Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Either way, I have no doubt he never made it out to civilization alive. I hope he died quickly- breaking a leg and slowly starving to death is not a pleasant way to check out at all, especially if a person is dangling from a tree.
One of the books about him claim he did break a bone in the leg and wound up in someone's shed for a time. I don't recall what the book claims what happened to him afterwards.
Not so strange. The money was in a sturdy duffel bag, which was more protection from the elements than what DB wore himself.
According to the witnesses, he wore nothing but a light jacket or coat, and was wearing smooth soled loafers or street shoes. Nothing warm or appropriate for hiking out of the wilderness.
I think the guy was either so cocksure that he was crazy, or was suicidal and wanted to get attention, like jumpers off bridges are. Either way, I have no doubt he never made it out to civilization alive. I hope he died quickly- breaking a leg and slowly starving to death is not a pleasant way to check out at all, especially if a person is dangling from a tree.
Don't believe that's accurate. He requested 4 parachutes.. 2 of them were left on the plane, but cut up.. Indicating that he used them to secure the money in some fashion. As I recall, and I could be wrong about the details on this.. It wasn't any kind of special bag.. Just a standard cloth duffel bag. But, that's probably splitting hairs a bit.
The interesting part about the chutes is that in addition to cutting two of them up.. One of the ones he took with him was a 'dummy' chute that was sewn closed. Which any skydiver would notice immediately.. So, that's why they think he was not an experienced skydiver.
The dummy chute was actually an accident. Not intended to give him one, but in the confusion the skydiving shop that the chutes were obtained from put it in with the other 3.
Quote:
Originally Posted by curiousgeorge5
One of the books about him claim he did break a bone in the leg and wound up in someone's shed for a time. I don't recall what the book claims what happened to him afterwards.
I recall this.. Ok.. Had to look it up.. But this was basically a BS story (IMO, of course).. Book about this 'theory' was written by Max Gunther in 86. Based off phone conversations with a woman who only identified herself as Clara. Supposedly, he broke his foot in the jump, she nursed him back to health in her shed.. the fell madly in love, moved to NY, where the laundered the money in Atlantic City, and he died from natural causes in 82.
I call BS on this because of the whole love story and the fact that not a single bill has turned up in circulation.
Had to chime in on this one. I used to be as obsessed with this case as the rest of you and then one day I was re-reading over the wiki of all things and suddenly had a moment of clarity (yes, it is possible while reading wiki!) and that is the psychology of everyone obsessed with this case is such that - as was pointed out previously - we need DB Cooper to be the antihero, to have managed to get away with it somehow in spite of the hard confirmed facts. Once you've acknowledged the reality of the facts, it doesn't bode well because what he'd have done would've been certain death, no ifs, ands, or buts.
My moment of clarity was that the reason this case has never, ever been solved is because DB Cooper is a hoax to begin with. They've never found the body because nobody jumped out of the jet to begin with. They never found the chutes because they were misled into the tall tale it went down over the Columbia when it's likely it went down in the flat desert closer to the airport in Nevada where they'd stopped. There were 4 people on that plane and not a single other witness confirming the existence of this person. Back in the 70s it was easy to trot in and pick up a plane ticket with a false identity.
I don't believe any longer there ever was an actual person on that flight going by DB Cooper. I believe 2 or all of the 4 person crew aboard that jet were involved in the biggest scam heist ever and made up the whole DB Cooper tale as a herring and it kind of went viral like the Caylee Anthony disappearance. I think none of them anticipated it would suddenly explode with a vigor and take on a life of its own, let alone turn into one of the country's biggest unsolved mysteries.
I think they hatched the plan and one of them went disguised with fake ID as Dan Cooper, bought a ticket, and boarded the jet with pilot clothes, went into the bathroom and came out as the pilot...then it went on as described until all passengers were let off but the crew. The money and chutes were brought aboard, the jet took off with the landing gear down and even though they were trailed by two fighter jets a mile or so behind them, the dark stormy conditions made it a breeze for them to attach any sort of drop a snap to pull off undetected. Neither of the fighter jets saw squat come out of that jet, by the way.
Once they were in the air the stewardess/es got busy divvying up the cash for each of them involved (and any accomplice on the ground, even one's boyfriend buying the ticket and boarding as Dan Cooper, and then just exiting the jet when they were all let off)...put it in containers with a beacon or set coords and instead of dropping it out over the middle of the Columbia River, they dropped out some of it and then waited til they were over desert just near the airport and tossed out the rest of the money...then met up later when things settled down and got their score.
The FBI wasn't that on the ball back in the 70s and they had little forensic ability then as they do now. The evidence that should be abundant doesn't seem to either exist or amount to anything but if Dan Cooper smoked through a pack of cigarettes and they had any of them left as evidence, they'd pull something off today...forensics has solved a ton of crimes decades later off the most minimal amounts of trace evidence. The fact the evidence they had was tested and came back squat further reinforces my feelings that it's because there was no actual guy on board doing all that - the entire tale is a hoax crafted by the crew themselves...and they got away with it.
And as far as the idea none of that money's turned up in circulation, get real. They were a flight crew...they could've easily laundered that money in any number of ways, or even taken it to another country for exchange. But it was pointed out several times that after awhile those involved in the monitoring of the serial numbers are going to get lax and stop paying attention...they have far too many other bills to worry about real time, and as long as it's in circulation, it's absolutely plausible that money was used and passed around and didn't make it back to the mint/treasury/FED for tallying. I have some cash in a piggy bank I've had for 30 years. I bet they couldn't track it if they tried.
There are several crucial clues that would've raised red flags - or should have - but seem to always be glossed over. For example, the tale they told of DB's demands showed he not only had a clear understanding of the flight plan and path, but the proper altitude to fly a jet without crashing or breaking apart. The stewardesses claimed they never saw him before but for DB to know that path and the goings on on the jet, and to pull off the things he did - or even seem to know Florence wouldn't flip out and cause chaos - means this person had to have been on that flight more than once for recon to get a feel for how to pull it off. Like casing a bank - he'd have had to case the jet and the crew aboard to know who would work in his favor and who wouldn't.
We're supposed to accept that a guy got on this jet for the first time ever, brought nothing with him but a briefcase with the alleged bomb (parts) and his business suit, never stepped foot aboard this flight before, and managed to successfully persuade the stewardesses to help him out, get the money, turn the lights out, stop for gassing up, get 4 chutes, use the wrong ones and jump out with 200k of cash in the middle of a dark, cold stormy night without even so much as a flashlight or a bottle of water and "get away with it" or just die...and if it was a suicide mission (which is all it would've been and even an idiot would've been able to see the impossibility of getting away with it) then it's just implausible and illogical. If he was after the money, he wouldn't have jumped out without a shred of provisions in that weather but if it was a suicide mission, he could've flipped off the fighter pilots, shoved the crew out with the chutes and let them shoot down the jet.
I think DB Cooper is a hoax and the crew got away with the biggest jet hijacking heist in the world.
I think it's completely unlikely.. But.. It has the advantage of at least being possible and in some ways, likely. It's not one of the cooky theories.
You do have to discount some of the DNA evidence.. You have to get 4 people to commit to it.. For a pilot.. $50k even in that day and age, doesn't seem like enough money to throw your career away over (potentially).. Remember, have to split the money 4 ways. And, then, all 4 would have to agree to never spend the money. So.. Those items blow it for me.. The DNA, you can write off.. They handed the tie clip to some stranger on the street or something. But, the conspiracy.. Those always fall apart.
I think it's completely unlikely.. But.. It has the advantage of at least being possible and in some ways, likely. It's not one of the cooky theories.
You do have to discount some of the DNA evidence.. You have to get 4 people to commit to it.. For a pilot.. $50k even in that day and age, doesn't seem like enough money to throw your career away over (potentially).. Remember, have to split the money 4 ways. And, then, all 4 would have to agree to never spend the money. So.. Those items blow it for me.. The DNA, you can write off.. They handed the tie clip to some stranger on the street or something. But, the conspiracy.. Those always fall apart.
I take the opposite view regarding their conspiracy of silence. They would know it's a risk regardless, whether they made up a story or not. Non criminal sorts are easily dissuaded by potential risks. One of the pilots had an issue with the airline jerking him around so it's not out of the question he plotted and considered it for a long while until he reached a point he convinced himself it was doable.
When someone decides on a criminal pursuit, the risk factor is assessed and accepted. You point out that it's too high a risk for a pilot, he'd lose his job. In real life, he could lose his life - whether in a shoot out with law enforcement, being shot out of the sky, or ending up in a prison cell. But the risk is the same for DB Cooper who conveniently, coincidentally had all kinds of mad pilot airplane skillz. He'd lose his job too. If the pilot decided he wanted to pursue this course, he wouldn't be worried about keeping his job more than not going to prison. However, if he pulled it off, he could keep the job and have a surplus of cash, launder it and put the money toward whatever purpose that motivated it to begin with.
It's an erroneous assumption they agreed to never spend the money just as it's an erroneous assumption a guy boarded a flight for the first time ever, knew the layout, flight plan, path, crew detail, and could work out his surroundings and coordinates below during pitch darkness, freezing temperatures, rain, zero visibility, and then manage to persuade the flight attendants to help him out, get the money and jump out wearing nothing but a business suit because he never intended to spend the money either.
Why is it believable that both stewardesses calmly, rationally cooperated and even got all chatty with DB Cooper to enable him to pull off a hijacking and a heist but it's unreasonable for the pilots who were close to them, worked with them for a long time, to convince them to go along with a plot to heist 200k?
The flight attendants' risk with DB Cooper would've been enormously higher. He could've detonated the bomb had either of them flipped out, panicked, or refused to carry out his orders. Yet they breezed through it passing notes back and forth - which is also flaky.
How to pull it off and keep the silence between them...
First, begin an affair with one of the stewardesses. Then work the other two to get them receptive over time. Bring it up over drinks, socially, jokingly...test the receptivity. Once he sees the others receptive, bring it up more seriously. It's even possible that he was already dating/seeing one of the women that he managed to help get hired on as one of the flight attendants, and planned it out over the year to get others on board.
They'd either get caught or they wouldn't but this DB Cooper would have exactly the same obstacles you seem to think prevented the crew from getting away with it or risks as too high. The crew made it an inside job. That explains why DB knew things pilots and flight attendants and airlines and base jumpers know. Then he turns around and does something absolutely retarded like jump out with just the money. What for? He's gonna die. He would've probably frozen to death before he hit the ground if it was real. Makes no sense.
Like I said, if he did this for the money, then jumping out in those conditions made him a dumbass. Period and he's not a hero, he's a retarded idiot who deserved to die. If he was using a hijacking and theft as a herring for suicide, he could've just stood up and shouted he had a bomb, made the pilot open up so he could bail.
No, the likely scenario is the crew plotted (some longer than others) and hatched the plan to get the money. The women had a vested interest in keeping a lid on it even after they'd part company because a bad breakup isn't going to excuse them from prison or losing their own job. One of them basically went recluse.
Now...the original plotter decides they toss the real bag of money out closer to the strip in Vegas and then they'll meet up later and go find it. It could be that one of them went out and recovered it earlier, then made like it was lost forever...got it all for himself. Nobody spoke of it, it was a failed heist...they all lose and still can't talk about it...and one or two of them got all the spoils.
I think most people will reject the most likely scenario it was always an inside job and failure of the FBI to figure it out because it's become such a part of our culture like Jack the Ripper..people want it to be true but the facts just don't support DB Cooper being a real person. Facts point directly to inside job by the crew aboard.
Last edited by LexiPrice; 02-09-2015 at 05:31 PM..
Have to say you have a very interesting theory, Lexi. Your theory is very plausible. Something to really think about. Everyone that is interested in this mystery like myself wants DB Cooper to exist and down deep inside we want to believe that he pulled it off. Just like the Anglin brothers and Morris of the Alcatraz Prison escape.
As you pointed out above the weather was terrible. This may be the most important factor of the whole episode. I've always found it hard to believe that anyone would jump in such hostile weather in the dark. If in reality the four crew persons were in on the heist how could the FBI not investigate them? Was this theory/possibility even on their 'radar' back then?
One theory I had was that when Cooper ordered the flight attendants to go to the front of the plane- presumably to the cockpit- before he made his way down to jump that Cooper actually hid in the airplane somewhere and waited for the plane to land and escape when the coast was clear. This would be very hard because he would have known that the aircraft would have been surrounded with law enforcement and airline personnel upon landing. To Lexi's point/theory, could it be that Cooper did jump with the help of ALL crew members and that he had ALL the provisions to at least have a better chance for success? Everything that would have been needed could have been brought on board by the accomplices. Still, the very bad weather in the dark is a factor. Just a bizarre event. Hopefully someone on their death bed speaks out and reveals the true events.
He lived long enough to spend the money in another country. Its not that hard to land a round canopy, bury it and run to a contact point.
The FBI has been lying for decades in an attempt to cover up their own incompetancy. And remember folks: since 1913 , the 'money' has never been real anyway. The Federal Reserve just prints more to replace what is either stolen, used to bail out banks, used for social welfare services and to finance wars.
Cooper did the equivalent of stealing a candy bar from a convienence store.
Had to chime in on this one. I used to be as obsessed with this case as the rest of you and then one day I was re-reading over the wiki of all things and suddenly had a moment of clarity (yes, it is possible while reading wiki!) and that is the psychology of everyone obsessed with this case is such that - as was pointed out previously - we need DB Cooper to be the antihero, to have managed to get away with it somehow in spite of the hard confirmed facts. Once you've acknowledged the reality of the facts, it doesn't bode well because what he'd have done would've been certain death, no ifs, ands, or buts.
My moment of clarity was that the reason this case has never, ever been solved is because DB Cooper is a hoax to begin with. They've never found the body because nobody jumped out of the jet to begin with. They never found the chutes because they were misled into the tall tale it went down over the Columbia when it's likely it went down in the flat desert closer to the airport in Nevada where they'd stopped. There were 4 people on that plane and not a single other witness confirming the existence of this person. Back in the 70s it was easy to trot in and pick up a plane ticket with a false identity.
I don't believe any longer there ever was an actual person on that flight going by DB Cooper. I believe 2 or all of the 4 person crew aboard that jet were involved in the biggest scam heist ever and made up the whole DB Cooper tale as a herring and it kind of went viral like the Caylee Anthony disappearance. I think none of them anticipated it would suddenly explode with a vigor and take on a life of its own, let alone turn into one of the country's biggest unsolved mysteries.
I think they hatched the plan and one of them went disguised with fake ID as Dan Cooper, bought a ticket, and boarded the jet with pilot clothes, went into the bathroom and came out as the pilot...then it went on as described until all passengers were let off but the crew. The money and chutes were brought aboard, the jet took off with the landing gear down and even though they were trailed by two fighter jets a mile or so behind them, the dark stormy conditions made it a breeze for them to attach any sort of drop a snap to pull off undetected. Neither of the fighter jets saw squat come out of that jet, by the way.
Once they were in the air the stewardess/es got busy divvying up the cash for each of them involved (and any accomplice on the ground, even one's boyfriend buying the ticket and boarding as Dan Cooper, and then just exiting the jet when they were all let off)...put it in containers with a beacon or set coords and instead of dropping it out over the middle of the Columbia River, they dropped out some of it and then waited til they were over desert just near the airport and tossed out the rest of the money...then met up later when things settled down and got their score.
The FBI wasn't that on the ball back in the 70s and they had little forensic ability then as they do now. The evidence that should be abundant doesn't seem to either exist or amount to anything but if Dan Cooper smoked through a pack of cigarettes and they had any of them left as evidence, they'd pull something off today...forensics has solved a ton of crimes decades later off the most minimal amounts of trace evidence. The fact the evidence they had was tested and came back squat further reinforces my feelings that it's because there was no actual guy on board doing all that - the entire tale is a hoax crafted by the crew themselves...and they got away with it.
And as far as the idea none of that money's turned up in circulation, get real. They were a flight crew...they could've easily laundered that money in any number of ways, or even taken it to another country for exchange. But it was pointed out several times that after awhile those involved in the monitoring of the serial numbers are going to get lax and stop paying attention...they have far too many other bills to worry about real time, and as long as it's in circulation, it's absolutely plausible that money was used and passed around and didn't make it back to the mint/treasury/FED for tallying. I have some cash in a piggy bank I've had for 30 years. I bet they couldn't track it if they tried.
There are several crucial clues that would've raised red flags - or should have - but seem to always be glossed over. For example, the tale they told of DB's demands showed he not only had a clear understanding of the flight plan and path, but the proper altitude to fly a jet without crashing or breaking apart. The stewardesses claimed they never saw him before but for DB to know that path and the goings on on the jet, and to pull off the things he did - or even seem to know Florence wouldn't flip out and cause chaos - means this person had to have been on that flight more than once for recon to get a feel for how to pull it off. Like casing a bank - he'd have had to case the jet and the crew aboard to know who would work in his favor and who wouldn't.
We're supposed to accept that a guy got on this jet for the first time ever, brought nothing with him but a briefcase with the alleged bomb (parts) and his business suit, never stepped foot aboard this flight before, and managed to successfully persuade the stewardesses to help him out, get the money, turn the lights out, stop for gassing up, get 4 chutes, use the wrong ones and jump out with 200k of cash in the middle of a dark, cold stormy night without even so much as a flashlight or a bottle of water and "get away with it" or just die...and if it was a suicide mission (which is all it would've been and even an idiot would've been able to see the impossibility of getting away with it) then it's just implausible and illogical. If he was after the money, he wouldn't have jumped out without a shred of provisions in that weather but if it was a suicide mission, he could've flipped off the fighter pilots, shoved the crew out with the chutes and let them shoot down the jet.
I think DB Cooper is a hoax and the crew got away with the biggest jet hijacking heist in the world.
I think the above is one of the goofiest "theories" I've ever seen about this case.
Oh great point too that the crew assisted someone and perhaps a jump was made but it certainly wouldn't reasonably have been over the Columbia River in pitch black conditions during a winter storm and freezing temps. Consider too from above, even looking out the windows he'd have zero visibility to tell where he even was...for example if he had a specific place he needed to jump for safe landing to meet up with another accomplice, he'd never know it from above.
I will concede it's possible the crew had a 5th person aboard they'd refer to as DB, but who bailed out much closer to the landing point, somewhere in the desert where the weather would've been much better and easier.
I also agree the FBI has lied to cover up their own incompetence. The FBI did investigate the crew but considering my scenario above, that they tossed out the money somewhere near the airport in the desert, knowing the exact coords to be able to locate it later, there wouldn't really be any evidence pointing to them. The 4 of them stick together and all claim someone took it and bailed out, leading to certain death and they are in the clear. FBI would never find anyone. It's not implausible for con artists to fool the feds. Florence turns on the tears. The other one acts all jesusy and religious - they'll give her a pass. It'd be entirely doable in the 70s. For sure.
I still contend the crew made up Dan Cooper and one or all of them kept the secret to this day and the money's long been spent. Even if the FBI suspected the crew, they genuinely got away with it because there's no hard evidence to prove they weren't lying outside the reality of the weather...they couldn't even bring a case at this point so they let the "legend of DB Cooper" linger and cough and look the other way...
You could look at it as the flight attendant becoming a 'bride of Christ', there's no way she wouldn't confess her crimes. You could also look at it as she's so eaten up with guilt that she went into a convent and won't talk to anyone about it..
I think it's a LOVELY story, and you tell it so well.. With such enthusiam.. lol
As I said.. I don't buy it.. But.. I have to admit it made me stop and think a bit about it.
As for the money.. Every US bill eventually makes its way back to the federal reserve.. Whether it's a Gold or Silver certificate.. Or the 'worthless funny money' that's used today. In fact, that money would stick out like a sore thumb today, because it would be so old. I've got a 13 year old nephew who saw one of the pre-redesign 20's and didn't believe it was real money. You get an old style 20 now, it catches your attention.. 20's generally only last under 10 years.. Since the $20 was redesigned in 2003.. Most of the old bills are out of circulation now. And every serial number on the Cooper money was recorded, and is known. There's even websites where you can search the serial numbers.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
