Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

New clues emerge in DB Cooper hijack mystery


UM-Bot

Recommended Posts

The man who successfully hijacked an airliner in 1971 might have been a missing grocery store manager.

The incident began when a mysterious man, who at the time went by the name Dan Cooper, boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 to travel from Portland to Seattle.

Read More: http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/288856/new-clues-emerge-in-db-cooper-hijack-mystery

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All I know about DB Cooper I learned from watching Without a Paddle. Great comedy. Interesting story about Cooper..

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

All I know about DB Cooper I learned from watching Without a Paddle. Great comedy. Interesting story about Cooper..

Classic!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is this it? it might have been her dad, but we do not know and very likely will never know.

This is not new clues, it is someone thinks it could be.

And when did she see the picture? its been a while now since this occurred, so why only hear about this now, surely they would have gone to the police at the time, unless they were hoping it was "dad" and he was going to show up one day with their share.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a link to a much more detailed version of the Lepsy possibility, which I read on FB yesterday. It's a much more intriguing potential match than the short blurb on UM would indicate, down to the type of tie the hijacker wore being the type of tie worn by employees where Lepsy worked and the timing of Lepsy's disappearance. Not definitive proof by any means, but a pretty fascinating read:

http://www.wzzm13.com/story/life/2015/11/24/dick-lepsy-ross-richardson-lisa-db-cooper-grayling-michigan-fbi/75886946/

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's a link to a much more detailed version of the Lepsy possibility, which I read on FB yesterday. It's a much more intriguing potential match than the short blurb on UM would indicate, down to the type of tie the hijacker wore being the type of tie worn by employees where Lepsy worked and the timing of Lepsy's disappearance. Not definitive proof by any means, but a pretty fascinating read:

http://www.wzzm13.co...n-fbi/75886946/

It checks out that Lepsy was a smoker and Cooper was too. it could have been him. But so were many others.

But this needs answers:

The Cooper skyjacking happened two years after Dick Lepsy's disappearance, and the night the Cooper news broke, Lisa Lepsy remembers her family watching and how they all reacted.

"We were all sitting on the couch watching Walter Cronkite," said Lisa. "When the composite sketch of D.B. Cooper came on the TV screen, everyone looked at each other and said, 'That's dad!'

Where was Dick Lepsy during those two years and why are they calling this new clues when the Walter Cronkite news was in 1971?

http://www.wgrz.com/...nkite-News-Clip

Edited by freetoroam
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Huh. Looks like the similarities of all things considered are almost too coincidental to ignore.

The tie and shoes, for example. Appearance similarity, though, is always in question, but the sketch and him do look awfully similar.

CASE CLOSED !!!!! Imho.

Well, I guess the FBI will need to re-investigate first, of course, to see if there is anything supporting the claim.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty sure that the two are one and the same. What was the motive? I like to know more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seems pretty convincing to me although I'd like to think Dan is still out there, on his walking frame, laughing to himself as he reads all the theories.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think people are just desperate to solve a mystery. I see a slight resemblance, but everyone kind of looked the same back then.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think people are just desperate to solve a mystery. I see a slight resemblance, but everyone kind of looked the same back then.

I did not even get as far a slight resemblance.

The guy they want it to be went missing 2 years before the hijack, that's a long time to plan something after leaving home and going missing.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It checks out that Lepsy was a smoker and Cooper was too. it could have been him. But so were many others.

But this needs answers:

The Cooper skyjacking happened two years after Dick Lepsy's disappearance, and the night the Cooper news broke, Lisa Lepsy remembers her family watching and how they all reacted.

"We were all sitting on the couch watching Walter Cronkite," said Lisa. "When the composite sketch of D.B. Cooper came on the TV screen, everyone looked at each other and said, 'That's dad!'

Where was Dick Lepsy during those two years and why are they calling this new clues when the Walter Cronkite news was in 1971?

http://www.wgrz.com/...nkite-News-Clip

I get the impression from the article the Lepsy family went no further than saying to themselves, "That's dad!" when the D.B Cooper skyjacking happened in 1971. They probably shook it off as impossible given that Dick Lepsey had been missing for two years at that point and they really had no idea whether he was dead or alive. Sounds like police just decided he'd left voluntarily and slow rolled their investigation. Missing persons cases were handled a lot differently back in those days. Even teens and kids were written off as runaways, reports couldn't be made for 24 hours, no way to share info easily between police jurisdictions, etc.

If Lepsey did leave voluntarily, I wonder too where he was for those two years. But that's something else that's changed. Today, it's very hard to take off without leaving a digital footprint that's easy to follow. In 1971, for all intents and purposes, starting a new life was as easy as getting on a bus or train or plane and heading wherever you wanted to go. Today, I think you need to show ID just to get a bus or train ticket, and we all know what flying is like since 9/11.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This woman is not even entitled to 7 1/2 minutes of fame. It is rubbish what she says.

She was quietly living her own life when a writer contacted her because he was writing a book about her father's disappearance and became obsessed by some similarities between her father and the "D.B. Cooper" skyjacker.

Why are you so hard on her? She's just a woman who still wonders why her dad abandoned her and her family when she was 13. If I were in her shoes and a writer approached me with the possibility he had an answer, I'd want to pursue the trail as well.

Even the writer says he doesn't have evidence to prove Lepsey is Cooper. It's a theory.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did not even get as far a slight resemblance.

The guy they want it to be went missing 2 years before the hijack, that's a long time to plan something after leaving home and going missing.

Sometimes composite sketches are so good they're like photographs. In the Hannah Graham case, I was positive the sketch of the VA rape suspect matched the suspect in Hannah's case two days before police officially announced Jesse Matthew was the same guy. But a lot of times, composite sketches are almost cartoons, and that's what I feel the D.B. Cooper sketch is--one that simply gives a vague idea of features, race, age, hairstyle. Given that, I would say Lepsey fits the sketch as much as a number of other potential suspects do--to my eyes anyway.

I find the tie and the loafers pretty intriguing.

As for the two years, we don't know (if it's Lepsey) that he spent two years planning this. He may have left his family without much of a plan and kicked around the country for a year or more, getting tired of living odd job to odd job. Maybe at some point thereafter he got desperate and came up with this plan for quick money. IIRC, there had been at least one previous skyjacking for money in the late '50's in which a guy blew up a plane his mother was on. Whoever D.B. Cooper was, he may have modeled after that, but without the heart for killing all on board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

what i don't understand is why he asked for four parachutes ? and don't you think $200,000 is too little ?

In 1971, the idea that a gallon of gas could EVER go as high as $1.00 a gallon was so extreme as to be unbelievable. You could buy a Volkswagen Bug for about $2,000 bucks.

$200,000 isn't much in today's dollars--it would have gone a lot further back then.

As for the parachutes, the Generation Why podcast did two episodes on Cooper. The second was a military guy who talked all about the parachutes. I listened to it too long ago to replicate details here, but you can find it on iTunes if interested.

Edited by 2-B
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sometimes composite sketches are so good they're like photographs. In the Hannah Graham case, I was positive the sketch of the VA rape suspect matched the suspect in Hannah's case two days before police officially announced Jesse Matthew was the same guy. But a lot of times, composite sketches are almost cartoons, and that's what I feel the D.B. Cooper sketch is--one that simply gives a vague idea of features, race, age, hairstyle. Given that, I would say Lepsey fits the sketch as much as a number of other potential suspects do--to my eyes anyway.

I find the tie and the loafers pretty intriguing.

As for the two years, we don't know (if it's Lepsey) that he spent two years planning this. He may have left his family without much of a plan and kicked around the country for a year or more, getting tired of living odd job to odd job. Maybe at some point thereafter he got desperate and came up with this plan for quick money. IIRC, there had been at least one previous skyjacking for money in the late '50's in which a guy blew up a plane his mother was on. Whoever D.B. Cooper was, he may have modeled after that, but without the heart for killing all on board.

What is odd is that he would have spent 2 years with the same tie and same loafers. He could have planned this at home with his family without them knowing his plan and how did he know about the money 2 years previously?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What is odd is that he would have spent 2 years with the same tie and same loafers. He could have planned this at home with his family without them knowing his plan and how did he know about the money 2 years previously?

I'm saying maybe the idea never struck him until he found himself living from job to job (no steady job b/c he's living an "underground" life). He gets tired of being poor and wants fast money. In that scenario, it's an idea he wouldn't have conceived of at home with his family--only when he realized his plan to run away wasn't going so smoothly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think so too that he died after jumping off. So sad after all the effort n trouble he did not manage to enjoy the money..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Perhaps he jumped out, parachuted and successfully landed; then blew all his money in a casino in Reno and is living on the streets unrecognizable by anyone because he's grown a beard.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 11 months later...
On ‎11‎/‎27‎/‎2015 at 3:44 AM, kobolds said:

what i don't understand is why he asked for four parachutes ? and don't you think $200,000 is too little ?

In today's dollars that's $ 1.1 million.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.