Case Closed? Not so fast.
The headlines are already coming in.
"DB Cooper case to close for good?"
"D.B. Cooper case 'solved.'"
"FBI closing case on Cooper…."
So, is any of it true?
After forty years of hunting for the mysterious hijacker…after spending millions to deploy sheriffs, deputies, cops, troopers, agents, and spy planes…after chasing down leads on over 1,000 suspects and persons of interest…is the mystery finally all over?
Absolutely not.
Today, there's been a handful of stories reporting the following: after meeting with the FBI in Seattle last week, Marla Wynn Cooper claims current Cooper case agent Curtis Eng is so convinced her uncle Lynn Doyle Cooper is the hijacker he is planning to close the Cooper case for good, regardless of what additional forensics might show.
The fact that Eng is so optimistic about Lynn Doyle Cooper as a suspect is an interesting development in the case, to say the least. However, it is unlikely the Cooper case will be closed, given what we know.
From sources inside the Bureau's field office in Seattle, I'm told that even if Eng was so sure Lynn Doyle Cooper was the hijacker he doesn't have the authority to close the case. With an open indictment, the case must get referred to FBI brass in Washington and then on to prosecutors at the Department of Justice.
Furthermore, considering the stakes in the Cooper matter, it is unlikely the feds will close such a legendary case based on circumstantial evidence. Or Marla Cooper's memories. Or even an identification from, say, a member of the flight crew. The hijacking was forty years ago; eyewitnesses might not apply here.
But hey. If there's a consistent narrative to the Cooper saga, it's that the tale only seems to get wackier with age.
In a way, all the evidence Eng may need to indict Lynn Doyle Cooper (who passed away several years ago) is enough to show probable cause. The burden of proof here, as we've seen in so many cases, can be pretty light.
Because all the top suspects in the case are dead, the Bureau needs to go further than probable cause to finger a suspect. For forty years, Cooper sleuths have quested for a definitive answer in this mystery. Who was Cooper?
The way to find out—and a way nobody will quibble with—is forensic or DNA evidence. And the place to look for it is with the items found on the plane that could yield good DNA samples, namely the eight Raleigh filter tipped cigarette butts, evidence that seems to have gone missing from the FBI's possession. Saliva embedded in the cotton fibers of the cigarette filters might allow Bureau scientists to ascertain a complete genetic code of the hijacker.
In the Cooper case, agents come and go, and with them their suspicions and claims. What's missing all these years is good forensic evidence to test. We need to find those cigarette butts—for Marla Cooper sake, and the rest of us.
