In 1971, a man listed on the manifest as Dan Cooper hijacked a plane, had it land in Portland to collect $200,000 in cash, and then donned a parachute given to him, jumped out of the plane over the Northwest wilderness with the money, and was never heard from again.

Now, a Grand Rapids publishing company say they know who he was.

At a noon Thursday press conference at the Amway Grand Hotel, local publisher Principia Media claimed Cooper was a former military paratrooper named Walter R. Reca. He is the 12th person to be suspected as being Cooper since the event took place.

Reca's best friend, Carl Laurin, has published a memoir called "D.B. Cooper & Me: A Criminal, A Spy, My Best Friend" with Principia.

Most of his evidence was compiled in the form of audio recordings Laurin has in which Reca discussed details of the skyjacking that were never made public.

At the press conference, Principia was to produce evidence including:

* Documentation as to how the money was spent.

* Confessions by Reca to two different people.

* An article of clothing worn by Reca during the jump.

We'll see if there is still interest in this case, or if it's just another wild goose chase, in the meantime, here's a novelty song that was written about the incident in 1973.

And here's a documentary on the subject.

 

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