What Happened to D. B. Cooper?

Introduction

The popular D. B. Cooper case surrounds a plane hijacking by a man dubbed the fake name of D. B. Cooper. In November 24, 1971, a middle aged man claiming the name of Dan Cooper took a plane from Portland, Oregon's international airport headed one-way to Seattle, Washington - Northwest Airline's flight 305. He gave an envelope containing a handwritten bomb threat to one of the flight attendants, showed her the inside of her briefcase which appeared to contain sticks of dynamite, and demanded $200,000 in cash, two back and two front parachutes, and a fuel truck ready to refuel the plane. After getting what he had asked for, he allowed the passengers and two attendants to exit the plane, then demanded the pilot to fly him to Reno, Nevada. When the flight had landed, Cooper was nowhere to be found. (FBI, 2016)

Following these events, an extensive manhunt took place to find him - but there was not one trace of Cooper or any of the things that he had with him. According to the FBI's official webpage regarding D. B. Cooper, " Calling it NORJAK, for Northwest Hijacking, we interviewed hundreds of people, tracked leads across the nation, and scoured the aircraft for evidence. By the five-year anniversary of the hijacking, we’d considered more than 800 suspects and eliminated all but two dozen from consideration,"(FBI, 2016).

Although not the largest manhunt by any means, even in US history alone, the amount of effort made to track him down that resulted in next to no meaningful conclusions has given this case a considerable amount of infamy. The case had sparked worldwide interest, and even over half a century later there are still a plethora of analyses, theories, and media pieces like high effort YouTube videos being made surrounding the hijacking's events and the manhunt that followed. There have even been movies made about the case, as biography.com states, "The Cooper case has inspired movies, such as the 1981 thriller The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper. Documentaries like the History Channel's D.B. Cooper: Case Closed? and an upcoming project produced by HBO and the BBC have delved into the case," (Biography.com, 2020). In fact, the case had so much outside interest and investigation that the FBI opted to allow the general public to "Help Us Solve the Enduring Mystery," (FBI, 2007) as they work on other unrelated cases.

With so much surrounding the odd case, and with how much intrigue it had brought up, there is a dissapointing amount of closure to the events that had conspired. It all begs the question, what happened to D. B. Cooper?

Dan Cooper

The title of D. B. Cooper had actually come from a mistake by the hands of the media. As mentioned earlier, the criminal had actually gone by Dan Cooper - which, uncoincidentally, is the same name of a French comic book series that was popular at the time. In fact, around the time of the hijacking, the episode pictured above was published - that episode picturing Dan Cooper, similarly to the case following, parachuting down. However, this isn't just some silly detail - this comic was never translated into English, which means that the hijacker had likely spent time overseas, (FBI, 2009). The origins of the hijacker's name also poses one of several problems in finding out what happened to Cooper, in that no one who has come forward knows the true identity of the hijacker.

The Hijacker

Pictured above is the FBI artist rendering of D. B. Cooper, which poses another oddity of how specific his appearance is described and portrayed. Seeing as this is the best investigators have as to his appearance, it is a surprise that narrowing down suspects and actually finding the hijacker has proved difficult. Out of the two dozen aforementioned remaining suspects, there has however been one that stood out and remains a favored suspect among much of the public. This man is Richard McCoy, who was arrested five months later for a similar hijacking and escape not even five months after the original event. However, he was later ruled out as he did not match the descriptions of cooper given by the flight attendants and for "other reasons," (FBI, 2016).

The Reward

According to biography.com, "In 1980, a boy camping with his family found $5,800 buried on the banks of Washington's Columbia River. Serial numbers on the bills linked them to the Cooper case... No bills from Cooper's ransom have been discovered in circulation," (Biography.com, 2020). Pictured above is that found money. This is particularly interesting as the amount of money that Cooper had taken is anything but negligible, and the complete lack of trackable use of any of the money he had gained from the stunt a decade later suggests that something may have happened to him before he could enjoy his spoils.

The Escape Plan

Pictured above is one of the abandoned parachutes and the bag it came in. Out of the four parachutes Cooper had taken with him, one had been sewn shut for the purpose of instruction. Additionally, Cooper was not an expert at skydiving - as demonstrated by how unintelligent taking such a risky jump was. According to FBI Special Agent Carr, "No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch-black night, in the rain, with a 200-mile-an-hour wind in his face, wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky. He also missed that his reserve chute was only for training and had been sewn shut—something a skilled skydiver would have checked," (FBI, 2007).

Conclusion

There is a lot of mystique surrounding the D. B. Cooper hijacking, and it is highly unlikely that any definitive answer as to what happened to Cooper will ever surface. However, despite the infamy of the case, it is highly likely that what actually happened that night is a very disappointing answer. Seeing as one of his two parachutes was incapable of use, that he was an inexperienced skydiver, and considering the conditions of the jump, it is very unlikely that the dive went well. Even if he had managed to successfully dive, Cooper would have no help on the ground either - as he would have had no visibility of the ground, and he had very little coordination with the flight crew to jump at just the right moment and time (FBI, 2007). Following this with the fact that none of the money that was given to the hijacker had ever entered circulation, but rather was partially recovered out of waters a distance away from the possible drop locations, there is a clear possibility that the end of the hijacking was not in Cooper's favor. Additionally, without a name to find him with or any rational suspects that match the detailed appearance description, it is very unlikely that he will be found dead or alive. Because of these key points, it is very likely that D. B. Cooper did not survive the jump from flight 305.

Bibliography

“D.B. Cooper Hijacking.” FBI, May 18, 2016. https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/db-cooper-hijacking.

“D.B. Cooper Redux.” FBI, December 31, 2007. https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2007/december/dbcooper_123107.

“Cooper Gallery.” FBI, November 9, 2011. https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2009/march/in-search-of-d.b.-cooper/cooper-gallery.

“In Search of D.B. Cooper.” FBI, March 17, 2009. https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2009/march/in-search-of-d.b.-cooper.

“D.B. Cooper.” Biography.com, October 27, 2020. https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/db-cooper.