D.B. Cooper

[Hans Dolbrook]

you have to remember that when all this took place,there was'nt anything close to gps around!

they don't have the slightest idea when he even jumped,they only could guess because of

when he opened the back of the plane to jump out of it.there was a guy named richard mccoy

who did the same thing cooper did a few months after the cooper case,he survived and the feds

caught him with 500000 k.he died after shooting it out with cops when he broke out of jail.

a lot of fbi agents are convinced he was db cooper.but,hey who knows?

[JonathanVonErich]

Some people believe that Db Cooper was in fact Richard McCoy jr. Here's an article i found on wikipedia:

On April 7, 1972, four months after Cooper's hijacking, Richard McCoy, Jr., under the alias "James Johnson," boarded United Airlines Flight 855 during a stopover in Denver, Colorado, and gave the flight steward an envelope labeled "Hijack Instructions," in which he demanded four parachutes and $500,000. He also instructed the pilot to land at San Francisco International Airport and order a refueling truck for the plane. The airplane was a Boeing 727 with aft stairs, which McCoy used in his escape. He was carrying a paper weight grenade and an empty pistol. He left his handwritten message on the plane, along with his fingerprints on a magazine he had been reading, which the FBI later used to establish positive identification.

Police began investigating McCoy following a tip from Utah Highway Patrolman Robert Van Ieperen, who was a friend of McCoy's. Apparently, after the Cooper hijacking, McCoy had made a reference that Cooper should have asked for $500,000, instead of $200,000. Van Ieperen thought that was an odd coincidence, so he alerted the FBI. Married and with two young children, McCoy was a Mormon Sunday school teacher studying law enforcement at Brigham Young University. He had a record as a Vietnam veteran and was a former helicopter pilot, and an avid skydiver.

On April 9, following the fingerprint and handwriting match, McCoy was arrested for the United 855 hijacking. Coincidentally, McCoy had been on National Guard duty flying one of the helicopters involved in the search for the hijacker. Inside his house FBI agents found a jumpsuit and a duffel bag filled with $499,970 in cash. McCoy claimed innocence, but was convicted and received a 45-year sentence. Once incarcerated, using his access to the prison's dental office, McCoy fashioned a fake handgun out of dental paste. He and a crew of convicts escaped in August 1974 by stealing a garbage truck and crashing it through the prison's main gate. It took three months before the FBI located McCoy in Virginia. McCoy shot at the FBI agents, and agent Nicholas O'Hara fired back with a shotgun, killing him.

In 1991, Bernie Rhodes and former FBI agent Russell Calame coauthored D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy, in which they claimed that Cooper and McCoy were really the same person, citing similar methods of hijacking and a tie and mother-of-pearl tie clip, left on the plane by Cooper. Neither Rhodes nor Calame were involved in the original Cooper investigation, but Calame was the head of the Utah FBI office that investigated McCoy, and eventually arrested him for the copycat hijacking that occurred in April 1972. The author said that McCoy "never admitted nor denied he was Cooper." And when McCoy was directly asked whether he was Cooper he replied, "I don't want to talk to you about it." The agent who killed McCoy is quoted as supposedly saying, "When I shot Richard McCoy, I shot D. B. Cooper at the same time." The widow of Richard McCoy, Karen Burns McCoy, reached a $120,000 legal settlement with the book's co-authors and its publisher, after claiming they misrepresented her involvement in the hijacking and later events from interviews done with her attorney in the 1970s.

Edited August 14, 2009 by JonathanVonErich

[MissMelsWell]

I watched a show on this that stated that a couple of kids found some of the money halfway into a river bank, many years after the fact. The serial numbers on the bills were matched to those on the bills given to Cooper. It was not all of the money. I forget the amount. It would probably survive for a bit longer in the wet because money isn't printed on paper. It's linen. While it can certainly get ruined in the wet, it's sturdier than actual paper.

I don't remember the name of the TV show, but it was on the UK Crime and Investigation channel several months ago.

That is in fact true. A small portion of the take was found on the Columbia river bank burried in the sand. However, authorities believe that the money was unearthed during a flood and made it's way there during that flood. They don't believe that it is near where Cooper jumped. It was largely in tact because money is printed on Linen (a large portion of US paper currency is actually printed on recycled blue jeans! It's cotton linen as you stated and holds up well against water)

That whole area where Cooper was thought to jump is damp, all the time. It floods regularly and fiercely so it would not be surprising that a lot of evidence would have been washed away or rotted by now.

I've always thought this case was so intriguing... I remember when it happened because I was about 5 years old and I've lived in WA all my life. This story dominated a lot of dinner conversations when I was a kid.

[JonathanVonErich]

That is in fact true. A small portion of the take was found on the Columbia river bank burried in the sand. However, authorities believe that the money was unearthed during a flood and made it's way there during that flood. They don't believe that it is near where Cooper jumped. It was largely in tact because money is printed on Linen (a large portion of US paper currency is actually printed on recycled blue jeans! It's cotton linen as you stated and holds up well against water)

That whole area where Cooper was thought to jump is damp, all the time. It floods regularly and fiercely so it would not be surprising that a lot of evidence would have been washed away or rotted by now.

I've always thought this case was so intriguing... I remember when it happened because I was about 5 years old and I've lived in WA all my life. This story dominated a lot of dinner conversations when I was a kid.

On February 10, 1980, Brian Ingram, then eight years old, was with his family on a picnic when he found $5,880 in decaying bills (a total of 294 $20 bills), still bundled in rubber bands, approximately 40 feet (12 m) from the waterline and just 2 inches (5 cm) below the surface, on the banks of the Columbia River 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Vancouver, Washington. After comparing the serial numbers with those from the ransom given to Cooper almost nine years earlier, it was proven that the money found by Ingram was part of the ransom given to Cooper. Upon the discovery, then-FBI lead investigator Ralph Himmelsbach declared that the money "must have been deposited within a couple of years after the hijacking" because "rubber bands deteriorate rapidly and could not have held the bundles together for very long." However, several area scientists recruited by the FBI for assistance with the case noted their belief that the money arrived at the beach as a result of a 1974 Army Corps of Engineers dredging operation. Furthermore, some scientists estimated that the money’s arrival must have occurred even later. Geologist Leonard Palmer of Portland State University, for example, reportedly concluded that the 1974 dredging operation did not place the money on the Columbia's riverbank because Ingram had found the bills above clay deposits put on shore by the dredge. The FBI generally agree now that the money had to have arrived at the location on the riverbank no earlier than 1974. Some investigators and hydrologists have theorized that the bundled bills washed freely into the Columbia River from one of its many connecting tributaries, such as the Washougal River, which originate or run near Cooper's suspected landing zone.

[RushMaiden]

Some people believe that Db Cooper was in fact Richard McCoy jr. Here's an article i found on wikipedia:

On April 7, 1972, four months after Cooper's hijacking, Richard McCoy, Jr., under the alias "James Johnson," boarded United Airlines Flight 855 during a stopover in Denver, Colorado, and gave the flight steward an envelope labeled "Hijack Instructions," in which he demanded four parachutes and $500,000. He also instructed the pilot to land at San Francisco International Airport and order a refueling truck for the plane. The airplane was a Boeing 727 with aft stairs, which McCoy used in his escape. He was carrying a paper weight grenade and an empty pistol. He left his handwritten message on the plane, along with his fingerprints on a magazine he had been reading, which the FBI later used to establish positive identification.

Police began investigating McCoy following a tip from Utah Highway Patrolman Robert Van Ieperen, who was a friend of McCoy's. Apparently, after the Cooper hijacking, McCoy had made a reference that Cooper should have asked for $500,000, instead of $200,000. Van Ieperen thought that was an odd coincidence, so he alerted the FBI. Married and with two young children, McCoy was a Mormon Sunday school teacher studying law enforcement at Brigham Young University. He had a record as a Vietnam veteran and was a former helicopter pilot, and an avid skydiver.

On April 9, following the fingerprint and handwriting match, McCoy was arrested for the United 855 hijacking. Coincidentally, McCoy had been on National Guard duty flying one of the helicopters involved in the search for the hijacker. Inside his house FBI agents found a jumpsuit and a duffel bag filled with $499,970 in cash. McCoy claimed innocence, but was convicted and received a 45-year sentence. Once incarcerated, using his access to the prison's dental office, McCoy fashioned a fake handgun out of dental paste. He and a crew of convicts escaped in August 1974 by stealing a garbage truck and crashing it through the prison's main gate. It took three months before the FBI located McCoy in Virginia. McCoy shot at the FBI agents, and agent Nicholas O'Hara fired back with a shotgun, killing him.

In 1991, Bernie Rhodes and former FBI agent Russell Calame coauthored D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy, in which they claimed that Cooper and McCoy were really the same person, citing similar methods of hijacking and a tie and mother-of-pearl tie clip, left on the plane by Cooper. Neither Rhodes nor Calame were involved in the original Cooper investigation, but Calame was the head of the Utah FBI office that investigated McCoy, and eventually arrested him for the copycat hijacking that occurred in April 1972. The author said that McCoy "never admitted nor denied he was Cooper." And when McCoy was directly asked whether he was Cooper he replied, "I don't want to talk to you about it." The agent who killed McCoy is quoted as supposedly saying, "When I shot Richard McCoy, I shot D. B. Cooper at the same time." The widow of Richard McCoy, Karen Burns McCoy, reached a $120,000 legal settlement with the book's co-authors and its publisher, after claiming they misrepresented her involvement in the hijacking and later events from interviews done with her attorney in the 1970s.

There is also the Duane Weber angle, which i don't believe are true. Here is a link http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/m...ries/cooper.htm

[Mario Lemieux]

On February 10, 1980, Brian Ingram, then eight years old, was with his family on a picnic when he found $5,880 in decaying bills (a total of 294 $20 bills), still bundled in rubber bands, approximately 40 feet (12 m) from the waterline and just 2 inches (5 cm) below the surface, on the banks of the Columbia River 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Vancouver, Washington. After comparing the serial numbers with those from the ransom given to Cooper almost nine years earlier, it was proven that the money found by Ingram was part of the ransom given to Cooper. Upon the discovery, then-FBI lead investigator Ralph Himmelsbach declared that the money "must have been deposited within a couple of years after the hijacking" because "rubber bands deteriorate rapidly and could not have held the bundles together for very long." However, several area scientists recruited by the FBI for assistance with the case noted their belief that the money arrived at the beach as a result of a 1974 Army Corps of Engineers dredging operation. Furthermore, some scientists estimated that the money’s arrival must have occurred even later. Geologist Leonard Palmer of Portland State University, for example, reportedly concluded that the 1974 dredging operation did not place the money on the Columbia's riverbank because Ingram had found the bills above clay deposits put on shore by the dredge. The FBI generally agree now that the money had to have arrived at the location on the riverbank no earlier than 1974. Some investigators and hydrologists have theorized that the bundled bills washed freely into the Columbia River from one of its many connecting tributaries, such as the Washougal River, which originate or run near Cooper's suspected landing zone.

So where exactly do they think the bills were for two years?

[JonathanVonErich]

just saw another documentary on the case.....boy i love this case...the more i think about it and the more i'm sure he died after jumping off the plane....but hey, who knows....

[brlesq1]

I love this story. I like to think he got away with it, though I'll admit it's not likely. Didn't he parachute into the middle of a forest, or something like that? But then his body was never found, right?

I like "The Far Side" cartoon where the real end of Cooper was that he landed in a pen full of hungry Rottweilers.