[1] The Last Master Outlaw details the results of a secret, five-year cold case investigation organized by Thomas J. Colbert, a former research chief at the Los Angeles CBS news station and a part-time police trainer.

[2][3] Colbert recruited 40 retired investigators, including a dozen FBI agents, and documented the trail of former Army pilot and ex-convict Robert Rackstraw, the suspect on whom the book primarily focuses, through at least 20 states and five countries while utilizing fake identities.

[5] A law enforcement expert who compared it to the FBI's 1971 hijacker sketch #2 claimed there are "nine points of match": ears, noses, brown eyes, short mouths, frown lines, chins, brows, odd head shapes and male-pattern baldness.

[6] Between flights, he received his commanders' wrath for "conduct unbecoming an officer" – during unauthorized ground missions with the CIA and Green Berets; for prohibited parachute jumps; and for lying about attending two universities.

[8] Local police alerted the FBI to his resemblance to Cooper composite sketches, his military skill sets, and criminal record (aircraft theft, possession of explosives, check kiting and bank fraud).

[11] Prior to the release of the book and the week before all the circumstantial evidence from the investigation was to be presented to the FBI, the Seattle office canceled the long-planned meeting in April 2016.

This video statement was held for the show's July air date, where the FBI also added it would now only consider physical evidence, such as the parachute or more of the missing ransom cash.