page_title: D. B. Cooper
section_title: Walter R. Reca
hierarchical_section_title: D. B. Cooper / Suspects / Walter R. Reca
caption_attribution_description: English: Walter R. Reca
context_page_description: Dan Cooper is the pseudonym of an unidentified man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft in the airspace between Portland and Seattle on the afternoon of November 24, 1971. The man purchased his airline ticket using the alias Dan Cooper but, because of a news miscommunication, became known in popular lore as D. B. Cooper. He extorted $200,000 in ransom and parachuted to an uncertain fate. Despite an extensive manhunt and protracted FBI investigation, the perpetrator has never been located or identified. It remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history.
  Many FBI agents are of the opinion that Cooper probably did not survive his high-risk jump, but his remains have never been recovered. The FBI maintained an active investigation for 45 years after the hijacking. Despite a case file that has grown to over 60 volumes over that period, no definitive conclusions have been reached regarding Cooper's true identity or whereabouts. Numerous theories of widely varying plausibility have been proposed over the years by investigators, reporters, and amateur enthusiasts.
context_section_description: Walter R. Reca (1933–2014) (born Walter R. Peca) was a Michigan native, a military veteran and original member of the Michigan Parachute Team. He was proposed as a suspect by his friend Carl Laurin, a former commercial airline pilot and expert parachuter himself, at a press conference on May 17, 2018. In 2008, Reca confessed to being D.B. Cooper to Laurin via a recorded phone call. In July 2018, Principia Media released a four-part documentary detailing their investigation.
  Reca gave Laurin permission in a notarized letter to share his story after he died in 2014, aged 80. He also allowed Laurin to tape their phone conversations about the crime over a six-week period in late 2008. In the over three hours of recordings, Reca gave new details about the hijacking that the public had not heard before. He also confessed to his niece, Lisa Story. Using his years of training to determine the location of the jump, Laurin concluded that D.B. Cooper landed near Cle Elum, Washington.
  According to written testimony, Jeff Osiadacz, a Cle Elum, Washington native, was driving his dump truck near Cle Elum the night of November 24, 1971, when he saw a man walking down the side of the road in the inclement weather. He assumed the man's car had broken down and was walking to get assistance. He did not have room in his truck to pick him up, and continued toward his destination, the Teanaway Junction Café just outside Cle Elum. After ordering coffee, the man from the side of the road also entered the café looking like a "drowned rat", according to Osiadacz. The man sat next to him and asked if he would be able to give his friend directions if he called him on the phone. Osiadacz agreed to this and spoke with the man's friend, giving him directions to the café. Shortly after that, Osiadacz left for the Grange Hall to play in a band. The man offered to pay for his coffee, and the two amicably parted.
  Laurin began his search for the witness, after Reca described the landscape he saw while on his way to the drop zone: two bridges, some distinct lights; and his description of the exterior and interior of the café, as well as his encounter with Osiadacz. He described Osiadacz in detail, recalling that he was wearing western gear and had a guitar case. He dubbed him "Cowboy".
  Laurin consulted a map to find these landmarks and began making phone calls about the "Cowboy who had driven a dump truck." Laurin was put in contact with Osiadacz, who recalled meeting a man that night, described what he was wearing and what he looked like, and confirmed his identity as Reca after seeing a photo Laurin sent him. In addition to the taped confession, Laurin also has a confession written by Reca and long underwear allegedly worn by Reca under his black pants during the hijacking.
  In 2016, Laurin took the information to publisher Principia Media, who consulted with Joe Koenig, a forensic linguist. He evaluated all documents, including passports, identification cards, photographs, and newspaper clippings. Koenig found no evidence of tampering or manipulation and deemed all documentation authentic and contemporaneous. After comparing Laurin's research to the available FBI records, he found no discrepancies that eliminated Reca as a suspect. He also thought it particularly significant that Osiadacz's statement of events on the night of November 24, 1971, was identical to the account that Reca made five years earlier. Koenig publicly stated at the Principia Media press conference on May 17, 2018, that he believes that Walter R. Reca was D.B. Cooper. On January 8, 2019, Koenig published a book on Cooper, titled Getting the Truth: I Am D.B. Cooper.
caption: Walter R. Reca
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