As many of you hard core Cooper sleuths know, Earl Cossey was an instrumental if not curious player in the D.B. Cooper affair. He was the packer that put together the parachutes the hijacker jumped with, and he met with the FBI at various times over the years to discuss the case.

What’s always been most interesting to me about Cossey is that he was an optimist. During a time when many in the Bureau were convinced that Cooper never survived the jump, Cossey met with with agents and told them the jump wasn’t as perilous as they thought. Cossey’s opinion was that Cooper could have survived the jump, even with minimal parachuting experience.

Now, over the weekend, it appears that Cossey was murdered in the garage of his home in Woodinville, Washington. The details from the police are still sketchy, but reports suggest he was hit in the head, perhaps with a blunt instrument. He was 74.

We met once. I forget the name of the casino, but Cossey asked me to meet him there early in the morning for a cup of coffee. A casino was an odd place to meet for a morning interview, I thought then.

We spoke about the parachutes he packed. He was upset the FBI never returned them. Cossey was amenable enough, but seemed annoyed that so many reporters over the years kept calling him to ask about the chutes.

It’s early on in the investigation, so perhaps we’ll know more details in the coming days or weeks. I don’t see any connection to the Cooper case—just a coincidence that Cossey was involved in such a noteworthy moment in Pacific Northwest history, just another strange development in Cooperland.