The E-Sylum:  Volume 11, Number 1, January 6, 2008, Article 19

FBI REOPENS D.B. COOPER HIJACKING CASE

[In the past we've discussed various kinds of currency
associated with crimes, such as the ransom money from
the Lindbergh Baby kidnapping and airplane hijacker D.B.
Cooper.  This week there was a story on National Public Radio
noting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is reopening
the D.B. Cooper case.  The NPR was site has the text of the
article and images of some of the recovered notes paid to
this enigmatic criminal.  -Editor]

Last month, the agency reopened the case of the airline
hijacker known as Dan "D.B." Cooper, who bailed out of a
Northwest Orient airplane with $200,000 in extortion
money in 1971.

Cooper vanished after the jump, and his true identity has
never been discovered. Now, the FBI is releasing sketches
of the legendary hijacker, a map of the area where he could
have landed and a handful of photos from the case. They've
also unveiled a Web site dedicated to solving the crime.

"Help us solve the enduring mystery," the Web site entreats.
"Who was Cooper? Did he survive the jump? And what happened
to the loot, only a small part of which has ever surfaced?"

FBI agent Larry Carr said he hopes the clues will jog
someone's memory.

The mystery unfolded the night before Thanksgiving in 1971
when a man calling himself Dan Cooper used cash to buy a
one-way ticket to Seattle at the Northwest Orient Airlines
(now Northwest) counter in Portland, Ore.

During the flight, Cooper handed the flight attendant a note
saying he had a bomb in his briefcase and wanted $200,000 in
$20 bills and four parachutes.

When the flight landed in Seattle, Cooper took the money and
parachutes and let the 36 passengers go. He then directed
the pilot to take him to Mexico City.

At about 8 p.m. — somewhere between Seattle and Reno, Nev. —
Cooper went to the back of the plane and jumped into the pitch
black night in the midst of a driving rainstorm. The plane
landed safely, but no trace of Cooper was ever found.

Nine years later, 8-year-old Brian Ingram found $5,800 of
the extortion money when he was vacationing with his family.

Ingram, who is now 36 and lives in Mena, Ark., said he found
three bundles of deteriorated $20 bills while looking for
firewood on the sandy banks of the Columbia River near the
Washington-Oregon border.

Ingram said he got to keep only half of the money — the other
half was turned over to Northwest's insurance carrier, which
had paid the $200,000 extortion.

To read the complete article, see:
Full Story

To view the FBI D.B. Cooper case page, see:
Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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