A Microscopic Metal Flake Could Finally Reveal DB Cooper's Identity (fox13seattle.com) 75
"The famed and mysterious disappearance of D.B. Cooper has puzzled investigators for over half a century," writes a Seattle TV station.
Now new evidence is coming to light in the supposed "skyjacking," after a microscopic piece of metal found on D. B. Cooper's tie could help reveal his true identity. "Considering the totality of all that has been uncovered in the last year with respect to DB Cooper's tie, I can say with a very high degree of certainty that DB Cooper worked for Crucible Steel," said independent investigator Eric Ulis.
"I would not be surprised at all if 2024 was the year we figure out who this guy was," Ulis told another local Seattle news station: This particle is part stainless steel, part titanium... 18 months ago, Ulis used U.S. patents to trace three of these fragments from the same very tie to a specific plant in Pennsylvania, Crucible Steel. "Headquartered in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, a significant subcontractor all throughout the 1960s," said Ulis. "It supplied the lion's share of titanium and stainless steel for Boeing's aircraft...."
Ulis claims evidence points to Cooper having in-depth knowledge of the 727 he hijacked, and of the Seattle area. Workers at Crucible Steel were known to travel and visit their contractor, Boeing. "This is also the time, 1971, when Boeing had this significant downturn, the big depression, with 'The last person leaving Seattle, please turn out the lights' [billboard sign]," said Ulis. "It's reasonable to deduce that D. B. Cooper may well have been part of that downturn."
Ulis admits his findings are not yet concrete. He's not crossing any suspects off the list. However, he believes from what he's seen, all roads lead to titanium research engineer Vince Peterson from Pittsburgh.
It all reminds me of that episode of Prison Break where they suspect one of the prisoners is secretly D.B. Cooper...
"I would not be surprised at all if 2024 was the year we figure out who this guy was," Ulis told another local Seattle news station: This particle is part stainless steel, part titanium... 18 months ago, Ulis used U.S. patents to trace three of these fragments from the same very tie to a specific plant in Pennsylvania, Crucible Steel. "Headquartered in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, a significant subcontractor all throughout the 1960s," said Ulis. "It supplied the lion's share of titanium and stainless steel for Boeing's aircraft...."
Ulis claims evidence points to Cooper having in-depth knowledge of the 727 he hijacked, and of the Seattle area. Workers at Crucible Steel were known to travel and visit their contractor, Boeing. "This is also the time, 1971, when Boeing had this significant downturn, the big depression, with 'The last person leaving Seattle, please turn out the lights' [billboard sign]," said Ulis. "It's reasonable to deduce that D. B. Cooper may well have been part of that downturn."
Ulis admits his findings are not yet concrete. He's not crossing any suspects off the list. However, he believes from what he's seen, all roads lead to titanium research engineer Vince Peterson from Pittsburgh.
It all reminds me of that episode of Prison Break where they suspect one of the prisoners is secretly D.B. Cooper...
That or... (Score:5, Insightful)
Somehow a metal flake from a Boeing aircraft ended up on his tie. Maybe from being in or around a Boeing aircraft?
that was back in the boeing or not going days! (Score:2)
that was back in the boeing or not going days!
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Will the last person to leave Seattle please turn out the lights?
(I remember seeing the sign as a little kid)
Re:That or... (Score:5, Interesting)
Somehow a metal flake from a Boeing aircraft ended up on his tie. Maybe from being in or around a Boeing aircraft?
Yeah, this "investigator" seems to be ignoring all the flashing lights and arrows pointing another way. In Seattle, very familiar with a Boeing aircraft, metal flake tied to a Boeing contractor... could be a Boeing employee or even just someone who worked either at Sea-Tac or Boeing Field. And it's not beyond possibility that the flake came from the 727 he hijacked.
But the obvious answers aren't going to get the guy airtime, I imagine.
Also... what the heck is with the word "supposed" in that first paragraph? Does someone not think it was a real hijacking?
Re:That or... (Score:4)
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Well, I must admit the fake moon landing set was only needed a couple times a year, at most. Repurposing it could bring in some badly needed cash.
Re: That or... (Score:3)
Sound stage? Kubrick filmed the Apollo 11 landing on location.
Re:That or... (Score:4, Insightful)
what the heck is with the word "supposed" in that first paragraph? Does someone not think it was a real hijacking?
News organizations have become so fearful of lawsuits that their standards require using terms like "supposed" and "allegedly" in all cases of crime reporting, even when it makes no sense at all.
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And it's not beyond possibility that the flake came from the 727 he hijacked.
Only if the alloy in question was used in the 727. If the rare alloy research was part of some non-727 project at Crucible Steel, then you wouldn't expect to get such a flake from the 727. Depending on what the alloy was used in, it might or might not have been possible to pick it up at Boeing or Sea-Tac.
The strength of this circumstantial evidence turns on just how rare the alloy was, and where it was used. If, for example, it was created in a research project at Crucible but not used in any commercial p
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Somehow a metal flake from a Boeing aircraft ended up on his tie. Maybe from being in or around a Boeing aircraft?
So he was using a file on his seat back while waiting to jump?
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Re:That or... (Score:5, Funny)
A microscopic flake of metal could have got onto the plane from a very large number of sources, no filing needed. Especially since the flake was aerospace-grade metal on a plane.
I have had it with these motherfucking flakes on this motherfucking plane!
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Yeah, man, apparently the parsimonious answer doesn't grab headlines.
Re: That or... (Score:5, Funny)
Considering an entire window just came out of a Boeing plane, I don't think a microscopic piece of dust is all that unreasonable.
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Considering an entire window just came out of a Boeing plane, I don't think a microscopic piece of dust is all that unreasonable.
Perhaps the window was attached to someone's tie as well. Are they sure that everyone was accounted for?
Nonono... 2024 really is.... (Score:2, Funny)
the year of the D.B. Cooper reveal. And the Linux Desktop.
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It was a 1960s Boeing. Not a modern Boeing where parts just fall off due to airplane syphilus or gonorhea of the fuselage.
Re: That or... (Score:2)
Remember last time you went to the hospital, and the doctor said the reason you were constipated was because they found a foreign object in your rectum, and that you shouldn't be putting things in there that don't belong there? So "foreign object" basically means any object that's found in a place where it doesn't belong, thus being foreign, and as you found out, generally implies that the object is hazardous.
Anyways, aircraft are getting hit by foreign objects all the time. They call such objects FOD, and
Re:That or... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: That or... (Score:2)
I'm no metallurgist, but how can they even know that given the small sample size and without having physical access to the sample to pass it through a SEM?
Another year (Score:2)
Metal flake on tie reveal DB Cooper's identity (Score:2)
How did they know he actually jumped from the plane?
Re:Metal flake on tie reveal DB Cooper's identity (Score:5, Informative)
He left it on the back seat, probably while putting on the parachute because it would just get in the way. He was on the passenger manifest, and he was the only passenger that didn't deplane before it took off again. The crew know that he was on the on the plane when they took off, and he wasn't when they landed (that and the sudden (but not major as they were at a relatively low altitude) depressurization when he opened the rear door.) Though the conspiracy theorist nutjobs will probably say something like "they're all in on it!" despite the high unlikelihood of one of the many who had to have been in on the plot not issuing a deathbed confession by now.
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disguised as a metal flake. (Score:5, Funny)
No, he disguised as a metal flake.
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There was an episode of a TV series based on a similar premise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
This is called "speculation." (Score:2)
He knew some rather specific things about the 727 (Score:2)
He knew the correct flap angle to set on the 727 to maximise low altitude loitering time, and he knew that you could open the rear airstair from the cabin while in flight and there was no way to prevent this from the cockpit. That does require professional knowledge.
The titanium/steel alloy found on his tie wasn't used in airliners. It would only have been used in high-performance combat aircraft.
For what it's worth, I think it's more likely he worked for Boeing than for Crucible Steel. This is one of th
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That is interesting about the alloy. Overall, I think the mystery is being allowed to overemphasize his likely competence. The man may easily have died on impact, and the entire plan have been a harebrained scheme.
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You'd never use a 727 for recreational skydiving, though. It's too expensive to operate. The CIA did use 727 family aircraft to drop agents behind enemy lines. But his general incompetence suggests he wasn't an experienced skydiver or a CIA agent.
The correct fl
50 year old crime (Score:3)
Re:50 year old crime (Score:5, Insightful)
The man is either dead or in a home ready to die so let him.
He's dead. The ransom money has never turned up back in circulation.
Now perhaps with someone like the creator of Bitcoin we can speculate that the reason he's not spending his money is because he might be someone who is already extremely wealthy, but D.B. Copper was a desperate criminal motivated by financial gain, so not spending the ransom is extremely out of character.
Re:50 year old crime (Score:5, Funny)
THIS JUST IN: D. B. Cooper was, in reality, Satoshi Nakamoto!
Re:50 year old crime (Score:5, Informative)
He's dead. The ransom money has never turned up back in circulation.
That, and the fact that some of the packets of money, mostly disintegrated, DID turn up a decade later on the shore of the Columbia River in Washington State, is very strong evidence that he died.
Re: 50 year old crime (Score:3)
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Richard McCoy Jr escaped with the money, which was later found at his house.
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Doesn't it seem like, in the process of checking the money bag and verifying the cash was in it, he would have stuck a bundle or two of bills in his pockets?
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Craig Wright's con that he is Satoshi hinges on the fact that the actual Satoshi can't come back after him and disprove it. As in, Satoshi is dead and more than one person knows this.
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Yep. His death was, in fact, reported here on Slashdot [slashdot.org], but the general public and the authorities still haven't figured it out yet. I think they'll figure it out eventually... maybe in another 50 years.
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(And by the way, he died of a antihistamine overdose, but the doctors didn't catch that because he didn't take more than a standard adult dose. He overdosed anyway on it, due to extremely rare genetics that are also unknown to modern science, apparently. And thing about being emaciated despite having cash... just an eating disorder, as far as I could tell. He seemed to be addicted to being hungry as far as I could tell, and thought it helped him hike longer distances easier.)
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This is the first time I've heard anyone make this claim/connection. Kinda fun speculatio, but can you point to any evidence? "Worked in tech" and "hid his identity" are hardly conclusive...
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He told me himself. I can't prove it unfortunately. It's probably my fault he's dead, too. When he brought up his concern about it, I scoffed at the idea that a standard dose of Benadryl could kill someone.
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Well I certainly don't think it was your fault. From what I've read he had a very troubled past, and was only 83 pounds when he died, so clearly had been starving, possibly intentionally or possibly in a sleeping "outage" that he apparently did on occasion to deal with problems. With thousands in cash on hand, and just 5 miles from a town.
It certainly is intriguing you report he told you himself he is Satoshi. Did you ask questions and did he elaborate further? If someone told me that, I would want t
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No, I didn't really ask, I just took the statement at face value. He implied he knew me, and seemed to know all about me, but didn't seem very surprised or troubled that I couldn't remember him. I had become accustomed to this particular type of strange meeting by then. Some time later I discovered that my parents were in a satanic pedophiliac rape cult and had been drugging me throughout my childhood to keep me clueless, and that may have something to do with it, but I can't prove that either now.
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... He did mention that he had no intent to ever collect the money from his Bitcoin account(s) and had made every possible effort to distance himself from the whole thing. He said he didn't do it for the money, he said he did it to destabilize global superpowers and give a leg up to the 3rd world and people he felt were generally the world's underdogs. He admitted he knew it would also be used for a lot of criminal activity but didn't seem to think it would overall increase that, like he thought it was just
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Whoa, that's some disturbing stuff. I have heard of such things in the world, but have never directly interacted with someone sharing a firsthand account. Assuming you are being honest, I guess I don't have any advice, but I genuinely hope you are OK and have an outlet to talk about these matters with people that care about you.
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That's wild stuff. I take it you believed him at the time, and still do. I'm curious if you have shared this online before, and/or if anyone has looked into the claim seriously. Are there other discussions about it?
If it's true, it is of course a sad thing to know that Satoshi is dead and also the manner of it. And also kind of sad to lose the great mystery.
Such a privilege for you though that he confided in you. Am I understanding correctly that you hiked together for a time?
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Am I understanding correctly that you hiked together for a time?
No, I don't hike and I only remember meeting him this one time. The description of the circumstances wouldn't add any credibility to the story. I'm sure I've ranted about it at various times in various places though, not that I have any links on hand...
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Ok, well thanks for sharing about this encounter. If Vance Rodriguez was Satoshi as you suggest, he did the world a great service and I hope he one day gets recognition for that.
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If there is still a stash of DB Cooper cash somewhere, it is worth more than its face value as a collectors item.
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Re: 50 year old crime (Score:3)
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The PNW loves their big mystery in DB (Score:2)
Seems like every year the Seattle or pacific northwesterners pull out some new drip on the DB Cooper story.
What I love about this one, or the comments above, is that people kind of assume that metal particles are just around and available and floating around the aircraft, especially this odd Titanium/Stainless particle. Last time I checked in, the target was someone at Tectronix on a different weird-metal hunch.
Wake me when one of those particles get sequenced and matched via 23andme.
D.B. Cooper was a native American that lived in OR (Score:2)
I remember stumbling across a video on YouTube a while back where some former boxer or MMA fighter claimed to personally know D.B. Cooper and said he died in Arizona 3 or 4 years ago. He said Cooper was a native American that grew up in the same woods in Oregon that he jumped into. That's how Cooper was able to escape. The guy in the video said he wouldn't tell Cooper's name unless the FBI were to ask him nicely, LOL. I looked for the video but can't find it now.
Re: D.B. Cooper was a native American that lived i (Score:1)
I believe the podcast you heard was JRE 216 with MMA fighter Chael Sonnen, https://ogjre.com/episode/216-chael-sonnen , at about the 2hr 5min mark
He must be dead (Score:2)
Why hasn’t he come forward? Is he still prosecutable? No jury is going to make him serve time. Ask the president (I assume hijacking is a federal crime) to issue a pardon.
Not likely.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Metal Flake (Score:2)
I think the "independent investigator" obsessed with the tie is the metal flake.
So a fragment... (Score:5, Insightful)
So a fragment of metal from Crucible Steel proves that DB Cooper was from Pittsburgh, and not the NW where Boeing machined this steel to make parts for 727s, Portland Airport where the plane was hijacked is located, and where DB Cooper parachuted from the plane into remote wilderness and where some of the money was recovered.
TV passed off as news (Score:2)
Re: TV passed off as news (Score:2)
Itâ(TM)s because this article is about a TV host who hosted a documentary about DB cooper, along with documentaries about other conspiracy theories and mysteries.
Itâ(TM)s an advertisement for a TV show, played on the news. Itâ(TM)s all just advertisement, at this point.
Solved Mystery (Score:2)
The metal alloy was never used in aerospace (Score:1)
Not the only theory (Score:1)
Pilot/skydiver/YouTuber Dan Gryder has done more thorough research and interviews over a 20 year span and concluded in 2021 that he knows D.B. Cooper's identity. I don't personally care who Cooper was, but here is an article summarizing his conclusions:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2021/12/19/pilot-says-hes-solved-d-b-cooper-case/
Or... (Score:2)
If I were going to do a huge crime like that, I'd not wear my own clothes. I'd go to multiple thrift stores and buy used clothes with cash to make it harder to track me down via sourcing. I'd also get shoes that were slightly too big/small, cut/dye my hair, apply fake tattoos, wear fake earring or nose stud, etc. Then after the crime I'd destroy those clothes and hope authorities are looking for someone who doesn't even match me.
So... If you found the tie "I" was wearing during the scene of the crime and an
Thievery is a dangerous occupation... (Score:1)