Who was D.B. Cooper? Over the past fifty years, the passenger in seat 18E of Flight 305 has morphed from a man into a legend. Yet, the hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper was a real, flesh and blood human being whose true identity has never been revealed.

This post contains the first part of Chapter 11 of Antrhax to Zodiac and looks at FBI’s investigation of the crime, including the question of whether or not the hijacker could have survived the jump. In the first part of Chapter 12, we’ll also consider one of the most prominent entries on the suspect list: veteran helicopter pilot Richard McCoy of Provo, Utah.

You can get the ebook version of all of Part 3 – Who was D.B. Cooper?for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. You can also buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com and have all seven cases in one ebook volume. The audiobook narrated by the author is also available at Amazon.

On November 24, 1971, a man using the name Dan Cooper boarded Northwest Orient Flight 305. Once airborne, he passed the flight attendant a ransom note and showed her what he said was a bomb in his briefcase. He demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes.

When the plane landed in Seattle, he collected the ransom and released the passengers and two of the crew then instructed the pilots to fly him to Reno. But somewhere between Woodland and Ariel, Washington, the hijacker strapped on the parachutes and jumped out of the plane with his loot, never to be seen again.

Chapter 9 looks at the social and economic context in which the hijacking transpired, and Chapter 10 explores the facts of the case.

You can read the entire book in these blog posts, or you can get the ebook version of all of Part 3 – Who Was D.B. Cooper? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. The entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac is for sale at Amazon.com.

In the last part of Chapter 7, we’ll examine the controversy surrounding the DNA collected from the JonBenét’s body.

We’ll also consider further the possibility the family played a role in the crime. In spite of four secret grand jury indictments against John and Patsy Ramsey for their alleged roles in the murder, in a 2008 letter, the Boulder County DA publicly exonerated the entire Ramsey family of any involvement in the crime.

We’ll wind up our consideration of JonBenét’s death with Chapter 8 which includes my comments, some tips for keeping your children safe, a quiz to test your knowledge of the case, some snarky humor, and a list of references and cool sites.

Read the whole book in these blog posts, or buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com. You can also get the ebook version of all of Part 2 – Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post.

In the last part of Chapter 6, we’ll take a look at questions surrounding semi-digested pineapple found in JonBenét’s small intestine, and we’ll explore the relationship between JonBenét and her older brother, Burke.

We’ll also discuss the rift between the police and the Boulder DA regarding whether the killer was a member of the household or an intruder—a rift that quickly widened into a chasm and may have caused irreparable damage to the case.

Chapter 7 includes an exploration of the main suspects in the murder, including the jolly “Santa Bill” McReynolds, accused child pornographer John Mark Karr aka Alexis Valoran Reich who confessed to the crime, and Gary Oliva, the known paranoid schizophrenic pedophile obsessed with JonBenét.

Read the entire book for free in these blog posts or get the ebook version of all of Part 2 – Who Killed JonBenét Ramsey at no cost by clicking on the button below. You can also buy the whole anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

Six hours after Patsy Ramsey called the Boulder police, JonBenét’s father, John, cried out from the basement of their home and emerged from the stairs carrying the corpse of his six-year-old daughter, launching one of the most notorious murder investigations of modern time.

This post contains the last half of Chapter 5 and the beginning of Chapter 6 of Anthrax to Zodiac. We’ll take an in-depth look at the events leading up to the discovery of the body and the gross lack of proper police procedure that hobbled the investigation from the very start.

Then, we’ll do a deep dive into the ransom note and try to reconcile its contents with the events of the crime and its aftermath.

Why wait to read the whole story of JonBenét Ramsey when you can get the ebook version of all of Part 2 – Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey? for free right now by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post? You can also buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

John and Patsy Ramsey enjoyed a traditional Christmas morning at home with their children, six-year-old JonBenét and nine-year-old Burke, before attending Christmas dinner at the home of friends.

According to Patsy Ramsey, she got up early the next morning and discovered a ransom note on the stairs. When she and John couldn’t find JonBenét, at 5:52 a.m. on December 26, 1996, she called 911 and frantically indicated that her daughter had been kidnapped.

This post contains the first half of Chapter 5 of Anthrax to Zodiac and covers the case background and the details of the chaotic events of December 26, 1996 before JonBenét’s body was discovered.

Why wait to read the whole story of JonBenét Ramsey when you can get the ebook version of all of Part 2 – Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey? for free right now by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post? You can also buy the entire anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

This post concludes Chapter 3 of Anthrax to Zodiac with more detail on the government’s case against Dr. Bruce Ivins.

Ultimately, after Dr. Ivins’s death, the FBI declared that they had gotten their man and promptly closed the case despite the fact that Dr. Ivins died an innocent man, never having been charged, let alone convicted, of anything. Over twenty years later, we are still left asking, “Who mailed the anthrax letters?”

We conclude with Chapter 4 which includes my comments on the case, some tips for using the mail safely, a quiz to test your knowledge, some snarky humor, and a list of references and cool sites for further reading.

While the entire book will be presented free of charge in these blog posts, you can obtain the ebook version Part 1 – Who Mailed the Anthrax Letters? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. You can also buy the entire anthology of all seven cases in Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

So who actually mailed the anthrax letters? Initially, the government focused its attention on bacteriologist Dr. Steven Hatfill. But, eventually, the FBI admitted that Dr. Hatfill was not involved at all, publicly exonerated him, and paid him almost five million dollars in damages for illegally leaking his name to the press.

Next, the task force unequivocally declared that deceased government virologist and anthrax specialist Dr. Bruce Ivins was the perpetrator. However, Dr. Ivins died before he was ever even indicted.

This post contains the first part of Chapter 3 of Anthrax to Zodiac where we examine the details of the accusation and exoneration of Dr. Hatfill and the early part of the investigation into Dr. Ivins.

Get the ebook version Part 1 – Who Mailed the Anthrax Letters? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post. You can also buy the entire anthology of all seven cases in Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com.

In Chapter 2, we take a look at the actual mailings. We’ll learn where the envelopes containing the anthrax spores entered the mail stream and delve into details about the ink and paper used in the letters. Next, we’ll examine the total extent of the contamination and total cost of the cleanup.

We’ll also explore the general investigative strategies that guided the FBI’s Amerithrax investigation and consider the amazing scope of the failed efforts of the task force to provide conclusive evidence against even a single perpetrator.

Finally, we’ll look at the DNA science that ultimately led the FBI to focus on Dr. Bruce Ivins.

Read the entire book free of charge in these blog posts or buy the ebook, paperback, or audiobook version of the complete anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com. Also, you can get the ebook version of Part 1 – Who Mailed the Anthrax Letters? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post.

This post contains the second half of Chapter 1 of Anthrax to Zodiac. Here, we examine the meat of the timeline of events involved in the mailings and learn, step by step and day by day, how the bioweapons successfully penetrated the halls of power in the US government and leading media outlets while federal agents, caught flat-footed by the attacks, struggled to discern what was actually happening and formulate a response.

Then, we look at the toll of the attacks in lives and illness—five people dead, twenty-two more confirmed anthrax infections, and 32,000 people treated with prophylactic antibiotics.

Read the entire book free of charge in these blog posts or buy the ebook, paperback, or audiobook version of the complete anthology of Anthrax to Zodiac at Amazon.com. Also, you can get the ebook version of Part 1 – Who Mailed the Anthrax Letters? for free by clicking on the button at the bottom of this post.

On September 11, 2001, Americans watched in disbelief as jumbo jets crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. The country was under attack. Families huddled around their televisions, waiting to see if other hijacked planes were still in the sky, on a collision course with more iconic symbols of American democracy.

In the weeks immediately following 9/11, in a state of collective shock, America anxiously waited for the next shoe to fall.

Then the anthrax letters came.

Despite spending hundreds of thousands of investigative hours and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars, the government never charged or tried, let alone convicted, a single suspect.

This post contains the first half of Chapter 1 of Anthrax to Zodiac. We examine the background and context of the attacks and look at the early part of the timeline of events involved in the mailings.