Mysterious disappearances: Where is DB Cooper?

DB Cooper is one of the few successful ransom robbers in the US and has been able to hide his whereabouts to this day.

In 1971, a man who claimed to be Dan Cooper stole a passenger plane from Oregon to Seattle, USA. In Seattle, he agreed to release 36 passengers in exchange for a cash amount of $ 200,000. After receiving the money, he asked the crew for the plane to take off south and then suddenly parachute with all the ransom money. Since then, no one has seen this man again, according New York Times.

After 45 years, in 2016, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) decided not to pursue the search for Cooper anymore. Until now, his whereabouts are still a big question.

Portrait of DB Cooper. Photo: FBI.

Nobody knows who Cooper really is or someone who does, but refuses to speak. The FBI describes Cooper as an “information-free” object. At the time of the daring robbery, he seemed to be over 40 years old. If yes and now Cooper is still alive, then he is over 90 years old. In the media, he is often referred to as “DB Cooper”.

On November 24, 1971, “Dan Cooper” approached the Northwest Orient Airlines ticketing counter in Portland, Oregon, wearing a business suit and carrying a suitcase. The man paid for a one-way ticket on a flight numbered 305 to Seattle and this was the beginning of “one of the biggest unknown disappearances in the history of the FBI.”

Cooper was described by witnesses as a “quiet” man. He ordered a glass of bourbon and soda while he waited for the plane to take off. When the plane was in the air, after three o’clock in the afternoon, from seat 18C, he handed the flight attendant a small piece of paper saying he had a bomb in his suitcase. The hostess takes note of his request, 4 sets of parachutes and $ 200,000 in cash including $ 20 dollars, and then passes it to the captain.

In Seattle, Cooper releases passengers for money and parachutes. When the exchange ended, he made the crew take off again, heading for Mexico City. Cooper also ordered the aircraft not to fly more than 10,000 feet (3,048m).

After 8:00 pm, while the plane was somewhere between Seattle and Reno, he suddenly jumped off the tail of the plane with the ransom in a wooded area and disappeared. All that’s left is just his tie with a clip.

The mission to life of “Dan Cooper” is the subject of lucrative exploitation of American popular culture. It is so dramatic that it has become a source of writing inspiration for many authors, directors and composers. But unanswered questions must be patched up by guesswork.

In 1980, a boy found a rotten $ 20 bank on the Columbia River worth $ 5,800 matching the ransom serial number assigned to Cooper by the authorities. If measured in terms of inflation, the ransom of $ 200,000 in 1971 would be equivalent to about $ 1.2 million today. It is not clear what happened with the remaining money.

The FBI said it interviewed hundreds of people, followed countless leads across the country, and scrutinized the plane for evidence. Five years after the robbery, the FBI examined 800 suspects. Like newspaper New York Times reported in 2011, FBI files on the case to more than 12 meters long, cataloging more than 1,000 suspects.

At one point the FBI believed that the jump killed Cooper. At that time, snow covered the mountains in the area, which was unfavorable for any skydiving, especially at night. It was a cold night, the clothes Cooper wore was not warm enough and since then, no notes of money given to Cooper have been circulated by the authorities.

One of the suspects questioned is Richard Floyd McCoy. He committed a similar robbery and also escaped with even five months after Cooper’s flight. But McCoy was identified as not Cooper for not matching the descriptions provided by the flight attendant and for other undisclosed reasons.

The plane robbery carried out by DB Cooper is a prime example of the beginning of the era of hijacking. By the mid-1970s, at least 150 aircraft had been robbed in the US alone.

The FBI said that even if it no longer pursues the investigation, “countless items” that it has collected over the years will still be preserved for historic purposes at the agency’s headquarters. Residents can still contact the FBI if there are specific leads.