Photo: Brettman (Getty Images)
Back in 1971, an unknown perpetrator hijacked a Boeing 727 airplane at the Seattle-Tacoma airport and demanded $200,000 ransom (which is about $1.2 million today). The hijacker, dubbed DB Cooper based on the name he used to buy the airplane ticket, held the crew and passengers hostages with a bomb until his demands were met. Then he ordered the crew to take off and parachuted somewhere over the Pacific Northwest woods never to be seen again. Now, however, a group of independent investigators came forth with evidence connecting the elusive DB Cooper with an old war veteran Robert W. Rackstraw. Here’s what they came up with.
This group of private investigators meticulously examined all the evidence they had and found hidden messages in five different notes that connect DB Cooper with the veteran Robert W. Rackstraw. How is it that the FBI couldn’t discover those connections? Well, there is evidence that Rackstraw had a secret deal with the CIA, which eventually resulted in FBI closing the case without ever finding the culprit. According to the findings, FBI intentionally obstructed the investigation and covered up the evidence. We have yet to see whether someone will be held responsible for it in the Bureau.
Filmmaker Tom Colbert and his team claim that D.B. Cooper is actually a man named Robert W. Rackstraw, 73, who lives in Coronado, California. https://t.co/iMxV9Pcikw
— WPMT FOX43 (@fox43) February 3, 2018
DB Cooper’s Codes
The lead investigator in this group is a man by the name of Tom Colbert. Recently, he revealed his findings in front of the J. Edgar Hoover Building. In five of DB Cooper’s letters in the late 1970s, they discovered codes that refer to three covert military units. Rackstraw had connections to all of them. Interestingly though, one of the messages contained a code that the investigators managed to break. It said “IF CATCH I AM CIA… RWR”. These initials clearly point to Rackstraw as the famous DB Cooper and the code referred to his deal with the CIA should he ever be captured. In another note, he toyed with the FBI, writing a message “CAN FBI CATCH ME… SWS”. This time the initials referred to the Special Warfare School — a place where he learned this coding system.
This isn’t the first time that the investigator Tom Colbert hinted at the possibility that Rackstraw was actually DB Cooper. Although his accusations were quickly disregarded, Colbert had some compelling arguments. Rackstraw was a decorated pilot in the 1st Calvary Division. Despite the fact that he was discharged at one point for lying about his education, Colbert believes he still acquired enough skills to pull off the famous hijacking. Of course, no one believed that a war veteran who earned Two Distinguished Flying Crosses for his performance in the air would commit such a crime. No one except Colbert. FBI closed the case in 2016 and concluded that the perpetrator known as DB Cooper probably died in the woods.
After suing the FBI and obtaining the fifth and final note that was previously hidden from the public eye, Colbert’s associates examined the handwriting and concluded that it was, indeed, Cooper’s. Apparently these codes that DB Cooper wrote in his letters were meant to be messages to his accomplices, notifying them of his escape. According to the theory, those men picked Rackstraw up after he parachuted from the airplane with the money and helped him get to a safe location. It is still unknown how many people helped commit this crime.
Rackstraw was confronted with these accusations a number of times, but still no one managed to get a confession out of him. One former FBI agent even referred to him as a sociopath due to his somewhat erratic behavior at times. Could it be that this is really the infamous DB Cooper? If so, who were his accomplices and why did FBI help him cover his tracks? We expect to find answers to all these questions very soon.
h/t Daily Mail
