Cooper case not to be eliminated by the FBI as the possible hijacker.
In January of 2011, Cook said he is working closer than ever with the FBI. He is seeking admission to the original D.B. Cooper letters. "What I would like to do is have DNA samples taken from several letters and see if they are from the same author. Then, I want to see if any of them match Gossett's DNA."
Only the FBI can test the letters for DNA, fingerprints, handwriting comparison, and report the results to the public. Are the envelopes the same? Are there any obvious similarities between the letters? Beyond evidence the letters might reveal, was there evidence left on the plane, like the tie and cigarette butts the skyjacker was known to have smoked, that could be linked to Gossett through scientific analysis? He has been told by FBI officials that they are holding specific evidence that has not been released to the public.
Cook has found that the FBI has some kind of DNA from the skyjacker but the quality of the sample may be questionable. He has been told that the FBI needs actual fingerprints from Gossett, not photographic copies. What kind of fingerprint evidence the FBI has obtained from the skyjacker has not been revealed publicly. Galen Cook provided the FBI and the Department of Justice a full set of original fingerprints.
Galen Cook has provided DNA, fingerprints, military records, work records, other documents, confessions, motives, opportunities, skills, and escape routes of the prime suspect to the FBI.
Throughout the years, there have been numerous suspects mentioned with this infamous crime with all of them eliminated by the FBI with evidence they have kept classified. Gossett remains the only major suspect not eliminated by the FBI. In November 2010, the new Norjak case agent told Galen Cook that Gossett remained "a viable suspect."
Cook was told by the FBI in June of 2011 that they think the case is "unsolvable." This might have a lot to do with the limited evidence the FBI was able to accumulate from the skyjacked plane. Cook believes that the only reliable evidence might be the fingerprints on a magazine that the skyjacker touched during the flight. Curiously, William P. Gossett has been investigated by the FBI for years and no definitive elimination has been established for him by the FBI.
Cook is investigating numerous aspects of the case and is working with the Canadian banking system in trying to locate a safety deposit box owned by Gossett, which could contain part of the skyjacker's ransom money. Cook is working with Canadian authorities and will release more information about this aspect of the case in the future when he has obtained official information that can be corroborated by Canadian or American authorities. In the spring of 2014, Cook told this reporter he is making some progress with his investigation into the theory that Gossett owned safety deposit boxes that stored the Cooper money.
November 26, 2011 Portland, Oregon Symposium
The November 26, 2011 D.B. Cooper symposium held in Portland, Oregon addressed numerous issues concerning the skyjacking.
Mark Metzler, an expert skydiver, noted that Boeing 727s have been used by the CIA to drop supplies into Thailand with the aft stairway down. Boeing documented the safety of flying the plane with the aft stairway down. Metzler also said that Cooper's selection of a C-9 parachute was a good choice that allowed a parachutist a straight drop opposed to another chute that might allow a wayward and more dangerous landing.
Thomas Kaye emphasized his belief that it was more likely that part of the skyjacker's money found by Brian Ingram in 1980 on the Columbia River was planted after the skyjacking. The path of the plane over Toledo, Ariel, and Highland, Washington was far from the Tina Bar location on the Columbia River where the $5,800 of ransom money was found. "I believe he did survive," Ingram said at the symposium. "I gave the man a lot of credit. I feel it (the cash) didn't get there by natural means."
Synopsis of circumstantial evidence that William P. Gossett was D.B Cooper
At the time of the skyjacking, Gossett was 41 years old, 5' 10", 185 pounds with brown eyes and short, dark hair parted on the left. [The skyjacker was officially described by the FBI as white, male, mid-40's, 5' 10" to 6', 170-180 pounds, and possibly brown eyes. He was average to well built, olive complexion, dark hair parted on the left and combed back. He spoke with no discernible accent. The suspect smoked 8-10 Raleigh filtered cigarettes, wore a black suit, white shirt, black tie, black overcoat, brown shoes, and carried a dark briefcase and paper bag 4" x 12" x 14".]
Flight attendant Florence Shaffner said pictures of Gossett looked similar to Cooper.
A picture of Gossett taken in the early 1970s is similar to the second suspect sketch (composite B) released by the FBI.
Gossett drank bourbon and smoked cigarettes like Cooper.
Gossett had paratrooping experience as both a Marine and member of the U.S. Army. He had low elevation and night paratrooping experience as well.
Gossett traveled to Canada as part of his job with the Army. He was familiar with the Vancouver, Canada area where the second D.B Cooper letter was mailed and received by the Vancouver Province between 11/30/71 and 12/2/71.
Gossett's commanding officer at Weber State College, Maj. Palletti, said that Gossett could have been gone from his job before and after Thanksgiving 1971.
Gossett told three of his sons and his attorney that he was D.B. Cooper many years after the skyjacking. Numerous Gossett family members have said they believed that Gossett was either D.B. Cooper or had the ability to execute the risky jump and survive. Gossett often spoke of the D.B. Cooper case with relatives and kept numerous files on the skyjacking.
Cooper told flight attendant Florence Shaffner when queried as to why he was skyjacking the plane that "he had a grudge." Marilyn Smith, one of Gossett's wives, said he was dissatisfied with his position in the Army at the time of the skyjacking. Additionally, he had marital and financial problems along with custody battles for his children. The first Cooper letter has the line "was in a rut." Family members say he did not receive a promotion from the Army in the early 1970's and might have had a gambling problem.
Gossett showed one of his sons wads of cash during Christmas of 1971. A niece has referred to seeing her uncle with large amounts of cash at the same Christmas.
Gossett was stationed in Brienne la Chateau, France in the 1960s during the time that a Belgian-produced comic written in French was available. The comic book, Dan Cooper, had plots similar to the skyjacking performed by Cooper on November 24, 1971. The comic was not available in the U.S. but it was in Canada. The skyjacker gave his name to the airline as "Dan Cooper." Gossett could read and write French.
Gossett traveled with his son to Vancouver, Canada in August of 1973 just days after his retirement from the Army at Ft. Lewis, Washington. He later told his son that the ransom money was stored in a safety deposit box in Vancouver. A letter signed D.B Cooper was mailed from Vancouver shortly after the skyjacking. The fourth D.B Cooper letter mailed to the Reno Evening Gazette on 12/1/71 referred to "planning for retirement."
Gossett lived and worked at one time in Merced, California just forty miles south of Oakdale, Ca., the location of the posting of the first D.B. Cooper letter mailed to Reno on 11/27/71.
Gossett lived the last years of his life in the Portland, Oregon area, which was the origin of the skyjacked plane and the vicinity of the drop zone of the skyjacker.
A 1978 marriage proposal to Gossett's fifth wife was written on MGM Grand Reno stationery. Two of the four Cooper letters covered here were mailed to the Reno Evening Gazette newspaper. When told by the flight crew that the jet would have to refuel before going to Mexico, Cooper suggested they land in Reno. They did land in Reno but without Cooper. According to one of Gossett's wives, Gossett spent a lot of time in Reno, Nevada never knowing exactly what he was doing there.
Links to Information Concerning Major Suspects
ABC News video, Aug. 3, 2011 on L.D. Cooper
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/hijacker-jumps-plane-lives-14226736
New York Times, Aug. 3, 2011 on L.D. Cooper
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/us/04cooper.html
Seattle Times article on July 2011 Suspect http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/FBI-checking-our-most-promising-lead-in-D-B-1666409.php
The Telegraph, July 30, 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8667855/The-40-year-mystery-of-Americas-greatest-skyjacking.html
Richard McCoy and Duane Weber
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/cooper.htm
http://www.masterliness.com/a/D.B.Cooper.htm
http://www.damninteresting.com/lames/the-legend-of-db-cooper
Kenneth Christiansen
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/337121_dbcooper27.html
http://nymag.com/news/features/39593/
http://blog.sherlockinvestigations.com/2010/04/into-blast-true-story-of-db-cooper.html
Overview of Suspects: List, McCoy, Mayfield, Christiansen, Gossett, Weber
http://n467us.com/I%20Am%20D%20B%20Cooper.html
The suspect was officially described by the FBI as white, male, mid-40's, 5' 10" to 6', 170-180 pounds, and possibly brown eyes. He was average to well built, olive complexion, dark hair parted on the left and combed back. He spoke with no discernable accent. The suspect smoked 8-10 Raleigh filtered cigarettes, wore a black suit, white shirt, black tie, black overcoat, brown shoes, and carried a dark briefcase and paper bag 4" x 12" x 14".
Sources
Picture of Letter 3:
http://photos.oregonlive.com/oregonian/2011/08/d_b_cooper_new_lead_3.html
YouTube Video Analysis of Letter 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcq305ozsUI
The Mountain News, Pictures of Tina Mucklow, The Primary Witness to the D.B. Cooper Skyjacking, August 4, 2011, http://themountainnewswa.net/2011/08/04/pictures-of-tina-mucklow-the-primary-witness-to-the-db-cooper-skyjacking/#more-2686
Alex Stout documentary "The Cooper Identity -- Who is the Real D.B. Cooper?" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tRGP7t1U6s&feature=player_embedded
Hannaford, Alex. The Telegraph. July 30, 2011.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8667855/The-40-year-mystery-of-Americas-greatest-skyjacking.html
Seattle Times article on July 2011 Suspect http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/FBI-checking-our-most-promising-lead-in-D-B-1666409.php
Beasley, Rick. "Investigator Claims Depoe Bay Man was D.B. Cooper," Depoe Bay Beacon, May 28, 2008.
"Letter to Gazette Checked in FBI Hunt for Skyjacker," Reno Evening Gazette, Nov. 29, 1971.
"Words in 'Skyjacker Note' to Gazette Clipped from Modesto Bee, FBI Told," Reno Evening Gazette, Nov, 30, 1971.
"Gazette Receives Hijacker 'Letter' -- Second in a Week," Reno Evening Gazette, Dec. 3, 1971.
Personal correspondence with Galen Cook.
Standard Examiner: http://www.standard.net/topics/crime/2009/11/24/38-years-later-db-cooper-remains-mystery
Schwebke, Scott. "D.B. Cooper mystery -- Did witness see hijacker's parachute?" Standard-Examiner, May 22, 2010. http://www.standard.net/topics/crime/2010/05/22/db-cooper-mystery-did-witness-see-hijackers-parachute
Tilkin, Dan. KATU video, Portland, Oregon. July 31, 2008.
FBI page:
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec07/dbcooper123107.html
Set of pictures and documents showing Cooper tie, boarding pass, ransom money found, parachutes left on plane, notes by flight crew, pictures of crew and aircraft, maps of area:
http://n467us.com/Photo%20Evidence.htm#Money_Sand
Coast to Coast link to a Gossett family 8 mm silent film of Gossett in 1973 and comparisons of Gossett photos with Cooper sketches:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/shows/2008/03/29.html
Pertinent video material on Cooper case:
http://www.truveo.com/search.php?query=d.b.cooper+sort%3AmostRelevant
Additional information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
Geoffrey Gray book on D.B. Cooper http://huntfordbcooper.com/
Clifton and Marcus, Reno Gazette-Journal, Nov. 22, 2011. D.B. Cooper Fascinates 40 Years Later in Reno.
Portland Symposium, Nov. 26, 2011
Hammond, Betsy. Oregonlive.com. November, 26, 2011. D.B. Cooper symposium reveals insights, details and conclusions about unsolved Northwest skyjacking
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2011/11/db_cooper_symposium_reveals_in.html
Bernton, Hal. Seattle Times. November 27, 2011. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2016867497_dbcooperconference27m.html?syndication=rss
