The term D. B. Cooper was coined by the media for an unidentified man who hijacked an aircraft on November 24, 1971. The hijacked flight was a Northwest Orient Airlines Boeing 727, and the incident took place in the United States airspace.
When the plane was flying from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, an unidentified man informed the flight attendant that he had a bomb with him. He then proceeded to demand a large amount of money in ransom. Furthermore, he demanded four parachutes after the flight’s landing in Seattle.
He released all the passengers in Seattle and ordered the flight crew to refuel the aircraft. The final destination in his mind was Mexico City. Furthermore, he wanted the flight crew to stop in Reno, Nevada, for another refueling. 30 minutes after the flight took off from Seattle, the man opened the aircraft’s aft door, geared a parachute, and jumped into the night sky. This happened over southwestern Washington. Since then, D. B. Cooper remains missing. Interestingly, the mystery of his identity has never been solved.
Netflix released a four-part documentary mini-series in July 2022 that explored this uncanny story. Titled D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!, its cast included several investigators and journalists like Eric Ulis, Thomas J. Colbert, Jonna Mendez, Geoffrey Gray, Erik Kleinsmith, and Thomas Fuentes.
How much money did D. B. Cooper demand in ransom?
D. B. Cooper demanded $200,000 in ransom. In today’s day and age, $200,000 is almost $1.5 million. Nine years after this incident, officials discovered some of the money along the banks of the Columbia River. However, this did not lead to solving this mystery. Furthermore, the remainder of the money was never recovered.
According to Digital Spy, some people who were suspected to be D. B. Cooper included Ted Braden, Kenneth Peter Christiansen, Jack Coffelt, and Lynn Doyle Cooper, among a few others.
