36-Year-Old Case Remains Open To This Day

The FBI has released new information it hopes will finally identify infamous hijacker D.B. Cooper. On Monday, the FBI website included a press release about the new "reignited" Cooper case.

It says new techniques such as DNA testing have re-energized the search, and the FBI is asking the public's help.

"Who was Cooper? Did he survive the jump? We're providing new information and pictures and asking for your help in solving the case," the FBI said.

The FBI's move is the latest development in the continued saga of the notorious hijacker -- who many consider to be a modern-day Robin Hood. D.B. Cooper skyrocketed to folk hero status on November 24, 1971 when he hijacked a Northwest Orient 727, demanded $200,000 and four parachutes, then bailed out somewhere above southwest Washington.

He was never found, though some of the money was discovered along the Columbia River by an 8-year-old boy in 1980.

Numerous people have claimed to know who the real Cooper is, but all those suggestions have been eliminated -- some by DNA found on the black J.C. Penny tie Cooper left behind on the plane. It's also unlikely that Cooper is the man's real name; even the "D.B." part is in dispute, as the hijacker registered for his flight under the name "Dan Cooper" -- the "D.B." was later attributed to a reporter's misprint.

The Cooper case is the only unsolved airline hijacking case in the nation... and continues to attract those who insist they know Cooper's true identity. As ANN reported in October 2006, Lyle Christiansen told New York magazine he firmly believed his late brother, Kenneth, was the famed hijacker -- and produced some compelling evidence.

Still, the mystery remains unsolved to this day... and the FBI is asking people to study new photographs and information to see if it "triggers a memory."

"Maybe a hydrologist can use the latest technology to trace the $5,800 in ransom money found in 1980 to where Cooper landed upstream," special agent Larry Carr said. "Or maybe someone just remembers that odd uncle."

FMI: www.fbi.gov/page2/dec07/dbcooper123107.html