D.B. Cooper is the most well-known unsolved mystery in the history of United States. On the 24th of November 1971, a man who went by the name of Dan Cooper on an airplane on a flight originating from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. On the plane, the man said he had a bomb and demanded four parachutes, a fuel truck in Seattle, and $200,000 in ransom.
As soon as the aircraft touched down, he returned the passengers and obtained the ransom and the parachutes. He then directed the crew members to fly toward Mexico with a scheduled fuel stop along the way. During the course of the flight, between Seattle and Reno, Nevada, the hijacker bailed out of the aircraft via the rear stairs.
He was never conclusively found.
More than 50 years after the D.B. Cooper case, it continues to enthrall people. No one has been able to successfully identify the hijacker, despite the extensive investigation, thousands of interviews, and many suspects.
Who Was D.B. Cooper?
Cooper became the nickname of the man, identified by investigators as D.B. Cooper, although they later said his real name was “Dan Cooper,” the name he used on his flight ticket.
On November 24, 1971, the man bought a one-way ticket on Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305. He looked like a normal businessman donning a dark suit, white shirt, and tie.
He tried to give a note to a flight attendant shortly after takeoff. “I have a bomb in my bag,” he said and showed her what looked like a bomb in his briefcase.He wanted four parachutes and $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills. The amount of money was a large sum then, and equal to a large ransom.
His demands were met by the airline and authorities. In Seattle, Cooper collected the ransom and parachutes.
The Hijacking of Flight 305
Of the 36 passengers on Flight 305 and its crew of six, after the demanding letter from Cooper was received, the pilots were ordered to the airport in Seattle.
When the plane landed, authorities delivered the ransom money and parachutes. Cooper permitted all of the passengers and a flight attendant to disembark.
On board were only Cooper, the pilots, a flight attendant, and one other crew member.
Next, Cooper ordered the pilot to take the plane in the direction of Mexico City at a slow speed and relatively low altitude. The plane had to refuel before continuing so the pilot would make a stop in Reno.
And finally… The plane was back in the air with Cooper still aboard.
The Mysterious Escape
In the second phase of the flight, Cooper remained in the back of the Boeing 727. The aircraft leveled off sometime around 8:13 p.m., which is indicative of the use of the rear stairs.
The men eventually brought their plane down in the state of Reno. The searchers inspected the plane, but Coop was missing.
His parachute descent had occurred somewhere above the Pacific Northwest, but the precise location was never confirmed.
The sky was overcast, it was dark and the area beneath consisted of woodland and difficult country. All these factors made it very difficult to search.
Nevertheless, even after exhaustive searching, Cooper was not located.
The FBI Investigation
The Feds began a wide-ranging investigation (called NORJAK)-“Northwest Hijacking.”
Evidence test results led police to fingerprint and analyze physical evidence, question witnesses, and follow up on thousands of tips. Many individuals were eventually investigated as suspects.
The FBI had also issued a notice about Cooper and asked for the public’s help.
The biggest piece of evidence used to identify the hijacker was the ransom money. Cooper was paid in $200,000 in a stack of twenty-dollar bills, which had serial numbers recorded.
Authorities had hoped all along that the marked bills would turn up, anyway.
The Discovery of the Ransom Money
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(That totaled $5,800 and was part of the ransom paid to Cooper.)
This led to the importance of the discovery in the case.
But it left the most important questions unanswered. The police did not know if Cooper had survived the parachute jump or what was done with the rest of the money.
The place where the money was located led to further speculation concerning the possible area where Cooper might have landed.
The Cooper Suspects]
Many theories have been put forward over the years by investigators and armchair detectives as to who D.B. Cooper was.
A few of the men have been identify more than others in the case. One such man was Richard Floyd McCoy, who was another airplane hijacker in 1972 and had a parachute with him when he fled.
However, the investigators found discrepancies between McCoy and the cooper’s description from the witnesses. McCoy said he was not cooper and he was not positively identify as the hijacker.
A third common suspect was Kenneth Christiansen, a former employee of Northwest Airlines who was also a military parachutist. Others speculate that information in the case fit parts of Christiansen’s life history, although he was never officially identify as the hijacker.
Other candidates have been suggest, but none has been definitively identify as D.B. Cooper.
Did D.B. Cooper Survive?
One of the most pressing questions of the case is whether or not he survived the jump.
There are arguments on both sides.
Cooper had requested parachutes and had some prior knowledge of flying, but he apparently jumped at night and in adverse weather conditions and lacked suitable gear and clothing for a landing.
The money that was found years later proved that some of the ransom survived for years, but it is not clear what happen to Cooper.
A body, parachute or full collection of the ransom money has never been recover.
Why the Case Became a Mystery
The D.B. Cooper enigma remains in the spotlight because of its convergence of intriguing clues and mysteries.
No confirmed identity. No confirmed landing. No confirmed body. No solid answer as to what became of the ransom.
The incident was also one of many that took place at a time when commercial aircraft security was much more lenient.
Cooper’s escape grew into a media frenzy. Magazines, books, radio and TV shows, podcasts, and websites have all posed theories about who he was and where he went.
But many theories are only one piece of circumstantial evidence.
The FBI Ends Its Active Investigation
2016: For the first time in decades, the FBI said in 2016 it was shifting its focus of resources away from the active investigation into the D.B. Cooper case.
The agency had sifted through thousands of pieces of evidence and followed up on scores of leads.
While the active investigation was closed, the case is still one of America’s most famous unsolve mysteries. New evidence that might directly identify Cooper could potentially alter the course of history.
The Legacy of D.B. Cooper
- D. B. Cooper has become one of the most iconic crime stories in American popular culture.
- What makes this case unique is that the man involved vanished immediately after killing someone, and his identity and whereabouts remain unknown to this day.
- The enigma has attracted the curiosity of generations of reporters, researchers, authors, and amateur sleuths. Each new hypothesis seeks to answer the same set of questions: Who was D.B.
- Cooper?
- Did he make it?
- Where did he land?
- And who ended up with the stolen bounty?
The questions remain today, more than 50 years after the hijacking.
Conclusion
D.B. Cooper’s story remains one of the most fascinating unsolved mysteries in American history. In 1971, a man using the name Dan Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305, demanded a ransom, and parachuted from the aircraft into the darkness. Despite one of the largest investigations by the FBI, his identity and ultimate fate were never conclusively establish.
The discovery of some ransom money years later provided another clue, but it did not solve the mystery. Whether Cooper survived the jump, lost the money, or escaped under a new identity remains unknown. More than five decades later, the D.B. Cooper case continues to raise questions—and his disappearance remains an enduring mystery.