FBI no longer actively investigating D.B. Cooper case

The case gained what the bureau refers to as “major case-file” status, one of only a handful in the FBI’s history, meaning that it was independently funded and staffed until this week.

Around 8:00 p.m. – somewhere over Southwest Washington, maybe Clark or Cowlitz county – Cooper jumped out of the plane, taking the money.

At the time, the Seattle Times reported, Carr was renewing his plea for new information in the case, possibly with the help of technology.

The case generated myriad tips but they went nowhere. Cooper case, and will redirect resources to focus on other priorities. “Where there’s problems and crimes now”.

The agency announced Monday that it was no longer investigating the famous 1971 hijacking in which a passenger known as DB Cooper jumped out of a plane over Washington state with a parachute and $200,000 in cash, reports KIRO in Seattle.

On Tuesday-44 years, 7 months, and 18 days after the hijacking-the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced it is closing the Cooper file for want of evidence. “He ordered a drink – bourbon and soda – while the flight was waiting to take off”.

During the flight, he gave a flight attendant a note indicating he had a bomb in his briefcase and wanted her to sit with him, and she obeyed.

It looks as if the man known as D.B. Cooper – the legendary criminal who hijacked a USA passenger plane, extorted $200,000 in ransom and parachuted to an uncertain fate – may have gotten away with it.

He kept several crew members on the flight and demanded to be taken to Mexico.

However, 45 minutes into the flight, Cooper parachuted out of the airplane, with the bag of cash strapped to his body.

“If something were to arise – principally the parachutes or the money – you know, we would reopen, we would look into this, we would do what we could to bring the perpetrator to justice”. Most, if not all, are merely recycled fragments of stories and theories that have been in circulation for years.

The case inspired countless theories, and a couple of TV movies.

The FBI says it has conducted searches, collected all available evidence and interviewed all identified witnesses.

No sign of Cooper has emerged, though bundles of his cash, matched by serial numbers, were found in 1980.

The FBI describes Cooper as a “quiet man” in his mid-40s who wore a business suit with a black tie and white shirt. The agency said it will preserve evidence from the case at its Washington, D.C., headquarters, but it doesn’t want further tips on the topic unless people find parachutes or Cooper’s money.

That means that one of the greatest mysteries in American history will likely remain unsolved, and that the identity of the man behind the brazen air heist will forever be unknown.