The FBI has effectively closed its investigation of the disappearance of airplane hijacker D.B. Cooper, the New York Daily News reported on Tuesday.
In November 1971, Mr. Cooper “donned a parachute and leaped from the Northwest Orient Airlines plane to Seattle with a bag with $200,000 in stolen cash,” never to be found again, although nine years later some of the cash was discovered buried in a sandy bank of the Columbia River near Vancouver, Washington.
“The lone agent assigned to the D.B. Cooper manhunt was assigned to other mysteries within the federal agency on Friday,” the Daily News reported, “effectively shuttering the 45-year-old case after the FBI — and troves of tipsters — failed to identity the infamous hijacker.”
“Unfortunately, none of the well-meaning tips or applications of new investigative technology have yielded the necessary proof,” the Daily News quoted FBI spokeswoman Ayn Dietrich-Williams from a bureau statement. “The FBI exhaustively reviewed all credible leads,” she added.
The decades-old mystery isn’t entirely off the bureau’s radar, however.
“Although the FBI will no longer actively investigate the case, Dietrich-Williams said the agency will continue to field tips related to the parachute and stolen cash,” the Daily News explained.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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