Who is DB Cooper? Plane hijacker who vanished with a ransom of $200,000
After keeping everyone on board the plane hostage, DB Cooper, a plane hijacker, disappeared with an incredible $200,000 in cash.
After a YouTuber found a startling piece of evidence, the FBI opened Cooper’s case decades after his flying crime.
Cooper s sinister plot
Although Cooper Strue’s identity is uncertain, his first name was listed as Dan on his airline ticket.
On November 24, 1971, he got on board Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 with the goal of kidnapping everyone.
The aircraft was headed for Seattle, Washington, and took off from Portland, Oregon.
Cooper waited patiently to carry out his terrible plan while seated in seat 18E and ordered a bourbon with 7UP.
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Finally, he surreptitiously gave Florence Shaffner, a flight attendant, a note that said, “Miss, I have a bomb and I want you to sit by me.”
Cooper leaned over and whispered, “Miss, you better look at that note,” after Florence initially ignored it and just placed it in her bag. I’ve got a bomb.
When the flight attendant sat down beside the hijacker and asked to see the device, he opened his briefcase and showed four red cylinders connected to a big battery.
Florence went to the cockpit to transmit Cooper’s demands after becoming convinced that she had spotted a bomb.
A heroic flight attendant
Cooper was seated next to Tina Mucklow, another flight attendant, while Florence stayed in the cockpit.
She spoke to the hijacker politely and with great composure.
How did Dan DB Cooper pull of the infamous skyjacking of a Northwest Orient flight and escape with $200,000 in 1971
Cooper was still talking to Tina, but he had become irate when she asked him where he was from.
Cooper’s demands were communicated to Northwest Flight Operations by Captain William A. Scott in the meantime.
“[Cooper] asks for $200,000 in a knapsack by 5:00 p.m.,” he stated.
Two front and two back parachutes are what he desires.
He requests payment in US dollars that can be negotiated.
Cooper had also promised to free the hostages when he landed.
Cooper made a terrifying joke when Tina questioned him about why he had targeted their jet.
He stated: “It’s not because I have a grudge against your airlines, it’s just because I have a grudge.”
Cooper released the hostages
Al Lee, Northwest’s Seattle operations manager, gave Cooper the ransom money when the jet touched down at Sea-Tac Airport.
Cooper freed the passengers after getting the money, leaving just the cabin crew and himself on the aircraft.
Tina asked playfully if she could have any of the stolen money as he started looking it over, but she had to turn him down when he tried to give it to her.
When Alice Hancock, a fellow flight attendant, gently asked Cooper if she and Florence could depart, Cooper let them go.
But he insisted that Tina, Captain Scott, Harold E. Anderson, the flight engineer, and First Officer William J. Rataczak stay on board.
Then, on their way to Mexico City, they took off once more.
An airborne getaway
Cooper forced the crew to leave the cabin unpressurized and asked that, when he asked, they lower the aft staircase.
Tina was the last person to see Cooper alive, as she pleaded with him to not lower the staircase.
When she retreated to the cockpit, she saw a warning light appear which indicated that he had opened the staircase and presumably jumped out with the parachute.
The plane finally landed safely at 11pm at Reno Tahoe International Airport, with all of the flight crew on board.
A shocking discovery
Cooper was never seen again and hisidentity was never uncovered.
For years, the only clue as to his whereabouts was the discovery of some of the stolen money by the Columbia River in 1980.
However, the discovery of a shocking new piece of evidence by a YouTuber has led theFBI to reopen the case.
Until now, the FBI had presumed that Cooper had died after making his fateful jump from the plane.
Dan Gryder was filming a video about the case when the siblings of a man namedRichard Floyd McCoyreached out to him.
McCoy had been arrested for a similar hijacking just months after Cooper s crime.
His siblings had discovered one of Cooper s parachutes and made contact with the influencer, sparking a renewed interest in the case.
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Cooper s true identity remains a mystery but most witnesses described him as being 5 foot 10 inches tall with dark hair and no discernible accent.
True crime enthusiasts can catch Dan s series about Cooper, named Probably Cause, on his YouTube channel ProbableCause-DanGryder.
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