Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack - Season 1, Episode 5 - Full Episode | Forensic Files

this program is about unsolved mysteries whenever possible the actual family members and police officials have
participated in recreating the events what you are about to see is not a news broadcast
[Music] on November the 24th 1971 at 8:12 p.m. 10,000 feet above southwestern Washington State a man forced open rear
doorway of a commercial area buffeted by winds gusty in excess of 200 miles per hour
he stood briefly on rear stairwell man known only as DB cooper lept into space no
[Music] the last flight and strange disappears at divi crouppen is one of the most
baffling cases of his century many including the FBI believe he must have perished and he left from a 727 at
10,000 feet others disagree they say he made it tonight we will recreate DB Cooper's
last flight and examine two other cases in one an eight million dollar collection of sports memorabilia has
disappeared among the treasures was Babe Ruth's uniform and the other two teenage
boys lay motionless in a path of a non Russian train their parents believed they were murdered join me you may be
able to help solve a mystery [Music] the Sun DD cuckoo is a skyjacking mastermind behind a daring crime that
defied both the elements and the authorities the most of us he's nothing more than a common criminal who risk the
lives of 42 innocent people for $200,000 but one fact remains nobody knows where
the DB Cooper is dead or alive Thanksgiving Eve 1971 at 2:00 p.m. DB cooper walked into the Portland Airport
he was your typical businessman a suit tie a raincoat carrying an attache case nothing distinctive about him except
perhaps for the fact that everything was very dark black tie a black raincoat black shoes Cooper he appeared at the
ticket counter bought his ticket it just gave the name Cooper yes sir it'll be $20 please the 727 became notorious
through this case because it is the only airliner from which a successful parachute jump can be made from the
passenger cabin Cooper had purchased a one-way ticket to Seattle the only luggage he carried was an attache case
he was the last person to board the plane and took his seat while a 727 began its taxi to the runway Florence
Schaffner was the first crew member to talk to Cooper he handed me a note and he kept looking at me and I just ignored
him the first time he looked at me and then then he said I want you to read the note it was printed miss I have a bomb
in my briefcase I want you to sit beside me no joke I saw a big battery with six dynamite
sticks wrapped around a battery and he said to me all I have to do is attach this wire to this gadget here and we all
be dead she saw the bomb so we know it's for real yeah Lawrence went to the cockpit to inform the crew about Cooper
and his threat can you handle it Tina he's the guy in the very back he's old we were very very scared to death
all of us were I was thinking about dying that's all I thought I was also thinking I'll never see my parents my
brothers and sisters Scotty would call headquarters the flight crew immediately notified air
traffic control about the hijacking 3:05 we have a hijack in progress they in turn contacted the FBI did you
tell him $200,000 cash small bills yes four parachutes he wanted $200,000 in cash in a knapsack
and four parachutes identified the parachutes as two front packed parachutes and two backpacks and he
specified that the airliner remain in the air until the money and the parachutes were ready at Seattle he also
specified that the other passengers not be told that the airplane was being hijacked the flight crew proceeded as if
nothing was out of the ordinary drinks were served Cooper ordered two bourbon and waters the FBI asked the airline
what their approach to the hijacking was going to be that is did they wish to pay
the ransom this is an option that the victim of an extortion has rather than law enforcement and they responded
instantly they wish to pay the ransom and so the FBI at Seattle said about assisting in obtaining the money each
bill was photographed and the serial numbers recorded Cooper also insisted the plane be immediately refueled upon
landing in Seattle no passengers were to be released until all of his demands were met light rail fire Seattle Tacoma
the hijacker instructed that they land but that they stay on the runway rather than taxi up to the terminal
check-check here at 5:43 p.m. flight 305 landed at the Seattle Airport the plane
taxied in and parked in a remote area of a field the money and the parachutes were brought by an FBI agent to the
airplane they were carried on board by the flight attendant there were 10,000 $20 bills
assembled in straps of a hundred bills to a strap and individual straps held together with rubber bands the money
alone just the currency weighed 21 pounds four parachutes were delivered but the authorities and the skyjacker
were unaware that one of the parachutes was defective it would not open under any circumstances both of flight crew
and the FBI were worried that Cooper would use the four parachutes to take hostages along with him but the
passengers on board were oblivious to what was going on though annoyed at the delay they remain calm unaware of the
drama surrounding them during the time the airliner was on the ground at Seattle there were FBI agents with
scoped rifles who were prepared if the indications were present that required it to pick him off he was very very
uptight suspicious he said to us to pull down the shade every shade must be down
so I did and Tina did they seem to be having trouble with getting fuel on the aircraft and we
thought well maybe they're delaying it and we said we don't want any delay and at this time the hijacker seem to be
getting real shook up so we told them on the ground if you're trying to delay us
with any of these kind of tactics let's get with it and get the fuel on which they finally did finally the passengers
were allowed to deplane but cooper demanded that the flight he was one flight attendant stay on board copilot
said you better get the hell out now so I left without Tina and that's when he decided to keep her because he was
getting suspicious that everything the passengers were met by FBI agents only then did they realize that their lives
have been in mortal danger when debrief they could remember nothing about the man with the attache case all
right captain Cooper ordered the pilot to fly from Seattle to Mexico City at a height of 10,000 feet and a speed of 200
miles per hour under these conditions the 727 would have to refuel along the way Cooper agreed to stop and refuel and
Reno Nevada he then made an unusual request and I want the back stairwell down the pilot explained that he wasn't
able to take off with that door open and they argued back and forth and finally the pilot said he just couldn't fly the
airplane it wasn't gonna try and hijacker consented for the door to be closed for takeoff which it was at 7:37
p.m. like 3:05 took off the Seattle control tower alerted all other aircraft in the area to remain
clear so the 727 had the sky to itself weather had deteriorated the storm front directly in the planes flight path he
told her to go back into the cockpit and to close the curtain between the coach and the first class cabins and as she
turned around to close the curtains she said she saw him tying something to his waist with what she thought was rope
later in the cockpit the light flash indicating that the hijacker was attempting to operate the door at 8:12
the pilot told us that they were experiencing a rapid change in the air pressure reflected in a ears popping
experience [Applause] somewhere over the forests of southern Washington State Cooper jumped he has never been seen
since since DB Cooper's hijacking all 727s have been modified so that the rear door
cannot be opened during a flight when we return we'll reveal an important new clue to the identity of DB Cooper no one
can be certain DB Cooper's survived his jump from ten thousand feet they are crafty left no identifiable fingerprints
no personal items no clue to his identity DB Cooper seems to have vanished from the face of the earth upon
landing in Reno Nevada every inch of the 727 was scrutinized for clues as to DB Cooper's real identity the fight
attendants who had seen Cooper up close created a composite drawing of his face flight 305 flew along this path on his
way to Reno the crew felt that Cooper had jumped somewhere near the southern tip of Washington State for that reason
it was believed that Cooper would be found in this area bordered by Lake Merwin to the north and ending 20 miles
north of Portland Oregon no matter where Cooper landed Frank Hale believes he could have survived let's say he went
down in the water you've got to know how to manage that parachute we can use it for some flotation now his life
expectancy is not going to be very long in that water it's cold we have to think
of the time of the year it was in so he had probably a very very few minutes to get on shore but I think he could have
done this a large white object have been reported floating in Lake Merwin divers
repeatedly explored his depths but found nothing my feeling is he would have been
hurt regardless of what he landed into I think that Cooper most likely crawled to
a creek he didn't have any water supplies I didn't bring any along with him and he would have had to have water
to survive so I assumed he made his way to a little creek and perished there some feel that Cooper could not have
survived in that rugged terrain dressed only in a business suit we don't know what he wore under the suit could have
had a pair of long underwear on which he certainly should have had and what he had in his pockets may have been the
most important thing because this would have given him the tools of survival as long as a man's got a knife a cigarette
lighter and the clothes on his back and could have lived indefinitely out there could do it it's possible I think he
buried this chute I think he probably buried the briefcase he got rid of that I think he probably put the money in his
coat and I think he headed for a big city someplace and lost himself the search for DB Cooper continued but
no new clues were discovered seven years passed then in November of 1978 a hunter
deep in the Washington forest discovered a plastic placard from a 727 it had been ripped from a lower
stairwell of flight 305 15 months later an even more dramatic discovery was made
On February 10th 1980 a family was preparing a barbecue on the shore of the Columbia River 165 miles south of
Seattle and 20 miles southwest of Cooper's supposed jump point they planned on digging a fire pit but dug up
something else the bills totaling five thousand eight hundred and eighty dollars were
waterlogged and deteriorated there was two hundred and ninety four bills found and all of those serial numbers are on
the ransom list so that money is definitely positively identified as having come from that particular ransom
money money was found if they'd have found a two hundred thousand dollar cited said hey it's all over he's out
there he's dead now we've got some real proof but they did not find two hundred thousand dollars where's the rest of the
money that's what I want to know he risked his life to hijack the airliner he didn't get to spend the money he may
have lost his life now I don't know that he lost his life but I think there's a very good chance that he did none of the
money not one bill has ever turned up in circulation kadhi B Cooper have struck again only
five months after Cooper's flight in April of 1972 a half million dollars was extorted from another airline by another
skyjacker the crime was remarkably similar to the Cooper skyjacking his name was Richard McCoy a former Green
Beret skydiver he was sent most of 45 years for air piracy but escaped and was tracked down and killed in a gun battle
with the FBI due to the resemblance between their pictures some believe that DB cooper and Richard
McCoy are the same man Florence Schaffner however believes a composite of Cooper may be inaccurate the
composite never really looked like him the hair does not look like him the face does not look like him the requests of
unsolved mysteries Florence worked with Malin Coleman a forensic artist from the Los Angeles
County Sheriff's Department together they created a new portrait of DB cooper wide four-handed it's still strong in my
mind okay I remember everything the color of his eyes color his eyebrows and Annie's
features what do you think last May we examine the case of Diane brought back a Pennsylvania housewife and mother of two
whose charity work led her to exchange letters of friendship with convicted killer John Yount Yount a former high
school math teacher was sentenced to life in prison in 1966 for the brutal murder of a teenage girl brought back in
yonce friendship gradually grew into a romance on April 5th 1986 John yot escaped from prison and on the same day
Diane brought back disappeared I know my daughter she would not deliberately help
a convicted murderer escape from prison yes I think my wife probably did help John y'all get out of jail under
pressure for what reason I don't know update John Yount and Diane brought Baek had been captured two of our viewers in
Boise Idaho recognized brought Becca's a former coworker Kathy Kerman when they showed the picture it was Cathy's face
obviously and once they said she was a bank manager and it was from Massachusetts and they said that John's
a background was in computers there was a dead giveaway the Humphries called the FBI and after a
month-long investigation the fugitive couple was arrested at their home [Music] in the pre-dawn hours of August 23rd
1987 a 75 car 6,000 ton cargo train made his regular night run to Little Rock Arkansas
the train was over a mile long I was traveling at a speed of 52 miles per hour so far the run had been clear
sailing his engineer Stephen Shawn coached the small town of Bryant Arkansas [Music]
suddenly Schroyer saw something in his path he couldn't tell what it was this train drew closer we made a horrifying
discovery that two boys lying motionless across the railroad tracks [Music] and the time that we had placed a train
into an emergency position and laid down on the horn I would estimate about three
to five seconds to impact and that may not sound like a long period of time but when you're bearing down a couple of
children it's an eternity honestly despite the engineers Frederic emergency stop the weight of the heavy cargo truck
trade it for a full half mile the boys bodies were terribly mangled the two boys were identified as 16 year old Don
Henry and 17 year old Kevin Ives best friends and popular seniors at the bryant arkansas high school it is
extraordinary the Kevin and Don lay on the tracks without moving a muscle but a huge freight train was hurtling towards
them blaring its emergency horn the state medical examiner said the boys have been under the influence of
marijuana he ruled the deaths accidental Don and Kevin's parents could not accept
that ruling they began a crusade to find out what really happened and a salvage the reputation of their sons well I
couldn't believe that that Kevin was knocked out on marijuana or into any kind of heavy drugs anything like that
because I was a home lot during the day when Kevin come in from school and Linda
was here at nights and we'd never seen him in a state that he even act like he was you know spaced out or however you
want to phrase it I just couldn't see any signs that he was into any kind of heavy drugs or any
kind of really drugs at all Kevin and Don were both typical teenage boys they loved to work on their cars they loved
to hunt Don was a natural comedian and Kevin was his best audience most weekends the two double-dated however in
the night of Saturday August 22nd 1987 Kevin and Don met a group of friends and the outskirts of Little Rock at a
favorite gathering play for the local teenagers the two boys left around midnight to go
back to Don's house kevin waited on the porch while Don went inside to talk to his father and he came in approximately
12:15 came to bed ring and told me where he was going and everything you know I told him just be careful and he took one
of my spotlights with him it took his twenty-two and we talked for approximately 15 minutes before he live
the two boys set off to go spotlighting a form of night hunting which is illegal
in Arkansas one of them would shine a light in the animals eyes transfixing the prey while the other fired
spotlighting was a fairly widespread activity among the local boys so far Kevin and Don had avoided being caught
that night the boys chose a usual hunting ground along the railroad tracks that ran behind Don's house
I never wasn't even concerned you know worried about him when he was in the woods uh-huh
but I didn't and I realized you could get in trouble hunting it was almost one o'clock in the morning three hours later
Stephen destroyers locomotive came speeding down Bryant Hill when we were about six poles away from it my
conductor yelled out Big O I immediately recognized what we saw it looked like like a body morgue it
they were just laid out the boys were lying exactly parallel on the tracks their arms straight down by their sides
they were partially covered by a light green tarp lying parallel to both of them was Dawn's 22 rifle
neither boy was moving and I started laying down on the diesel horn and I got no reaction not at all not so much as a
flinch and the we just passed over what had caused the two boys to lie side by side on the railroad tracks the state
medical examiner concluded they had smoked the equivalent of 20 marijuana cigarettes he determined that Kevin and
Don had been in a deep sleep induced by the drug and had never heard the oncoming train he ruled their death an
accident Don and Kevin's parents would not accept the medical examiner's conclusion if they were that stoned how
did they lay down in identical positions that was my immediate reaction to his ruling
we checked the training it was 98 decimals which is equal to a jackhammer and air compressor rusty I don't think
that no one can sleep through that kind of noise and another thing too my son's gun it
was laying on gravel I know my son too well he would not lay it on gravel he wouldn't take a chance on the wood
getting scratched we hired a private investigator to trying to find out what happened every
time he would try to find out something it seemed like he would meet resistance from different authorities and
everything and we weren't getting anywhere five months after their sons were killed Don and Kevin's parents held
a press conference they hope to force the authorities to reopen the investigation would you like to give up
your son and everybody think they was smoked up in late day and passed out no I don't think anyone wants to give up
that kid unless that is honestly proved to be the truth then you have to accept it at this point he has not been proved
to those the day after their press conference the investigation was officially reopened newly appointed
prosecutor Richard Garrett had the boys bodies exhumed for a second autopsy to be performed by a noted expert this
doctor concluded that together the boys had smoked not 20 but between one and three marijuana cigarettes he also found
evidence to indicate that one boy was already dead and one unconscious when the train hit them in July of 1988 a
grand jury reversed the medical examiner's original finding of accidental death and officially ruled
the boys s probable homicides prosecutor Garrett then focused on the green tarp neither boy owned such a tarp who would
covered them with it and why all for the people on the train who were able to observe the scene prior to the accident
stated that the boys were partially covered by a green tarp police who searched the scene later denied that
engineer Schroyer had even told them about that time they even questions this existence now to me would be like
question to the existence of the boys on the track yep they were covered up with the tarp
because what's real is real and what's not is not and that's you know it was there as well as the boys I can
understand to people laying down on a railroad track I can understand two people laying down and cover themselves
up for the tarp where would the tarp come from I am convinced that the tarp existed the tarp hour was never found
[Music] the ensuing investigation unearthed an intriguing lead one week before the boys
were killed a man wearing military fatigues had been spotted in the vicinity his behavior that aroused
suspicion and police officer Danny Allen stopped a question a man opened fire I got up from the safe the subject was
gone in five minutes later Saline County showed up and we searched the area and never found a subject on the night Kevin
and Don died witnesses again reported seeing a man in military fatigues this time he was leaving town heading down a
road less than 200 yards from the spot where the boys bodies were run over police have been unable to locate him
six weeks after the investigation was reopened Richard Garrett came up with a strangely
similar case in Hodgkin Oklahoma just 200 miles west of Little Rock two young men lying together on the railroad
tracks had been run over by a locomotive in 1984 they were lying motions on the tracks in a position nearly identical in
Kevin and Don's I think that someone took these boys lives they incapacitated one of the boys
and then felt like they had to do something the other and then to cover their tracks laid the boys on the
railroad track and covered them up at the time the reason why they did that I'm not sure what I'm looking for is the
reason why they did it I've never carried a gun in my life but since we've started working on this
thing I'm carrying it down because I do feel like that that my life could be in danger at some point in time whatever it
takes however long it takes as long as there is anything to investigate as long as there is anything to work on we'll do
it hundreds of times I've been up there day and night just trying to get it in my mind of what could have happened what
did it happen I've been at there at night to see how far you can see the train how far you can hear the train had
allowed is a train I basically think that they walked up on something that was not supposed to see theirs at the
wrong place at the wrong time I know in my own mind that they was murdered and put
[Music] since we filmed a story Don Henry's t-shirt has been analyzed by an expert
pathologist tears in the fabric indicate that Don had been stabbed before he was
run over by the train in light of this new evidence the grand jury changed its ruling from probable homicide to
definite homicide next a curious footnote to the legend of baby his uniform long displayed as a priceless sports
treasure has been stolen along with other sports memorabilia worth eight million dollar
[Music] in 1927 legendary Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs record has stood for over 40 years
today is 1927 World Series ring is valued at $50,000 it has disappeared in 1956 Mickey meant that the most
homeruns and the best batting average of any player in the game today mammals 1956 World Series uniform is valued at
$15,000 it has disappeared Pete Rose a hometown boy from Cincinnati has more hits than any player the
history of the game versus silver bat is worth $30,000 it too has disappeared at
conventions across the country millions of avid collectors have made baseball memorabilia a multi-million dollar
business one of the most ardent of these collectors was Dennis Walker he amassed a trove of sports memorabilia
valued at nearly 10 million dollars today this irreplaceable collection is missing among the items and Dennis
Walker's collection for Babe Ruth's ring Mickey Mantle's uniform Pete Rose's silver bat and hundreds of places sports
treasures number three the classic New York Yankees pinstripe sadly this uniform is only a problem Babe Ruth's
real uniform along with most awards collection is missing America's national pastime has been robbed of a major
portion of its history and someone watching tonight may be able to help find it in June of 1980 Dennis Walker
quit his job teaching political science at a small Oregon college and set up an investment company in his hometown of
Medford Oregon he concocted grandiose investment schemes and opened his own bank on the South Pacific island of
Tonga Walker offered an amazing 25 percent rate of interest and indeed paid off early investors on schedule more
than 140 people gave Walker better than 7 million dollars to enlist he had the Midas touch and
word spread because if somebody says give me $10,000 and I will give you $12,500 right now that sounds like one
whale of an investment the only thing was is that he didn't actually give him $12,500 he gave him a piece of paper
saying that he owed them $12,500 one year from now Dennis Walker's employees also invested
with him he seemed to be a astute businessperson seemed to be very intelligent and seemed to be very fair I
was an investor and I had a considerable amount of money with Dennis we all trusted Dennis I believe that every one
of the employees had money invested with Dennis Walker had always been an avid baseball fan with his newly accumulated
investors money he bought rare and expensive sports memorabilia It was as if he were acting out a childhood
fantasy it's his rookie year isn't it yeah the first thing that Walker did was he spent
a great deal of money on sports memorabilia Walker had a passion for sports collectibles and he freely
indulged you'd lift the investors money to some degree I felt that that was somewhat comforting because we had
anywhere from five to perhaps twenty two million dollars worth of collectibles obviously that's a rather large amount
of assets so the investors weren't too concerned Walker soon graduated from thousand-dollar baseball cars to the
really major collectibles he built one of the most prized collections in the country major Lee
adding champion 1981 370 average they're an absolute steal if I said you this whole package of $12,000
12000 M T Bank building in Medford Oregon and opened his very own Sports Hall of Fame Pete Rose was Walker's
special guest at the grand opening of his Hall of Fame Walker had bought several pieces of memorabilia from Rose
personally he display them elaborately on his vast collection which spanned nine decades of sports history some of
the most prized items were a pristine uncut sheet of baseball cards from the year 1933 or $10,000 to Honus Wagner
baseball cards from the year 1910 valued at an incredible 70 thousand dollars a diamond studded ring awarded to Pete
Rose 1984 the area achieved 4,000 hits valued at $30,000 and finally a New York Yankees uniform worn by the great Babe
Ruth in 1986 the Medford police obtained a warrant and searched Walker's office the state of Oregon had been watching
him for a year and in filed suit charging him with fraud and racketeering the search yielded enough evidence to
prosecute Walker for the illegal sale of unregistered securities once we had done
that then we ran into a brick wall as far as cooperation from the people who had invested their money the
investigation was not a case where an investor did not get money or had complained to the state of Oregon
everybody at that point was getting their principal interest whatever it was that they required to my knowledge
Walker immediately filed a countersuit against the state claiming his innocence he received a number of summons but
continually failed to appear in court and the state of Oregon would confiscate his
assets or caress sandy Sanders an employee to pack up his prized sports collection actually I was all for
getting it out of there so that it could be turned into liquid assets and be given back to the investors and to keep
the state from getting their cotton-pickin hands on it in April 1986 Walker decided to leave Oregon and took
his entire collection of sports memorabilia with him most of Walker's collection would never be seen again
[Applause] [Music] sixteen months later a man registered under the name of Charles Lee was found
dead on a Las Vegas motel there was no apparent cause of death no signs of identification except a
prescription bottle bearing the name Dennis Walker from revealing the autopsy photographs and the autopsy records and
looking at the Gentle charts and records has no doubt in my mind that was Dennis
Walker there are a number of theories as to why he died but no one has ever really been able to determine what
caused his death [Music] that combined with the missing sports memorabilia leaves many many more
questions open and closed in this case [Music] for every mystery someone somewhere who
knows the truth perhaps said someone is watching perhaps as you [Music] [Music]

Brief Summary

The episode investigates DB Cooper's hijacking, missing sports memorabilia, and the mysterious deaths of two boys on railroad tracks.

Key points

The Last Flight of DB Cooper. On November 24, 1971, DB Cooper hijacked a plane and vanished without a trace.
The Mysterious DB Cooper. DB Cooper's hijacking remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries.
The Discovery of Ransom Money. A family found waterlogged bills linked to Cooper's ransom, but where's the rest?
Investigation Reopened. The investigation into the boys' deaths was officially reopened after a press conference.
New Evidence Emerges. A second autopsy revealed crucial evidence about the boys' deaths.
Mystery of Missing Memorabilia. Dennis Walker's collection of sports memorabilia, valued at millions, goes missing.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Nobody knows where DB Cooper is, dead or alive.

Introduction to the mystery of DB Cooper.

2:14WatchMay 16, 2019

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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