We referred to Geestman as 'Mike Watson' in the book. He agreed to give his real name for the History Channel interview, but that may have been the only thing he said that was actually TRUE.
In January of this year, Adventure Books of Seattle released Into The Blast - The True Story of D.B. Cooper, a book fingering Kenny Christiansen as the infamous skyjacker who leaped from the tail end of a Boeing 727 with $200,000 in cash and a parachute, never to be seen again.
Yours truly has taken a lot of abuse since the release of that book. Not from the Seattle F.B.I., though. They not only admitted that Christiansen is considered a viable suspect, but accepted email attachments of the book and other items. I have questioned them on several key points in the case and tried to provide them with the tools they need to solve it at last. Special Agent Frederick Gutt in Seattle says Christiansen is a suspect, but that some in the Bureau believe there are better suspects than Kenny.
I beg to differ. Who WAS Kenny Christiansen, and what made him a suspect in the Cooper case?
Kenny was an employee of the hijacked airline and a former U.S. Army paratrooper who served at the tail end of World War 2. He had worked at Northwest Airlines for over twenty years at the time of the crime, and after all of that, he was still only making $512 a month and living in a sleazy apartment in Sumner, Washington. Within nine months of the hijacking, he bought a house for $16,500 in cash and lent the (*alleged*) accomplice's sister another five grand to put a down on her own house.
She admitted this, although her brother tried to get her to retract once History Channel contacted him. They caught him at it.
This man, Bernie Geestman, appeared on the History Channel show Brad Meltzer's Decoded and went into denial, calling me 'a liar,' and said, 'I was never an accomplice to Kenneth Peter Christiansen, or anybody...'
Yes. And I have beachfront property for sale in Nevada. See the video (in HD and without junky commercials) here.
In five interviews conducted between January and August of 2010, his ex-wife consistently pointed to his involvement. And so did his friend Helen Jones, who placed Kenny and Geestman missing-and-together on that Thanksgiving weekend, 1971.
It's my contention that Christiansen and Geestman planned the hijacking of Flight 305 and pulled off one of the biggest unsolved crimes in history. However, since the book came out many people have asked me to present the evidence live.
On Saturday, August 13th and Sunday the 14th, I will be at the Auburn Avenue Theatre for two slideshow presentations each day to discuss the case against Christiansen. This is part of the Adventures in Literature event for Auburn, Washington's Good Ol' Days celebration. Basically, they just shut the streets down for the weekend and party. Live music, plenty of food, a street dance, a parade, and much more.
If you want to ask the tough questions, the hard questions on the Cooper case, this would be the time. Or you could just eat a bunch of food, listen to music, and walk around in a daze. That works, too. If I could do that instead, I certainly would.
