Josh Gates and Brian Ingram Search D.B. Cooper’s Money Site! | Expedition Unknown | Discovery

Walk to the area where Eric has
determined the money was originally
found.

I’m skeptical until I see who’s holding
the fort.

Josh, I’ve got a special guest here.

I know who this is! What’s up, man?
How you doing, buddy?

Little Brian Ingram, the only man who’s
ever found DB Cooper’s money.

We refer to Brian as Cooper royalty.
Brian was just eight years old when he
made the only true break in this case,
finding bundles of Cooper’s ransom money
on the beach here at Tina Barr.

So all told, you found just under six
thousand dollars of Cooper’s money,
correct? Would you like to see some of it?

You have it? I do.

Get out of here!

Cooper’s money? Like, I have chills!
This is the real deal, folks—remnants of
the actual bills that were carried through
the air by our mystery skyjacker.
This money went out that plane with DB Cooper.

That’s incredible! Thank you.

Okay, we have to be relatively close to
where you found the money, but it’s
changed so much since then.

That’s right. So how do we know right
where the money was found?

Here, take a look at this.

Thank you.

So this looks like old aerial footage.

That’s Craig. This is footage taken from
a news helicopter that was filmed during
the FBI search. You can see the agents on
the beach, right?

First thing that pops out here is how
much beach there is.

I mean, it’s all sand. It’s completely
different.

There’s an old gravel road that you can
see in the footage here that an FBI car
is actually sitting on.

That’s part of what we walked on. That
gravel road is right up there, right?

And utilizing landmarks, I was able to
identify the precise money find spot.
They’ve got a still image from the footage
that you’re looking at that shows a little
better exactly where the money was found.

Now, somebody might say all this is well
and good, but isn’t the FBI all over
this place?

The FBI did not search from the money
find spot back up to the gravel road.

I don’t know why. Should we pick up some
metal detectors and some shovels?

I think so! Are you here to help?

A man, there’s 194 thousand dollars still
out there. You’re a lucky charm, Brian.
Give me a shovel!

We grab our metal detectors and begin
exploring the area from the shore up to
the old gravel road.

Our team is now four strong, including
Brian and Eric’s friend, expert metal
detectorist Jeff Morgan.

Is it hard?

Huh? Yeah, yeah, something down there.

But you got a strong hit right here.

Something here.

What is that?

It’s an odd enough piece; I just can’t
tell what it is. I mean, it could be
anything. Could be part of a barbed wire
fence.

Yeah, interesting. But hey, it’s a start!
Yeah, all right, keep looking.

The wire is just the beginning as we
start to pile up the hits.

It’s like a feeder straw of some kind.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s a WD-40 can.
Did Cooper jump with WD-40?

Shotgun shell! Okay, we got a shotgun
shell. We got permission to be on this
property, right?

Nice! Snail! We were in the iron
collection business. Yep, we’d be rich!

[Music]

Now in terms of the actual money find
spot, Brian said it was right around here.

Yeah, that’s correct. If you see that
furthest boulder out right there, yes, if
you go out from there, that’s exactly
where the money was found—in the water.

That’s correct. Nowadays, the money find
spot is about 15 feet offshore.

Well, it feels like one of us should
probably get out there and check that out.

Good luck, Josh!

All right, I’ll go.

Foreign to get wet!

I trade in my detector for an aquatic
model and wade back into the search.

Okay, so around here, two feet to the
left of that shark over there.

All right, there’s no sharks in Portland.

There’s no sharks, right?

I program my phone’s GPS to zero in on
the exact spot where Brian found
Cooper’s cash.

[Music]

Get a hit! There is literally a hit right
here!

[Music]

It’s like an old spike.

You know the cool thing about this, Josh?
This is exactly what I think DB Cooper
went through in June of 1972, retrieving
the money.

I mean, DB Cooper could have been standing
right here!

That’s right. Now we just got to see if
he left anything else behind.

[Music]

Eric! Yes!

Hey, check this out!

What is that?

Look!

It’s like a butthole or inch or a buckle.

Yeah, yeah, those are clearly two rivets,
and it looks like the kind of piece you
would have on a briefcase.

I mean, it really does. I mean, what else
would you use it for?

I don’t know. Very cool!

I mean, that’s pretty unbelievable.
It’s pretty intriguing.

Okay, that’s going right there.
I’m going back to that same area to keep
searching. Things are heating up.

Because like right in here…

Big hit!

[Applause]

[Music]

Oh!

Eric, look at this!
Come here, come here, come here!
Check this out!

That’s a clasp! That’s a clasp!

That is an absolute clasp.
There’s no doubt about that.
That looks like it’s off a briefcase.

That is definitely from a briefcase.
Do we know what his briefcase looked like?
There’s no photo of it, right?

No, no photo at all.
We don’t know if it was metal or what the
case was, but that definitely looks like
a clasp that could have gone to his briefcase.

And it is rusted to high hell!
And look where this is.
This was found close to this.
These could be from the same thing, I think.

I mean, how could they not be from the same thing?
You got a clasp, and you’ve got what
appears to be some sort of hinge or
something like that.

I’m kind of flabbergasted because, I mean,
we’re at the spot—the money spot!

That’s right. That could actually be the
very first piece of evidence we found
related to DB Cooper since the money—in
the same spot!

That’s insane! That is very cool!
Unbelievable!

Oh my word!

Oh!

[Music]

Okay, I need to go back and see if
there’s anything else in here.
Standby.

[Music]

Up with any more hits out there?
It’s all quiet now.

Not a—I scanned the water up and down
the bank to be sure there’s nothing else
to find.

And soon the sun begins to set on Tina
Barr and on this chapter of my hunt for
DB Cooper.

In the days that follow, we conclude that
the serial number on the tag found in
Cle Elum doesn’t match the registry of
any known components of a parachute
canopy, container, or harness.

The hinge and clasp found at Tina Barr
have been carefully examined and appear
to match those found on many soft
briefcases from the 1960s and 70s.
Unfortunately, they also match any number
of other containers and are therefore
compelling but inconclusive.

For me, the biggest headline here is the
discovery of the diatoms on Cooper’s cash—
new forensic evidence in a case that’s
supposedly cold but feels significantly
hotter today.