DB Cooper, Have They Got You?

I first saw the story the other day, blasted at me by some Online link from a British tabloid. Then, today, I saw that -- while it may be a tease -- it is legitimate news.

This is a story that had us on the edges of our seats here in Bellingham many years ago. Back in 1971, 41 years ago, a man called DB Cooper hijacked a Boeing 727 headed from Portland to Seattle, and he demanded $200,000 ransom and a parachute. He said he had a bomb in a brief case and he would detonate it if need be. They gave the guy what he asked for and, somewhere over Washington state, after dark on Thanksgiving eve, the man known as Dan Cooper jumped out of the plane and turned into a legend. He has never been seen since, might have died, but maybe not. They did find a few of the marked bills by a river or stream, but not much of the ransom.

The latest is that the FBI claims to have a "credible" lead in the old and cold case. This is coming from the Seattle FBI office and was recently reported by the Seattle Times. The Seattle office cautions that a big break in the case is not imminent but that they have sent fingerprints, from a suspect, to the FBI lab for further analysis.

I noticed, in the British tabloid story, that the bureau would not confirm, one way or another, whether or not the potential suspect is alive or dead. Apparently they obtained fingerprints off of objects that this new suspect touched at one time or another. So he may be with us or not, far as I can figure.

Just for the record, I think that a legitimate argument can be made that the new interest in the case, on the part of law enforcement, is directly related to a widely circulated article that was posted here at Active Rain a couple years back. Check it out here.