What do you think ever happened to D.B. Cooper?

[Shell Beau]

D. B. Cooper is the name used to refer to a famous airplane hijacker who, after receiving a ransom payout of $200,000, leaped from the back of a Boeing 727 as it was flying over the Pacific Northwest. No conclusive evidence has ever surfaced regarding Cooper's whereabouts, and several theories offer competing explanations of what happened after his famed jump. The only clues to have turned up in the case are ambiguous: around $5,000 that washed up on the banks of the Columbia River, and part of a sign believed to be from the rear stairway of the plane from which Cooper jumped. The nature of Cooper's escape and the uncertainty of his fate continue to intrigue people. Today, the D.B. Cooper case remains the world's only unsolved skyjacking


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper

[Zuni]

1. perhaps he died

if he survived, it is one of the greatest crimes ever committed.

now look up Kaspar Hauser. That is one of my favorite historical mysteries

[Shell Beau]

4. I just read up on it and it is very fascinating!!

I had never even heard of him until now!! :o

[tyedyeto]

2. Here's an article that is related

Skyjacker at large
A Florida widow thinks she has found him


BY DOUGLAS PASTERNAK

It was the day before Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, 1971. As Northwest Airlines Flight 305, from Portland, Ore., to Seattle, sped along the runway preparing for takeoff, the man in Seat 18C, wearing sunglasses and a dark suit, handed a flight attendant a note. It said he had a bomb and threatened to blow up the Boeing 727 unless he received $200,000 cash and four parachutes when the plane landed. The man in Seat 18C purchased his ticket under the name "Dan Cooper."

After receiving his booty at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, the man released the 36 passengers and two members of the flight crew. He ordered the pilot and remaining crew to fly to Mexico. At 10,000 feet, with winds gusting at 80 knots and a freezing rain pounding the airplane, Dan Cooper–mistakenly identified as D.B. Cooper by a reporter–walked down the rear stairs and parachuted into history.

What followed was one of the most extensive and expensive manhunts in the annals of American crime. For five months, federal, state, and local police combed dense hemlock forests north of Portland. D.B. Cooper became an American folk icon–the inspiration for books, rock songs, and even a 1981 movie. Over the past three decades, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has investigated more than 1,000 "serious suspects" along with assorted crackpots and deathbed confessors. Most–but not all–have been ruled out. The case was back in the news just last month when FBI agents investigated a skull discovered nearly 20 years ago along the Columbia River. It turned out to belong to a woman, possibly an American Indian. Today, the D.B. Cooper case remains the world's only unsolved skyjacking.

In March 1995, a Florida antique dealer named Duane Weber lay dying of polycystic kidney disease in a Pensacola hospital. He called his wife, Jo, to his bed and whispered: "I'm Dan Cooper." Jo, who had learned in 17 years of marriage not to pry too deeply into Duane's past, had no idea what her secretive husband meant. Frustrated, he blurted out: "Oh, let it die with me!" Duane died 11 days later. Jo sold his van two months after his death. The new owner discovered a wallet hidden in the overhead console. It contained a U.S. Navy "bad conduct discharge" in Duane's name and a Social Security card and prison-release form from the Missouri State Penitentiary, in the name of "John C. Collins." Duane had told Jo that he had served time for burglary under the name John Collins. Still, says Jo, a real-estate agent in Pace, Fla., Duane rarely spoke of his past. "His life started with me, and that was it," she says.

more
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/cooper.htm

[In_The_Wind]

3. I'd like to believe he made it.

Good morning Shell Beau.

[Shell Beau]

5. Good morning!!

:hi:
It was certainly a daring attempt. I'm not sure what I believe. It seems so hard to believe that he could survive, but he was also very skilled! :shrug:

[tyedyeto]

9. I always did think he survived

then thumbed his nose (in a quiet way) at the rest of those who tried to solve the mystery.

[Omphaloskepsis]

6. Haha.. I just put this on del.icio.us a few days ago....

http://del.icio.us/johnpowell/history%2BWikipedia

[Shell Beau]

7. Ha! He must be on our minds for a reason!

:)

[Omphaloskepsis]

8. Prison Break on Fox has a character..

That is supposed to be D.B. Cooper. I imagine that is the source of our interest.

[Shell Beau]

10. I've never seen Prison Break!

I have only recently heard of it while watching a commercial!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

11. I saw part of some show on Discovery or The History Channel

or something this weekend on DB Cooper.

Weird...

[Shell Beau]

12. I have seen a documentary type of show about him

on Discovery before. That is really how I know of D.B. Cooper b/c I wasn't born when this happened! It is really fascinating. I didn't know it was on this weekend though! :o

[Zomby Woof]

13. His innards smashed into the mountains

If you ever flew over the Cascade range of southern WA, you'd know that a man wearing a basic shirt, pair of slacks, and loafers would never make it. It's easy for scattered remains to never be found in that wild country... the home of Mt. St. Helens.

[Shell Beau]

14. It does seem very hard to believe that he would

survive. He was very skilled and knowledgeable, but he was up against some tough terrain!!

:hi: :)

[Zomby Woof]

15. The freezing rain and 80 knot winds...

Probably killed him well before impact.

I could combine his disappearance with the best Pacific Northwest myth yet: Sasquatch. Maybe Bigfoot got him! :evilgrin:

Americans have a deep romance with criminal outlaw myths, and Cooper was a modern one.

Of course, some people believe Jim Morrison isn't dead, but actually an undercover CIA agent. :tinfoilhat: Seriously.

[Shell Beau]

17. LOL!!

People want to believe that he made it. But it is very likely that he did die. Maybe from jumping from the plane, maybe from the impact, maybe some other way.

Now, Jim Morrison being in the CIA, I have never heard that one!! :rofl:

[Zomby Woof]

20. It's one of the great urban legends of rock

His Dad (who is still alive) was a well-connected admiral in the Navy, with Pentagon ties. The story goes that Jim was fed up with the decadence of his life, and asked ol' Dad to bail him out... LOL!

WHY anyone would believe this is beyond me, but then I don't do any druge stronger than aspirin. :D

[enigami]

16. Bear Crap

He ended up bear crap I think

[Shell Beau]

18. Interesting!! And very possible!

:o

[underpants]

19. Actually he became a PAC 10 head football coach

to this day no one on the East Coast has seen him again.

[flvegan]

21. Currently, a Wal Mart associate.

Specifically, sporting goods department.

I mean, how far would $195,000 go?

Maybe he ran to Mexico where it would go further.

[Shell Beau]

22. At that time $200,000 was a whole lot of money. Today,

that is like chump change! (chump change I wish I had, but still)

:)

[flvegan]

23. Exactly.

I can't imagine he's stayed wealthy since then. I guess he could've laundered it, or something, and then invested it.

Maybe he bought a big chunk of land in the middle of nowhere.

[Tikki]

24. Well, he changed his name to B. D. Cooper and...

successfully recovered the money with which he started a para-sailing business and bought a big old house in the Columbia Gorge...In the early 1980's he turned his property into a quaint B&B....

He sold the businesses in 1997 and retired, comfortably, to a small village in the Baja 0f Mexico where he suffers, sporadically , from a mild case of gout.

[DrGonzoLives]

25. *splat*

n/t