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D.B. Cooper Shed Tie Before Jumping Out 727: New Technology Links Tie To Boeing Worker?

By Roz Zurko
Published on: 09:21 PST, Jan 15, 2017

The story of D.B. Cooper has never died, but the same can’t be said for the man who boarded a Boeing passenger jet back in 1971, calling himself D.B. Cooper. Several decades have passed since this man, who was dressed in a suit and tie, strapped on a parachute while hijacking a Boeing 727 jetliner full of passengers and crew. Before taking the mid-flight plunge out the jetliner’s rear door, D.B. Cooper took off that tie. Just like that, he was gone with thousands of dollars in ransom money into the high-altitude air. After laying dormant for over 45 years that tie has given up a treasure trove of clues, thanks to the help of modern-day technology.

The year was 1971 when D.B. Cooper jumped from a Boeing 727 with $200,000 in cash, trusting that a parachute would float him safely to the ground. Still today, almost half of a century later, no one knows if D.B. Cooper’s trust in that parachute was ill-fated or not. The true identity of the man who parachuted out of that jetliner has never been uncovered, along with not knowing if the man is dead or alive. But this mystery may be a little closer to being solved today with a new clue recently uncovered.

Cooper left behind a clip-on tie just before making that historic jump out of the Boeing 727. That tie has offered up a treasure trove of information once scanned and examined with the modern technology available today. The story of D.B. Cooper is fascinating, and that is probably why it has survived through the decades, suggests Fox News.

The D.B. Cooper tale has been kept alive by theoretical D.B. Cooper plots spun into books and movies. There are even lyrics about Cooper morphed into catchy tunes. Then, of course, there are the numerous tales of folklore conjured up about the real identity of the man who called himself D.B. Cooper.

Along with the mystery of whether Cooper survived or not, was the mystery of the true identity of this brazen man. No one knows who he is or if he is still alive or not. The FBI closed the D.B Cooper case back in July as the case was as cold as cold could get. It wasn’t the FBI who has offered up new leads in this case, but a group of amateur investigators who came up with the latest, and perhaps the most solid lead ever uncovered about this D.B. Cooper case.

Cooper hijacked the Northwest Orient jetliner in November of 1971 after handing a note to the stewardess (today called flight attendant) saying he had a bomb and that he was hijacking the plane. The woman didn’t look at the note at first, she just slipped it into her pocket. It was then when Cooper told her this was a hijacking and that he had a bomb. This reveal quickly put him in control of the flight, its passengers, and the crew.

According to the FBI’s website, the stewardess was given another note to bring to the captain. That note demanded $200,000 in ransom for the passengers and crew’s safety. The note also demanded four parachutes. The flight landed in Seattle and what Cooper had demanded was delivered to the plane and all 36 passengers on the flight were let go. Cooper kept several members of the crew on board, including the pilot and flight crew in the cockpit. He then ordered the captain to head toward Mexico.

The plane was somewhere over the rural area between Seattle and Reno when a light went on in the cockpit indicating the jetliner’s rear door had been opened. The captain came over the cabin’s speaker asking if everything was alright just as D.B. Cooper jumped out of the passenger jet with the ransom money. He had attached himself to one of the four parachutes that he had demanded be delivered to the plane with the money. The flight crew and cabin crew went on to land safely, but the whereabouts and the real identity of D.B. Cooper still remain a mystery.

Back in 1980, an 8-year-old boy offered up the biggest break in the case to date when he stumbled upon a bundle of $20 bills while looking for firewood in a forest. The money was found along a river bank and it had the serial numbers of the money given to Cooper for ransom. This money offered evidence that seemed to suggest D.B. Cooper didn’t live through that jump, suggests Fox. If he had, he would have taken all that money with him.

While people kept popping up claiming D.B. Cooper was their uncle, neighbor or long-lost friend, that 8-year-old boy’s find was the last solid clue for the FBI – until just recently. That tie that was left behind on the plane before D.B. Cooper jumped wasn’t much help in 1971, but in 2017, it is teeming with clues. Paleontologist Tom Kaye heads up the modern-day group who examined the tie for clues.

What this team found were particles, more than 100,00 of them were on that tie that originally came from the retail store JC Penney. Some of the particles were identified as Cerium, Stontium, Sulfide and titanium. After doing a little research, they were able to find that these elements were all used together in one spot during the late 1960s and earlier 1970s, and that was the Boeing plant.

These elements were used in the manufacturing of a super-sonic plane Boeing was developing at the time. Because these particles were on a tie, this suggested that Cooper, or the man who called himself D.B. Cooper, wore this tie to work.

This seemed to indicate that he wasn’t one of the workers tasked with manufacturing the parts on machines because people doing the hands-on work wouldn’t come to work sporting a tie. This would suggest that he was one of the engineers or contractors working at Boeing at the time. He was probably wearing a tie as he walked around the plant in some type of management position, which was suggested out of the clues so far.

The group that examined the tie and analyzed the particles calls itself the “Citizen Sleuths.” They have put together a list of the different particles found on D.B. Cooper’s tie. They are hoping anyone out there might have an idea of where some of these element particles may come from or what a combination of these elements might have been used for. They urge anyone with an idea to contact them on their Citizen Sleuth website. Today this one question is making the rounds online – “Did D.B. Cooper work at Boeing?”

[Featured Image/AP File Image]

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