Author Topic: Suspects And Confessions  (Read 1293031 times)

Offline EU

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4395 on: August 28, 2020, 06:39:31 PM »
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Hey, don't forget about me - Sheridan loathes me because I don't think he is DB Cooper!


Well that's a new one on me. First time I've heard of Sheridan being unhappy that someone thinks he's not DBC.

He's an odd guy, but trust me, he still has a sharp, nuanced and deceptive mind.
Some men see things as they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

RFK
 
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Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4396 on: August 29, 2020, 05:37:06 AM »
We would have had some interesting conversations down there in the jungles of Nicaragua, living off his VA pension and my social security.
 

Offline EU

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4397 on: August 29, 2020, 05:57:15 AM »
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We would have had some interesting conversations down there in the jungles of Nicaragua, living off his VA pension and my social security.

 Not to mention the proceeds from a certain endeavor decades earlier.
Some men see things as they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

RFK
 
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Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4398 on: August 29, 2020, 06:13:57 PM »
Smile...

Petey, El Patron...
 

Offline 377

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4399 on: August 30, 2020, 04:28:25 AM »
It’s easy to be fooled by Sheridans rants and seemingly unstable online demeanor. When I met him in person he was sharp as a tack and not one bit demented, unstable or debilitated. Immediately prior to my first meeting with him his online behavior was just as chaotic as it is now. He presents a really convincing “crazy old coot” personality online, but that’s not how he was in person. We spent several hours in conversation. He was focused, logical, and very well informed regarding current events. He is a very intelligent person. He did suffer horrible abuse as a child.
He also witnessed shocking US war crime atrocities in Vietnam. I really do feel for the guy. His life has not been a an especially happy one.

377
 
« Last Edit: August 30, 2020, 04:34:37 AM by 377 »
 
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Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4400 on: August 31, 2020, 12:26:13 AM »
Maybe I should've gone to Nic with Pete. Wanna come along Three-Seven-Seven?
 

Offline 377

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4401 on: August 31, 2020, 05:26:26 PM »
Nah. Sheridan has a knack for landing right in the middle of violent chaos.
I’ll settle for reading your scenic postcards from Nicaragua.

377
 

Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4402 on: September 10, 2020, 08:42:34 PM »
Jack Coffelt

Nat Loufoque sent me a very interesting set of docs from the latest FBI Document Dump. Nat sent me the 22-page magazine article on jack Coffelt that was published in the Las Vegan magazine in 1983. It was written by Byron H Brown and edited by Jack Sheehan. I spoke with Jack at length this week, and I just finished reading the 22-pages.

Jack's a True Believer that Coffelt was Cooper. And based upon what Brown wrote and was told, it's an eminently believable story. But it is probably the Biggest Con Job in Cooper Lore, one that took years to set-up. Why? Who knows, but maybe trying to get a Hollywood score?

Some of the highlights:

Byron H. Brown is the son of James Brown. The elder Brown and Coffelt did time in the Atlanta Penitentiary in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They became best friends as they both worked on the prison's newsletter. After discharge in 1952, Brown went on to lead a good life and become an engineer. In 1955, Coffelt left behind his robbery days when he departed the Atlanta Pen, and went on to become a grand con man, first in Las Vegas and then in Washington, DC.

In 1974, Coffelt called up James and convinced him to go on a road trip to Oregon to find the DB Cooper money, and enticed James to bring along his 19-year-old son, Byron. The Browns left their home in Georgia, picked up Coffelt in his old hometown of Joplin, Missouri, and headed to the Mount Hood area of Oregon. Along the way, Coffelt confessed to being DB Cooper, but said very little about the actual skyjacking.

Nevertheless, told a lot of stories about being a CIA asset, an insider inside the Belt Way, and being an FBI informer and contractor. But he did say that he had three accomplices in the skyjacking: one, a Boeing engineer who told him the metrics for using a 727, two, a guy manning a huge searchlight in the Pine Hollow reservoir area south of Mount Hood that would be a tracking beacon for Flight 305, and a third guy burning hay bales at the edge of the foothills of Mt Hood acting as another beacon to food and water, medical supplies and a getaway jeep were waiting for Coffelt in case he got injured on the descent and landing.

When they got to the town of Friend, Oregon, they started hiking. Eventually, they found the spot where Coffelt said he had landed on Nov 24, 1971. There, they found remnants of a parachute. Searching further, they explored the slopes of Mount Hood looking for the green plastic bag that Coffelt had put the money into, but had slipped off his shoulder during the violent opening on his NB-6. Coffelt estimated that the bag had landed a couple of miles north of the parachute site, but these guys never found the money.

Arguments erupted between Coffelt and James, about what they were doing and if they were complicit in the crime in an "after the fact" kind of way. One night, Coffelt disappeared. Then James and his son left the area when two pick-up trucks arrived nearby their campground, frightening the Browns, who thought they might be the three accomplices returning with Coffelt to get the money.

The Browns returned to Georgia, but Byron returned to the Mt Hood area years later to conduct more research on the Coffelt story to support a book he had begun writing. He found the searchlight, but not the jeep.

Byron also says that he interviewed Florence Schaffner and Tina Mucklow, along with George Labissoniere. He showed them the Atlanta Pen pic of Coffelt, and Schaffner exclaimed that it was Cooper. Labissoniere also confirmed the pic of Coffelt was Cooper, and added that he had said the same thing the FBI six weeks after the skyjacking when they showed him the same pic!

But Byron also wrote that Florence was half-Filipino, which is not true, as far as I know. She was born in Arkansas in 1948, presumably from Caucasian parents.

Tina didn’t confirm the pic, nor did Byron say how or where he got in touch with Tina. So, that angle is suspect.

Bottom Line: Bryon got played.
 

Offline MarkBennett

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4403 on: September 10, 2020, 11:45:09 PM »
Of course I can’t find this anywhere, but I remember reading something about Flo’s mom being Filipino.
 

Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4404 on: September 11, 2020, 04:53:48 AM »
Galen just wrote me to say that Russ Calame had told Galen that Flo was half-Filipino, and Russ had actually met Flo for the interview. Somewhere in the southwest, which adds to the story because Flo was flying for Frontier where Byron Brown interviewed her in Hawaii.

I still think Byron got played. The details from Coffelt - that Flo supposedly confirmed - seem so outlandish, ie: DBC almost missed the flight because he was waiting for a Brink's armored truck to pull up to 305 and deliver 2 million in Bank Notes - that was Plan A. the $200K was Plan B. Flo had to come into the terminal and bring DBC on to the plane!
 

Offline grapesofwrath

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4405 on: September 11, 2020, 07:32:41 AM »
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Of course I can’t find this anywhere, but I remember reading something about Flo’s mom being Filipino.

Her mother's obituary is online and public. Flo was definitely half-Filipino.
 
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Offline fcastle866

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4406 on: September 11, 2020, 09:53:11 AM »
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Of course I can’t find this anywhere, but I remember reading something about Flo’s mom being Filipino.

Her mother's obituary is online and public. Flo was definitely half-Filipino.

I concur.  I researched Flo a while back and found her info back in Arkansas and on Ancestry.  I would like to have contacted her, but given her experience, I have chosen not to.
 

Offline grapesofwrath

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4407 on: September 11, 2020, 11:57:49 AM »
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Of course I can’t find this anywhere, but I remember reading something about Flo’s mom being Filipino.

Her mother's obituary is online and public. Flo was definitely half-Filipino.

I concur.  I researched Flo a while back and found her info back in Arkansas and on Ancestry.  I would like to have contacted her, but given her experience, I have chosen not to.


I agree. Her information is public, but she's been through enough.

Additionally, she's given more than enough information about what she saw, did etc. Getting Tina to discuss the case will be the ultimate challenge.
 
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Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4408 on: September 11, 2020, 08:13:27 PM »
Thanks y'all. The Coffelt story has gotten me interested in Flo in a new way. I agree, the public records indicate that Flo's mother, Naty, was Filipino.

I've been re-reading GG's interviews with Flo. Very interesting stuff. The question I have right now is: Did Byron H. Brown really interview Flo, or an imposter hired by Coffelt to build his con?

Did Flo really fly for Frontier? Did she really live in Hawaii? Any help on this would be appreciated.

Also, if anyone can find Byron H Brown, that would also be greatly appreciated.
 

Offline Shutter

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #4409 on: September 11, 2020, 08:19:07 PM »
Quote
Getting Tina to discuss the case will be the ultimate challenge.

She holds so much information that could clear a lot of things up..discounting suspects, things Cooper did. she probably knows things she never said to the FBI for all we know...