The leader of the private investigative team who has spent years trying to crack the D.B. Cooper hijacking case claimed Thursday he believes the mysterious criminal was a CIA operative whose identity has been covered up by federal agents.
Thomas Colbert, a documentary filmmaker who helped put together the 40-member team, told the Seattle PI his team made the connection from work a code breaker uncovered in each of the five letters allegedly sent by Cooper.
Last month, he insisted in an interview with the PI that a nine-digit number found at the bottom of a letter believed to be sent by the mysterious plane hijacker came from a San Diego man who is still alive — Robert Rackstraw, an Army veteran.
“The new decryptions include a dare to agents, directives to apparent partners, and a startling claim that is followed by Rackstraw’s own initials: If captured, he expects a get-out-of-jail card from a federal spy agency,” Colbert said in a news release Thursday.