What did D. B. Cooper do?
D. B. Cooper is the alias of a man who hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft, Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, on the 24th of November 1971. The flight was from Portland, Oregon, and it was heading to Seattle, Washington. These were the days when you didn’t need identification to board a plane, making the hijacker’s plan much easier.
The man got the attention of a flight attendant and told her he was armed with a bomb and demanded $200,000 in ransom, and also requested parachutes when they landed in Seattle. The aircraft was refuelled and his money was handed over, and a second flight took off to Mexico City. However, soon after take-off, the man parachuted off the aircraft, never to be seen again.
What happened in the investigation?
Fast forward to 1980, and the police were none the wiser about the identity of the man who parachuted from the aircraft, but they did receive their first clue. A small portion of the ransom money was discovered on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington.
45 years after the hijacking, the FBI had kept the investigation open, but they have never come to any definitive conclusions about the case. However, the FBI didn’t think Cooper survived the parachute jump. In July 2016, the FBI officially suspended the active investigation, but this hasn’t stopped the media, investigators and armchair sleuths looking into the mysterious case, with theories about Cooper’s identity persisting.
Where is D. B. Cooper now?
Nobody knows who or where the man known as D. B. Cooper is now, but speculation on his identity hasn’t stopped despite the crime taking place over 50 years ago.
The latest line of inquiry links to a microscopic metal fragment found on the tie of the hijacker, which was left on the aircraft. Private investigator Eric Ulis thinks this could help to finally reveal the true identity of D. B. Cooper.
What do you think about the mysterious case D. B. Cooper? Let us know in the comments below.