(Image source: FBI)
BY LEXA DECKERT
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D.B. Cooper -- the man who parachuted his way into history 40 years ago -- and is still on the lamb to this day -- is in the news again. WTTG reports...
“One of the most fascinating unsolved crimes -- we’re talking about DB Cooper -- the man accused of skyjacking a plane and jumping out of the rear of that plane... (FLASH) he was never found but now the FBI says they have a new lead.”
Back in 1971, Cooper paid $20 for a one-way ticket to Seattle -- and on the flight handed over a note demanding $200,000 and four parachutes in exchange for releasing 36 people. The Telegraph has what happened next.
“The FBI organised the swap, and when the plane was sky-bound again ... his instructions were to head for Mexico... Then, somewhere over the lower Cascade mountains, 25 miles north west of Portland, Cooper released the plane’s aft stairs, stepped out, and, with one of the parachutes strapped to his back, jumped into the stormy night...”
The FBI is calling the latest development their quote- “most promising lead to date.”
ABC explains the history between Cooper and the FBI...
“After 40 years and over 1,000 leads... a case that’s baffled law enforcement for decades... despite a massive manhunt, Cooper and the money vanished.”
Even though the hunt continues, no one really knows if Cooper is even alive still -- if that’s his name -- or how he pulled off his great escape. The Seattle Times explains one of the only other clues found to date...
“...a portion of the ransom money — whose serial numbers the FBI had recorded — turned up when a child digging in a sandbar on the north bank of the Columbia River west of Vancouver in 1980 unearthed a bundle of $20 bills.”
Excitement over the stunt is surfacing again as law enforcers hope they are on a valid trail. The Daily Mail reports what one FBI spokesperson has told the public...
“'It comes from a credible lead who came to our attention recently via a law enforcement colleague... the suspect is not a name that's come up before... an item belonging to the suspect has been sent for testing at a forensics lab in Quantico, Virginia. We're hoping there are fingerprints they can take off of it...”
Forensics -- fingerprints -- sounds like a regular CSI episode -- but KCNC interviewed someone who is skeptical about the method in Cooper’s case...
“When this case happened -- in the 1970s -- the era of DNA was not upon us and agents really didn’t look out to preserve this evidence in the way that we do now.”
The FBI has made it clear -- the new clue does not necessarily mean they are on the verge of solving the case.
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