Author Topic: Suspects And Confessions  (Read 1293134 times)

Offline JAG

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5070 on: July 27, 2022, 10:15:44 PM »
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I see a lot of similarities with Braden there and with the Flo sketch as well. Very jowely (is that even a word?)



Not bad, particularly with Dr. Edwards picture. I really don't know what to make of Flo's composite, it would have been great to get Bill Mitchell's or Tina's opinion on it.  It's a meaner and seedier interpretation than the Bing and Cary composites and I believe one of the flight attendants (maybe Tina) said that Cooper was not mean looking, to me it looks more like Weber than any other of the known suspects.   

Braden does have a lot going for him as a suspect.  But also a couple big things against him such as:

- Height, I believe he was about ~5'8".
- Eye Color, seems blueish grey.
- No protruding lower lip which was mentioned by the witnesses.
« Last Edit: July 27, 2022, 10:19:57 PM by JAG »
 
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Offline Olemisscub

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5071 on: July 27, 2022, 11:35:29 PM »
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Braden does have a lot going for him as a suspect.  But also a couple big things against him such as:

- Height, I believe he was about ~5'8".
- Eye Color, seems blueish grey.
- No protruding lower lip which was mentioned by the witnesses.

No doubt, Braden has some tough things to overcome. However, regardless of those physical disparities, if I had a gun to my head and the "Cooper Gods" came down and said that Coop was indeed a name that we know and if I don't guess correctly I'm a dead man, I'm probably going with Braden.

I was a prosecutor for many years, and now do defense work. I've prosecuted murders, rapes, kidnappings, you name it. If there's one thing I've learned it's that eyewitness testimony is as flawed as the day is long. I had a married couple one time who were held hostage while a perp burglarized their home for two hours. They not only failed to identify him in a photo lineup, they picked the wrong guy! Another common thing I experienced was exaggeration of size, both with people and with objects. When people have a knife or gun pulled on them they imagine it to be bigger than it is. Same goes when they are being assaulted. Part of being a victim is helplessness and inferiority, so your brain tends to exaggerate what is causing your distress. Cooper wasn't assaulting Flo and Tina, but they were certainly intimidated by him. In hindsight we likely know that the bomb wasn't real, but they sure as hell didn't know that. They didn't wake up that morning thinking they were going to spend every minute in a 3-5 hour window thinking it could be their last. That messes with your perception of events. Consider how in the 302's we see how the FBI kept going back to Mitchell and even Gregory multiple times for input on suspects and sketches. Their memories weren't distorted by fear. It might not also be a coincidence that they both put Cooper at 5'9 (Gregory) or 5'9-5'10 (Mitchell) and with Mitchell saying he was "way bigger" than Cooper and Gregory describing Cooper as "slight". Here's another thing to consider: if someone is standing right in front of you do you know the difference in 5'9 and 5'10? Are you certain? What about 5'10 or 5'11? Something else to consider when we are talking about Coop's height:

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Quote
Skinny neckties are characterized by a narrow design. They are essentially “skinnier” than other types of neckties. And because of their narrow design, they’ll create the perception of a taller height when worn.

Back when I was prosecuting, if I had a guy who fit the profile to a freaking T in every single way to a crime, but he was 5'8 in his bare feet (Braden's height comes from his military charts where they measure in barefeet) and a victim went as low as 5'10 in her estimation, there is no way in hell I'm letting that dude walk. Same goes for an eye color discrepancy. Braden's eye color was hazel, which means they can appear green in some light and light brown in other light. And again, I'm not eliminating a guy as a suspect solely on the memory of one terrified victim who very briefly saw someone's eyes. Heck, Flo may as well have been looking into the eyes of Satan at that point; a guy telling her he had a bomb.

With Braden you've just got mountains upon mountains of circumstantial evidence that no other named Coop suspect even comes close to having except for Sheridan (the main difference to me being that Sheridan was a good human and Braden was an awful human.)

no alibi - dude was an enigma, whereabouts unknown at the time except for the fact that he was trucking for a company headquartered in Vancouver, Washington
ability - perhaps the best, or one of the best, military skydivers alive at that point.
brains - scored a 150 on the military's GA test, which is near genius level. Definitely smart enough to devise this caper
attitude - was as cool as a cucumber under fire. a daredevil. reportedly had a deathwish.
skin tone - photo from the winter before shows him looking tan and leathery as all get out. years of outdoor military service did a number on his skin
morals - was a giant jerk. a criminal. throughout the 70's and 80's continued to devise criminal schemes with potential payouts in the hundreds of thousands.
knowledge - absolutely would have had the knowledge about jumping from 727's. It's possible he may have already done it with the MACV-SOGS.
accent - was from Ohio
grudge - forced to leave the Army, CIA barred him from going overseas to serve as a mercenary. Rambo forced to drive a truck for a living essentially.
survivability - the man did HALO jumps into Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Do we really think he'd have been unable to handle himself in the outskirts of Portland? If Braden did it he probably thought the whole thing was fun. It got his blood pumping again.

So you've got this skydiving savant, is perhaps in the area, with a criminal mind, is a jerk who lacks empathy for other people, is a daredevil and not afraid of dying, is as cool as it gets under pressure, with knowledge this can be done, is pissed off, with a history of subsequent high dollar schemes, oh and he's 43 years old at the time and doesn't look too dissimilar to the sketches.

Put some shoes on ole Teddy and he can get ya to looking like 5'10 with a skinny tie and scaring the hell out of a 22 year old lady.

Ted is one hell of a suspect and honestly, I've personally seen far too many victims throughout my career completely botch the descriptions that they gave to police for me to rule him out simply because he's a few inches too short than what a couple of terrified victims remember.
 
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Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5072 on: July 28, 2022, 11:24:26 AM »
Compelling argument, Cubby but we need more. Please keep digging. Can you resolve the conundrum presented by the Army crew - Hank Birsch, Tom Smith, etc. - that put Teddy back in Nam during the early 1970s?
 

Offline Olemisscub

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5073 on: July 28, 2022, 04:45:34 PM »
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Compelling argument, Cubby but we need more. Please keep digging. Can you resolve the conundrum presented by the Army crew - Hank Birsch, Tom Smith, etc. - that put Teddy back in Nam during the early 1970s?

I'd trust the word of the guy you spoke to (Al Tyre) who said he saw Ted with his own eyes in a truck stop in Kentucky in 1973 over hearsay about Ted being in Nam in 73. But maybe that's just the trial lawyer in me. Plus that seems to fit more in line with what Ted's wife said about Ted being arrested for his $250,000 trucking scam at some point in the early 70's.

I guess it also depends upon where you come down on believing in government conspiracies and the like. Having worked as a federal and state prosecutor and thus having worked with actual G-men, I'm not a believer in their ability to pull off too many conspiracies successfully. They're just a bunch of dudes working a job like everyone else.

I don't believe in any conspiracy that Ted was possibly "untouchable" because he knew where the bodies were buried (perhaps in the 60's when he was still in the service he got special treatment due to that), but I do think he may seem untouchable to us looking back at him potentially getting away with the Cooper heist and also getting away with his trucking scam because both times he was clever enough to not leave enough indictable evidence. Sometimes as prosecutors we know a guy more than likely did it but there just isn't any actual evidence to secure a conviction so we don't even try.
 
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Offline Bruce A. Smith

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5074 on: July 28, 2022, 05:22:26 PM »
I agree. Conspiracies are hard work, and not too many people can pull them off. But the winds of the Vortex blow strong when Ted Braden's name is mentioned, so....
« Last Edit: July 28, 2022, 05:22:48 PM by Bruce A. Smith »
 

Offline Olemisscub

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5075 on: July 28, 2022, 05:50:51 PM »
It seems to me that the biggest gap in Cooper research is the Indian connection. Those are very isolated communities and certainly would have been loathe to call in tips to the FBI or to report a missing loved one. This is literally right smack in the middle of the American Indian Movement. The 18 month occupation of Alcatraz had just ended in June 71. The occupation of Mount Rushmore was also in June of 71. You've got both Mitchell and Gregory independently claiming he looks Mexican or Indian. We've even got Mitchell cutting out pics from National Geographic and sending them into the FBI:

 

When you search the 302's for "Indian" pretty much all you get is repeats of Gregory and Mitchell's descriptions. The FBI didn't seem to do any actual work into investigating the Yakama reservation, which they have full jurisdiction over.

Maybe Cooper wasn't a full blood Native-American off the reservation but was maybe half-blood and wanted to do something for the cause or whatever. Just seems like something that is rarely brought up and is a significant gap in Cooper research.
 

Offline WalterRaleigh

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5076 on: July 30, 2022, 08:47:24 PM »
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just came across this 302 that is almost certainly about Braden. I filled in the redacted spaces for Braden and everything fit, including his unit in the 50's.

See attached.

By my math, if this memo was dictated in December of 1981, which puts the suspect at a then present age of 47, that would mean the suspect would have been 37 years old at the time of the hijacking, which seems a bit young.  Braden would have been approximately 53 at the time of this memo (born in 1928) and approximately 43 at the time of the hijacking.  Any thoughts on the age discrepancies?   
 

Offline Olemisscub

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5077 on: July 30, 2022, 08:51:11 PM »
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just came across this 302 that is almost certainly about Braden. I filled in the redacted spaces for Braden and everything fit, including his unit in the 50's.

See attached.

By my math, if this memo was dictated in December of 1981, which puts the suspect at a then present age of 47, that would mean the suspect would have been 37 years old at the time of the hijacking, which seems a bit young.  Braden would have been approximately 53 at the time of this memo (born in 1928) and approximately 43 at the time of the hijacking.  Any thoughts on the age discrepancies?

Yeah for some reason I thought he was saying 47 at the time of the hijacking. I jacked this one all up. Thus why i deleted it.
 
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Offline WalterRaleigh

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5078 on: July 30, 2022, 10:54:13 PM »
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just came across this 302 that is almost certainly about Braden. I filled in the redacted spaces for Braden and everything fit, including his unit in the 50's.

See attached.

By my math, if this memo was dictated in December of 1981, which puts the suspect at a then present age of 47, that would mean the suspect would have been 37 years old at the time of the hijacking, which seems a bit young.  Braden would have been approximately 53 at the time of this memo (born in 1928) and approximately 43 at the time of the hijacking.  Any thoughts on the age discrepancies?

Yeah for some reason I thought he was saying 47 at the time of the hijacking. I jacked this one all up. Thus why i deleted it.

It's all good.  I think this forum is always a good place for discussion, throwing out and testing various ideas/theories, etc.
 

Offline DBfan57

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5079 on: August 06, 2022, 07:42:29 AM »
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Just a reminder that the real Cooper almost certainly isn't going to be a dead-ringer for any of the sketches.  8)



Excellant point and good work putting these up.  I have to go back and see if the Uni bomber is on there?  Ted K.  If the other guy reads this, is there any news on the Zodiac?  The stewardess's in the Cooper case of course only one saw him, Flo, without the glass's.  Too bad Tina did not see him instead.  I consider her the more reliable witness.  I doubt we ever get absolute resolution in this case.  Its going down with Jack The Ripper.  And no certainty that he is even one of the suspects.  If he is, my money is still on Richard. No way does a guy that did what he did toss out $6 grand minimum on purpose. He lost that money during the jump.  And he survived the jump.  No red bomb sticks, no brief case, none of the tougher items to hide during a fall that went bad were ever found. 
 

Offline Chaucer

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5080 on: August 06, 2022, 09:41:02 PM »
A lot more chatter in the Vortex than in the Zodiac community.
“Completely unhinged”
 

Offline DBfan57

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5081 on: August 07, 2022, 08:08:52 AM »
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A lot more chatter in the Vortex than in the Zodiac community.
So do you think the Zodiac is solvable?  Also, re above sketch's, the unibomber is not in there.  That one was not very good either. Ted K. 
 

Offline DBfan57

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5082 on: August 07, 2022, 08:23:21 AM »
Just to say something about the special on Netflix, it was given some harsh reviews on YouTube, various Tubers that said it brought nothing to the table that we did not know already.   To me, its pretty sad that Tom Colbert spent as much as Cooper stole to try and catch him.  And if you believe eye witness testimony, as some here have to try and blow Richard McCoy out of the water, Rackstraw was so obviously too young to fit the description.  I think its easier to dismiss Rackstraw than McCoy.   And Rackstraw, later in life sure seemed to be another "Cooper wanna be".  He would not give Colbert a blazing no response.  And that also likely played into Colbert and some of his disciples buying into Rackstraw so much.  One guy, the one with the white hair jumped ship and then they have not talked since.  Incredible that its so personal.  For Gods sake, neither of you guys have solid proof either way.  The sketch to me match's Sheridan the most, but it also match's McCoy and I believe its Weber?  Sure, it may be none of them. Not sure if we ever know?   Right now I'd say no way.  But things could change if and only if new evidence is found.  The money or the briefcase with the money would be good.  If the real DB Cooper is not one of the many suspects, and my some miracle is still alive, he could reveal the secret on his own death bed I suppose.  Highly unlikely though.
 

Offline Chaucer

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5083 on: August 07, 2022, 12:26:31 PM »
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A lot more chatter in the Vortex than in the Zodiac community.
So do you think the Zodiac is solvable?  Also, re above sketch's, the unibomber is not in there.  That one was not very good either. Ted K.
I do believe that the Zodiac is solvable due to more physical evidence. I’ll say this:  I think the lack of chatter in the Zodiac case is due to a calm before the storm on the part of law enforcement rather than a cold case getting colder.
“Completely unhinged”
 

Offline Parrotheadvol

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Re: Suspects And Confessions
« Reply #5084 on: August 07, 2022, 01:25:18 PM »
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A lot more chatter in the Vortex than in the Zodiac community.
So do you think the Zodiac is solvable?  Also, re above sketch's, the unibomber is not in there.  That one was not very good either. Ted K.
I do believe that the Zodiac is solvable due to more physical evidence. I’ll say this:  I think the lack of chatter in the Zodiac case is due to a calm before the storm on the part of law enforcement rather than a cold case getting colder.

I hope you are right. Too many families that deserve answers, and closure.