By Bruce A. Smith

The 2018 DB Cooper Conference is now confirmed, organizer Eric Ulis announced today on the DB Cooper Forum. Ulis said that the event will be held at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club, a site near where the skyjacking started – Portland International Airport.

The gathering was originally scheduled to be held at the Portland Yacht Club, but after the PYC received legal threats last week from Robert M. Blevins they opted to rescind their invitation. This occurred despite the widespread view that Blevins’ charge of potential “slanderous” material being presented against him and his suspect Kenny Christiansen were spurious.

Although Blevins may still seek to thwart the conference, his public behavior this week is markedly subdued as multiple private investigations have discovered numerous instances of troubling and damaging behavior on the part of Mr. Blevins. The Mountain News has found and confirmed that Blevins was convicted on a firearms felony charge in 2008 and a found guilty on a second crime of 2^nd degree theft in 1997.

In addition, an extensive search of Hollywood and global film distributors and producers has not found the production company with whom Blevins has claimed he has a film deal. Hence, it is believed that at best, Blevins, the author of “Into the Blast – The True Story of DB Cooper,” has sold his film rights to a cinema company under an “option” agreement, but that no movie on Kenny Christiansen is being planned in earnest at this time.

As for the Conference, Ulis also announced today that the conference will be free, but seating will be limited to 200 attendees. The full panel of speakers is still being developed, Ulis said, but current confirmed presenters and topics will include:

1. Tom Kaye, leader of the Citizen Sleuths, will be presenting his most recent information on the 100,000 rare earth minerals and chemicals retrieved from the tie DB Cooper left on his plane in 1971.
2. Mark Metzler will re-visit his 2011 analysis of the parachute DB Cooper most likely used in his getaway, and provide recent updates on the types of parachutes offered to Cooper.
3. Bruce A. Smith will discuss the overall investigation of the Cooper case by the FBI, including their closing of the case in 2016. He will also illuminate the contributions of private citizens, Internet chat rooms, and independent sleuths to the Cooper investigation.
4. An analysis of the DNA samples discovered on the tie, and a discussion of the current capacities of genetic testing.
5. Verne Jones of Principia Publishing is expected to offer his analysis of Walter Reca as a suspect in the case.
6. The FBI’s top suspect, Sheridan Peterson, will be examined in depth by Eric Ulis, including the recent finding that Peterson had a secret, numbered bank account in Singapore and possibly Switzerland in 1971, despite his alibi of living an impoverished existence in Nepal.