Who was DB Cooper? FBI gives up on plane-hijacking mystery

The FBI is no longer actively investigating the man known as "DB Cooper", ending a 45-year search for the mysterious skyjacker whose story has fascinated millions.

On 24 November 1971, a plane travelling between Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, was hijacked by a man claiming to have a bomb in his suitcase and identifying himself as Dan Cooper – reported as DB Cooper, due a media misunderstanding. He demanded $200,000, four parachutes and a refuel.

After landing in Seattle and receiving the ransom money and parachutes, Cooper, who reportedly remained calm and polite during the hijacking, released the passengers and most of the crew, keeping the pilots, flight engineer and a steward. He then ordered them to take off and head towards Mexico City.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Cooper parachuted out of the plane, with his money, at some point between Seattle and Reno, Nevada, opening the aft stairs himself.

Despite a massive police investigation, he has never been caught or identified.

After almost half a century, and with no significant breakthroughs, the FBI has now officially "redirected resources" from the case to more pressing priorities.

The bureau's leading explanation for Cooper's disappearance is that he simply did not survive the perilous jump. However, their statement indicated it would reopen the investigation "if new or compelling evidence is uncovered", the Seattle Times reports.

The incident has proven to be one of the great unsolved mysteries of all time. Not only Cooper's identity, but also his motivation and what became of him has been discussed and debated incessantly, fuelled by a handful of tantalising clues.

In 1978, a note containing directions for operating the aft stairs of a Boeing 727 was discovered in woodland beneath the hijacked aircraft's flight path. Two years later, a boy stumbled across three packages containing more than $5,000 in cash that was confirmed to have come from the ransom money.

The case has also become a part of popular culture. One leading fan theory for the television drama Mad Men, set in the 1960s, posited that Don Draper would eventually turn out to be DB Cooper.