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11/13/2005 |
During our first converation with Barbara's niece, she asked us if Barbara had ever told us she was D.B. Cooper. She told us her dad, (Barbara's brother) was convinced that Barb was D.B. Cooper due to the similarities into the sketches. His comment when he saw the first sketches on TV were, "My God, that looks just like Bobby and it sounds like something Bobby could do." |
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2/2006 |
Ron visits Barb's family in California and finds that the fantastic stories we had been told about Bobby's life were true. He returned home with pictures, diaries, and letters written home. |
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3/2006 |
Compared pictures of Bobby taken shortly before the surgery with the sketches. The similarities were eerie. |
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Since it was announced in 2000 that the FBI had DNA taked from Cooper's cigarettes, we sent one of the envelopes to a company we found on the internet to see if DNA could be obtained. We received a DNA profile back that "should be useable for a paternity test." We believe it would be easy for the FBI to see if it would be worthwhile to pursue Barb as a suspect by comparing this DNA profile to the Cooper profile on file. We have other items we can supply to the FBI to perform their own tests. |
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Ron spoke with another of Barbara's nieces. She thought her uncle could be Cooper as he had the talents the hijacker would need. She had also seen the resemblance in the sketches. She also had the feeling Barbara wanted desparately to tell her something before she died. She thought Barbara was going to say she was the skyjacker and let her know where to find the proof. |
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4/2006 - 6/2006 |
From the medical records discovered that:
- Barbara had been proficient at skydiving but gave it up because it was boring
- She was extremely bitter and depressed leading up to the time of the jump. She did not want to be on welfare, but couldn't find a job as a woman. Doctors often noted that she was suicidal
- Two weeks after the jump she was no longer depressed though nothing had changed in her situation. She seemed satisfied with her life as it was and didn't seem to care if she stayed on welfare for the rest of her life.
- For two years before the surgery she had dressed and lived as a woman. She had dropped out of society and remained a loner through her recuperation after the surgery. No one would suspect "she" was D. B. Cooper
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From the diaries we learned she was capable of and had the opportunity to do the skyjacking:
- Bobby was an expert with dynamite
- Her stories about being lost in northern Canada without food and water for 8 days was true
- Her stories about being in the Phillipines as a merchant marine toward the end of WWII were true
- Her stories about being in Vietnam as a merchant marine were true
- She had studied for her commercial pilot's license and was bitter against the FAA for putting so many stumbling blocks in the way of becoming an airline pilot
- She was visiting or calling her parents everyThanksgiving except for Thanksgiving, 1971
- Her mother received a letter at the beginning of November, 1971 thaat was written to Bobby's children. It came with instructions to give it to them "someday"
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From the letters we received from the family we learned:
- The letter written to her children shortly before the skyjacking sounded like a "goodbye" letter
- As a man Bobby was a fighter and a survivalist. His temperment and abilities made it believable the he could plan, execute and survive the jump. In the words of his second wife, "As a man he was angry and could be mean. As a female he was a much nicer person." We believe our friend Barbara would not have risked the lives of so many people to do this caper, but Bobby could have done it easily.
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