Who Was D.B. Cooper And How Has He Managed To Evade The Police For Years?

Perhaps the greatest mystery in Washington State history is one that has never been solved and still fascinates us today after more than 50 years.

DB Cooper who hijacked 727 from Portland (FBI.gov)
DB Cooper who hijacked 727 from Portland (FBI.gov)
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D.B. Cooper's Mystery Hijacking Remains Unsolved After 50 Years

I'm sure you learned about this case in your Pacific Northwest history class. After all these years, Washington's greatest mystery could be the story of D.B. Cooper.

Here's what we know:

On November 24, 1971, a man who would later become known as D.B. Cooper boarded a flight from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. He calmly handed a note to the flight attendant claiming he had a bomb and demanding $200,000 in ransom money. After receiving the money and parachutes upon landing in Seattle, Cooper released all passengers and instructed the crew to fly to Mexico City at a low altitude with the rear door open.

As the plane flew over Washington State, Cooper disappeared into the night sky never to be seen again. Despite an extensive search operation involving multiple law enforcement agencies and thousands of tips from the public, no trace of D.B. Cooper or his whereabouts was ever found.

By FBI Sketch Artist Roy Rose - FBI.gov, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128841816
By FBI Sketch Artist Roy Rose - FBI.gov, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=128841816
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Numerous theories have emerged regarding what happened to D.B. Cooper after he jumped out of the plane with his ransom money. Some believe he perished during his daring escape while others speculate that he survived and went on to live a quiet life under an assumed identity. Sightings and alleged confessions from individuals claiming to be D.B. Cooper have only added fuel to the mystery surrounding this elusive figure.

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One popular theory suggests that D.B. Cooper may have landed somewhere in rural Washington State, where he buried his parachute and ransom money before disappearing into obscurity. Despite several searches conducted by amateur sleuths and treasure hunters in remote areas of the state, no concrete evidence has ever been found to support this theory.

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An eight-year-old kid in 1980, Brian Ingram did find a bundle of cash totaling $5,800 of ransom money along the Columbia River near Vancouver Washington but no other cash was recovered. Speculation continues to this day on how the money got there.

By FBI - http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec07/dbcooper123107.html (Archived)http://www.fbi.gov/headlines/tiemoney122607.jpg (Archived), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10998031
By FBI - http://www.fbi.gov/page2/dec07/dbcooper123107.html (Archived)http://www.fbi.gov/headlines/tiemoney122607.jpg (Archived), Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10998031
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The case of D.B. Cooper remains one of the greatest mysteries in Washington's history,  The allure of a man who managed to outsmart law enforcement and vanish without a trace continues to fascinate people around the world.

Could this be Washington's greatest mystery? I'd say so.

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