More than five decades ago, a mild-mannered passenger in a business suit boarded a Seattle-bound flight in Oregon under the name Dan Cooper on Nov. 24, 1971. He ordered a bourbon and soda, and once in the air, handed a stewardess a handwritten note demanding $200,000 in cash and four parachutes under the threat of what appeared to be a bomb in his ratty briefcase.
The plane landed in Seattle, and authorities complied with the hijacker’s demand. After refueling, the airliner took off again. Somewhere between takeoff and Portland, the mysterious man jumped out of the plane and into the dark sky, attempting to hold onto the freshly acquired satchel of cash…
In 2016, after turning over every credible lead and suspect, the FBI seemingly threw up its hands…Now the agency might have gotten a new break in the case for the first time in decades.
The news business must be slower than it seems, to dredge this up, yet again. One evening last week, the teaser for the NBC evening “news” said they were going to rehash the JonBenet Ramsey case, yet again. So, what do we have to look forward to? Another rehash of “Aruba girl”? How about “baby Jessica”?
I read that they got “touch DNA” from the tie clip he was wearing, which he left behind on the plane. (Not at the time, that technology came along 20 years later or more…)
We do know of cases where DNA was sufficient to track the perp to a specific group of people. That can focus the investigation and reveal the possibles.
In the DB Cooper case, not much financial incentive to do that. Mostly an academic exercise. Or for headlines.