‘DB Cooper: Where are you?’: The complete list of suspects

With a daring heist, the man known as DB Cooper became an American legend. 51 years later, people are still obsessed with finding it. Some of the greatest hunters take center stage in Netflix’s new true crime series‘DB Cooper: Where are you?’, which promises to become one of the best Netflix true crimes about murderers and mysteries.

Shows from ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ to ‘Breaking Bad’ make references to him. Some fan theories about ‘Mad Men’ believed that the show would end with Don Draper becoming the mystery man.. Marvel even attempted a prank to “solve” the case by having ‘Loki’s Tom Hiddleston turn into Cooper as part of a prank. The reality of all these shows and movies about “real” conspiracies and mysteries is that it’s a case that can’t help but get everyone’s attention.

In short, a man in a suit and sunglasses boarded a plane in Portland, Oregon, on November 24, 1971, before alerting a flight attendant that he had a bomb in his briefcase.. The man threatened to detonate it if she did not follow her demands.

He was cool and calm throughout, and the rest of the passengers didn’t even know what was going on until they landed in Seattle, Washington and were let off the plane.

Cooper demanded $200,000 in cash, four parachutes, and a fuel truck. to refuel the plane and get it ready for take off. As soon as he received them, he instructed the pilot to take off and head for Reno, Nevada.

While I was en route, took the parachutes, jumped out of the plane and was never seen again.

The FBI was left stumped as to who exactly this mystery man was, with only a few sketches to go on, and the fact that he “smelled of cigarettes and drank bourbon”.

But as with most good mysteries, the desire to solve the case never died out and, to this day, dozens of detectives and crime historians remain determined to find the true identity of the culprit.

Then,who are the possible suspects they pulled off the only air piracy case that remains unsolved?

Here are the main suspects in the case (out of thousands of possible ones) and what happened to them.

dick briggs

Dick Briggs, a cocaine dealer, was one of many people who claimed to be DB Cooper in the years after the hijacking.

Ron Carlson, who spoke on camera about his belief that Briggs was the real culprit in 2011, said he had made claims to her and even announced that a “hippy-looking couple” at a party they were both at would later find part of the kidnapping money.

Sure enough, just a few days later, the Ingrams, who Carlson believed to be that couple, they found about $7,000 in stolen cash while they were on a beach.

However, he was ultimately ruled out because it was learned that he had faked his involvement in the Vietnam War and, with it, his ability to parachute.

He died in a freak car accident in Portland.Oregon, in 1980. He was 41 years old and his associates continue to suspect that his death was not accidental.

Robert Rackstraw

In ‘DB Cooper: Where Art Thou?’ Robert Rackstraw becomes one of the most prominent suspects both for the production team and for those investigating the case.

His history is a bit fuzzy, but it has been confirmed that he served as an Army pilot, as Cooper’s profilers suggest. Also had prior connections to the CIAbut was discharged from the Army in 1971, five months before the plane hijacking.

He died in 2019, but during his life he had been accused of fraud and had tried to steal a plane. When that plan was discovered, he had tried to fake his own death.

Although he was removed from official investigations in 1979, Rackstraw became the prime suspect for Detective Thomas J Colbert and Tom Szollosi, who later wrote a book identifying him as DB Cooper in 2016 titled ‘The Last Master Outlaw’.

Rackstraw later went on record that the investigation cost him his job.

Following the presentation of a photo of Rackstraw, the flight attendants who had close interactions with Cooper said they had the wrong guy.. He was also much younger than the “approximately 40-year-old man” that was described.

Despite being harassed by detectives who had singled him out as DB Cooper’s most likely suspect, and even being offered $20,000 up front if he admitted it, Rackstraw went to his grave denying that he was the famous plane thief..

He spent the last years of his life in San Diego, California with his ship, called ‘Poverty Sucks’ (‘Poverty sucks’).

Richard McCoy

It could be said that Richard Floyd McCoy Jr is the suspect who most resembles the police sketchand also had a history of plane theft.

Five months after the DB Cooper incident, McCoy tried a similar trick on a flight between Newark, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, California, with a stopover in Denver, Colorado.

The main difference was that this time used a hand grenade instead of a briefcase bomb, and demanded the sum greater than $500,000.

He was caught, and in a raid on his home, official FBI records indicate they found parachuting gear, an electric typewriter (with printouts matching those in the typed kidnapping instructions), and $499,970.

In June 1973, McCoy was convicted of aircraft piracy despite his plea of ​​innocence. He was given a 45-year sentence. His appeal was denied in December of that year.

In a growing line of “damned” DB Cooper suspects, McCoy was killed in a shootout with police after escaping from jail in 1974.

He never claimed to be DB Cooper.

Duane Weber

In 1995, Duane Weber announced on his deathbed: “I’m Dan Cooper,” the real name used by the kidnapper. The alias DB Cooper was mistakenly used by reporters immediately after the heist and has stuck ever since.

Because of this, his wife Jo did not make the connection until months later. After discovery, other pieces of information, such as a long-term knee injury that he claims was due to a plane jumpbegan to make sense to her.

Weber also physically matched with the composite drawing made by the FBI.

However, there has been no substantive evidence to corroborate this claim, and despite the discovery of a hidden criminal past, nothing but the circumstances and the “confession” link Weber to Cooper.

Sheridan Peterson

Sheridan Peterson died at the age of 94 in January 2021 having never confessed to being DB Cooper, but he often noted that “the FBI had good reason to suspect himdue to numerous coincidental circumstances. He also seemed to enjoy notoriety, appearing in interviews about the TV documentary case when asked.

His past in the Marine Corps and his work with aircraft manufacturer Boeing made investigator Eric Ulis was “98% convinced” that it was him.

Peterson even appeared in a skydiving demo brochure for Boeing in a similar outfit later worn by DB Cooper.

In a different twist than the other prime suspects, Peterson lived an unassuming life but made no secret of his love of adrenaline-pumping adventures, even being a “smoke jumper” (a specialist firefighter who is sent into situations by parachute). This would explain his ability to survive the less than ideal jumping weather at the time of the Cooper incident.

According to Ulises, Peterson was someone who “cared deeply for those less fortunate”helped establish Freedom Schools in the South during the Civil Rights Movement, and helped refugees during the Vietnam War.

In a statement to Oregon Live after Peterson’s death, Ulis said, “Whether Sheridan Peterson was DB Cooper or not, may I suggest that he more than atoned for the failings of his life?”

DB Cooper: Where are you? is now available on Netflix.