FBI Has New Lead in the Case of the Infamous Plane-Hijacking Fugitive D.B. Cooper

July 31, 2011 — -- Forty years after the infamous fugitive known as D.B. Cooper parachuted out of a plane over Washington state with $200,000 in hand, never to be seen again, the FBI has a new suspect they are calling their "most promising" lead to date in the nation's only unsolved commercial airplane hijacking.

The male suspect's name was given to the FBI by a law enforcement agent, as was a piece of the man's personal property. This item is at the FBI forensic lab in Quantico, Va., where it is being checked for fingerprints.

"[The item is] back at our lab and we hope to compare it to partial fingerprints we got in the hijacking," Sandalo Dietrich, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Seattle office, where the Cooper evidence is kept, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "It would be a real break if it came back."

The FBI obtained a partial DNA sample from the black JCPenney clip-on tie Cooper left on the plane before jumping off its tail end. The FBI extracted the sample in 2001, but it did not match up with any suspects.

That tie, along with the parachute he discarded, his boarding pass with the words "DAN COOPER" written in red ink, and a few deteriorated bills from the ransom money found in 1980 are the only physical pieces of evidence the FBI's Seattle office has.

The FBI has not released any further details on the man or the item.

What Happened on the Night of Nov. 24, 1971

On Nov. 24, 1971, an unassuming man wearing a business suit and appearing to be in his mid-40s allegedly hijacked and threatened to blow up a Northwest Orient Airlines plane traveling from Portland, Ore., to Seattle if he did not get four parachutes and a $200,000 ransom.

When the plane landed in Seattle, the suspect, known only as Dan Cooper or D.B. Cooper, allowed the passengers and two flight attendants off the plane, and the officials handed over the money, in $20 bills, and the parachutes.

According to the FBI, Cooper simply told the remaining crew to "fly to Mexico" after they took off from Seattle.

"Back in the early '70's, late '60's, hijackings weren't uncommon. The philosophy of the day was cooperate. Comply with his demands and we'll deal with it when the plane lands," said Larry Carr, an FBI special agent who manages the case out of the bureau's office in Seattle.

In a daring getaway, Cooper jumped out of the speeding 727, thousands of feet over the Pacific Northwest, during a raging storm.

Cooper disappeared, and is still missing today, despite a massive manhunt.

In 1980, the case was put in the spotlight once again, after a young boy found $5,800 in $20 bills from the ransom money decomposing along the banks of the Columbia River.

The fact that Cooper was able to get away with his actions inspired a string of copycat hijack and jump episodes -- 15 in 1972 alone. In all these cases, however, the FBI captured the criminals.

One theory is that having leapt into the darkness somewhere over rural Washington State, he died in the jump.

Other theories have been discussed at the Ariel Store and Tavern on state Route 503, near where many believe Cooper landed. One is that Cooper was actually a woman and the recipient of the first sex change operation in Washington. Another theory is that Cooper survived the jump, but came to his demise upon encountering Sasquatch, also known as Bigfoot, in the woods of Washington.