Unsolved D.B. Cooper

[MC Extra Dollop]

I love this story. D.B. Cooper (an alias) hijacked a plane with a hoax bomb in Washington (state) the early 70s, managed to successfully collect a ransom of $200k and, after releasing his passengers and locking the remaining crew in the cockpit, he opened the aft stairs and parachuted out 'to an unknown fate'. He was never conclusively heard from again and none of the notes taken in the ransom were knowingly passed into circulation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/criminal_mind/scams/DB_Cooper/index.html

Several aspects of this case are fascinating to me, including:

1. Just how brilliant his plan was. He obviously had a great deal of knowledge about aviation (including how long the plane should have taken to refuel), the height and speed at which he could attempt a jump as well as knowing flight paths based on landmarks he went past. He also made canny decisions while extorting his money, including the denominations the notes were to be made in ($20 notes, as higher denominations would be more difficult to pass off, while lower denominations would add too much weight for his jump) and demanding several parachutes be delivered to the plane for his jump, probably to give the impression that he would take a hostage with him (and making it impossible for the authorities to deliver a dummy parachute).

2. Who was he? Imagine if this sort of crime was committed today and how unlikely it would be that a man without much a disguise and such obvious knowledge of the local area would not be conclusively identified by anyone more than 40 years later.

3. What happened to him? The FBI says the money he extorted was never spent, but it was probably in their interest to say that, back in a day when there was practically nothing to stop anyone from hijacking a plane. Only scraps of the money, and hardly any trace of D.B. Cooper, has ever been found.

 

[Predator35]

His name was actually Dan Cooper. A mix up with the media release and it became D.B Cooper.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

His name was actually Dan Cooper. A mix up with the media release and it became D.B Cooper.

Quite right...I forgot that.

I think another thing that people like about this is that, compared to most other crime mysteries, it was a relatively victimless crime, with even the flight attendants saying that Cooper was extremely courteous and respectful.

 

[exe ex machina]

Glad someone posted this one. It too is one of my all-time favorite stories.

 

[PAdman]

i love this story, truly fascinating.

the only thing the fbi know about dan cooper is this sketch

i'd love to be a fly on the wall in that plane to see how he pulled it off, easily one of the greatest escapes ever committed.

 

[vast]

I have read a bit about this guy. But they never mentioned his nationality so I assume he is American, surely he had a special forces/army background to pull this off and it wouldn't have been impossible to narrow down people with the relevant training and expertise. But I guess that just adds to the mystery.

There was a man called Duane Weber who confessed on his deathbed to his wife that he was Dan Cooper, from what I have read they haven't been able to rule him out.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

I have read a bit about this guy. But they never mentioned his nationality so I assume he is American, surely he had a special forces/army background to pull this off and it wouldn't have been impossible to narrow down people with the relevant training and expertise. But I guess that just adds to the mystery.

Tough to say. For example, there was an extremely similar hijacking successfully carried out by a man named Richard McCoy shortly after. McCoy was a former green beret and a skydiver, who ended up getting arrested. He was jailed for 45 years, escaped and was shot dead by police. People have speculated that McCoy was Cooper, however McCoy (besides being about 15 years younger than Cooper's estimated age) apparently showed much greater expertise with the skydiving aspect than Cooper, who actually chose an inferior parachute from the assortment he was given. He certainly had a high-level of knowledge about the local area, but maybe he picked up a lot of the knowledge about the plane and jumping from it from independent research (books etc.)? The parachute mistake was apparently an error that someone with McCoy's level of knowledge wouldn't have made. Or is that just another way Cooper intended to throw people off the scent?

Another clue that people draw different conclusions from is the discovery of $5,800 of the ransom money near the Columbia River, almost ten years after Cooper's jump. Many point to this as conclusive proof that he didn't survive the jump. Others suggest that if you had just made 200k and wanted to avoid detection, wouldn't it be wise to dump a few thousand to make the authorities think that you weren't alive?

 

[thejester]

Quality song about the hijacking, which happened just a little way from Snider's house.

Personally think the odds are that he's dead, given the conditions and the inherent risk in parachuting. But who knows? Pretty amazing either way.

 

[Aussie Assault]

I never knew anything about this story until Without a Paddle was released.

 

[Selective Retention]

^^^ Prison Break.

 

[Stratton_Gun]

Just reading up on this now.
Very interesting

 

[Rack Watts]

Yeah, I only heard about this on Prison Break, until now I thought it was fiction!
I am totally doing some research on this now, fascinating.
Like a movie but real life, especially seeing as how he was "respectful and courteous" to the people on the plane.

 

[exe ex machina]

Another clue that people draw different conclusions from is the discovery of $5,800 of the ransom money near the Columbia River, almost ten years after Cooper's jump. Many point to this as conclusive proof that he didn't survive the jump. Others suggest that if you had just made 200k and wanted to avoid detection, wouldn't it be wise to dump a few thousand to make the authorities think that you weren't alive?

He clearly (imo) survived. If he crash-landed, the entire money and a body would've been discovered. If he somehow survived for a little while, hobbling around on a broken leg or something, with other internal injuries, he would've eventually been found dead, and/or the bag of money found as he left it behind to try and make it to a hospital or give them impression he wasnt the same person who hijacked a plane when seeking medical help.

In short, at some point that day or a few days after, if he died during or after the fall, the entire bag of money at the minimum wouldve been found. Not a small portion of.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

He clearly (imo) survived. If he crash-landed, the entire money and a body would've been discovered. If he somehow survived for a little while, hobbling around on a broken leg or something, with other internal injuries, he would've eventually been found dead, and/or the bag of money found as he left it behind to try and make it to a hospital or give them impression he wasnt the same person who hijacked a plane when seeking medical help.

In short, at some point that day or a few days after, if he died during or after the fall, the entire bag of money at the minimum wouldve been found. Not a small portion of.

The 'what happened to the rest of the money?' question is obviously one of the biggies in this mystery. There have been massive rewards offered for just one of the notes with a matching serial number and, apart from the original find, none have been produced. I think you can go online and check the serial numbers. But is that evidence that he died, or he lived? Would sitting in the river for several years have caused enough disintegration to the rest of the notes that they could not have been identified as money, while the $5,800, while significantly damaged, was somehow preserved? The Mount St. Helens eruption happened only a few weeks after the money was found, resulting in a huge dumping of ash and spotfires in the area.

I think the facts of the case and the aftermath at least suggest that, regardless of Cooper's fate, he acted alone.

 

[ioppolo]

Ah yes, D.B. Cooper, one of my all time favourite mysteries for sure!

 

[Stratton_Gun]

Episode of Numb3rs relating to this episode on TV1 now!!

 

[Predator35]

Episode of Numb3rs relating to this episode on TV1 now!!

Just watching it now.

 

[Glenno23]

DB was referenced in "Without a Paddle" a relatively average film with Seth Green in it

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

DB was referenced in "Without a Paddle" a relatively average film with Seth Green in it

Sounds like a winner...

Always good to read the comments on the Crime Library articles about these sort of unsolved crimes...they will quickly make you feel like an absolute genius.

"I want to no why no one has ever thought that he never left the plane in the first place.. that's my own personal opinion.. ive actually done a decent amount of research on this and no where does anything say about the search of the plane! I think he faked the jump with the other 3 parachutes as weight and then hid in the plane till everyone was gone! anyone?"

I wonder if these people actually play these scenarios out in their heads?

 

[Glenno23]

Sounds like a winner...

Always good to read the comments on the Crime Library articles about these sort of unsolved crimes...they will quickly make you feel like an absolute genius.

"I want to no why no one has ever thought that he never left the plane in the first place.. that's my own personal opinion.. ive actually done a decent amount of research on this and no where does anything say about the search of the plane! I think he faked the jump with the other 3 parachutes as weight and then hid in the plane till everyone was gone! anyone?"

I wonder if these people actually play these scenarios out in their heads?

It also had Dax Shepherd in it and that bloke who played Shaggy in the live action Scooby Doo films. Along with Seth, they were the 3 lead characters

Convinced to see it yet?

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

It also had Dax Shepherd in it and that bloke who played Shaggy in the live action Scooby Doo films. Along with Seth, they were the 3 lead characters

Convinced to see it yet?

I actually always thought Matt Lillard was quality in everything I saw him in and he should have had a much better career than he did (seriously).

 

[Ed_Gein]

Interesting read. I'd heard of him before, but hadn't known a lot of the story until reading a majority of the wiki article (will have to get around to the rest later). It does seem like he had done some extensive planning or had a military background like mentioned above, which a lot of the suspects in the article seem to have. I wonder how much of an effect pretty much searching the wrong area would of had on the efforts to find him.

Not sure how he would have gotten away with staying on the plane, it does say they searched the plane after it landed in Reno, Nevada and he was nowhere to be seen. But then again, there were planes following the hijacked aircraft, yet no-one seen him jump. Makes you wonder, but i think the money found in Washougal River would put that to rest.

 

[justlookingaround]

Absolutely love this case... although, this article did a pretty good job of convincing me it was all but solved.

 

[vast]

Absolutely love this case... although, this article did a pretty good job of convincing me it was all but solved.

Surely then was a better picture of her uncle than that and whats with the angle? Also that sketch of DB Cooper reminds me of sean connery's james bond. I guess it was a bond like stunt.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Not sure how he would have gotten away with staying on the plane, it does say they searched the plane after it landed in Reno, Nevada and he was nowhere to be seen. But then again, there were planes following the hijacked aircraft, yet no-one seen him jump. Makes you wonder, but i think the money found in Washougal River would put that to rest.

There is no way. The plane would have been under constant guard, until agents had combed every square cm of it for anything that could bring them closer to the suspect. So the suggestion that Cooper could have just stashed himself under a seat, or in an overhead locker and then wandered off after their backs were turned, is laughable. Part of what made his jump so dangerous was what also gave him a great advantage in avoiding detection from tailing planes: A very dark stormy night, in driving rain. They were also tailing him in fighter jets, which were practically useless in the slow speeds that he ordered 727 to fly.

Absolutely love this case... although, this article did a pretty good job of convincing me it was all but solved.

Not saying Lynn Doyle Cooper isn't an extremely viable suspect, but I don't think he's any more or less of a standout (yet) than a number of others. It's never a good sign when words like 'solved' and 'matching' are in quotation marks.