D.B. Cooper
The gentleman hijacker who parachuted into the storm with $200,000 — and vanished.
On November 24, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305 between Portland and Seattle. After receiving $200,000 in ransom and four parachutes, he leapt from the aircraft's rear stairs into a stormy night — and became the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history.
He wore a dark suit, black tie, and mother-of-pearl tie pin. He ordered a bourbon and soda, then quietly handed a stewardess a note: 'I have a bomb in my briefcase. I will use it if necessary. I want you to sit next to me.' He opened the briefcase. She saw wires, red sticks, and a battery.
Cooper demanded $200,000 in $20 bills and four parachutes. In Seattle, he released the passengers in exchange for the ransom. He then ordered the plane to take off again — toward Mexico City — at low altitude, low speed, and with the landing gear down. Somewhere over the Cascade Mountains, around 8:13 PM, he lowered the aft stairs and jumped.
The FBI launched Operation NORJAK. It became one of the longest and most expensive investigations in Bureau history. In 1980, an 8-year-old boy found $5,800 of the ransom money on a Columbia River beach — bills matching serial numbers from the ransom. The rest was never recovered.
In July 2016, the FBI officially closed the case, calling it 'exhaustively investigated' with 'no substantive leads.'
- Nov 24, 1971, 2:50 PMCooper boards Flight 305 in Portland.
- 3:00 PMHands stewardess the bomb note.
- 5:24 PMPlane lands in Seattle; passengers released for $200,000 cash.
- 8:13 PMCooper jumps into a rainstorm over southwest Washington.
- Feb 1980Boy finds $5,800 of decayed ransom money on Tena Bar.
- Jul 2016FBI officially closes active investigation.
- EX-01The clip-on JC Penney tie left behind on the aircraft, containing rare metal particles.
- EX-02Cigarette butts (destroyed by FBI in the 1990s).
- EX-03$5,800 in decayed bills recovered from Tena Bar in 1980.
- EX-04Two parachutes left on the plane, along with an unopened chute container.
"Something in this file doesn't sit right. Ask the detective — he's read it a hundred times."