Never Caught Hijacker "Dan Cooper"

On 24 November 1971, a man described by witnesses as being in his mid-40s, wearing dark sunglasses and with an olive complexion, boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727-051 flight 305 from Portland, Oregon to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. He purchased his $20 ticket under the name "Dan Cooper." An early wire service report misidentified him as "D.B. Cooper" and the name stuck. Sitting in the back of the plane, he handed a flight attendant the note "Miss, I have a bomb and I want you to sit next to me" after take-off. The man demanded $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. He received them at Sea-Tac, where he released the 36 passengers and two of the flight attendants. The plane took off again on his instructions and flew slowly towards Reno, Nevada, at the low altitude of 10,000 feet. Somewhere, apparently over southwest Washington, Cooper lowered the plane's rear stairs and jumped. He was never found. But a boy digging on a Columbia River beach in 1980 discovered three bundles of weathered $20 notes - nearly $6,000 in all. According to the serial numbers, they were Cooper's ransom money. Over the years, the FBI and amateur detectives have investigated countless theories about Cooper's identity and fate. From reports of unexplained wealth, to alleged findings of his parachute, to possible matches to the sketch of the suspect by the agency. In July 2016, the FBI announced that it had closed its investigation into the case.