He meets Robert Rackstraw, a prime suspect believed to be the kidnapper of DB Cooper. This article covers information related to his wife, his age at the time of his death, and some interesting facts related to his life.
Keep scrolling to find out more about him.
Meet Robert Rackstraw, one of DB Cooper’s suspects
Aside from Sheridan Peterson, Robert Rackstraw was considered the elusive DB Cooper. from netflix DB Cooper: Where are you? It shows viewers the investigation that tried to uncover the identity of the real DB Cooper and the main suspects in the case.
Although his past is a bit hazy, it has been established that he was a military pilot, as Cooper’s profilers suggested. Although he was discharged from the military in 1971, five months before the plane hijacking, Robert had prior CIA connections.
Robert tried to fake his own death when the plan was exposed. Although he was excluded from official investigations in 1979, Robert became a prime suspect for detectives Thomas J. Colbert and Tom Szollosi, who later published a book in 2016 titled the last outlaw master naming him DB Cooper.
Robert was later quoted as saying the investigation cost him his job. Flight attendants who had frequent contact with Cooper claimed they had the wrong person when they gave him the photo. Furthermore, he was much younger than the aforementioned “around 40 years old”, which is why he was ruled out as a suspect.
Robert went to his grave denying being the infamous sky robber despite being hounded by investigators who identified him as DB Cooper’s most likely suspect and even offered him $20,000 upfront if he would confess. His ship, Poverty Sucks, spent its last years in San Diego, California.
DB Cooper, famous for hijacking a flight from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, allegedly jumped off the plane with $200,000 in cash. Despite searching for the criminal and his body for hundreds of hours, the authorities were never able to find him. The kidnapping has baffled official and unofficial investigators for decades and is the longest cold case of its kind in FBI history. Even though the FBI closed the case in 2016, rumors about Cooper’s identity continued.
Before that, he appeared in a 2016 History Channel documentary about the notorious criminal.
Robert Rackstraw Cause of death
According San Diego Union Tribune, Robert Rackstraw’s cause of death was “long-standing heart disease”. He was pronounced dead at his home in the early morning of July 9.
Robert Rackstraw Age at death
Robert Rackstraw was 75 years old at the time of his death.
What do we know about Robert Rackstraw’s family?
Robert Rackstraw was born into a family in Franklin County, Ohio. He was born to Philip George Rackstraw and Lucille Lillian Rackstraw.
Philip was born on August 1, 1927 in Santa Clara County, California. He died on February 9, 1978 in California at the age of 50. Philip was the son of Sydney Rackstraw and Rose Wood Rackstraw. Meanwhile, he had two brothers; William Rackstraw and Betty Jane Rackstraw Nikolaus.
Meanwhile, Lucille was one of five children born to William T Reese and Theressa Maude Wolfe Reese. She had three sisters; Goldie Corrine Georgia, Evelyn Theressa Reese Boud and Deretta Pauline Reese Cooper and a brother, Thomas Leonard Reese.
Robert had a sister named Linda Lee Rackstraw Loduca. He was born on May 27, 1947, and died at age 66 in August 2013. He and his sister grew up in a “very poor family” in a two-bedroom house on a creek in Scotts Valley in the 1960s. .
Robert Rackstraw’s Wife
Robert Rackstraw was married three times in his life. There’s not much about his first wife. He married her second wife, Linda Kunkel, in 1974. They were married for only about two years, but during that time, Linda experienced a tornado of emotions that made her more wary of her husband. The union was the second for Rackstraw, and Linda also brought her two children from a previous marriage into the spotlight.
Since Robert claimed to care about his children and was no doubt much more adventurous than his previous partnerships, this worked well for her.
She realized that Robert didn’t have a real job, but she never asked about his sources of income. He often took her on adventures and to various places. Everything was fine for a while, but then Kunkel began to notice some rather strange aspects of him. She was drawn to the items in her briefcase, which she always had with him when she left the house.
One day he looked inside and found a fake wig and mustache. He admitted that the blunt was there to cover her baldness when she confronted him about it. Interestingly, she avoided commenting on the mustache. She wasn’t aware at the time, but it was a sign that she was involved in illegal activities.
Linda did not learn of Robert’s forgery of her signature until much later, when he had already bought a printing shop in San Jose for himself. They divorced in 1977 because their marriage had already broken down.
She was previously Linda McGarity and married Robert Rackstraw in Santa Clara. The couple were confirmed to be living in California when she discovered that he had opened a printing shop in San Jose. In the Netflix documentary series, Linda appears, but the focus is mainly on Rackstraw, who may have been her second husband. Since her marriage was brief, it is very likely that she Linda tried to love again and start a family with another man.
At the time of his death, Robert Rackstraw was married to his third wife, Dorothy.
Robert Rackstraw’s work
Robert Rackstraw served in the US Army as a helicopter pilot and is a former Vietnam War veteran trained in explosives and psychological operations. He, too, worked as a contract pilot in Iran before the revolution and served more than a year in prison for stealing planes and passing bad checks.
He also received significant parachute training. The investigative team also considered that Robert was one of the “most respected” pilots during his service in Vietnam. Rackstraw finished a 15-month tour of Vietnam in 1970 with 50 decorations, including dozens of Air Medals.
In the 1960s, the Scott Valley Mercury News reported that Robert grew up in a “very poor family” who lived in a two-bedroom house near a creek.
Robert allegedly dropped out of high school and fabricated his college transcripts and “lied” about his awards and ranks, leading to his forced retirement from the military. Rackstraw was not with his ex-wife and his children in Stockton at the time of the abduction.
Related FAQ
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When was Robert Rackstraw born?
Robert Rackstarw was born on October 16, 1943.
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Where was Robert Rackstraw born?
Robert Rackstarw was born in Columbus, Ohio.
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Where was Robert Rackstraw living at the time of his death?
At the time of his death, Robert Rackstraw was living in his Bankers Hill apartment.
Categories: Biography
Source: newstars.edu.vn