At the request of William J. Smith’s family, I have removed his picture from this page.
William J. Smith makes for a compelling D.B. Cooper suspect.
- He had experience gained as a combat air crewman and reconnaissance photographer in the Navy during and after World War II. He was rated as an Aerial Gunner and Aerial Photographer.
- Fits the description of the hijacker. He was 43 in 1971, and was approximately 5’10” and 170 pounds. Had olive skin and dark brown eyes due to his Hungarian ancestry.
- Was well known to be a gentleman.
- Was confirmed to be a regular smoker.
- Scored extremely high on his Navy aptitude tests. Also took physics and Latin in High School.
- Had a fold of skin on his neck and chin that would be noticeable, possibly from an accident or surgery. Witness Bill Mitchell described a “fold of skin” like look on Cooper’s neck. He also had a protruding lower lip, which was described by witnesses via the FBI sketch artist Roy Rose.
- Understood aerodynamics of planes from his Navy experience, to include larger reconnaissance aircraft such as the B-24 variant (PB4Y-2 Privateer) used by the Navy.
- When he joined the Navy he stated his reason was “a desire to fly.” He also listed his hobbies as model airplanes, photography, and printing. Could a printer have modified the stolen $20s and put those in circulation?
- Familiar with parachutes and survival from his training in the Navy.
- Understood maps and how to identify targets from the air due to his military training. He would have known his general location from the air.
- Had a sudden need for money due to the Lehigh Valley Railroad bankruptcy that caused layoffs and loss of pensions. This bankruptcy was part of the Penn Central bankruptcy, the biggest in U.S. history up until that time.
- Had a significant grudge against the airline industry for their role in bringing about the bankruptcies and downfall of the railroads. His father and many friends worked for the railroads too.
- A fellow railroader once referred to him as “the mild mannered radical”.
- Had the means to escape from the area where he landed, by boarding a train at a rail yard or at a station.
- Was familiar with the Seattle area through his friend/co-worker and possible accomplice Dan Clair and an uncle who were both stationed at Fort Lewis during World War II. Another uncle was born in Portland, moved to Sacramento, and worked for the Southern Pacific Railway. Dan Clair was born in Canada (mother was Canadian), a possible connection to the Dan Cooper comic books.
- Lived far enough away that he would not be a suspect to local and state law enforcement.
- Familiar with refueling operations of airplanes from the Navy, and from diesel trains. He knew the fuel truck issues could have been to stall him on the tarmac in Seattle.
- 1971 was high time for railroad furloughs, so being gone from work for a few days or weeks would not be unusual.
- As a railroad Yardmaster would have been familiar with handling the many stressful situations on the plane. A Yardmaster is the railroad equivalent of an air traffic controller.
- Had a childhood acquaintance named Ira Daniel Cooper who went by Dan Cooper and lived in his neighborhood in Jersey City, NJ and attended his high school. Both collected stamps and were in the orchestra. Ira Daniel Cooper was later killed in World War II.
- Worked around machinery, to include drill presses as well as coal and freight that could account for particles found on the clip on tie.
- Lived a normal life, not one of luxury. He would never have raised a red flag by spending the money.
- Had access to railroad flares that could have been used to make a realistic looking fake bomb.
- Familiar with the use of Benzedrine pills from his time in the Navy, to stay alert. It is believed D.B. Cooper had Benzedrine pills for the crew.
- Could easily have used the anonymity of train travel to arrive in Portland and get back to the East coast.
- Was skilled with knots (Navy training). Could easily have tied the money bag to his body.
- Had a scar on his right palm, which may have been seen by the flight attendant Tina Mucklow while sitting to his left.
- He had excellent cursive penmanship. The note handed to the flight attendant was written in very good cursive.
- Was Catholic. One FBI profile suggested Cooper was Catholic and of Italian descent.
- He is believed to be the man who communicated with author Max Gunther in 1972, claiming to be D.B. Cooper.
- At a minimum I believe William J. Smith is the man who contacted Max Gunther for his 1985 book “DB Cooper: What Really Happened.” See my blog post here on the site for more info on that.
- A common observation of Smith is that his nose appears wider in his picture than in the composite sketches. There are actually a number of witness statements that indicate the sketches should show a wider nose. This one below references the “B Sketch” which is the color sketch and indicates a wider and flatter nose, just like William Smith’s.
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William J. Smith was born in 1928 in Jersey City, New Jersey. He died in 2018 in Bloomfield, New Jersey. He is survived by two children and a number of grandchildren.
Are there any available pics of him in 1971?
Jim: Sorry for late reply, I did not check blog for a bit. I do not have any pics from 1971. It would be great to see one, and if anyone can find a pic, they would add a lot to the case. Thanks.
I don’t have any from 1971.
Cooper is the only suspect that seems to have a neck issue that would fit with Bill Mitchell’s description. Wish there was a close-up of his neck.
A follow up to my previous comment about William J Smith being the only suspect with a “neck issue”. It appears that William P. Gossett, who claimed numerous times to be D.B. Cooper, also had something going on with his neck. It shows up in photos of him in the 1970s. I find this to be very interesting.
I know this is an old post but having read your post and the Max Gunther book I started trying to find more info. Maybe you have seen this already or maybe I’m wrong, but when I searched for William J. Smith (on Ancestry.com) using info you provided I found a short obit for what is almost definitely correct person. In the obit it says his wife was Dolores (nee Kislowski). When I search for her, I find references to a Dolores Kislowski married to a William J Kwiatkowski also living in NJ. So, is this the same William? Is Smith an Alias? Or is it a different Dolores Kislowski married to someone with the same first name and middle initial? I don’t have a paid membership to Ancestry.com so I can’t see a lot of details, but it seems like it kind of fits.
I also searched for Valeria Ostrowski who is buried with the Smiths. I didn’t find much other than I think she was married to a Joseph Anthony Ostrowski who died in 1969. From the blurry obit for Joseph Anthony Ostrowski it seems like they had a daughter named Rose who lived in Palisades and whose married name is too blurry to read (it looks like it starts with Ga and ends in ski). I do find a Rose Ostrowski whose married name is Kwiatkowski, so maybe there is some connection there.
Email to dbcooperhijack1971@gmail.com and I’ll see if I can explain.
William J Kislowski and William J Smith are the same person. It seems that the Kislowski name was changed to Smith. It appears that the Kislowski/Smith family does not want to be contacted. I think it is important to leave them their privacy. Since having studied William J Smith, I now believe he is NOT DB Cooper. I think there is a better possibility that makes more sense, and has connections to the metal on the tie. But, of course, my opinion is just an opinion. I do however believe that Dan LeClair and his wife were the people who contacted Max Gunther. It is possible that they thought their friend William J Smith looked very much like the picture of the hijaker and that drew them fabricate a to story that they told to Max Gunther.
I don’t know how William J Smith and Dan Clair were connected to being the people who contacted Max Gunther. If that evidence is out there, I have missed it. However, it seems like if Clair or Smith and their wives were the involved in contacting Gunther then they probably lied a lot.
Smith doesn’t seem to have met his wife after the jump andthen was nursed back to health by them. The wives weren’t living in Washington and the thing about a lake cabin may be based on a cabin that an uncle had in NJ. I’m not sure there is any evidence that Clair disappeared from his first marriage and then living an off the radar life travelling across country doing odd jobs and it seems like there is evidence to the contrary for Smith. The way they lived after getting to New York after the heist (the jobs they had, etc.) doesn’t seem to match the book. The fact that they didn’t include mention that they had an accomplice. None of that seems to match the story told in the book and what Smith’s life really was from what I can tell. Why contact someone to tell your story and then make up a completely different story? And why provide details that are a mash up of yourself and your accomplice (like providing Clair’s real birth and childhood hometowns and Smith’s wifes birthday)? I understand withholding or changing some details to avoid getting caught, but like I said, it seems like a completely different story from what it would have been if Clair/Smith really had done it.
The book itself has its own problems with some facts and details, but it seemed there were/are enough details in it that it may be worth looking into. But if Smith or William were the ones who contacted Gunther, I think they aren’t Cooper.
One question I had after reading the book was in there Gunther said he still had the letters from 1971 in a filing cabinet (in 1985). I wonder if those letters still exist? In the book it talks about how careful “Cooper” was in avoiding getting fingerprints on the letters, but did he lick the stamps? If so, could there still be DNA that could help point towards or away from people like Smith and Clair?
The disappearance is pretty much straight from Gunther’s earlier article in True. I have not updated the blog post in years. I think there has only been one blog post in the past maybe 5 years. I should probably get the True article up there. LeClair could have used the article to flatter Gunther or Gunther could have used it for filler. There was a similar article in Lady’s Home Journal years after the first article, that would be more likely to have gotten noticed and remembered.