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36 Years Later, Hijacker's Fate Still Intrigues

DB Cooper and his $200K parachuted out of plane, into legend

By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff

Posted Nov 24, 2007 10:09 AM CST

(Newser) – The legend was born in 1971. A hijacker who said he had a bomb traded 36 plane passengers for $200,000 and passage to Mexico. The Boeing 727 took off from Sea-Tac Airport, and the man known as DB Cooper parachuted out the back and into history. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer looks at 36 years of theories and false leads.

The case remains America’s only unsolved hijacking. Although Cooper jumped under adverse weather conditions and is generally believed to have died, his body was never found. The idea that he is still alive has become the stuff of folklore, with people alerting the FBI that their brothers, late husbands, and even female friends (following a supposed sex change operation) are Cooper under a new identity.

[Images (3)]

[Videos (1)]

Jerry Thomas checks a map near dense forest land in an area North of the Columbia River in the state of Washington. Skyjacker D.B. Cooper may have parachuted to earth in the region 30 years ago. (KRT Photos)

1972 FBI composite drawing of D. B. Cooper (Public Domain)

An FBI sketch of D.B. Cooper show his possible age progression. (Public Domain)

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D.B. Cooper (backfile (YouTube))

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FBI Closing File on DB Cooper

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(NEWSER) - The case of infamous skyjacker DB Cooper may never be officially solved, but 40 years after the brazen event, the FBI is preparing to close the case anyway, reports the Daily Mail . The woman who stepped forward earlier this year , claiming the notorious Cooper was her late uncle, says that the FBI came to her home to gather more of Dan Cooper's possessions for DNA analysis, after previous attempts to match his DNA failed . She says that the FBI believes her uncle was actually the skyjacker, but even if they can't solve the case conclusively, they will be closing the file soon. The feds aren't talking, but they have called the niece a "credible witness," notes Northwest Cable News. More»

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Woman Says DB Cooper Was Her Uncle

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(NEWSER) - Marla Cooper (yes, Cooper) says she knows the true identity of "skyjacker" DB Cooper: His name was Lynn Doyle Cooper, known to family members as LD, and he was her uncle, Marla tells ABC News . She recalls a suspicious conversation between LD and another uncle she overheard as an 8-year-old while at her grandmother's Oregon home. They "were planning something very mischievous. I was watching them using some very expensive walkie-talkies that they had purchased. They left to supposedly go turkey hunting." More»

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(NEWSER) - The FBI says a parachute found along a dirt road in Washington state didn’t belong to legendary hijacker DB Cooper, the AP reports. After talking to parachute experts and examining the site, agents concluded that the chute wasn’t used in the nation’s only unsolved hijacking. Cooper made away with $200,000 when he jumped off the plane in 1971, but investigators doubt he survived the leap. More»

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36 Years Later, Hijacker's Fate Still Intrigues