Someone claims to know the true identity of the infamous D.B. Cooper--and that person has the same last name. 'Dan Cooper' boarded, then hijacked a Northwest Orient flight before acquiring $200,000 in ransom money and parachuting his way to freedom in 1971. He's been on the FBI's 'Most Wanted' list 40 years. Marla Cooper--the FBI tipster--claims 'Uncle L.D. Cooper' is D.B. Cooper and is now dead, deceased in 1999.
Oklahoma resident Marla Cooper says the man playing 'Dan Cooper' is her late uncle who died in 1999. It makes sense: He's an ex-military man who knew the Pacific Northwest and its terrain, he was a fan adamant fan of the 'Dan Cooper' comic books -- and he arrived to Thanksgiving dinner a bit bloodied. Fans of the 'D.B. Cooper' escapade may recall the ransom man catapulted from that Northwest Orient plane the day before Thanksgiving, at night, in 1971. The woman who claims to be D.B.'s niece says she remembers a beaten-looking man arriving that holiday.
Neither the man or the bulk of cash was ever found in the Pacific Northwest. D.B. Cooper -- who actually purchased an airplane ticket with Northwest in the name of 'Dan Cooper' -- made off with $200,000 in ransom cash obtained from the airline. Less than $3,000 (or roughly $2,900) was ever found, discovered by a boy camping with his family in 1981.
Marla Cooper was 8 years old in 1971 at the time of the hijacking. She claims both a link to D.B. Cooper and a repressed memory, now assuring the world of her certainty that Lynn Doyle Cooper -- who she's calling 'L.D. Cooper' -- was the famous hijacker and man who made off with two hundred grand, in the largest manhunt ever performed by the FBI. Just days ago the FBI had confirmed it is pursuing a tip and sending at least one personal possession to a Virginia lab. 'D.B. Cooper' reportedly touched a magazine and left behind a mother-of-pearl tie pin on that Northwest Orient plane. The FBI is reportedly comparing fingerprints -- or a partial print or DNA evidence -- with at least one item owned by the man who is Marla Cooper's uncle.
Apparently the personal possession provided to the FBI by Marla Cooper has yet to provide agents with a fingerprint. The agency had announced in 2007 that it had DNA evidence related to the man previously using the 'Dan Cooper' alias. Marla Cooper provided the FBI with a guitar strap made by her uncle she says is the Boeing 727 hijacker. She also says she never saw her uncle again after 1972, no more than a year after the hijacking occurred.
So where was the Cooper family the day 'Dan Cooper' made history? Marla Cooper says two of her uncles left her grandma's Oregon home the day after Northwest Orient plane flight 305 was hijacked -- family members slated for a turkey hunting trip Thanksgiving Day in 1971. She says her uncle later showed for family tradition -- arriving with bruises and blood. Now age 48, Marla Cooper claims she remembers being an 8-year-old child and her uncle 'L.D.' saying he'd been in a car accident when he showed up for the holiday feast bloodied and bruised.
Cooper also claims a suddenly succinct memory, an exact statement from L.D. Cooper: "I heard my uncle [L.D. Cooper] say, 'We did it, our money problems are over, we hijacked an airplane," Marla told the media in an ABC interview August 3. The woman claims that before her father died more than a decade and a half ago, in 1995, he also confirmed to her that L.D. Cooper was the man who parachuted from that famous, hijacked flight.
Author of "SKYJACK: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper", Geoffrey Gray, has a humorous way of putting things in perspective: "The [FBI] Cooper file is full of 'Uncle L.D.s' and those pursuing them." While the FBI agency has dubbed the Cooper tip from Oklahoma "credible" -- and acknowledged that Marla Cooper is the tipster it's been recently referring to -- it's not confirming or validating the tip as correct. For now the mystery of 'Dan Cooper' remains unresolved.
It's still a little unclear why a man, hoping to pull off the biggest ransom stunt in history and using an alias for his first name, would possibly consider using his real last name.