D.B. Cooper: New book details Michigan man's confession

A new D.B. Cooper theory has emerged. This time, a Michigan man confessed to the crime in recorded conversations with his best friend over 14 years. Naturally, the theory is revealed in detail in a new book for sale.
Seattle P-I file

(L to R) Captain William Scott; First officer/copilot Robert Rataczak; flight attendant Tina Mucklow; and second officer Harold Anderson are shown here at a news conference in Reno, Nevada, after the arrival of Flight 305 to Reno International Airport. Two other members of the flight crew not pictured - Senior flight attendant Alice Hancock and flight attendant Florence Schaffner - had been released along with the 36 passengers earlier in Seattle. Photo date: November 25, 1971.Seattlepi.com photo/Courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society

This digital photograph shows a two-piece orange and green flight suit and helmet from an F-106 aircrewman of the 318 FIS, McChord AFB, ca. 1971. Two F-106 "Delta Dart" aircraft pilots from the 318 FIS at McChord Air Force Base followed Flight 305 from Seattle after it left for Mexico City. Neither pursuit aircraft observed Cooper making his skydiving escape via parachute from Boeing 727 aircraft.McChord Air Museum Foundation/Courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society

FBI Agent Dick Dyer of Vancouver, Wash., left, and Sheriff Gene Cotton of Clark County examine a pair of pants found in a tree about 25 feet off the ground in southwest Washington. The pants were thought to have belongd to D.B. Cooper, the only successful parachute skyjacker. The pants, photographed here Nov. 25, 1976, were not Cooper's. The hijacker has never been found. (The Associated Press/provided by seattlepi.com file)P-I File

The artifact shown is a military-style, backpack type parachute with a �quick fit� harness, manufactured by the Pioneer Parachute Company, Inc., in 1957. This was one of four parachutes provided to Northwest Orient Airlines, as part of the ransom demands made by Dan Cooper, AKA �DB Cooper,� during his hijacking of Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 on November 24, 1971. All four parachutes were loaded aboard the Boeing 727 commercial aircraft at Seattle Tacoma International Airport, along with $200,000 in ransom money. The parachute was obtained for the Washington State Historical Society�s permanent collection in 2013, for display as part of the exhibition COOPER at the Washington State History Museum, in Tacoma, WA, from August 24, 2013 through January 5, 2014.Pioneer Parachute Company, Inc./Courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society

Digital photograph of a metal identification panel, for a Boeing 727-051 aircraft identified as manufacturers serial number 18803. View of panel taken at an angle.This aircraft was the Boeing 727 aircraft used by Northwest Orient Airlines as flight 305, on the day of the DB Cooper hijacking on November 24, 1971. The aircraft was first delivered on April 22, 1965 and registered as N467US with the FAA. Plate is oblong with four holes in the corners for mounting. The plate was removed from the aircraft at the time it was scrapped in 1993.Photo by Tom Collins of Renton, Wash./Courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society

Digital photograph showing group of federal agents, representatives from Northwest Orient Airlines, and military personnel from McChord AFB in group photograph at rear of the Boeing 727 aircraft hijacked by DB Cooper. Orginal photo taken at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, on January 6, 1972. On this date, a flight test originated from the airfield to recreate the jump from a 727 in flight made by Dan Cooper, aka DB Cooper, on Nov. 24, 1971.FBI Special Agent John Detlor/Courtesy of the Washington State Historical Society

Ever since that fateful flight from Portland to Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971, people have been trying to track down D.B. Cooper.

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And as hard as people have been trying to track him, so, too, have people been trying to prove they were him.

The latest in the latter pursuits was announced by a Michigan publishing firm Thursday; a Michigan man -- now dead -- had confessed the crime to his best friend over the course of 14 years.

Detailed in the newly published book, "D.B. Cooper & Me: A Criminal, A Spy, My Best Friend," a former military paratrooper and "intelligence operative" named Walter R. Reca told his friend Carl Laurin in multiple recorded conversations that he had, in fact, pulled off the heist and gotten away with all the money.

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The case is the only unsolved case of air piracy in U.S. history. It began Nov. 24, 1971, when a man calling himself Dan Cooper bought a one-way ticket from Portland to Seattle on Northwest Orient Airlines. Aboard the Boeing 727, he handed a note to the flight attendant saying he had a bomb and that he wanted $200,000 and four parachutes, as well as a refueling truck when the plane reached Seattle.

Once there, he exchanged the passengers for the money and ordered the pilots to take off again with a flight plan for Mexico. Somewhere over southwest Washington state, the man lowered the rear stair door of the 727 and jumped out. He was never seen again.

The only verified evidence ever found was a small cache of $20 bills discovered along the Columbia River in 1980. They carried serial numbers that matched some of the money given to Cooper.

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In 2016, the FBI announced it would stop actively investigating the case, but would take action on any physical evidence of the either the parachute or the money.

Principia Media, which published the book, held a news conference on Thursday to announced the book and the "true" identity of Cooper. The announcement sent out Wednesday detailed other evidence of Reca's guilt:

• Correct flight path and landing zone identified
•Witness testimony from an individual who spoke with Reca within an hour of his jump
•Documentation concerning how the $200,000 ransom was spent
•Confessions from Reca to two individuals at two different times
•An article of clothing Reca wore during the jump

A team of private investigators dug into the theory and the case was reviewed by a certified fraud examiner before the firm published the book, the company said in its release.

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Another team of investigators, however, has its own theory about Cooper.

That 40-member team, headed by Los Angeles author and filmmaker Thomas Colbert and his wife Dawna, last year and earlier this year presented what Colbert believed is physical evidence from Cooper's parachute to the FBI. Colbert's seven-year investigation has led him to believe a San Diego man named Robert Rackstraw is the real hijacker.

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Rackstraw was investigated by the FBI and then dismissed as a suspect in the 1970s. At one point last year, he refused to deny the heist in a brief phone call with SeattlePI, but said the reporter should verify Colbert's case.

In February, Colbert announced that his team had determined that Rackstraw was likely a black ops CIA operative and the government had actively worked to cover up his identity. Colbert has also said the FBI worked to cover up the case. The FBI has only repeated its statement that is is no longer actively pursuing the Cooper case, but will consider any physical evidence of either the parachute or the money.

Senior editor Daniel DeMay covers Seattle culture, city hall, and transportation for seattlepi.com. He can be reached at 206-448-8362 or danieldemay@seattlepi.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Daniel_DeMay.