THE state-of-the-art technology that will be used to analyze DB Cooper’s DNA is so detailed that it’ll be able to determine if the elusive skyjacker had children or even a dog, an investigator says.
Eric Ulis, who has been probing Cooper’s unsolved 1971 heist for the last 13 years, exclusively revealed to The U.S. Sun this week that he’s obtained a sample of the crook’s DNA.
DB Cooper’s identity and whether or not he even survived his daring jump has been fiercely debated for decadesFBI
Eric UlisA filter containing Cooper’s DNA was recently obtained by investigator Eric Ulus[/caption]
FBIThe DNA was captured from a clip-on tie left behind by Cooper[/caption]
The sample was collected by scientist Tom Kaye when he tested a black clip-on tie left behind by Cooper with a special device that captures particulates in a filter more than a decade ago.
The initial reason for Kaye’s tests was to analyze the accessory for traces of certain metals, chemicals, and pollen.
However, the device is also capable of capturing DNA – a realization recently made by Ulis and Kaye.
The pair say the filter, which has been sealed for the last 13 years, contains Cooper’s DNA with 100 percent certainty.
They will now send the filter to a lab to conduct metagenomic DNA analysis, an advanced kind of analysis that enables scientists to separate individual strands of DNA.
Once all of the DNA strands from the tie are separated, Kaye and Ulis will be able to build a genetic profile of Cooper to compare with outstanding suspects and also use it for forensic genealogy.
Ulis called metagenomic DNA analysis the “Holy Grail” for the DB Cooper case and voiced confidence the bomb-wielding thief’s days of anonymity are numbered.
“Metagenomic DNA […] can separate individually all of the DNA profiles on the tie, even for something like a dog. So If DB Cooper had a dog, we’d be able to find that on there.
“It’s critically important because […] let’s say you have a dozen different DNA profiles on that tie from everyone who has come into contact with it over the years, including various FBI agents and Cooper himself.
“We will be able to separate all of those strands individually, and – while we won’t know which one is Cooper’s – we will be able to gradually narrow them down.
“If DB Cooper had any kids, for example, those children would likely be on the tie as well. So if any of the dozen or so profiles on the tie are related, that will mostly likely be Cooper’s.”
Kaye and Ulis first discovered the filter likely contained Cooper’s DNA in 2020 but lacked access to suitable technology to help them determine for certain.
But with metagenomic DNA analysis, Ulis is confident the 53-year-old cold case could finally be solved by the end of the year.
“By December 31, 2024, this is going to be a new world as far as this case is concerned,” he said.
“We’re either going to have figured out who this guy is, or we’re gonna have a solid DNA profile to work with that’s going to be pointing us in the right direction.”
TIE HOLDS THE KEY
Cooper’s tie has long been seen as the most important clue for helping to finally unlock the mystery of his identity.
The mild-mannered thief hijacked Northwest Airlines Flight 305 on Thanksgiving Eve 1971 and parachuted out of the plane at 10,000 feet with $200,000 strapped to his waist, never to be seen again.
Cooper made the daring jump with all his possessions, leaving only a black JCPenny clip-on tie behind in his seat and a handful of cigarette butts.
The tie is one of the only remaining traces of Cooper. The cigarette butts and hair samples taken from his seat were either lost or destroyed by investigators decades before the proliferation of DNA technology.
Ulis sued the FBI for access to Cooper’s tie for additional testing last year but his case was thrown out by a judge in December.
The tie has twice been tested for DNA with little success but Ulis stressed the kinds of testing used by investigators 20 years ago are like the “Stone Age” in comparison to the technology available today.
Eric UlisThe filter will be shared with a state-of-the-art lab to conduct metagenomic DNA analysis[/caption]
AP1971DB Cooper hijacked a plane over the Pacific Northwest in November 1971[/caption]
Eric UlisEric Ulis has been investigating the Cooper saga for more than a decade[/caption]
While insisting he no longer needs the FBI’s help to crack the case, he is still campaigning for access to Cooper’s tie.
Ulis wants to test a hidden spindle in the knot of the tie that he believes investigators overlooked and that may contain an isolated sample of Cooper’s DNA.
“Metagenomic DNA testing is expensive, time-consuming, and complicated,” he added.
“That’s why the spindle is of great importance because it’s protected. We’re likely dealing with a situation where DB Cooper’s DNA is isolated on that spindle.
“Maybe there’s one or two profiles there, compared with the rest of the tie which could contain dozens.
“Testing the spindle could give us a solid, clean, and simple profile.
“But we don’t need the FBI anymore. We have more than enough to work with to find DB Cooper ourselves.”
ENDURING MYSTERY
The FBI declined to comment on Ulis’ investigation and his outstanding request to access Cooper’s tie.
The Bureau officially closed its investigation into DB Cooper in 2016, rending the skyjacking of Northwest Flight 305 the only unsolved crime of its kind in US history.
More than 800 suspects were considered in the years that followed but none were deemed to be a compelling match and no arrests were ever made.
Ulis is currently investigating Vince Petersen as the prime suspect in his probe.
Petersen, a metallurgist who died in 2002, would’ve been 52 at the time of the skyjacking.
One of the key items of evidence that led Ulis to Petersen’s door was a series of chemicals found by Kaye on Cooper’s tie that were consistent with rare, specialty metals from the aerospace sector.
Further analysis of those elements led Ulis to a now-defunct specialty facility in Pittsburgh called Crucible Steel, where Petersen worked as an engineer.
Eric UlisVince Petersen (seen in the 1990s), an engineer who worked for a Boeing subcontractor, has been named by Ulis as a potential suspect[/caption]
Eric UlisVince Petersen died in 2002 and had no experience flying a plane or jumping out of one, according to his daughter[/caption]
APNorthwest Orient Flight 305 was hijacked by Cooper on November 24, 1971[/caption]
Last week, in his latest push to lobby the FBI to grant him access to the tie, Ulis enlisted the help of Vince Petersen’s daughter, Julie Dunbar, to appeal directly to the Bureau too.
Unlike Ulis, Dunbar doesn’t believe her dad was DB Cooper.
However, she is hoping the FBI allows the investigator access so she can clear her father’s name once and for all.
Speaking to The U.S. Sun last week, Dunbar said, “I told Eric I understand all the evidence he’s gathered and that he’s claiming the research leads to where my dad worked and everything and that’s fine.
“But it’s my dad’s character you really need to rely on because this is not something he would’ve done.
“He wouldn’t have dived out of a plane. He wouldn’t have abandoned the family the day before Thanksgiving and flown out to Washington, decided to hijack a plane and asked for four parachutes and $200k, and then jumped out of the plane in the dark of night when it was raining.
“That’s just not my dad. He was a very well-educated man, he didn’t do anything on the spur of the moment, and something like this is just so far out of his character.”
Dunbar added, “Eric’s story is very compelling, I’ll give him that.
“But it does not change my point of view that my dad was not DB Cooper.”
PRIME SUSPECT WAS ‘A NORMAL DAD’
Petersen worked at Crucible Steel for more than two decades.
The facility was one of the major suppliers of titanium and stainless steel parts for Boeing during the 1960s and 70s, Ulis says.
The plane Cooper hijacked was a Boeing 727, and it’s long believed he had ties to the aerospace industry because of his near-constant use of aviation jargon during the heist and his seemingly intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the aircraft.
Theorizing a potential motive, Ulis notes that Crucible and Boeing both experienced mass layoffs in 1971 because of a sharp downturn in the aerospace sector that year.
Cooper also famously told one of the stewardesses aboard Flight 305 of his reasoning for carrying out the skyjacking, “I don’t have a grudge against your airline, miss. I just have a grudge.”
According to Dunbar, her father didn’t have any experience flying a plane or jumping out of one.
He did serve in the Merchant Marines, she said, but otherwise had no additional military experience.
“He was just a normal, everyday father,” said Dunbar.
“He enjoyed being with his family, going on trips with us, going finishing, or playing golf.
“He was exactly what you would want him to be as a dad.”
Imagining how her father would react to insinuations he was DB Cooper, Dunbar said he’d be stunned.
She continued, “He would be totally shocked; he’d be flabbergasted, to say the very least.
“He would say, ‘Well that’s stupid’. He’d call DB Cooper stupid and ask what that person was thinking.”
Eric UlisA metal clasp built into the knot of the tie may have been used by Cooper[/caption]
FBIThe above image shows the row of seats Cooper was sitting in aboard Flight 305[/caption]
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