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Modern Mysteries

FBI gives up on DB Cooper hijacking mystery

By T.K. Randall
July 13, 2016 · Comment icon 29 comments

We may now never know what happened to DB Cooper. Image Credit: PD / US Government
Officials have finally admitted defeat after failing to solve the case of a 1971 airline hijacking.
Described as the 'longest and most exhaustive investigation' in US history, the hunt for the mysterious individual known as DB Cooper has spanned over five decades.

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

During the trip Cooper called over one of the flight attendants and asked them to write out a note declaring that he had a bomb in his briefcase and that the plane was being hijacked.
When the aircraft stopped at Tacoma International Airport he allowed the passengers to leave in exchange for four parachutes and the sum of $200,000 in cash.

After the plane had taken off again, Cooper strapped the bag of money to himself, put on one of the parachutes and jumped out somewhere between Seattle and Reno. No trace of him was ever found.

Some believe that Cooper had perished after jumping from the plane while others believe that he had survived and had used the stolen money to change his identity and disappear off the grid.

Either way the trail has remained cold for years and the FBI have finally given up looking for him.

Source: Russia Today | Comments (29)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #20 Posted by Maureen_jacobs 8 years ago
Still, it is rather impressive the way he pulled it off.  If there were casualties, I may think differently, but it was brilliant!
Comment icon #21 Posted by danielost 8 years ago
doesn't matter anymore if he died then.  he is dead by now.
Comment icon #22 Posted by Maureen_jacobs 8 years ago
True
Comment icon #23 Posted by Merc14 8 years ago
$200,000 in 1971 is worth about $1.2M today
Comment icon #24 Posted by Rinna 8 years ago
For those of you who commented on the cost of finding him versus what he stole, that's an irrelevant point. Im sure the bulk of the money being spent was done at that time. And also, if someone steals your wallet and you only had 50 dollars does that mean that it's not even worth the resources of calling an Officer to come take a report? That's a slippery slope, not even for the victims of crimes, but for criminals who may assume they can get away with certain crimes because it wouldn't be worth the resources to find them.  I read an article about a police officer who put his life at risk by... [More]
Comment icon #25 Posted by Hawkin 8 years ago
The D.B. Cooper mystery definitely is ranked up there with the escapees of Alcatraz- Frank Morris and The Anglin Bros.
Comment icon #26 Posted by MissMelsWell 8 years ago
Not necessarily. He could be in his 70s or 80s. My parents were in their early 20s when DB made his jump and they're not quite 70 yet. We live in Washington, my mother was born in SW Washington so this story was always a topic in our house around the dinner table. I remember the hijacking! and I'm not quite 50 yet  I always hoped he lived. I think he could have. But it's probably pretty unlikely he survived, but I do think it was possible he could have.
Comment icon #27 Posted by Habitat 8 years ago
The parachute was probably a dud !
Comment icon #28 Posted by timewarrior 8 years ago
It was, but you have to realize this was the age before the common computer. . .to verify the money, you had to verify it by hand. . .so unless you suspected a bill. . .you'd have no reason to test it. . .Let's put it this way. . .the average life span for a $20 bill is 7.9 years. . .so less than a decade after the jump. . .if the money had been put into circulation, it would have already been sent back to the treasure and destroyed by now. . .and I doubt the treasury recorded or verify the serial numbers  by hand before burning the bills. . .It would just take too much time and cost too much... [More]
Comment icon #29 Posted by Myles 8 years ago
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/09/08/self-styled-sleuths-sue-fbi-for-db-cooper-files.html


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