Or Braden confessed to the hijacking and hoped to get reduced sentence by pinning the hijacking on someone else.
He had the money as "proof"
The FBI investigated and discovered he was lying.
but they had the bills and didn't know what to do with them since it opened a can of worms. They suspected Braden but couldn't prove it and didn't want to try him and potentially have him get off even though they had bills.

The FBI manager just said "Make it go away"
So some FBI agents went out one night to Tena Bar, smoked some joints, and buried the bills.

I've pulled every string I have with my Federal Court connections to see what he was in prison for and can't find it.

that's interesting. I was thinking the case should be in some online case or conviction record
do you have access to normal lawyer records search?
And you couldn't find it?

So like Cooper the mystery endures?  Both of these psycho' make the real DB Cooper look like a choir boy anyway.  Cooper was never a violent criminal I do not believe, unlike these Zodiac suspects.  Colbert does not seem like he is stupid to me.  But I do not know the details as you do. The guy he believes it is did have the wrinkles that fit the eye description and fits the eye witness testimony a bit.  Its too bad that in both of these cases its likely they are chasing a dead man.  I now really doubt Cooper is still alive.  And I think we are certain the Zodiac is dead.

You're right, Colbert is not stupid. He knows exactly what he is doing.

I don't think the wrinkles were ever part of any eyewitness description in regards to Zodiac. Chaucer can correct me if I'm mistaken.

I didn't explicitly all out the specific hijacking possibliity. I mentioned it, but sort of in passing
I wanted it to sound like I was more interested in the truck insurance fraud and the prison sentence (federal)

I used the FBI FOIA online request portal
I had to include some kind of proof of death. You can FOIA as third party if proof of death or >100 years old

I used a reference to the Social Security death index. Hopefully my screen shot was enough

here's what I wrote. I also said I'd pay extra over and above the "free" hours allotment they have.

Deceased Individual
Prefix
Mr.
First Name
Ted
Middle Name
Burdette
Last Name
Braden
Suffix
Jr.
ARN
SSN
366-32-4946
FBI Number
Date of Birth
1928/09/24
Place of Birth
Ohio, USA
Date of Death
2007/06/21
Additional Information
last residence" Stroudsburg, Monroe County, Pennsylvania

Joined US Army Jan 28, 1944 (gave incorrect age, only 16)
March 3rd, 1958 reenlisted in US Army
1960s deployed in Vietnam, Special Forces.

Married Rosalind Lauer in the late 1940s
April 1958 married Francis Patricia "Pat" Blizzard in Greenville,
Pennsylvania
April 1969 Divorced Pat Braden in Hardee County,Florida
August 1970 Married Catherine "Pauline" Pottios, Atlantic City, NJ

June 6, 1980 taken into federal custody in Massachusetts on theft charges
Mar. 3, 1982 Arrested in Ohio driving stolen car
Sept 4, 1990 Released from Loretto Federal Correctional Institution in
Lorretto, Pennysylvania
inmate number 26835-079. Unclear what the conviction was.

Feb 20, 2002 Arrested for DUI by Pocono Mountain Regional Police Dept.
Pennsylvania
Dec 17, 2002 Monroe County Pennsylvania probation, then parole
June 1, 2007 died in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania

Appears to have been investigated by FBI in early 1970's with respect to a
trucking insurance fraud case.

May have been investigated as suspect in U.S airplane hijacking.

Eye color: light gray or hazel
Supporting documentation
Screenshot from 2023-05-26 11-16-18.png

I filed my very first FBI FOIA on Braden.
curious to see how the process works.

supposedly by law I'm supposed to get at least the first response within 20-30 days?

This is what I sent them and what they responded with in March (next post)