Who is D.B. Cooper?

Conspiracy theorist that I am, it's surprising that I had never heard of the infamous D.B. Cooper until a few years ago when he was a character in Prison Break. The guy playing him (who also played Gibbs' mentor on NCIS btw) piqued my interest enough that I did a little Wiki research back then.

In November 1971, a fairly average looking white guy in a suit and tie boarded a Boeing 727 in Portland, OR, carrying a black briefcase. After take-off, he waved a flight attendant over and handed her a note telling her that the briefcase contained a bomb and he was hijacking the plane. The plane was to land in Seattle, WA, for refueling where he wanted $200,000 in unmarked bills and several parachutes waiting for him. Otherwise, he'd blow up the plane.

The FBI complied with his wishes and Cooper released the planes passengers but took off in the newly refuled plane with the flight crew. Over the Oregon-California border, the plane experienced a pressure loss and was forced to make a quick landing. The plane was searched by the FBI but Cooper, 2 of the parachutes and the bag o' cash were gone. Most likely, the pressure loss occurred because of Cooper opening the door and jumping. I'm assuming that since none of the crew noticed the open door, it shut on its own after he jumped. Either that or they were hitting the little liquor bottles.

Although the FBI thought that Cooper probably got killed during the jump, they did launch a manhunt. The "unmarked" bills weren't quite so unmarked. They all had "L" designations which would allow them to be tracked. Despite all the tips, leads and sightings received over the years, no trace of Cooper or the money has ever turned up. All of the folks (including a woman who had undergone gender reassignment surgery a few years before) suspected to be Cooper were exonerated.

To this day, the D.B. Cooper case is considered to be the only unsolved hijacking in American aviation history and is one of those cases that just keeps investigators scratching their heads, even 40 years after the fact.

Yesterday, the FBI announced that it was reopening the case because new evidence has been discovered, pointing to a completely new suspect. Maybe after all these years, the mystery will be solved.

All I have to say about this is that if the guy from Prison Break really was D.B. Cooper, I'm jealous because he got to spend a lot of quality time with Wentworth Miller ;)