“If you want to believe it, believe it.”Īnd then Rackstraw said this: “I think he (D.B. “They say that I’m him,” said Rackstraw, 73, who described himself as a retired, homeless, military veteran. Rackstraw talked on the phone with the Southern California News Group three times recently. And Rackstraw needs to be coy about his identity to maintain the small amount of fame he has. The volunteer investigators need Rackstraw to be Cooper to be viewed as really good investigators. Cooper, where over the years no fewer than 10 people have been suspected to be the hijacker: Both sides in this story need the other one. One more thing about the mysterious world of D.B. Warren said it was a law course on mediation. “According to UCR Extension records, Robert Rackstraw taught at UCR Extension for two quarters in 1999,” John Warren, director of news and information, wrote in an email. “According to the records, he taught two sections of one course in spring and summer quarters of 1999.” The FBI, though, closed the case Jwithout reaching any conclusion. A team of 40 volunteer sleuths (many of them retired law enforcement investigators) has named Robert Rackstraw of San Diego as the person they believe to be the fugitive.Ģ. Today, 46 years after that Thanksgiving-eve skydive, three facts about the identity of D.B. It is the only unsolved case of piracy in the history of U.S. Cooper – parachuted mid-flight from the rear exit of Flight 305 and straight into American folklore. 24, 1971, a man who had bought a ticket using the name Dan Cooper – and later was misidentified by the Associated Press as D.B. Once on the ground, the hijacker let 36 passengers exit, accepted the $200,000 and instructed the pilot to fly to Mexico. Calmly, he put on a pair of sunglasses, demanded $200,000 in ransom and directed the pilot to land in Seattle.

Shortly after takeoff, he slipped the flight attendant a note explaining his intention to hijack the plane. He sat in the rear of the passenger cabin on Northwest Orient Flight 305 from Portland to Seattle.

The man in the natty suit smoked a cigarette, ordered a bourbon and soda and carried a bomb in his briefcase.

Audio from hijack plane from seattle