IT'S the case that has stumped both the FBI and amateur sleuths for more than 50 years.
Now, a new Netflix show is set to explore the infamous 1971 case of skyjacker DB Cooper, who vanished out the back of a Boeing 727 – along with his ransom money – into the freezing Northwest rain.
DB Cooper: Where Are You?! will release on Netflix on Wednesday in a fresh attempt to understand what happened the night of November 24.
With no trace of Cooper found since, hundreds of theories have emerged over the years – along with a stream of suspects.
One prominent theory is that the infamous plane hijacker died after jumping from the aircraft.
Chilling clues that lend their support to that claim include the type of clothing he was wearing, his lack of experience with skydiving and the discovery of some the cash years later.
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The FBI themselves state: "Perhaps Cooper didn’t survive his jump from the plane.
"After all, the parachute he used couldn’t be steered, his clothing and footwear were unsuitable for a rough landing, and he had jumped into a wooded area at night—a dangerous proposition for a seasoned pro, which evidence suggests Cooper was not.
"This theory was given an added boost in 1980 when a young boy found a rotting package full of twenty-dollar bills ($5,800 in all) that matched the ransom money serial numbers."
And one man who has dedicated his life to locating evidence of Cooper's whereabouts, Jerry Thomas, is convinced he died.
Thomas spends everyday trekking through the dense woodland in the area, and has done for years, and says the chances of surviving a parachute landing there – as well as an escape afterwards – are slim.
“He didn’t make it out alive that night, that’s an impossible thing for him to do. He died that night," he says.
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Other theories touted include the suggestion he could have been a man named Duane L Weber, who allegedly confessed to the crime on his deathbed.
Many people have also thrown their support behind the theory that Cooper may have been a daredevil war hero who pulled off a second hijacking months later.
Richard Floyd McCoy was convicted of hijacking a United Airlines passenger jet for ransom in 1972, in what appeared to be a 'copycat' heist.
Another suspect was flight attendant Kenneth Christiansen, who worked for Northwest Orient Airlines at the time of the hijacking and was also a former paratrooper and mechanic.
He became linked to the crime after relatives grew suspicious that he was able to buy a house with cash – several months after the hijacking.
As for the FBI, they say: "By the five-year anniversary of the hijacking, we’d considered more than 800 suspects and eliminated all but two dozen from consideration."
What is clear is that on November 24, 1971, a man who called himself Dan Cooper boarded flight #305, bound for Seattle, Washington.
He was heading out from Portland, Oregon and appeared to be a "quiet man" who was around his mid-40s, according to the FBI.
He is said to have ordered a bourbon and soda drink while waiting for the plane to take off.
Cooper then slipped the flight attendant a note threatening them with a bomb.
Later, he demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills from the flight attendant, the FBI reports.
Tina Mucklow, the air stewardess who complied with the demand, spoke out in the BBC documentary The Hijacker Who Vanished: The Mystery Of DB Cooper.
She said “He opened the briefcase and showed me there were these, what looked like dynamite, strapped together with electricians’ tape."
Once the flight landed in Seattle, Cooper exchanged the flight's passengers of 36 people for the parachutes and money.
The hijacker then kept several crew members on board and the plane set off for a new destination to Mexico City.
Slightly after 8pm, Cooper leapt off the airplane somewhere between Seattle and Reno.
He reportedly took the parachute and the ransom money he obtained prior.
The pilots later landed safely but Cooper was never to be seen again.
In 1980 a young boy digging in sand north of Portland unearthed bundles of cash that matched the serial numbers of Cooper’s ransom money.
The rest of the money was never found.
As for Cooper, his identity and whereabouts continues to remain a mystery, according to the official FBI website.
"The daring hijack and disappearance remain an intriguing mystery—for law enforcement and amateur sleuths alike," the bureau states.
On July 12, 2016, the FBI officially closed the case and moved on.
The update from the FBI reads "**July 12, 2016 Update: The FBI has redirected resources allocated to the D.B. Cooper case to focus on other investigative priorities."
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Cooper was never identified or found.
But for Geoffrey Gray, author of Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper the "fascination" with the case "has survived not because of the FBI investigation but because he was able to do something that not only captured the public imagination, but also maintained a sense of mystery in the world."
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