Cold Case DNA Expert to Discuss Solving the D.B. Cooper Mystery in Seattle on November 16th
Seattle, WA, October 17, 2024 --(PR.com)-- A renowned United States forensic genealogist whose expertise helped solve the Somerton Man mystery and identify passenger remains from the Titanic says that these investigations are like doing a "Sudoku puzzle." She will be in Seattle as a featured speaker for the D.B. Cooper Conference open to the public and being held at the Museum of Flight from November 15-17.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, a pioneer who has worked on numerous "John and Jane Doe” cases, said she first heard of the Somerton Man in 2013 and met up with Adelaide University researcher Derek Abbott in 2014.
The pair worked together to identify the man who was found slumped and lifeless at Adelaide's Somerton Beach in 1948. Carl "Charles" Webb. Webb was a 43-year-old Victorian engineer and instrument maker.
Dr. Fitzpatrick told ABC News Breakfast that identifying the man using his family tree was like putting pieces of a puzzle together. "You come up with a list of DNA cousins — these are people that share DNA with you to some extent — and there might be an aunt or uncle or cousin here and there," she said. "You don't know who these people are, but what you can do is, you keep trying to find out how they're related to each other and you move them around like the Sudoku puzzle. And then finally you find the consistent way they all fit together and the missing piece is the person you're trying to identify." Fitzpatrick was the first to use forensic genetic genealogy to generate leads in 1991 and the first to solve a cold case with it just a year later - The Phoenix Canal Murders.
She now turns her attention to the only unsolved hijacking in US History when a man calling himself Dan Cooper demanded parachutes and $200,000 on a flight from Portland to Seattle on Thanksgiving Eve in 1971. Cooper is believed to have jumped from the aft stairway, a rare feature that belonged to the Boeing 727, somewhere just north of Portland after the plane left Seattle destined for Reno.
The cigarette butts that the FBI collected from where Cooper was seated were unfortunately destroyed after fingerprint testing and brand analysis back in 1971 and 1972 when DNA analysis to identify criminals did not exist. The FBI possesses a clip-on tie believed to have been worn and left by Cooper on the seat he sat in on the flight. While they identified partial DNA over a decade ago, they have not allowed the tie to be tested with the latest techniques employed by teams like the ones Dr.. Fitzpatrick leads. A hair was taken from the back of the seat that Cooper sat in and placed in a slide. The slide was tagged as evidence but the FBI has since misplaced it. Cooper also cut shroud lines and checked the packing card on a parachute that remained on the plane.
Fitzpatrick believes that access to the hair slide, the tie, and the parachute could solve the case with the new techniques that she and qualified forensic teams employ.
She will speak on Saturday, November 16, the second day of the three-day conference.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, a pioneer who has worked on numerous "John and Jane Doe” cases, said she first heard of the Somerton Man in 2013 and met up with Adelaide University researcher Derek Abbott in 2014.
The pair worked together to identify the man who was found slumped and lifeless at Adelaide's Somerton Beach in 1948. Carl "Charles" Webb. Webb was a 43-year-old Victorian engineer and instrument maker.
Dr. Fitzpatrick told ABC News Breakfast that identifying the man using his family tree was like putting pieces of a puzzle together. "You come up with a list of DNA cousins — these are people that share DNA with you to some extent — and there might be an aunt or uncle or cousin here and there," she said. "You don't know who these people are, but what you can do is, you keep trying to find out how they're related to each other and you move them around like the Sudoku puzzle. And then finally you find the consistent way they all fit together and the missing piece is the person you're trying to identify." Fitzpatrick was the first to use forensic genetic genealogy to generate leads in 1991 and the first to solve a cold case with it just a year later - The Phoenix Canal Murders.
She now turns her attention to the only unsolved hijacking in US History when a man calling himself Dan Cooper demanded parachutes and $200,000 on a flight from Portland to Seattle on Thanksgiving Eve in 1971. Cooper is believed to have jumped from the aft stairway, a rare feature that belonged to the Boeing 727, somewhere just north of Portland after the plane left Seattle destined for Reno.
The cigarette butts that the FBI collected from where Cooper was seated were unfortunately destroyed after fingerprint testing and brand analysis back in 1971 and 1972 when DNA analysis to identify criminals did not exist. The FBI possesses a clip-on tie believed to have been worn and left by Cooper on the seat he sat in on the flight. While they identified partial DNA over a decade ago, they have not allowed the tie to be tested with the latest techniques employed by teams like the ones Dr.. Fitzpatrick leads. A hair was taken from the back of the seat that Cooper sat in and placed in a slide. The slide was tagged as evidence but the FBI has since misplaced it. Cooper also cut shroud lines and checked the packing card on a parachute that remained on the plane.
Fitzpatrick believes that access to the hair slide, the tie, and the parachute could solve the case with the new techniques that she and qualified forensic teams employ.
She will speak on Saturday, November 16, the second day of the three-day conference.
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DB Cooper Events
Chris Cunningham
954-654-5496
dbcooperevents.com
Chris Cunningham
954-654-5496
dbcooperevents.com
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