Thomas J and Dawna Colbert believe their team of sleuths have deciphered six letters written by notorious hijacker DB Cooper (seen in a police mock-up) to reveal his true identity as ex-military pilot Robert Rackstraw

A team of cold case sleuths who believe they know the real identity of the mysterious plane hijacker DB Cooper have revealed how they broke a series of codes hidden in six letters to come up with the answer.

Thomas J and Dawna Colbert, from Los Angeles, successfully sued the FBI in 2016 to have the documents released under public information laws, and since then have poured over them to uncover their secrets.

Helped by the code breaking expertise of a Vietnam veteran, they announced in February all the evidence pointed to ex-military pilot Robert Rackstraw. But only now have they revealed the methods used to come to that conclusion.

Once his demand of $200,000 cash - the equivalent of $1.2 million today - was reached and transferred onto the plane, he had the crew take off before he parachuted over the dense Pacific Northwest woods and disappeared.

Thomas Colbert, a TV researcher and writer, took up the hunt to find Cooper's true identity in 2011 by assembling a team headed by ex-FBI agents. Several difficult years chasing leads followed until the six letters came into the team's possession in 2016.

The Colberts, from Los Angeles, (pictured in February this year) successfully sued the FBI in 2016 to have the documents released under public information laws

 

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