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Forensic expert unpacks the D.B Cooper hijacking mystery

On November 24th, 1971, a man calling himself Dan Cooper (aka D.B Cooper) bought a one-way ticket on Flight #305, bound for Seattle Washington. 

The man appeared to be in his mid-40s and wore a business suit. 

Former FBI agent Max Houck is one of the world’s most respected forensic scientists. Houck worked on infamous investigations like 9/11, The Unabomber, and the D.B Cooper case.

Max Houck shares what he found about D.B Cooper on Crime Insiders:

“The plane takes off and he sits next to a flight attendant and passes her a piece of paper, and she thinks he’s giving his phone number, so she doesn’t look at it. And he says, ‘You really need to read that note.’ And on the note, it said, ‘I have a bomb’,” Houck said.

D.B Cooper opened the suitcase and showed her the mass of wires and red coloured sticks inside. He demanded four parachutes and $200,00 in twenty-dollar bills. 

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In exchange for the money, Cooper instructed the pilot to land the plan and let passengers to deboard.  

“Then they take off again. He’s given them coordinates and also altitude, how to fly. And it was very low,” Houck said.

As the plane traveled over dense woodlands, the pilot noticed a light pop up on the dashboard indicating that the rear hatch was open. 

“What he had done was he’d put on one of the parachutes, went back, pulled the lever, the rear gate opened up, and he jumped out.”

“That’s all anybody heard about D.B. Cooper.”

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