The Legend of D.B. Cooper Lives on as FBI Discovers New Lead in Famed 1971 Hijacking Case

Movies have been made about him. Songs have been written about him. And he has served as the inspiration for both fictitious and real life characters alike. Now, some four decades later, the FBI is alleging it has a “promising” lead in the infamous D.B. Cooper hijacking case. D.B. Cooper, of course, was famous for hijacking a Northwest Orient Airlines flight in 1971 and parachuting out of the airborne plane some with $200,000 in ransom.

According to Fox News:

The recent tip provided to the FBI came from a law enforcement member who directed investigators to a person who might have helpful information on the suspect, FBI spokeswoman Ayn Sandalo Dietrich told The Seattle Times on Sunday. She called the new information the “most promising lead we have right now,” but cautioned that investigators were not on the verge of breaking the case.

“With any lead our first step is to assess how credible it is,” Sandalo Dietrich told the Seattle Post Intelligencer on Saturday. “Having this come through another law enforcement (agency), having looked it over when we got it – it seems pretty interesting.”

Dietrich says an item belonging to the man was sent to a lab in Quantico, Va., for forensic testing. She did not provide specifics about the item or the man’s identity.

Federal investigators have checked more than 1,000 leads since the suspect bailed out on Nov. 24, 1971, over the Pacific Northwest. The man who jumped gave his name as Dan Cooper and claimed shortly after takeoff in Portland, Ore., that he had a bomb, leading the flight crew to land the plane in Seattle, where passengers were exchanged for parachutes and ransom money.

While random clues have been found over the years, including a portion of Cooper’s ransom money and an old parachute about 100 south of Seattle, nothing substantive has ever materialized. Cooper’s body was never found, and so, the legend lives on.

The FBI has reportedly even coined the term the “Cooper Curse,” used to describe cases the bureau is on the verge of cracking, but ends up empty handed.

Will the case ever be solved? Watch below: