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The man in the recordings is Walter R. Reca, born 'Peca', of Oscoda, Michigan, who died in 2014, aged 80.
The 82nd Airborne paratrooper who went on to become a covert intelligence operative for several governments says he handed a stewardess a note announcing the hijacking that said 'This is a hijack and I've got explosives'.
'She said "I can't believe you're actually hijacking this airplane". I said "I can't believe it either but I'm serious",' Reca recalled.
“And please tell the lackey cops” was decoded to mean “I am 1st LT Robert Rackstraw,” according to Colbert.
Two things - 1. Has Robert Rackshaw shown the intelligence required to write "in code" such as this? The quote above is quite the leap. If it were as simple as the first letter of ever word in a sentence spelling out his name, I could possibly buy that - but that decoding just points to confirmation bias. I mean using that logic, with nothing to back it up, you could put anyone's name in there.
2. Has Robert Rackshaw been confirmed to have traveled to the Bahamas, as indicated?
“And please tell the lackey cops†was decoded to mean “I am 1st LT Robert Rackstraw,†according to Colbert.
Two things - 1. Has Robert Rackshaw shown the intelligence required to write "in code" such as this? The quote above is quite the leap. If it were as simple as the first letter of ever word in a sentence spelling out his name, I could possibly buy that - but that decoding just points to confirmation bias. I mean using that logic, with nothing to back it up, you could put anyone's name in there.
2. Has Robert Rackshaw been confirmed to have traveled to the Bahamas, as indicated?
Was he ever even a commissioned officer? He reportedly enlisted in the army, and it is a matter of record that he received a bronze star for valor while serving as a helicopter pilot at the rank of WO1.
Had to chime in on this one. I used to be as obsessed with this case as the rest of you and then one day I was re-reading over the wiki of all things and suddenly had a moment of clarity (yes, it is possible while reading wiki!) and that is the psychology of everyone obsessed with this case is such that - as was pointed out previously - we need DB Cooper to be the antihero, to have managed to get away with it somehow in spite of the hard confirmed facts. Once you've acknowledged the reality of the facts, it doesn't bode well because what he'd have done would've been certain death, no ifs, ands, or buts.
My moment of clarity was that the reason this case has never, ever been solved is because DB Cooper is a hoax to begin with. They've never found the body because nobody jumped out of the jet to begin with. They never found the chutes because they were misled into the tall tale it went down over the Columbia when it's likely it went down in the flat desert closer to the airport in Nevada where they'd stopped. There were 4 people on that plane and not a single other witness confirming the existence of this person. Back in the 70s it was easy to trot in and pick up a plane ticket with a false identity.
I don't believe any longer there ever was an actual person on that flight going by DB Cooper. I believe 2 or all of the 4 person crew aboard that jet were involved in the biggest scam heist ever and made up the whole DB Cooper tale as a herring and it kind of went viral like the Caylee Anthony disappearance. I think none of them anticipated it would suddenly explode with a vigor and take on a life of its own, let alone turn into one of the country's biggest unsolved mysteries.
I think they hatched the plan and one of them went disguised with fake ID as Dan Cooper, bought a ticket, and boarded the jet with pilot clothes, went into the bathroom and came out as the pilot...then it went on as described until all passengers were let off but the crew. The money and chutes were brought aboard, the jet took off with the landing gear down and even though they were trailed by two fighter jets a mile or so behind them, the dark stormy conditions made it a breeze for them to attach any sort of drop a snap to pull off undetected. Neither of the fighter jets saw squat come out of that jet, by the way.
Once they were in the air the stewardess/es got busy divvying up the cash for each of them involved (and any accomplice on the ground, even one's boyfriend buying the ticket and boarding as Dan Cooper, and then just exiting the jet when they were all let off)...put it in containers with a beacon or set coords and instead of dropping it out over the middle of the Columbia River, they dropped out some of it and then waited til they were over desert just near the airport and tossed out the rest of the money...then met up later when things settled down and got their score.
The FBI wasn't that on the ball back in the 70s and they had little forensic ability then as they do now. The evidence that should be abundant doesn't seem to either exist or amount to anything but if Dan Cooper smoked through a pack of cigarettes and they had any of them left as evidence, they'd pull something off today...forensics has solved a ton of crimes decades later off the most minimal amounts of trace evidence. The fact the evidence they had was tested and came back squat further reinforces my feelings that it's because there was no actual guy on board doing all that - the entire tale is a hoax crafted by the crew themselves...and they got away with it.
And as far as the idea none of that money's turned up in circulation, get real. They were a flight crew...they could've easily laundered that money in any number of ways, or even taken it to another country for exchange. But it was pointed out several times that after awhile those involved in the monitoring of the serial numbers are going to get lax and stop paying attention...they have far too many other bills to worry about real time, and as long as it's in circulation, it's absolutely plausible that money was used and passed around and didn't make it back to the mint/treasury/FED for tallying. I have some cash in a piggy bank I've had for 30 years. I bet they couldn't track it if they tried.
There are several crucial clues that would've raised red flags - or should have - but seem to always be glossed over. For example, the tale they told of DB's demands showed he not only had a clear understanding of the flight plan and path, but the proper altitude to fly a jet without crashing or breaking apart. The stewardesses claimed they never saw him before but for DB to know that path and the goings on on the jet, and to pull off the things he did - or even seem to know Florence wouldn't flip out and cause chaos - means this person had to have been on that flight more than once for recon to get a feel for how to pull it off. Like casing a bank - he'd have had to case the jet and the crew aboard to know who would work in his favor and who wouldn't.
We're supposed to accept that a guy got on this jet for the first time ever, brought nothing with him but a briefcase with the alleged bomb (parts) and his business suit, never stepped foot aboard this flight before, and managed to successfully persuade the stewardesses to help him out, get the money, turn the lights out, stop for gassing up, get 4 chutes, use the wrong ones and jump out with 200k of cash in the middle of a dark, cold stormy night without even so much as a flashlight or a bottle of water and "get away with it" or just die...and if it was a suicide mission (which is all it would've been and even an idiot would've been able to see the impossibility of getting away with it) then it's just implausible and illogical. If he was after the money, he wouldn't have jumped out without a shred of provisions in that weather but if it was a suicide mission, he could've flipped off the fighter pilots, shoved the crew out with the chutes and let them shoot down the jet.
I think DB Cooper is a hoax and the crew got away with the biggest jet hijacking heist in the world.
What happened to his suitcase bomb? I presume it jumped with him since i can't find anything about it. That would be a fairly durable piece of evidence.
What happened to his suitcase bomb? I presume it jumped with him since i can't find anything about it. That would be a fairly durable piece of evidence.
I've never specifically heard that he took it with him.. However, they probably just assume he did, since it was never entered into evidence and noone actually saw him jump. Either that or he tossed it out before he jumped. I think if I was carrying alot of weight in money, I'd just toss the 'bomb'
Remember he sent the FA's into the cockpit with the pilots.. Then afterwards they got the light showing the door had been opened.. Then there was a 'bump' that is the best guess of when he jumped.
Being dark, the trailing planes weren't able to see when he jumped.. Plus, I believe they were fighter jets and had a hard time staying with the plane because it was moving so slowly.
I would imagine he dumped the suitcase before he jumped. Probably hard to hang on to a suitcase when you're falling through space. But its odd that no suitcase has turned up. I know its rugged country but even some of the money surveyed years in the elements. That suitcase is still out there...unless he walked away with it.
I would imagine he dumped the suitcase before he jumped. Probably hard to hang on to a suitcase when you're falling through space. But its odd that no suitcase has turned up. I know its rugged country but even some of the money surveyed years in the elements. That suitcase is still out there...unless he walked away with it.
Depends where he jumped. That's one of the biggest problems. The other big problem is, pending on where he DID jump.. Or, more accurately, where he landed.. Mount Saint Helens. If the eruption buried it.. It's never going to be found. The money or the briefcase. Or a body.
Depends where he jumped. That's one of the biggest problems. The other big problem is, pending on where he DID jump.. Or, more accurately, where he landed.. Mount Saint Helens. If the eruption buried it.. It's never going to be found. The money or the briefcase. Or a body.
Every estimate I've seen places his jump well south of Mt St Helens, near the Lewis or Washougal rivers. The damage from the eruption was quite limited in the southern direction, so I don't see that as a high likelihood.
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