D.B. Cooper Mystery Gains New Attention

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stepped up its efforts to solve a mystery that has long eluded the law enforcement agency. More than 30 years ago, a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines plane flying from Portland, Oregon to Seattle Washington.

Using what he claimed was a briefcase bomb, Cooper traded the plane's passengers for several parachutes and $200,000 in cash, then jumped from the rear of the plane as it flew from Seattle toward Mexico City, Mexico. Cooper was never seen or heard from again. What happened to him has been the subject of much speculation, inquiry, and a 1981 movie starring Treat Williams called "The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper." Earlier this year, New York Magazine did a special report on the case and identified a new suspect that could have been the famed Cooper.

CrimeLibrary.com, a research resource purchased by Court-TV in 2000, says the D.B. Cooper case is different from other famous crimes because no innocent bystanders got hurt and because there was only "modest collateral damage" to the airline's financial standing. The CrimeLibrary web site says that Cooper was responsible for the introduction of several new air travel security regulations, including the screening of air travel passengers.

The FBI says that new technologies have given the case a jump start, despite the fact that literally thousands of tips have been followed up on without any success thus far. FBI Special Agent Carr of the Seattle FBI office is the case agent for the Cooper hijacking, and he has his doubts about whether or not Cooper survived his infamous jump. In a statement on the FBI's web site, Agent Carr says, "Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open."

Besides the FBI, several novice investigators and private detectives have attempted to solve the mystery of D.B. Cooper. Some of the more prominent suspects have included Richard McCoy, who committed a similar crime after the Cooper hijacking, and Duane Weber, who told his wife shortly before his death that he was Cooper, and Kenneth Christiansen, whose brother was convinced his sibling was the notorious criminal. Despite the efforts, the answer to what happened to Dan Cooper remains unknown, and the legend will continue until the FBI, or someone else is able to provide some closure.

Sources: Federal Bureau of Investigation web site, CrimeLibrary.com web site, New York Magazine web site