THE DAILY CHRONICLE – January 3, 2008

FBI: Do you know who D.B. Cooper was?

By Calvin A. Thompson

PORTLAND, OREGON – The FBI is making a new attempt at identifying the mysterious skyjacker identified as D.B. Cooper. Cooper boarded a Northwest flight in Portland for a flight to Seattle on the night of November 24, 1971. He commandeered the Boeing 727 plane claiming he had dynamite. In Seattle he demanded and was given $200,000 and four parachutes, then demanded he be flown to Mexico. The plane took-off and tracked southeast towards Mexico. Somewhere over southwestern Washington state, Cooper jumped out the plane’s tail exit with two chutes.

The FBI is making a new stab at identifying mysterious skyjacker D.B. Cooper, who bailed out of an airliner in 1971 and vanished.

In 1980, a young boy found several tattered bundles of $20 bills near the Columbia River and they were later identified to be from the hijacking.

While the FBI believes Cooper almost certainly didn’t survive the jump from the aircraft, considering it was night, raining, and undertaken over mountainous terrain, they would like to determine who he really was. Several people have claimed to be him, but all were discounted by DNA samples taken from the real D.B. Cooper’s tie, which he left on the aircraft.

The FBI have released new drawings of D.B.Cooper in the hope a member of the public may recognize him and provide more details. If you have any information please e-mail the FBI’s Seattle field office at fbise@leo.gov

To The Election… CNN Predicts Obama and Huckabee

DES MOINES, IOWA – CNN has projected that Barack Obama will win the Iowa Democratic caucus and Mike Huckabee will be the Republican winner. CNN said that with 95 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had the support of 37 percent of voters, With 78 percent of Republican precincts reporting, Huckabee had the support of 34 percent of voters, compared to 25 percent for Mitt Romney.

Nikkei Plunges on Wall Street Woes

TOKYO – The Nikkei plunged 606 point Friday morning following a jittery lead from Wall Street. Economists blame the fall on concerns about the Japanese economy and the rising price of oil, which set a fresh trading record of $US100.09 a barrel overnight.