Like the Bermuda Triangle or the conspiracy theories surrounding President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, there are plenty of mysteries still stuck in our minds. One of the most notable and daring robberies of the 20th century was committed by D.B. Cooper, a man who hijacked a plane, nabbed over $1 million in today’s money ($200,000 at the time), and jumped out of the aircraft somewhere in Washington state. While his identity has remained hidden for more than 50 years, one man says we’re one step closer to cracking the case.
Eric Ulis, a star of the show History’s Greatest Mysteries, says that he’s found a new piece of evidence that could put authorities back on the trail of D.B. Cooper. While he left a clean crime scene behind him when he hijacked the plane back in 1971, there was one piece of evidence that Cooper left behind – a clip-on-tie. According to Ulis, the fashion accessory could be an important puzzle piece in debunking the criminal’s identity.
Science and technology have certainly come a long way in the more than five decades since D.B. Cooper snatched his $200,000 in ransom and dove out of a plane into the dark night. Using a device that Ulis refers to as “sticky stubs,” scientists managed to collect “some of the particles” from the clip-on-tie. Ulis already surmised that the tie itself was purchased at the department store, J.C. Penny, sometime around the holiday season of 1964 with the researchers managing to so far pull over 100,000 particles from the sample.
As Ulis puts it, each of these particles “tells a story,” putting him hot on the trail of better understanding the man behind the infamous robbery. Closer to pinning the crime on the unknown perpetrator, Ulis says that three of the fragments discovered in the scrapings were linked to a Pennsylvania plant called Crucible Steel. The samples contained stainless steel and titanium, leading the investigator to believe that D.B. Cooper would’ve been in constant and close contact with these elements.
As luck would have it, Crucible Steel was a company that was a foundational part of helping Boeing become the successful airplane builders that the company is now famous for. Breaking it down even more, Ulis says that he now believes that D.B. Cooper was likely an employee of Crucible Steel, giving him insider information about how Boeing made their planes. As for the crime being committed on the other side of the country, as Crucible Steel’s home base was in Pennsylvania, Ulis believes that Cooper may have been at the Seattle location for a business trip of sorts.
Feeling rather certain with this new piece of information, Ulis said, “I can put him in Seattle, I can put him at Boeing,” but added that he’s not comfortable with ruling out any suspects quite yet. So, for now, the legend of D.B. Cooper still baffles the world as no specific name has been dropped by the authorities as the man behind the hijacking and robbery. If you’re interested in learning more about one of the most compelling felonies of all time, Netflix released a compelling documentary in 2022 titled D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! showcasing the mysterious man’s daring robbery and escape.
Source: Fox News
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