# D.B.Cooper - Case closed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 13, 2016, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802 "2016-07-13T11:35:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/141 "2024-11-28T22:42:07Z")
That was their beer and pizza fund. They had similar stashes throughout the country. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/142 "2024-11-28T22:58:54Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Why throw away the $$? Well, his aircraft was damaged ad so he had to dump a bunch of weight to stay airborne, and his co-conspirator wasn’t enough weight dumped. But then the locals found the cash he dropped and thought it was deliberate, so he became a local folk hero, with a big statue and everything. Or am I thinking of some other guy? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/143 "2024-11-28T23:19:23Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Then there’s the parachute. Why would “Cooper” keep the parachute, drag it from the landing site in the woods, keep it on his property, etc.? It’s evidence. Just leave it. Sheesh. You know, if it had been some guy who never got caught, I could see him making a case for his decision — _leaving it would’ve meant leaving evidence that could’ve been traced to me, so I brought it home and hid it where nobody found it or suspected me for most of a century, tee-hee, tee-hee_ — and if it had been found, well, yeah, he’d have been wrong; but if it hadn’t, he’d have been right. But I’m not sure I get how things actually played out: is the story supposed to be that (a) he got caught for some other crime, and (b) the feds who presumably searched his home didn’t grok the significance of that parachute then? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/144 "2024-11-29T00:24:56Z")
The kids of the suspect recently “found” the chute in a shed on the family property. So not so hidden that the FBI looking around 50 years ago couldn’t have found it. As to taking the chute with you, seriously, why? Cooper almost certainly landed in a rough forested area. No one is going to find it. (And no one has in fact found it to this day.) Contrast with the effort to lug it out, etc. what are you gaining in any way shape or form? The fake Cooper would have had to thumbed a ride. Is the driver not going to wonder what is going on with a guy out in the cold and rain with a bag plus something that looks like a chute? In any case, there are plenty of rivers in the area. Chute goes into the water, that’s it. No prints or anything. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/145 "2024-11-29T00:29:30Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The kids of the suspect recently “found” the chute in a shed on the family property. So not so hidden that the FBI looking around 50 years ago couldn’t have found it. According to who? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/146 "2024-11-29T00:34:40Z")
Upthread, I linked to a new story making that claim. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Bumping this thread because of a [new story in Popular Mechanics](https://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/a63009965/db-cooper-parachute-fbi/). Chanté and Rick McCoy, the children of Richard McCoy II (who was convicted of a similar hijacking a few months after the DB Cooper incident) gave the FBI a parachute they found on their family’s property that matches what was believed to have been used. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/147 "2024-11-29T01:54:46Z")
> [@K364](#): > > I question the Treasury Dept. assertion that no money was ever spent. I didnt say that. I said that - _no significant amount of those bills were ever spent._ See, paper money comes to rest at the Treasury when it is worn out, damaged, etc. All the numbers are recorded, and the bills are then shredded. Now, some bills dont get that far- they end up in a coffee can buried, or they are accidental destroyed, or just lost forever. So, certainly SOME of the money could have been spend. But not much. The bills were all recorded- > **[D. B. Cooper](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper)** > > D. B. Cooper, also known as Dan Cooper, was an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, Cooper told a flight attendant he had a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom (equivalent to approximately $1,500,000 in 2024) and four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, Cooper instructed the flight crew In ... _he uncovered three packets of the ransom cash, totaling about $5,800.[[152]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#cite_note-154) The bills had disintegrated from lengthy exposure to the elements, but were still bundled in rubber bands.[[153]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#cite_note-155) FBI technicians confirmed the money was indeed a portion of the ransom: two packets of 100 twenty-dollar bills each, and a third packet of 90, all arranged in the same order as when given to Cooper.[[154]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#cite_note-156)[[155]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#cite_note-157)_ _The $200,000 ransom was received from Seattle First National Bank in a bag weighing approximately nineteen pounds (8.5 kg).[[36]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#cite_note-38) The money—10,000 unmarked [$20 bills](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_twenty_dollar_bill), most of which had serial numbers beginning with “L” (indicating issuance by the [Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Reserve_Bank_of_San_Francisco)[[37]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#cite_note-39))—was photographed on [microfilm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microform) by the FBI.[[38]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#cite_note-40)_ The US Treasury has not found a single one of those bills coming back to them- also of course every bank, etc was on the lookout for them for live 5 years. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/148 "2024-11-29T15:46:36Z")
After Cooper jumped, did witnesses on the plane watch to see if his chute ever opened? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/149 "2024-11-29T15:57:09Z")
The Hero of Canton 🎶 The man they call … Cooper? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/150 "2024-11-29T16:13:50Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > After Cooper jumped, did witnesses on the plane watch to see if his chute ever opened? No. They were all up front, it was 8:15pm in November when he jumped, and they weren’t even sure he’d left the plane. The pilots in the three chase planes would have been more likely to spot an open parachute and they did not report one either. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/151 "2024-11-29T16:14:40Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > After Cooper jumped, did witnesses on the plane watch to see if his chute ever opened? According to [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#Back_in_the_air) there were only four people (besides Cooper) onboard: one flight attendant, the pilot, copilot, and flight engineer. And…I see I was ninja’d. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/152 "2024-11-29T16:17:07Z")
Wait a minute, DB Cooper parachuted out of a plane in Washington, and then 18 years later, after an extensive FBI investigation, FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper appears in Twin Peaks, Washington. Coincidence? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/153 "2024-11-29T17:14:30Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > it was 8:15pm in November when he jumped Which is why he almost certainly died in the escape. It was likely frigid on the ground at that time of the year. At his altitude, the temperature would have been well below freezing.’ He was probably rendered delirious as soon as he stepped into the wind. ---
**Author:** ![vbob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vbob/32/4439_2.png) [@vbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vbob)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/154 "2024-11-29T17:26:01Z")
D.B. Cooper, much mellowed if not reformed, turns up a few books into the Bob & Nikki series - [Jerry Boyd's Bob and Nikki books in order](https://www.fantasticfiction.com/b/jerry-boyd/bob-and-nikki/) - apparently he was befriended by the Bigfoot community, who do NOT care for long pig, and didn’t see any reason to Come In From the Cold. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/155 "2024-11-29T17:31:15Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > Which is why he almost certainly died in the escape. > > It was likely frigid on the ground at that time of the year. At his altitude, the temperature would have been well below freezing.’ He was probably rendered delirious as soon as he stepped into the wind. But then how come no decomposing body with parachute attached has ever been found in the Washington forests? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/156 "2024-11-29T17:39:24Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > But then how come no decomposing body with parachute attached has ever been found in the Washington forests? I bet he made for good eating for animals in the woods. And clothes and a backpack could have been torn to shreds; presumably, the chute never deployed. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/157 "2024-11-29T20:06:09Z")
I just wish they’d drop the “B.” which is erroneous. Poor old D.B. Cooper, the real one, whoever he was, got his name accidentally stuck on another man’s crime. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/158 "2024-11-29T20:31:21Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > At his altitude, the temperature would have been well below freezing.’ He was probably rendered delirious as soon as he stepped into the wind. Not to mention, he was wearing a suit. No parka, jump boots, anything. Survical in Wash , in a forest at nite, in November? It was raining and snowing. Even without a jump, just setting him down in that likely area (kinda near La Center , WA), with that closing and death is nearly certain. He likely knew this, it was just a way to strike back at the airlines, and commit seppuku. > [@Johanna](#): > > I just wish they’d drop the “B.” which is erroneous. Poor old D.B. Cooper, the real one, whoever he was, got his name accidentally stuck on another man’s crime. Yes, it was “Dan Cooper”, as I have pointed out. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/159 "2024-11-29T20:36:01Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Not to mention, he was wearing a suit. No parka, jump boots, anything. It appears he was also wearing a trench coat: [**SOURCE - FBI ARCHIVES**](https://archives.fbi.gov/archives/news/stories/2007/december/dbcooper_123107) Which, in theory, means he could have also been wearing ‘long johns’ under his suit. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Krupe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Leo\_Krupe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Krupe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2024, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802/160 "2024-11-29T21:25:50Z")
If he wore long johns, that’s a point in his favor. It still doesn’t take away from the fact that he jumped at night in not the best weather. If his chute didn’t open, he almost certainly died, either directly from landing in trees and dying of exposure, or hitting the ground – and either dying from the impact or from exposure. If his chute opened, he ran the great risk of landing in the trees and breaking bones and dying from exposure, or landing on the ground, in probably unfamiliar terrain (doubtful he could’ve navigated by the stars to tell where he was). Then he’d have to get rid of the chute and survive with very little. The chances of getting through all that, while not impossible, aren’t high. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/d-b-cooper-case-closed/759802.md?page=9)