By Bruce A. Smith
The Citizen Sleuths segment of the DB Cooper and the FBI video series is now available for viewing on YouTube. Link is below.
The Citizen Sleuths are a group of private citizens recruited by the FBI in 2009 to assist in the analysis of evidence pertaining to the DB Cooper skyjacking, the only unsolved case of its kind in the United States.
Although the FBI officially closed the case in 2016, the Citizen Sleuths and other researchers are still investigating. In particular, the Travel Channel’s host of the “Expedition Unknown” series, Josh Gates, supplied monies to the Citizen Sleuths to advance their examination of particles found on the tie left behind by DB Cooper. In the January 2017 broadcast of “Expedition Unknown,” these sleuths – in conjunction with McCrone Laboratories – revealed that over 100,000 particles have been discovered, including such rarities as pure titanium, rare earth minerals, and stainless steel.
These discoveries have energized the investigation, and researchers are now combing through the archives of specialized foundries and manufacturing plants, such as Tektronix, that supplied Boeing and its titanium-based Super Sonic Transport with oscilloscopes and monitors that would utilize these kinds of exotic materials.
Is DB Cooper a former Boeing or Tektronix employee? The Plot Thickens, eh Watkins?
This video also examines the other work the Citizen Sleuths performed on the case, such as investigating the ransom money found, and DB Cooper’s getaway flight path.
So watch this video and join in the Hunt for DB Cooper!
The Mountain News - WA 
You have a lot to say about this case, Bruce, and you present in a friendly manner. “Georger” should take some lessons from you regarding the art of being polite. Georger’s problem is that his internet personality is repulsive. You are a much, much nicer person.
Editor’s Note: This comment has been modified by the request of the individual mentioned. “Georger” is the Internet screen name of a well-known and widely respected DB Cooper researcher.
Thank you, Galen. I appreciate your kind words.
Bruce I know you are a smart man. James Klansnic looks just like the sketches, was a hydraulic engineer for the Boeing 727’s. The aft stairs and flight controls ran off of Hydraulics. He had been shot down and captured for 13 months by the Nazis, he was fluent in German so he could have actually read the Dan Cooper comics. He was stationed at McChord so he knew exactly how far it was to Seatac. James Klansnic was DB Cooper and I believe it was a CIA job. We over complicate everything. Some people would rather have a Hollywood movie about Cooper, than have the actual truth. James Klansnic was the only one smart enough to have pulled this off. He’d been through worse situations so it didn’t phase him.
The Dan Cooper comics were not German. They were French, from a Franco-Belgian publisher. There is also no certainty Cooper took his name from those comics; only the parachuting aspect makes the coincidence significant. Dan Cooper also appeared as a name in at least 2 TV series episodes in early 1971 (Cannon – which also had a story about someone stealing and hiding a piece of evidence, a parachute – and Sarge) and is a common name overall. There are hundreds of Dan Coopers on Facebook, for example. He could have pulled the name out of a hat – Mike Evans. Jack Robertson. Bill Thomas. Easy names to come up with, and as nondescript as Cooper himself.
As the composite sketches may not even look much like Cooper, and MOST of the named suspects look like one or more of the sketches, a mere physical resemblance is far from enough. There is a woman who believes her father, who disappeared in 1971 and had a shady past, which included counterfeiting, was Cooper, and he looks as much like the sketches as any other suspect, more than some. Several suspects also had ties to McChord and/or Cossey and/or local DZs, but anyone living in the area for any length of time would have had a pretty good idea where the AFB was.
And while Klansnic MAY have been smart enough to pull it off – well, one suspect, an expert skydiver, worked for Boeing, was a teacher and journalist, and another held a variety of military and teaching jobs as well as show-running his own radio programme. So Klansnic hardly has the lock on brains and was one of tens of thousands of people laid off by Boeing during that era. Several suspects had likewise been in dangerous situations that didn’t faze them – one was in Iwo Jima, several in Vietnam, at least two were pro criminals, at least 2 compulsive gamblers, and one had a freaking sex change after a military stint. None of the suspects lacked guts (or imagination, for that matter).
Also, thousands, possibly millions of men had thin black ties – unless you have a photo that includes the clip, Klansnic’s possession of such a tie really proves nothing. (Even the clip was a fairly common clip, though.)
As far as believing it was a CIA job – well, some people would consider THAT theory over-complicated. It’s possible. But so is damn near anything. Opinion and hyperbole are not proof.
Punched a few holes in the Norman DeWinter theory. The Disneyland Trip was actually in November.
you are not seriously suggesting the website or paper that types the word NOVEMBER really authenticates the picture being taken in November? even so…when in November? i guess if you take a trip on November 1st and have an airplane you cant make it to portland by nov 23 lol
I don’t follow, Kathleen. Please explain.
Oh, I guess that you are referring to Derek’s posting of pix taken in Disneyland. YES, Derek’s confirmations are thin.