The most mysterious robbery of history: The culprit never found!

Although it was predicted that Cooper might land on an area at the southernmost tip of Mount St. Helens, a few miles southeast of Ariel, Washington state, near Lake Merwin, an artificial lake formed by a dam on the Lewis River but a very important detail is that after getting off the plane, Cooper still has free fall time before opening parachute - if he succeeds in opening parachutes.

It was the time of free fall - about 5 seconds - plus the strong winds created by the rain that was enough for Cooper to fly away from the location the FBI predicted a few kilometers. If Cooper is an expert parachutist, then escaping from the landing zone for tens of kilometers is normal .

Hunt

21 o'clock on November 24, which means it is only about an hour since Dan Cooper parachuted - the hijackers' quest began. Hundreds of police, national guards and FBI agents with helicopters, professional dogs, and squashed pants in the suspect area Cooper landed. They focused on Clark and Cowlitz counties, searching every house, garden, grove and bush in these two counties. Besides, the patrol boats did not miss any suspicious traces on Lake Merwin and Lake Yale but the results were still blind.

The Oregon State Police and Guard departed for Dan Cooper.

Tom Cunningham, a helicopter pilot for Oregon State Guard, said: 'With other helicopters, I flew from Seattle to Reno. Just seeing a broken tree or objects like a parachute or bag is ordered to lower the altitude for FBI agents to observe and take pictures. However, after analysis, these signs have nothing to do with the ransom. '

The following days, winter blizzards hindered the search. The portrait of Cooper drawn by the FBI according to the description of witnesses was released in all states, from Washington, Oregon to California, not to mention the system of television channels and newspapers.

At the same time, meticulously conducted analyzes showed that the FAI and FAA's predictions about the area that Cooper parachuted were inaccurate because of the data obtained from the aircraft by Captain Tom Bohan. Continental Airlines Airlines, flying after the Boeing 727 only 4 minutes, on the same route showed that the wind direction could have pushed Coope's parachute to 80 degrees, meaning Cooper had to land in the southeast, in drainage area in the Washougal estuary.

In early March 1972, as soon as the snow was over, the FBI and 200 soldiers at Fort Lewis base, 500 Oregon State Guards and nearly 800 civilian volunteers, 24 airplanes, conducted a comprehensive search. Doubtful point. Explorations Electronic, a marine rescue company, used a submarine to scan at a depth of 61m at the bottom of Lake Merwin.

This is considered to be the most extensive, most intensive criminal search campaign in American history, which lasted for 1 month and 18 days. The result, apart from a skeleton discovered by two women in a Clark County abandoned house - was later identified by the FBI as the bones of a kidnapped kid who had been killed a few months earlier. there's a trace of the hijacker Dan Cooper.

The US $ 20 bill was ragged out of the $ 200,000 ransom.

And while Dan Cooper was not found, the FBI turned to $ 200,000 in ransom. By announcing the number of series for financial institutions, casinos, racecourse, shops, supermarkets, car hire companies and businesses that regularly conduct cash transactions across the country. The US and the FBI urged them to immediately contact the FBI if they found someone paying the same amount for this series. Northwest Orient Airlines also announced it would reward a ransom of 15% ($ 25,000) to anyone who provided information leading to the discovery of Dan Cooper's whereabouts - whether alive or dead.

During the next year, the night still covered the hijack. In early 1973, the Oregon Daily published a $ 200,000 serial number with a prize of $ 1,000 to anyone with a $ 20 bill coinciding with the $ 200,000 series, while the FBI increased the bonus to $ 5,000 but ended up. In 1974, no results were obtained. In late 1975, the Global Insurance Company, ordered by the Minnesota Supreme Court, paid $ 180,000 to Northwest Orient,

Where does Dan Cooper go?

After more than four years of searching, there was no result, the hijacking demanded $ 200,000 in ransom to go into oblivion, but the FBI did not give up. In 1978, a signboard that showed how to open the rear and back doors of a Boeing 727 was found by a deer hunter near a logging road east of Castle Rock, Washington state but through verification, it was not. of hijacked aircraft.

FBI agent digging the area of ​​boy Brian Ingram found 3 packages of money.

In February 1980, boy Brian Ingram, 8, at the camping trip with his family on the Columbia River, Washington state, saw three packs of oil paper as he picked up firewood. Opened to see, his father saw the three packages - including two packs - each containing 100 US $ 20 sheets.

The third package alone contains 90 sheets. After 9 years of sun exposure, the oil-covered paper covered many places was crumpled but all the coins were still in the correct order, arranged according to FBI's professional measures before being handed over to Dan Cooper.

Conducting a check and analysis, the FBI said it was part of the $ 200,000 ransom although many of the outer layers of money were broken. And because in addition to 3 packages of money, there is no other trace, there are hypotheses. According to the hydrological engineers, Dan Cooper's landing site could be a certain branch that flowed into the Washougal River for some reason, such as money falling while Cooper lands, when the snow melts, it just went down here.

In late 2007, the FBI announced that DNA samples from the cravate and on the filter of the cigarette that Cooper had smoked, did not match the DNA samples of suspects. Besides, the FBI also announced that Cooper had jumped off the plane with an old parachute, but he did not use a new sports umbrella, but Cooper cut the sport parachute into pieces, which could be used to Wrap the bag and keep his body warm

In March 2009, Tom Kaye, a paleontologist from Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, said that by analyzing Cooper's cravate with an electron microscope, Tom Kaye saw it. with bismuth, aluminum and titanium particles, Dan Cooper could be a chemist or an metallurgist, or he could be an engineer or manager in a metal and chemical factory, such as Portland Teledyne and Tektronix factories in Washington state but when the FBI verified, from the end of 1971 to the end of 1972, there were no engineers or workers who quit their jobs in these factories.

Opposing the FBI verification, Tom Kaye said: 'The culprit doesn't need to quit. If he comes back to work on Monday morning to avoid any suspicion, the best time for the hijack is before 4pm on Saturday. At that time, he had an entire Saturday and Sunday night to get out of the forest, where he parachuted after having buried $ 200,000. The only thing he did not expect was that all the money had been recorded in the series number and publicly announced so that was why he successfully executed the robbery, but did not return to get it. money…'.

According to FBI agent Larry Carr, who led the investigation of Dan Cooper's case, Tom Kaye's deduction is only one-sided : 'We initially believed Cooper was an experienced dancer, but the truth was not necessarily the same. so. None of the parachutes jump out of the plane in a dark night, the wind from the thunderstorm blows 120km / hour but only goes on loafers, wearing each coat, headless helmet, eyes without windshield, The ground temperature is minus 57 degrees Celsius. Cooper certainly won't survive even if he lands safely if he doesn't have people waiting on the ground. '

However, the hypothesis is still a hypothesis. In the end, the FBI agreed with the conclusion that Dan Cooper was familiar with the Seattle terrain and could have been a military pilot, based on the testimony of Schaffner stewardess that he recognized the city. Tacoma came from above when the Boeing 727 circled, as well as his precise judgment with the attendant Mucklow 'only 20 minutes drive from Seattle-Tacoma Airport to McChord Air Force Base' - a detail that most people cannot know.

With four umbrellas, Dan Cooper deliberately created a false situation to distract investigators by how he could force two or three hostages to jump in front of him for a few minutes. The selection of Boeing 727 to carry out the robbery also proves that Cooper understands that it is the perfect plane because the 3 jet engines are all high above, the jumpers avoid the risk of being cooked by 3 flux .

On July 8, 2016, the FBI officially announced the decision to suspend investigation of the robbery of Boeing 727 and 200,000 USD on the grounds that it was necessary to focus resources and human resources on more urgent priority issues. However, the local FBI offices will continue to collect any evidence that relates specifically to Dan Cooper or the ransom.

In mid-2017, a group of investigators volunteered to find an old parachute strap for decades in the northwestern state of Washington, but it was located near the dance ground of a private parachuting school. basis for conclusion. By August of the same year, another group found a sponge, a type commonly seen in handbags, thought to be part of a ransom bag.

Most recently, in April 2018, a group of skiers in Washington state picked up a nearly decaying 'loafers' , leaving only rubber soles, lying on gravel on the banks of the Lewis River but with love. like that, it is impossible to know for sure if it was Dan Cooper.

So far, just over $ 2,900 has been found, the rest of the $ 200,000 has never appeared anywhere in the world. Its serial number is still stored by the FBI on their website. The air force confirmed that they had no people - both active and discharged - with the same face as Dan Cooper's face that the FBI described.

Professor Tim Parker, Irwin University psychologist concluded: 'Only two people who interacted with Dan Cooper the most were the attendants of Schaffner and the hostess Mucklow but in a dangerous situation, nervous, nervous, memory they can be mistaken for every detail on the face of the hijacker . '.