New D.B. Cooper evidence complexifies old case

Remains of a parachute that may have been used by famed 1971 plane hijacker Dan Cooper have been found in Washington state.

The site where children found the parachute remnants match where Cooper, early on and mistakenly identified as D.B. Cooper, would likely have landed.

One problem, though. From this site, if Cooper died soon after his jump, there’s no natural way for some $5,000 of the $200,000 he was given in the hijack to have been found in 1980 on a Columbia River beach near Vancouver, Wash.

So, did he survive for a while after all? Or more than a while? Or is this not Cooper’s parachute?

That’s doubtful. If he survived for any great length of time, he surely wouldn’t have dropped that much money in one chunk.

I don’t know how the $200,000 in hijack money was bundled. Perhaps he lost some of it while jumping. Money is light enough that, from the air, it could have floated far away from him.

Or… either humans or wild animals have already found Cooper’s remains.