D. B. Cooper Investigators

What was the fate of the infamous unidentified 1971 hijacker? 💵 Did D. B. Cooper escape with his extorted loot, to live out a life of ill-gotten luxury? Or did the skyjacker end up buried beside the Columbia River like a portion of his ransom money? Or was his fate something else again? Today, let's consider some of the many ways Cooper could have died. 🥶 (I will not, however, be focusing on the more fringe theories this time. Freezing to death on the 10,000 foot parachute jump through the night air, or death by bear attack after landing may be sensational and entertaining, but there are other far more plausible and intriguing explanations for the end of the man known to the world as D. B. Cooper.) What was skyjacker D. B. Cooper's fate? 🏴‍☠️ The unidentified air pirate may have hoped to escape scot free, perhaps pay off debts, then live large until he passed from peaceful old age. How likely is it, though, that a man who threatened people with a briefcase bomb, stole hundre...

The Man Who Was Not D. B. Cooper 🗃 The topic of Suspect Number One has come up again in the Vortex. I've been interested in this character, and the FBI's investigation into him, for a while now, especially since a large number of documents on him were released in August 2024. Joseph H. Johnston was one of the FBI's earliest leads, and was rigorously investigated before being eliminated. Eliminated Suspect #1 had the perfect alibi . 🪂 Key points of interest that have drawn the attention of the FBI and amateur sleuths to Johnston include: he was a career criminal who had committed armed robbery; he was said to have recently taken parachuting lessons; he was familiar with Portland vicinity and had recently moved there; he was an unlicensed pilot; he had shown an interest in hijackings; and he had allegedly recently got aerial maps of Portland and Seattle! 🥃 However, Suspect Number One had an unbreakable alibi, having been in jail at the time of D. B. Cooper's skyjacking...

What would it take for someone to commit this hijacking? 💣  What would make someone wake up, get ready and actually board a plane and threaten dozens of people with a bomb, for cold cash? How many people that you know personally would really do what D. B. Cooper did? 💼 Would you do it yourself? You know you've always wanted to build a briefcase bomb, skyjack a jet, kidnap over 40 people, extort a sackful of cash, and jump from 10,000 feet into a dark rainy night... haven't you...? Haven't you? If your answer was Yes, then the FBI would like a word. Artist's depiction of D. B. Cooper 🪂 Plenty of other copycat skyjackers did soon follow Cooper's lead. Sadly, most of them were returned combat veterans suffering from untreated PTSD. In many cases they were clearly not in their right mind while committing their crimes. All were quickly captured. Cooper looks like the rare unicorn among this herd of imitators: rather a comparitively cool, calm  and original  criminal,...