QandAs: Buzz

Who is D.B. Cooper?

Answer:
D. B. Cooper was the alias used by a man who

hijacked an airliner on November 24, 1971 and jumped from the plane somewhere over the Pacific Northwest wearing a parachute and carrying a ransom of $200,000.

D.B. Cooper has been in the news recently because in March 2008 the FBI received the remains of a parachute that was unearthed by children playing near the town of Amboy, Washington, which is within the bounds of Cooper's probable jump site.

The FBI has never been able to determine D.B. Cooper's whereabouts, if he managed to survive the jump, and no body has ever been recovered. The FBI re-opened the case in 2007 and asked for the public's help. It was the memory of this appeal that led the children in Amboy to contact authorities when they discovered the parachute, which is now being analyzed by FBI agents.

D.B. Cooper's escape and the uncertainty of his fate remains one of the most enduring and fascinating stories in the annals of American crime. While a resolution to the D.B. Cooper mystery alludes authorities, a number of important clues have emerged through the years. In 1978, a sign with instructions on how to lower the aft stairs of a 727 was found within Cooper's estimated drop zone. In February 1980, a child discovered more than $5,000 in decaying $20 bills along the banks of the Columbia River.

Most recently, forensic experts were able to retrieve DNA from the tie Cooper left on the plane before his jump. While analysis of the parachute continues, the great mystery continues. Did D.B. Cooper survive the jump and, if so, where is he now? We may never know.