Was 'Uncle L.D.' vetted by FBI? "Not fully," agent says.

There's an avalanche of reports out this morning about Marla Cooper outing her uncle Lynn Doyle Cooper ("Uncle L.D.") as the skyjacker, and what's curious about many is the suggestion the FBI actually investigated her uncle's story.

"It was not fully vetted," Special Agent Fred Gutt of the Seattle's Bureau field office told me the night before Marla Cooper went public. Gutt described the Bureau's interest in Uncle L.D. not as an official investigation, but just "taking a look," and because the original source who approached them was a cop, they decided to pass along the guitar strap to Quantico for testing.

The Bureau finds itself in a funny p.r. jam when it comes to Mr. Cooper. On the one hand, they don't want to appear lazy in not investing such a high profile case. On the other, they don't want to be perceived as spending such valuable resources in tough times chasing down an illusive legend. What tends to happen is a lot of misinformation, which is where this story began.

The news break of the recent "credible" and "most promising" lead came via the sleuthing of the British Telegraph's Alex Hannaford, who was able to squeeze out of Bureau rep Ayn Dietrich that the Bureau had passed along some evidence to Quantico for testing. "This is looking like our most promising one to date," Dietrich told Hannaford, a quote other outlets pounced on.

As news of a major Cooper case break burned up the wires, Dietrich downplayed her comments. Because there have been so many lousy leads in the Cooper case, Dietrich told me what she was trying to get across was that the Bureau's most recent tip about Uncle L.D. was the "most promising" in comparison to so many of the stinkers that have come in before.

Alas, it was too late. The stories were out, and soon so was Marla Cooper.