On November 24, 1971, a middle-aged man by the name of Dan Cooper, aka DB Cooper, used cash to buy a flight from Portland International Airport to Seattle, Washington.
How DB Cooper Executed the Hijacking
Once in the air, Cooper handed a flight attendant a note that claimed he had a bomb in his briefcase. After showing what looked to be a bomb to the flight attendant, he requested $200,000 and some parachutes when they landed in Seattle. The pilots relayed the message from Cooper to air traffic controllers in Seattle and it was agreed upon. When they landed, the other airline guests were directed to leave the plane. Cooper was given the money and parachutes, the plane refueled, and it took back off, heading towards Reno, Nevada.
How DB Cooper Escaped
At some point in the time between when they took off from Seattle to when they landed in Reno, Cooper had jumped off the plane with the money. With nobody in the main cabin of the plane, there was no way of knowing when exactly he made the jump. To this day, he has never been caught. However, since the hijacking, there was an interesting discovery by a young boy that could provide some clues to his fate.
What May Have Happened to DB Cooper
According to the FBI website on the case, many people have thought that Cooper just never survived the jump. This theory got an added boost in 1980 when a young boy discovered a rotting bag full of money in the woods. The approximately $5,800 worth of $20 bills found in the bag matched the serial numbers from the ransom money. There have been numerous suspects throughout the years as well, but all came up empty when investigated further.
Possible Suspects
More recently, a man by the name of Lyle Christensen believes that his brother, Kenny Christiansen was the infamous hijacker. He claims that Kenny tried confessing to him on his deathbed about the hijacking. Aside from that, Kenny bought a house with all cash in 1972 despite his low NORTHWEST AIRLINES flight attendant salary!
What do you guys think? Are there other suspects out there that you think did it?