In summary, the DB Cooper case revolves around a mysterious hijacking in 1971. A man using the alias Dan Cooper boarded a plane, demanded a ransom of $200,000 in $20 bills and parachutes, and then parachuted from the plane, disappearing without a trace. Several suspects have been considered, including Richard Floyd McCoy, who had a similar hijacking experience, Duane Weber, who confessed on his deathbed, and Kenneth Christensen, a flight purser with intriguing connections to the case. Despite various leads and investigations, the identity of DB Cooper remains one of the great unsolved mysteries in U.S. history.
1. The case of DB Cooper, a famous unsolved mystery in FBI and US history, was discussed on Busbee.
2. On November 24th, 1971, a man named Dan Cooper, described as being in his mid-40s and wearing a business suit, black rain type overcoat, brown shoes, a white shirt, and a black tie, bought a $20 one-way ticket on Northwest Orient Airlines for a flight from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington.
3. Cooper carried a dark briefcase and a paper bag before the plane took off. He ordered a bourbon and soda on the plane.
4. After the plane took off, Cooper handed a note to the stewardess, stating that he had a bomb in his briefcase and asking her to write down his demands: $200,000 in cash, back parachutes, and a truck ready to refuel when they landed in Seattle.
5. The plane landed in Seattle and Cooper exchanged the 36 passengers on the plane for the money and the parachutes he had requested. Cooper kept some crew members on the plane and had it take off for Mexico City.
6. Cooper jumped out of the rear doors of the Boeing 727 with two of the parachutes and the money, but was never seen again.
7. A peculiar fact is that the initials DB have no actual relevance to the case and the FBI isn't sure where they came from. It was reportedly a mistake from a wire service that caused him to be called DB Cooper instead of Dan Cooper.
8. The charge against Cooper was originally air piracy but that had a five-year statute of limitations. When no suspects were found guilty, a grand jury later indicted Cooper for violating the Hobbs Act.
9. There were several suspects over the first five years of the investigation, including Richard Floyd McCoy, Duane Weber, and Kenneth Christensen. However, the FBI eventually ruled out McCoy and Christensen as suspects.
10. The FBI case file measured 40 feet long and covered more than 1000 suspects. The case was open for 45 years before the FBI finally closed it in 2016.