D.B. Cooper Mystery Solved?

I think we are all aware of D.B. Cooper - en.wikipedia.org... - but there seems to be some people who say they know who this man is - www.fbi.gov... - could this be possible? And if so, then why is it still considered an unsolved mystery?

here are a couple links who's authors seem to think they have the answers...

www.gasdetection.com...

www.time.com...

www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk...

I find the reports of his confession upon arrest extremely interesting... if the feds know about this, why havent they 'come clean'?

Weird. I wonder though if they can try a dna test on Richard Floyd McCoy Jr and a relative of d.b. cooper?. I don't think they ever found his body that would be the best but a relative I think would do also.

I dont think they will be able to do a DNA test on D.B. Cooper because from what I understand, 'D.B. Cooper' or 'Dan Cooper' are fictitious names...

Unless the man we "know" as D.B. Cooper was killed during his parachute escape, this could very well be "the perfect crime".

Even the myth that has arisen around D.B Cooper -- mostly brought about by the film "The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper" -- has served to aid and abet. Who remembers the police sketches of the suspect? Most people think that D.B. Cooper looks like Treat Williams (the star of the movie)!

lol

The thing that gets me about this is how this man McCoy actually did this same EXACT crime AFTER ol DB and pulled it off successfully...
from the FBI files:
We tracked down and arrested McCoy for a similar airplane hijacking and escape by parachute less than five months after Cooper’s flight. Was it a copycat crime…or was Cooper the real McCoy? We will probably never know: McCoy later broke out of jail and died in a shoot-out with FBI agents as they attempted to arrest him.

heres a story of others who have pulled off the same feat:

www.crimelibrary.com...

here are the freedom of information act pdf's of the case:
foia.fbi.gov...

I find his confession to and subsequent murder by FBI agents particularly interesting...



[edit on 8-8-2007 by Grock]

Originally posted by Grock
I dont think they will be able to do a DNA test on D.B. Cooper because from what I understand, 'D.B. Cooper' or 'Dan Cooper' are fictitious names...

Didn't know that. I thought they knew his real name. Yeah that would be kind of hard then.

I think DB Cooper was killed in the jump or got lost in the forests of southwestern Washington and died. My reasoning is because none of the money has ever been used in transactions (the FBI recorded all the serial numbers on the money before they gave it to him). In the early 1980s some of it was found on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, WA and except for that money none of it has been located or used in transactions.

Ever heard of or experienced 'money laundering'?

its far more prolific and easily accessable than you may think (if youve never encountered it)

that arguement doesnt hold h2o my brother.. but a good shot non the less

Dan Cooper's real name was Kenneth Christiansen, and he worked for Northwest Airlines. He continued to work for them after the hijacking, and died in 1994 of cancer.

His brother outed him after his death, and the stewardess, Florence Schaffner, has said photographs of Christiansen taken around the time are very likely the hijacker of the plane.

The story has a lot of twists and turns, including gay relationships with young runaways.

If you want a good read on the subject, check this link. It's about 6 pages long.
nymag.com...

Here's a good picture of the hijacked plane sitting on the tarmac while he waits for the ransom money and parachutes to be delivered, and after the passengers were released.




The link above is the most convincing story I've read on this so far.
Look at the photo on the first page of the link, it's pretty compelling, and the evidence adds up.
McCoy was later cleared of being Cooper by the F.B.I. because of an alibi that proved he was in Las Vegas on November 24, 1971.
nymag.com...



Edit: Link fix




[edit on 23/10/2007 by anxietydisorder]

does anyone know the alltitude he jumped at? depending on how high he was and when he opened his parachute he could have gone a long distance look at special forces teams using the HAHO technique to infiltrate countries.

Thats a good question. I believe that the HAHO jumps are accomplished using special 'chutes that are tailer made for those. I could be wrong though.

reply to post by anxietydisorder


Interesting read and another very possible solution. I still think it was McCoy.

Read this a couple of weeks ago

he Canadian Press

VANCOUVER -- In 1971, infamous fugitive D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane in Seattle, demanded US$200,000 in ransom and four parachutes.

With the cash in hand, he later jumped out of the plane over the U.S. Pacific Northwest and was never heard from again.

Theories about Cooper's true identity and his ultimate fate have run rampant since and now a Washington lawyer says he believes the notorious hijacker ended up in British Columbia, where he stashed his cash in a Vancouver bank before he disappeared for good.

And Galen Cook believes that money is still locked in the a bank safety deposit box in the British Columbia city.

Cooper entered modern lore with the hijacking of the 727 en route from Portland, Ore., to Seattle in November 1971.

Mid-air, he handed the flight attendant a note, claiming to have a bomb and demanding the cash and parachutes be waiting when the plane touched down.

After receiving the cash and parachutes, the hijacker allowed passengers off the plane but demanded the crew take-off for Mexico City. Somewhere in the skies above Washington state, Cooper jumped from the plane.

Despite hundreds of leads, no conclusive evidence of the man's true identity has ever been found.

Now Cook, a lawyer in Spokane, Wash., says evidence he's collected suggests Cooper was actually William Gossett, a college instructor from Ogden, Utah.

And if stories he told his sons are true, the loot is locked in a Vancouver bank.

Many of Gossett's friends and relatives believe he is the fugitive. Cook says he became a believer after seeing an FBI composite sketch of Cooper alongside a 1971 photo of Gossett; the two were nearly identical.

"He certainly had the abilities and the training to pull off a D.B. Cooper-like stunt," Cook says. "He had the temperament to do that, and maybe had the motive."

He says Gossett had military experience and wilderness survival training.

"He boasted of hijacking the plane and then leaping from its rear stairway, to his sons and two attorneys," Cook says.

The only evidence ever found was the discovery of $5,880 in decaying bills on the banks of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Wash., in 1980.

Two decades ago Gossett showed his son, Greg, two gold keys that could unlock the mystery -- if anyone knew where they were.

Greg, who lives in Utah, told Cook his father showed him the keys, and told him he had hijacked the plane and hidden the money in Vancouver, B.C.

"(Gossett) told Greg to keep still and not tell anybody because it could result in his dad going to prison for the rest of his life," Cook says.

He says he's currently working with the bank to find documentation surrounding the safety deposit box. He says he's visited the bank, met with the manager, and requested the necessary records.

However, he says the bank has been reluctant to identify anyone who holds a safety deposit box.

In August 1973, Cook says Gossett invited his other son Kirk on what was supposed to be a seven-day father-son trip to Vancouver. But the trip was cut short after an hours-long bank visit by Gossett.

He says he was told Gossett visited Vancouver as recently as the fall of 1996, tagging along during his attorney's family vacation.

Cook has been following the D.B. Cooper case for more than two decades, but only stumbled across the Bill Gossett link in the last year.

He says he's submitted the man's fingerprints to the FBI and plans to send an independently tested DNA sample soon.

FBI investigators say they doubt Cooper survived the parachute jump, but that hasn't stopped the agency from maintaining an open file.

Like the dozens of other stories that have circulated about the heist, this one may have no way of being proved one way or the other.

Gossett died in 2003 at the age of 73.

Interesting.

So now we have 3 very valid people that all could very well have done it -
Richard Floyd McCoy, Kenneth Christiansen, and William Gossett.

Interesting...

I met a guy that looked like Cooper and his family had a place near the area he bailed out. He knew exactly what he was doing and where he was at.

While I understand the public wanting to solve the mystery, I don't know why the FBI continues to waste time & resources to catch a guy that's near the end of his life and is no longer a threat to society. They lost, he won - get over it.


[edit on 5-9-2008 by verylowfrequency]

Heres some more info on Bill Gossett (who is currently being discussed on Coast to Coast am):

www.coasttocoastam.com...

www.coasttocoastam.com...

www.coasttocoastam.com...

www.coasttocoastam.com...

www.coasttocoastam.com...

www.truecrimeweblog.com...

Enjoy