The Best Crime in History

I really feel guilty for saying this, but this crime was awesome, and I hope the criminal is still alive!

Anyway, if you haven't heard of D.B. Cooper, read this and you'll understand.

The story of this crime goes back to 1971. A man stepped in at the ticket counter in the Portland airport and paid 20 dollars to buy a airline ticket from Portland to Seattle. Passengers then didn't have to show an ID, so he went with the name Dan Cooper. After takeoff, he handled a note to a flight attendant saying that he was hijacking the plane. He demanded 200,000 dollars and..... four parachutes, or else he was going to blow out the plane.

The FBI worked quickly and were able to collect the 200,000 dollars in cash, and labelled the $20-dollar bills with serial numbers. They also bought the 4 parachutes from a local store in Seattle. As Cooper ordered, the plane landed in Seattle and the money and the 4 parachutes were delivered to him. He was also kind enough to request food for the crew. When he got what he needed he released all passengers and kept the crew on the plane.

Up to this point, nobody knew why he needed the 4 parachutes.

The plane refueled then took off again from Seattle toward Reno, Nevada. Right after takeoff, he asked the entire crew to gather around the cockpit, closed the first-class curtains, then went to the back of the plane. An attendant noticed that he was tying something like a rope around his waist.

The crew then noticed a sudden change in air pressure, they looked back and noticed that Cooper had lowered the stairs at the end of the plane and jumped with the briefcase and money, leaving the remaining parachutes on the plane. Left behind was his tie. He was never seen again since then.

The plane later landed safely in Nevada. An extensive search lasting months and involving hundreds of US Army troops took place looking for Cooper in the place where he could have landed. Nobody and nothing was found. It was thought that he might have died during the jump, but neither his body or his bag or parachutes were found.

In 1980 a boy found about 5000 dollars in a river close to where Cooper was thought to have landed. They were in 20-dollar bills and they all matched the serial numbers of the money handled to Cooper 9 years earlier. The rest of the money was never found to date.

About 1000 men have claimed to be Cooper, and the FBI almost believed some of them. After the discovery of DNA testing, the FBI was able to get Cooper's DNA from the tie he left on the plane before jumping and compared it with all these men's DNA. None matched.

This case remains a cold case after 37 years, and will probably stay this way. Six months ago the FBI released never-before-seen sketches and fact sheets of the crime to trigger memories of people who might have known Cooper.

This man hijacked the plane only to get money and not to harm people. Although I do not encourage hijacking planes (never ever ever ever) but I can't help it but feel impressed by the events surrounding this crime.

I feel that everything in the past was done with style, and crime is no exception.

And D.B. Cooper, wherever you might be, don't fly Southwest ... you can never survive their flights even with the four parachutes.

Some of the money recovered in 1980

Here's a clip of a news bulletin following the hijacking: