D.B. Cooper asked for four parachutes – two back (main) and two front (reserves). Currently,
the whereabouts of only two of the parachutes is known – the tan Pioneer -2 with a 26 foot
canopy that remains in the custody of the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, and
the T-7 24 foot ripstop canopy reserve chute that is in an F.B.I. evidence room, most likely in
Seattle.
After many calls, emails and discussions in mid-to-late 2023, the Museum ultimately turned
down a request to bring in a noted scientist to examine and take some harmless samples from the chute container. It remains in their research facility, although it currently is on a short-term public display.
We know Cooper extensively handled the reserve chute, oddly cutting through the knots
attaching the shroud lines, completely extricating the canopy from the container. After watching a video of an FBI exhibit of notorious crime artifacts at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, I noticed something very odd: all the items on display seemed to be from closed cases. Think: Bonnie and Clyde’s bullet-ridden auto, fragments of the building in the Oklahoma City Bombing, evidence from the Unabomber case…
And there I spotted Cooper’s plane ticket, some of the Tena Bar ransom money, and the pink
reserve canopy and its container. The tan main chute was long ago returned to its owner, and
then later acquired by the Washington State History Museum. The reserve parachute was
temporarily on display at The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. This sounds to me like the evidence in the Cooper case now belongs in a – Museum.
Stay tuned as I continue my quest to have the chutes tested for DNA! It’s a very long shot that there is anything to be found, but in a case as strange as this…anything is possible.
-Pat
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