This is the first part of a two-part interview with Robert Blevins by Scott Butki. Part two will be in about a month and will focus on the reaction by the media and others to the book's release and contents.
I offered to do an interview with Robert to help promote this book he co-authored for two reasons: I have always found this to be an interesting case and I like to help out others newsvine with their published works.
Why did you decide to write a book about this case?
In June of 2009, Skipp Porteous, the head of Sherlock Investigations in New York City, contacted me saying he was planning to write a book on the D.B. Cooper case. When I asked him why he picked AB of Seattle, he said it was because he had read somewhere I was from Sumner, Washington - the same little town where Kenny Christiansen lived at the time of the hijacking. At first, I wasn't all that interested because I knew nothing about his suspect. However, he mailed me a big package of files and photographs and asked me take a look. After I did, I realized he might be on to something. He had more circumstantial evidence pointing to Christiansen as the skyjacker than anyone else previously. At that point, I was only planning to publish the book. Later, as I started investigating the local leads he provided, I found out so much new evidence that we decided to go as co-authors on the book.
Why do you think this case has taken on such a mythos?
Here in the Northwest, D.B. Cooper has not been forgotten. They still have a D.B. Cooper look-alike contest every year in Arial, Washington, the town closest to where he probably jumped from the 727. He's the guy who single-handedly outwitted both the F.B.I. and Northwest Airlines. Stewardess Tina Mucklow said he was very polite the whole time, and even offered her three bundles of the ransom money, which she refused of course. No one got hurt in the hijacking, either...which I think adds to his popularity. The idea that someone would just leap out the back of a jet and walk away with $200,000, never to be seen again, has a certain popular appeal. Plus, some of the things he said while they were circling Seattle led people to believe he was a local.
Do you think it will ever be solved?
If I were a betting man, I would bet that Kenny Christiansen was the guy. But I can't say 100% for certain it was him. I would say 90-95%. The evidence against him is almost overwhelming. Not 100%, but he would have much trouble explaining a few things to a jury if he were put on trial. After interviewing all the witnesses, and seeing all the evidence - some of which I discovered on my own - I have to believe it was Christiansen. There are too many coincidences, too many people who lied to me to protect themselves from involvement, and too many people who volunteered information freely, especially the witness known in the book as 'Dawn J' from Fox Island. There were many others. Some of them are not in the book, but we have their testimony both on voice recorder and in notes.
What new information is in your book that those familiar with the case may not know about?
It's a big list, but here are the main points: We know Christiansen was making less than $600 a month at the time of the hijacking, and living in a sleazy apartment in Sumner, Washington. Nevertheless, within eight months after the crime, he paid $16,500 in cash for a house and an adjoining lot in nearby Bonney Lake. He lent his best friend's sister another $5,000 in cash at the same time. After he moved to Bonney Lake, his neighbors testified he hardly ever worked again, and yet he always seemed to have plenty of money. He had nothing in the bank and nothing in savings, and he had no rich relatives. He started picking up the tab in restaurants and buying expensive gifts. He got a Post Office box back down in Sumner and started buying gold coins and proof sheet stamps, having them delivered to the box. After he died in 1994, his family found them. The value of the collections was several hundred thousand dollars, although Social Security was Kenny's highest-paying 'job' ever.
Beyond the unexplained spending, there were other pieces of evidence. We know he saw comic books when he worked on Shemya Island that depicted a character named 'Dan Cooper' who jumped out of jets with a parachute. His best friend 'Mike Watson' bought an Airsteam trailer and a big station wagon a month before the hijacking, but didn't bring it home. He parked it on some empty property down in Oakville, WA, which is very close to where Cooper jumped. Neither he or Kenny worked the week before, or the week after Thanksgiving 1971, and both of them disappeared a few days before the crime and returned a few days after.
After Kenny died, Mike drove 400 miles up his ex-wife's house in Twisp, WA and broke in. Besides some personal papers, the only other thing he took was his tugboat log for 1971. All the other logs were intact. Even today, she has padlocks and hasps on the interior doors of the house. We think he got rid of the log because it could prove he was not at work at the time of the hijacking. It is almost certain that Mike was the one who assisted Kenny on the ground after he jumped, and after the hijacking both Mike and his wife benefited greatly from the ransom money. There were many purchases beyond their means, such as additional property, quarterhorses, draft horses, and the property in Twisp. He disposed of the Airstream trailer and the station wagon after the hijacking and refused to tell his wife why. There is much more than I can list here, which is why we had to write the book.
Can you elaborate on this dedication:"To these brave ladies a special wish from the authors:
We hope you are doing well…wherever you are."
This refers to the stewardesses on NWA Flight 305 who had the most interaction with Cooper, Florence Schaffner and Tina Mucklow. Even today, Schaffner's hands shake when she speaks about the hijacking. Tina Mucklow quit the airline after the F.B.I. finished interviewing her about the hiajacking and then she disappeared. A lot of people say she became a nun, but the truth is she lives back east and has a family. She agreed to let us send her a copy of the book, but she won't discuss the case with media. It is still upsetting to her. All of the crew thought Cooper would set the bomb to go off after he jumped, to rid himself of the witnesses. Fortunately, he did not. I have this vision of little Tina hauling those four heavy parachutes and the big bag of money to the back of the plane for Cooper. She did what he she had to do and no one was hurt. I think she was very brave.
Lastly, for now, what security precautions have you taken with this book? I'm assuming you're guarding its contents more carefully than with most of your books.
The truth is, I was worried that the F.B.I. in Seattle (the case is still active in Seattle) might get a subpoena and come to my office for all the files and research. Although we did not give the true names of the witnesses in the book, their pictures are real. They allowed that much. But we had to forward their real names to the F.B.I. after the book was finalized. I don't think they can get into trouble now. The statute of limitations ran out a long time ago, although agents will probably want to speak to them. Security was pretty simple. Only Porteous, myself, editor Geoff Nelder, Greg Page from Microsoft, and Gayla Prociv, our bookkeeper, knew what was going on. All other AB staff were kept out of the loop, to help prevent leaks. The manuscript was on two computers only, and I had the only password.
Read more from Scott Butki at his Newsvine page at http://sbutki.newsvine.com/.
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