Essay Sample on The D.B. Cooper Mystery

November 24th, 1971, a man boarded flight 305 wearing a suit and black sunglasses. As the flight was preparing to take off he requested a drink from the stewardess. As the stewardess brought it to him he gave her a note that told her to sit down with him. The note also read “I have a bomb in my breafcase and I need $200,000 in 20 dollar bills and parachutes”(crimemesuam.org).  As the stewerdess sat down he showed her the bomb and he told he to write down everything he told her and pass that information along to the captain. When the flight  landed in Seattle, all the passengers got off the plane and the pilot met officials who paid the ransom and gave them the parachutes. Shortly after Cooper got his money somewhere in between seattle and reno he took the parachutes and jumped off the plane. The plane landed safely with all the crew unharmed, however; it is still a mystery to this day as to what happened to D.B Cooper; if that is even his name. 

One plausible solution to this mystery is that D.B Cooper did not survive the jump. Agent Carr at the FBI seems to have convincing evidence that it's highly unlikely he survived the jump. Based on his research he discovered that D.B Cooper worked in the air force, so he knew how to put on a parachute but not how to operate them let alone jump out of a plane. He discovered that when he was in the air force he was stationed in Europe because of the popular comic book there titles Dan Cooper, where the main character went on all these space and airplane adventures. FBI agents believe that D.B Cooper is an alias based on these comic books instead of his real name (FBI.gov). Also the wind conditions that day were so dangerous that it would have been hard for even an advanced skydiver to make that jump and still survive. D.B Cooper also left one of the parachutes on the plane and he took the wrong one, that might’ve killed him just by opening the parachute based on Carr's advanced knowledge (abc.net). A few years later a little boy found $5,800 on a sandbar in the columbia river. The money was then investigated and matched the serial numbers of the ransom money that was given to Cooper. The money was found near one of the possible Landing zones. According to the FBI it would’ve been hard for Cooper to survive and If he did he certainly would not have given up some of the money. 

The other plausible solution is that D.B Cooper did survive and is now going by a different name. They never found his parachute either or any of his landing gear which they should’ve found if he had died. The breif case with the bomb was also never found and none of his belongings were found either. The only money they have ever found and traced back to him was the money the little boy found in the columbia river. The guy who jumped out of the plane was not D.B Cooper and no one knows what his actual name was which can make him very hard to track down (nwpb.ord). If D.B Cooper had not survived the fall they should’ve found his body by now or some indication of his death at the landing site. However, during the search they found two other bodies of missing people that they didn’t even know were missing. Through all the sketches and drawings they have interviewed and done extensive research one many people who could possibly be D.B Cooper or look like him. They have even had several people admit they are D.B Cooper and committed the crime just to get fame from the public, however; the FBI was not fooled by these people. Some believe it was Walter Recca who did claim to be D.B Cooper , but shortly after that he died. The FBI believed it was Richard Floyd Mccoy who committed a similar hijacking soon after. Others think it could have been Robert Rackstraw who was an explosives expert and also served time in the military (wonderopolis.org). Although the FBI has a few plausible subjects none of them ever turned out to be the real D.B Cooper. He is presumed to be out there today without being detected or ever accused of this crime. 

D.B Cooper Committed the perfect crime, but how? While there are many plausible solutions in the cold case, the most plausible is that D.B Cooper did survive and is going by a completely different name. It is strange that they never found any of the evidence or his body. If he had died they would have found something. D.B Cooper is still alive and has been undetected for years. Now he would be living under a different name besides D.B and that would help him keep his identity a secret. With very little evidence it is hard to say that he died, it seems like the easy option. He also served in the air force and would’ve known how to operate a parachute and know his way around a plane. With those skills he could’ve survived the conditions that day and escapes successfully without being traced. The case of D.B Cooper has been closed since 2016 and will remain closed unless there is very convincing evidence to open it back up. However with this case it is becoming harder and harder to find the answer as time goes by. With evidence that is decades old the truth seems to be harder and harder to find.