FBI Gives Up Trying to Identify D.B. Cooper

[Don Wassall]

D.B. Cooper was a legendary outlaw who successfully hijacked an airplane in 1971, demanded and received $200,000 and parachutes and then bailed from the plane over southwest Washington and was never captured or identified. $6,000 of his money was found by a young boy in 1980.

The FBI is officially closing the case after 45 years.

The History Channel had an interesting two-part show on Cooper recently, detailing several possible suspects. It was easy for "Cooper" to buy his ticket in '71 (for a mere $20) using a fake name. Little to no security back then even though lots of domestic flights were being hijacked to Cuba. It was one of the most fascinating crimes in U.S. history, especially because the perp was never identified much less caught, despite the intense interest and investigation that took place for decades after by both the fedgov and private individuals.

 

[Flint]

Ah yes the crack investigators at the FBI

 

[celticdb15]

So what's everyone's opinion on what happened to him?! Did he live on to spend the money he stole, or did he die a lonely death in a Washington State forrest? One of life's great unsolved mysteries. I've always been Interested in this storyline !

 

[Romosexual]

So what's everyone's opinion on what happened to him?! Did he live on to spend the money he stole, or did he die a lonely death in a Washington State forrest? One of life's great unsolved mysteries. I've always been Interested in this storyline !

Imo the odds are he died, the package of bills would indicate that he died on landing and his cargo fell into a river, probably being washedup and buried under silt at the dam further downriver , his body eaten by animals, even if he was an experienced parachutist airspeed, darkness, wooded landing, makes it extremely risky

 

[Don Wassall]

Imo the odds are he died, the package of bills would indicate that he died on landing and his cargo fell into a river, probably being washedup and buried under silt at the dam further downriver , his body eaten by animals, even if he was an experienced parachutist airspeed, darkness, wooded landing, makes it extremely risky

I tend to agree with that. If he survived the jump, why would he have left some of the money behind? On the other hand, given the extensive searching done for him, it's odd that at least his parachute wasn't found and no sign of a corpse or at least scattered bones. If he survived he would have buried the parachute, making it very difficult to find.

Also, the FBI photographed and knew the serial number of every bill he was given, so he wouldn't have been able to spend the money for long anyway.

 

[Average American]

There was a cool 1979 episode of 'In Search of..' on the Dan (D B) Cooper case. It's been uploaded to YouTube..
It's a compelling mystery. Thing that's always tripped me out, is how invisible DB seemingly was. The composite sketch depicted a very ordinary look, but was very detailed. Hard to believe not a single neighbor, co-worker, or relative made a positive ID.. If he did die, even single & childless, seems like a neighbor or relative would've noticed his sudden absence, the Cooper case was high profile.. and someone would've made the connection & felt comfortable ID'ing Cooper.
I'm thinking he could've survived, been on some kind of hiatus, where he could grow a beard & his hair out some before he headed back into his daily routine. Then there would've been no long term disappearance that would stand out in the minds of his neighbors, relatives, etc.. And he wouldn't be walking around looking like the composite anymore.

As far as the $, a man that savvy probably assumed it would be unusable and didn't care (?) To him, the heist/experiment was rewarding in itself.. Other thoughts (?).. cool topic.

 

[The Hock]

He's hanging out with that Russian guy from the Sopranos.

 

[Flint]

I think the whole episode was a false flag black op. Notice how unusual it is that they didn't find a trace of the money or the thief. That's because it didn't happen!! The FBI faked it and used the cash to finance the Watergate fiasco. Wake up people!!!

 

[FootballDad]

I think the whole episode was a false flag black op. Notice how unusual it is that they didn't find a trace of the money or the thief. That's because it didn't happen!! The FBI faked it and used the cash to finance the Watergate fiasco. Wake up people!!!

Not to worry, your pal Werewolf is on the case!

 

[Nelson]

In Search Of, a great series. Why don't shows like that last 27 years instead of crap like The Simpsons? Fortunately there's endless material on any such mystery online today, e.g. in Youtube.

Alas, no scenario makes complete sense on "Cooper". A hoax or false flag would merely embarrass all the authorities from the USG to airlines.

 

[GWTJ]

I think the guy made it. It's easy to presume he died but how did the authorities not find him with the huge manhunts and sniffing dogs. These cases cool off after a pretty quick time and they had no leads to work with. I've always said that the criminal who doesn't get greedy can avoid capture in most cases. Also, the government would like us to think he didn't make it but like the guys who escaped from Alcatraz(they did successfully escape), there isn't a shred of evidence that says he(they) didn't make it.

 

[white is right]

While I think he died and the money decayed over the years. If he did escape with the equivalent of 1 million in todays money in that era it was much easier to go underground. ID's weren't electronic and virtually nothing beyond passports had photos. It would have been quite easy to blend in a sleepy town in middle America.

Ps many criminals did this and have been captured recently on slip ups with computer records not finding their original ID entered into a data base.