FBI Dusts Off Case of D.B. Cooper Skyjacking

[Rhino]

FBI Dusts Off Famous Case of D.B. Cooper Skyjacking
Tuesday, January 01, 2008

PORTLAND, Ore. — The FBI says it has released new information it hopes will jog someone's memory and help them determine who the legendary skyjacker Dan Cooper, who bailed out of a commercial jet over southwest Washington in 1971, really was.

The man calling himself Dan Cooper, also known as D.B. Cooper, boarded a jet in Portland for Seattle the night of Nov, 24, 1971 and commandeered it, claiming he had dynamite.

In Seattle he demanded and got $200,000 and four parachutes and demanded to be flown to Mexico. Shortly before reaching the Oregon border, it is believed, he jumped with two of the chutes, one of which was a trainer and sewn shut.

Agents say they are almost certain he didn't survive....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,319387,00.html

[Stormfin]

I've always found this case fascinating, but I don't think that Cooper survived either.

[Rhino]

Would make for a great story if he did.

Come to think of it, it made for a great story because they just don't know.

[DoctorDoom]

They combed the area where he would have landed and found zip. If he crash-landed, there should have been SOME trace of him. I believe that he did survive, and he is still laughing his old ass off over it.

[Rhino]

Then how come he never spent the money?

[mkafrica]

Was the money traceable if spent? I mean, were they unmarked bills, etc?

[DesertFox]

Since nobody got hurt, I hope he got away clean.

[Rhino]

Was the money traceable if spent? I mean, were they unmarked bills, etc?They recorded the serial numbers, and may have marked them as well. None of it have ever been found in circulation. However, a kid did find some of it on a creek bank a few years back, in Oregon I believe.

[mkafrica]

Maybe he got away clean, but somehow lost the money along the way.


Man... that would stink.

[DeclinetoState]

There was a fellow who read editorials and did other work at KATU, the ABC affiliate in Portland, Ore., for many years who looked a bit like Dan Cooper. His name was (and is--I assume he's still alive) Roy Cooper.

He was once asked about the case and said he had an alibi for the day in question. According to this page (http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:tPJbsfGw2JcJ:www.infoviva.com/lenhardt/Pilots/05RoyCooper/+Roy+Cooper+KATU&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us), however, he was a pilot, so draw your own conclusions.

:grin:

[ThomasMore]

About a dozen years ago, antiques dealer Duane Weber gave his wife a deathbed confession, claiming to be Dan Cooper.

His wife knew that when she married him, he had a past he wouldn't share. He also had a knee injury that he had always attributed to jumping out of a plane, and his physical appearance and handwriting closely matched that of "Dan Cooper."

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!"

From U.S. News & World Report (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/cooper.htm)

However, Weber's fingerprints did not match those found on the Northwest plane, and his DNA did not match that found on a tie "Cooper" left behind. Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.B._Cooper).

[DesertFox]

Of course he wasn't Dan Cooper. I'M Dan Cooper. After all these years I just can't hide it any longer.

[Riverboat]

Buy me a beer, and I'll keep it a secret.

[DesertFox]

Deal! Next time I see you.

[mkafrica]

Is there any kind of reward offered? 'Cus if there is, I'm turning ya in, DF... That is, unless you haven't spent that $200,000 yet... :evilgrin:

[DesertFox]

I lost it all in a crap shoot in Vegas. :(

[Rhino]

I heard it was the lap dances. Fess up!!!

[DesertFox]

I don't dare

How'd you guess?

Was it that obvious?

Uh, uh, uh ....

[ColonialMarine0431]

I think he fled to mexico, exchanged the money into pesos and sat on the beach till he died sipping margaritas.

[Rhino]

So then why did the money never show up in circulation?

[mkafrica]

If they marked the bills, and then closed the case, then he started using the money, would it still ring alarm bells?

I mean, how effective were they at catching when and where those bills were spent?

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think it would be that hard to get the money into circulation and not have it realized.

[Rhino]

Yes, it would ring alarm bells. Even if the financial institution did not notice them, they would have been detected when they were returned to the reserve banks or the treasury, which they would have been long ago. Currency does not stay in circulation forever. At a certain age or physical condition, it is returned to the reserve banks or treasury for destruction, especially since new currency has been introduced, and this currency would have been returned long ago.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Which then makes me beg the question, where's the money?

[Rhino]

Yeah, that was my point. If he lived, why hasn't he spent it?

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

Same question, if he died. Wouldn't there be more than just a few bills found? If he died, did he have enough time before he croaked to bury it? Seems that it would have turned up in a search.

[Rhino]

The area is wide, remote, mountainous wilderness. You could easily be lost in there and never be found, along with your money. That has happened numerous times before in that area. There are entire airplanes lost in there that have never been found. The theory on the bills that the kid found, since they were on a creek or river bank, is that they washed down from somewhere else.

[HomeschoolrsRUs]

K, that puts it in perspective -- kinda like the Ameila Earhardt mystery. (Although, I personally like Star Trek's answer to that little mystery, [ The 37s (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/episode/68858.html) ] :smirky: ).
Thanks.

[Suzie]

Well it's not like the FBI has anyone more important to look for right now. :shake:

[Rhino]

Well it's not like the FBI has anyone more important to look for right now. :shake:Really?

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/fugitives.htm

[Suzie]

I was being sarcastic. Thus the shaking my head and rolling my eyes smiley.

[Rhino]

Oh. Got it.

By the way, in case anyone's wondering, the statute of limitations does not apply to D.B. Cooper. If they ever find him, alive, he be goin to jail.

[mkafrica]

By the way, in case anyone's wondering, the statute of limitations does not apply to D.B. Cooper. If they ever find him, alive, he be goin to jail.

Why is that? Because he took over a plane?

[hdmundt]

Which then makes me beg the question, where's the money?

Bought chips in Nevada casinos (while in disguise, of course)? Plays a few hours, then cashes in. Clean money. If he did this several times over the years, laudering a little at a time (different casinos, different disguises), he might have gotten away with it. The alarm bells might have been sounded at the Treasury Department, but not allowed to sound in public. 'Twould make sense if Treasury wanted DB to think they hadn't gotten onto his scheme. (Could Treasury have kept this quiet for this long)?

'Just roominatin'....

[Rhino]

I seriously doubt it.

[Rhino]

Why is that? Because he took over a plane?Under federal law, the statute of limitations does not apply to fugitives from justice. Title 18 US Code, section 3282.

[DesertFox]

You'll never take me him alive, coppers!

[Oldeshooter]

I think he survived, cashed in overseas and is living the high life under an alias. The govt claims he didn't survive which is bulldookey. Just another lie to cover up the ineptitude of the FBI. Like the cock & bull story of TWA flight 800 for one. Notice any other 747's that have blown up because of "defective" wiring in center fuel tanks. Nuf said.

[DesertFox]

He woulda had to invest that 200k, because by now it would be long gone.

[Rhino]

Again, if he had cashed in overseas or invested it, the money would have turned up by now.

Oh, God! Not another TWA flight 800 conspiracist!!! Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!

Fuel tanks have blown up before.

May 9, 1976
On approach to Madrid, Spain, an Imperial Iranian Air Force Boeing 747-131 was flying near a thunderstorm. The pilot was recorded saying that he's "in the soup" three seconds before a bolt of lightning struck the plane. Fifty-four seconds later, fuel exploded in a tank in the 747's left wing, destroying the aircraft and killing 17 people. [Excerpts of NTSB accident report]
While airplanes are built to withstand lightning strikes, investigators believe that a bolt of lightning may have caused electric fuel pumps to emit sparks in the fuel tank, triggering the explosion.

May 11, 1990
A Philippine Air Lines 737-300 exploded on the ground in Manila, shortly after being pushed back from the gate. Eight people were killed, and thirty others injured. Investigators determined that fuel vapors in the airplane's center tank exploded, but do not know what sparked the blast. They do believe, however, that it could have been caused by faulty wiring in or around the fuel tank. [Full text of 1990 NTSB accident report] http://www.cnn.com/US/9707/twa.800/what.wrong/fuel.tanks.html

Tests conducted by Boeing proved the internal temperature of the tank was high enough to cause autoignition. Tests of the theory using an actual 747 center wing tank did in fact confirm that it can happen. The same type of arcing suspected in Flight 800 was also discovered later in 737 fuel tanks.

There was no evidence of a bomb or a missile.

How long must we endure this conspiracy theory claptrap?!?!?!?!?!?

[Rhino]

On second thought, maybe the newbies who haven't seen the multitude of threads where this has been addressed in the past could use a laugh. If you want to address it again, go ahead and start another thread in Twilight Zone.

Meanwhile, back to the topic.

[ThomasMore]

Again, if he had cashed in overseas or invested it, the money would have turned up by now.

Oh, God! Not another TWA flight 800 conspiracist!!! Aaaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!!!!!!

Fuel tanks have blown up before.

http://www.cnn.com/US/9707/twa.800/what.wrong/fuel.tanks.html

Tests conducted by Boeing proved the internal temperature of the tank was high enough to cause autoignition. Tests of the theory using an actual 747 center wing tank did in fact confirm that it can happen. The same type of arcing suspected in Flight 800 was also discovered later in 737 fuel tanks.

There was no evidence of a bomb or a missile.

How long must we endure this conspiracy theory claptrap?!?!?!?!?!?

A Boeing KC-135 of the 128th Air Refueling Wing, Air National Guard (http://www.wimilw.ang.af.mil/content/home.html) exploded on the ground at Milwaukee General Mitchell Airport due to an overheated fuel pump in the center fuel tank (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19931210-0) on 10 December 1993, killing 6.

[DesertFox]

Well, he mighta got in touch with the North Koreans, who coulda cleaned them bills up for him.

But I expect I'm he's dead.