Netflix’s newest documentary series, which has been released today (July 13), explores the infamous mystery of DB Cooper.
D.B Cooper: Where Are You? is a four-part series that will take a deep dive into the unsolved case of a skyjacker who parachuted from a plane with a bag of stolen cash and got away with it.
In 1971 an unidentified man who called himself Dan Cooper boarded a flight from Portland to Seattle.
While on board, he told a flight attendant that he had a bomb in his briefcase and demanded $200,000 and four parachutes.
The flight landed in Seattle and took off again with just a few crew members and Cooper, who was now in possession of the money and parachutes.
During the flight Cooper parachuted from the plane with the money and was never to be seen again - his real identity was also never uncovered.
As Netflix explores the 50-year mystery, here are some of the theories about who DB Cooper was and what happened to him.
DB Cooper was hijacker Richard Floyd McCoy
One of the main suspects in the DB Cooper case was Richard Floyd McCoy, and many still believe that he is the real DB Cooper.
Five months after Cooper’s flight, Richard Floyd McCoy was arrested for a very similar aeroplane hijacking and escape by parachute.
McCoy was a devout Mormon who lived in Utah. He joined the army and served two years in Vietnam as a demolition expert and pilot.
After being wounded in action he later returned to Vietnam and served as a combat helicopter pilot.
When he left the army he went on to volunteer as a warrant officer in the Utah National Guard and took up skydiving as a hobby.
In April 1972, McCoy hijacked a plane flying from New Jersey to Los Angeles, demanded $500,000 in cash and escaped from the plane using a parachute.
But a few days later he was arrested for the hijacking and two months later was sentenced to 45 years in prison.
In 1974 McCoy escaped from prison and three months later was killed during a shootout with FBI officers.
The FBI later ruled out McCoy as a suspect in the DB Cooper case because “he didn't match the nearly identical physical descriptions of Cooper provided by two flight attendants” and “other reasons”.
Cooper didn’t survive the jump from the plane
Another popular theory is that DB Cooper didn’t survive the jump from the plane.
The FBI said this could be likely, explaining: “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.”
In 1980 the theory that he’d been killed by the jump was boosted when a young boy found some of the ransom money that DB Cooper had taken.
The boy discovered $6,000 of the $200,000 hijacked money while digging a firepit on the riverbank of the Columbia River.
The FBI believed that the money had washed down the river 18 miles away from where they estimated Cooper’s drop zone to be.
But later, scientist Tom Kaye shed doubt on the theory after claiming that seasonal specific ‘diatoms’ present on the money showed that the cash had been buried months after the hijacking.
No traces of the body were ever found either.
DB Cooper was a flight attendant
Another suspect in the DB Cooper case was flight attendant Kenneth Christiansen.
Christiansen had been a paratrooper and mechanic and was a flight attendant for Northwest Orient Airlines - the airline that Cooper targeted.
It had been claimed that a few months after the hijacking, Christiansen had purchased a house with cash, but this was later debunked.
Kenneth’s brother Lyle also believed that he could have been DB Cooper. He told the FBI about his theory and even hired a private investigator.
However, Kenneth was shorter and had lighter skin than the description of Cooper, and the FBI ruled him out as a suspect due to a lack of incriminating evidence.
DB Cooper was a transgender woman
Barbara Drayton was a librarian and skilled recreational pilot and parachutist who claimed she'd carried out the hijacking two years after undergoing gender reassignment surgery.
Pat and Ron Forman, two married aviation enthusiasts who later struck up a friendship with Barbara, claimed that she told them she was DB Cooper and that she carried out the hijacking.
In their book The Legend of D.B. Cooper, they wrote: “Feeling resentful of the FAA and mired in a depression following her gender reassignment, Dayton decided to pull off an airborne heist.”
The FBI never seriously acknowledged her claims and she died from pulmonary disease in 2002.
