38 years later, D.B. Cooper remains a mystery

Today marks the 38th anniversary of one of the FBI's coldest cases, but one attorney continues to investigate, with a Utahn as his main suspect.

"The D.B. Cooper case, which I think can be solved, has turned into a treasure hunt," said Galen Cook, an attorney from Washington who is writing a book about the case.

Cook, who is in Alaska, has scaled back his attorney cases in order to prove who D.B. Cooper really was and to locate the $200,000 ransom the legendary hijacker obtained after releasing 36 passengers from a Boeing 727 at the Seattle airport Nov. 24, 1971.

"I plan to find the lost money," Cook said in a telephone interview Saturday.

Cook's main suspect is former Weber State University ROTC instructor William "Wolfgang" Gossett.

Cook has maintained since 2007 that Gossett, who was 73 when he died in 2003 in Oregon, is the elusive hijacker.

About six months ago, the FBI released a profile of the man who bought a ticket in Portland under the name of Dan Cooper, not D.B. Cooper, as was widely reported in the media.

Part of that profile included a connection with a comic book that featured "Dan Cooper," who was a Royal Canadian Air Force test pilot. The comic book was printed in French and circulated in Europe in the 1960s.

"It sounds bizarre," Cook said. "The FBI didn't dream this up on their own."

The most recent profile of the hijack suspect also includes a suggestion that the suspect served in the Air Force, had been stationed in Europe, may have worked as a cargo loader and was a loner.

Although Gossett was married four times, he preferred spending his time alone, Cook said.

Gossett also took a trip to Vancouver, British Columbia, shortly after he retired from the military. Cook believes Gossett deposited a majority of the ransom money in a security box there.

Cook said he is still negotiating with an unnamed bank in hopes of getting access to the security box so he can prove his theory.

Cook recently received 250 pages of documents from one of Gossett's family members, who received documents from the military detailing the type of work Gossett did and where he was stationed.

Gossett joined the Air Force in the 1940s. He then joined the Marines in the 1950s before joining the Army in the 1960s, Cook said.

While in the Marines, Gossett received reconnaissance parachute training. When he was in the Army, he was stationed for a year in Brienne la Chateau, France, where there was a U.S. Army Aircraft Field Maintenance Center, Cook said.

That was also where the Royal Canadian Air Force brought its jets as part of the NATO agreement to protect Allied countries, Cook said.

Gossett, who spoke and read a limited amount of French, probably came into contact with the Dan Cooper comic books, Cook said.

Carol Abraczinskas, a professor at the University of Chicago, was contacted by the FBI to help with a private investigation into the case.

Her speciality is scientific illustration. She has been asked to look at the comic books to see what connection there may be with the infamous unknown hijacker, Cook said.

Abraczinskas declined to discuss the case, saying, "We're not discussing the work right now, but you may hear from us in the future."

According to the Seattle FBI Web site, the FBI still maintains it is "highly unlikely" the hijacker, who jumped from the Boeing 727, survived the jump.

"But he came from somewhere and from someone," according to the Web site. "And that is what we want to know."

Anyone with information about the case can e-mail the Seattle FBI office at Seattle.FBI@ic.fbi.gov.