UNSOLVED: Discovering the Truth Behind the Disappearance of DB Cooper 

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As someone from the upper Midwest, I could see someone from this area or Canada referring to Minnesota as “nice country.” Given the stress the flight attendant was under it would be completely plausible she misheard him.

I think the most shocking part of this video is that Simon is surprised an American flight would withhold alcohol service in 1971 for any reason.

For land line phone numbers, they’re listed automatically, you don’t choose to list it. You can have the phone company unlist it, but if you don’t actively ask for it then it stays listed. Spam calls don’t use the phone book, so listing or unlisted won’t affect how many spam calls you get. Often spam call centres buy lists from websites or apps

I watched a podcast not long ago with a guy who said he was DB Cooper's nephew. His story was fascinating, giving all kinds of details as to what DB did after he parachuted down.

Superman is my favorite character in comics and Smallville is one of my favorite shows! I'm subscribed to all your channels Simon you're great!

Most paratroopers in operations in WW2 landed in unguided parachutes. It is much more dangerous. They also landed in unpowered gliders as well. People do insanely dangerous stuff.

The back stair was not Top Secret. We used it landing in Orlando all the time.

Americans, at least some of the ones I know in Ohio, will use a phrase “nice country” referring to the area the are talking about being beautiful or peaceful. e.g. “have you been to the upper New England states, nice country up there.” This could be how he was using the words.

Can we just get Simon doing a US geography test?

Simon you said "effortlessly" three times this episode without imploding, I am so proud of you!

I still can’t believe that after DB Cooper jumped out of the airplane, he fought Bigfoot in the wilderness. What a wonderful world we live in.

The most amazing thing about this video is that Simon was able to say “effortlessly” correctly on the fist try

Yes Simon, Money that came into a Bank back in the day was in fact scanned into Microfische in case any stolen or counterfeit money was being deposited or changed for real money, like handing in $20 to get $100's. I used to work and a long since defunct bank in the late 80's and we had to scan the till after counting them to open our station, then we had to scan the money at certain intervals, usually after I'd had a certain number of cash deposits, or is I had to have more cash moved into my drawer. Then at end of day we scanned again, and then deposited the money that was over our base till amount [for me was $250 since I was a sort of unofficial back upfor the Merchant Teller, and she needed to open her day with $750 even then to cover the needs of the merchants needing cash for their businesses.] So the FBI likely scanned to Microfische and also snapped photos of the money they had gathered too. Smart, offering non-sequential bills to put our Mystery Man at ease, while setting him up to be tracked when he spent or deposited that money.

I flew into New York in April 2001. Bought my first on-line ticket. Printed out my ticket, went to the main desk and was sent to the gate. At the gate a person asked my name and checked me off a list. Never looked at my ID, never looked at my printed ticket. I got fogged in three days later. I had to stay over another day, but my suitcase went out without me. Next day I returned to Miami and found my suitcase sitting on the floor in front of the luggage return bin. It sat there for over 24 hours untouched, unnoticed.

This story is always fun to hear about because everyone seems to cover it a bit differently. For example I heard on another RU-vid channel that one possible reason he might have asked for four parachutes is since he had they couldn't risk give him a dummy one. Or something along those lines. Basically, by asking for that many they had no idea if he was planning to jump and take someone with him or not.

I love how Simon hosts soooo many channels that for half of them he just reads a script in his hands and we all still tune in delighted

on the being kind even as a criminal - you can get away with bank robberies without hurting anyone either, Simon! Or at least, you could in the 80s when a relative of mine was involved in a series of armed robberies (they were caught eventually and he served about 20 yrs). It was his job to keep an eye on the staff and they'd usually lock them in an empty room or disused vault to make sure they were safe out of the way, or he'd zip tie their hands quite gently and ask if anyone had asthma or heart problems, anything that meant he needed to go get their medication from their desks. Some of these folks testified on his behalf later on and probably contributed to him not getting life like the others. Don't be doing armed robberies OBVIOUSLY (he was young and it was during an almost civil war so his country was a mess anyway, he's very regretful), but you can be kind even if you are uhhh... doing some criminal activity.

For those who don't know there's also a coopercon where a bunch of D.B Cooper enthusiasts get together and discuss theories and stuff. It's pretty funny that they even referenced D.B Cooper in the Loki series, since there are a lot of outlandish theories.

The fact that Cooper was so polite to the flight attendants clearly shows he must have been Canadian.

In North Central rural areas we use the word country to describe areas. So if someone told me they were from Kentucky I would say something like "that's beautiful country there".

I've seen so many videos on DB Cooper and never knew that he gave Tina a stack of money because she asked. And he didn't even think twice about it. That's amazing. I thought it was funny when you said an American can talk with a Canadian "aboot" anything and not hear an accent. I think that's how French Canadians say "about".

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Great video. I have one thing that I noticed was incorrect. The stairs on the 727 were never classified. They were a selling point that Boeing used the hell out of. One of the main selling points for the 727 was it would be a great plane for using in smaller, less developed airports. Having stairs on the aircraft means you don't need airstairs or an airbridge to get PAX on and off. One little cool thing, when I was still in aviation maintenance, I had a buddy I worked with who was a new mechanic working 727's when this happened. One of his first jobs in the industry was installing "Cooper locks" on the stairs so they couldn't open in flight. Pretty cool, simple mechanism.

10:05 Perhaps Cooper simply said "Minnesota's some beautiful country" and she misheard him. Saying "[area] is beautiful country" is rural parlance for the terrain is gorgeous and worth taking in in an area 🤷🏻‍♂️

Son of Sam Laws differ from state to state, but the term refers to groups of laws that are designed to stop criminals from monetizing their crimes.

People rely on that tie for every theory. If this guy was as smart as he is supposed to be, he would have bought his entire ensemble at a Goodwill/Swap Meet so that nothing could be traced to him. That tie was probably originally owned by a dead retired steelworker whose widow donated all his clothes to Goodwill.

Growing up and still living in Vancouver, WA (I grew up about 8 miles from where the $5800 was found) I was so excited to see this covered. A lot of people think he probably died and ended up in the Lewis River or the Columbia River closer to PDX. Since the Columbia feeds into the Pacific Ocean, whatever evidence might have ended up in the river is most likely long gone. It's such a good mystery though.

Clark Kent is Superman? Thanks for the spoiler!

Dude ... lol For us older folks that was the norm. I remember having a question and popping in to ask the CAPTAIN a question lol Those were the days

The Son of Sam law is an American English term for any law designed to keep. Criminals from profiting from the publicity of their crimes, for instance by selling their stories to publishers.

Back in the early 00's (2004 or 5), I had a customer named Cooper Power (or Electric, I don't remember because I'm old now). The old guy in his 70's was Dan Bailey, and initialed all of the paperwork "DB". I thought it was amusing that I got my paperwork from DB at Cooper. He also walked with a limp from 'an accident in the 70's' that he wouldn't go in to details about. He was also a white guy... coincidences are funny like that, I suppose.

The "Your Airlines" bit at around 11:00 might be referring to the stewardess worked for that airline and nothing more.

After years of videos, I'm proud of Simon's effortless pronunciation of "effortlessly" in this video lol

The hostess must have been frightened. Did he really say 'a nice country' or just 'nice country'?

"And where are you getting enough ping pong balls from?" From Captain Kangaroo of course!

The MythBusters tested the ping pong myth because it's one. Of those tall tales that sounds *WAY* too good to be true. Plus it was a really cool story, & they couldn't resist testing it.

That’s easy… Heimdall used the rainbow bridge to pull Loki back to Asgard. DUh.

On the extra fuel: the plane was probably going to pick up more passengers in Seattle and go on elsewhere, or maybe make multiple hops back and forth. Carrying extra fuel burns more fuel lifting it, but at a certain point it makes more sense to just fully fuel the thing before the first flight of the day so you don't have to refuel at every stop, and/or Jet A was probably cheaper in Portland than in Seattle. Edit: Only one American has actually been executed for desertion since the Civil War, Eddie Slovik in 1945. It's like any other crime, there's the maximum sentence as a threat, and then there's the much-reduced sentence you're actually likely to get if you're not a real asshole (which apparently Slovik was, he was offered two opportunities to rejoin his unit, then an offer to be transferred to another unit where nobody would know about his past, and have all charges dropped, but he refused). All the other deserters got a dishonourable discharge and maybe a bit of jail time.

the reason he asked for multiple parachutes is, from what i heard, a smart move by asking multiple it seems like he maybe wants to let some of the passengers jump aswell. this way the guys who provide the chutes, will not give him a "bad one" that doesnt work, because he might use it on innocent passangers

I just wanted to say "Minnesota country" doesnt always mean country, but that the rural areas of it are nice. It's a slang term used to denote rural areas typically in texas up through alberta. For example Alberta is known as Wildrose Country.

I'm one of Richard "Dick" Lepsy's grandkids. I promise my grandfather didn't do this. His disappearance was bizarre and we all have our theories, but he disappeared 2 years before the hijacking (also, minor detail to correct but, hid car was found at the Traverse City airport in Michigan, not sure where y'all got Portland?). If you ever want to do a video on mysterious disappearances, my gramps is a good candidate. I tend to believe he set things up to look like a disappearance but then went on to take his own life (he was in serious financial trouble and was very depressed). Also, he didn't take money from his workplace--he had caught an employee stealing, so some of my fam think he was murdered. Whether it's suicide, murder, or he really did leave of his own accord, it affects us to this day. No worries *from me* about this mention of him, however, some of my family members would be upset if they saw this video. Luckily, they're busier people than I am. :) Good job--I have always been curious about Dan Cooper, mainly because it's been a running joke between a few of us that he was my grandfather lol.

25:06 YOU DID IT SIMON, YOU FINALLY DID IT! PUT IT IN THE COMPILATION VIDEO!

Yeeeesss! One of my favorite heist mysteries. Looking forward to your take on it. Thank you for making my work commute less monotonous.

its entirely possible that he expected to get shot down, so he left backup parachutes for the on board flight crew as he was already going out of his way seemingly to not hurt anyone. and that he may have known the backup was a dummy so he opted to take it since he already had a working one leaving 2 on the plane for the crew just in case

Parafoils (steering parachutes) were very special in the 70s, they really got their development through the 1980s. Most parachutes were the round military style which are great at slowing a fall, but not so much on pinpoint landing.

Something I don't think was talked about enough: he specifically requested civilian parachutes. My guess is that's because he wasn't a military parachutist at all, but had done civilian skydiving and so wanted specifically the ones he'd used before. Maybe even only did a handful of jumps before to prepare for this stunt and not really anytime else before.

My father was an Air Force pilot, who rarely ever spoke about what he did in Vietnam (in the late 50's-early 60's before we were officially in Vietnam ...). I sometimes wonder if he just made up the stories he did tell (aka - the plane crash that messed up his back was when he was "joy-riding" with a buddy, and boy were his superiors mad! LOL!") The other story he would tell was when he was flying a cargo plane full of ping-pong balls to China - "it was the perfect opportunity to ditch a plane - because it would float! LOL!" It always seemed too silly to be real, but maybe that one was true? The one he never spoke about - we just found him mentioned in a newspaper clipping after he passed away - was flying Christmas dinner up to an Alaska base that was snowed in. Maybe cargo pilots weren't thought of as heroic, so he didn't feel like there was much to tell. Anyway, he was a kind man and a great Dad. The ping-pong tangent just brought up that memory. Thank you.

Someone needs to make a sci fi movie where DB Cooper didn't really jump, because he was a time traveler and the money was either spent in the past or so far in the future no one thought to check it.

As far as Cooper saying "Minnesota that's a nice country," that could have been mishearing the word "a" before country. It's entirely possible he just said "Minnesota that's nice country" as in the countryside because there is a lot of really pretty nature out there. It's fairly common, at least around here in Wisconsin, to say things like "that's nice country" referring to just the landscape in rural areas.

A US geography state test for Simon would be hilarious if he doesnt cheat or study beforehand. Killer material!

Yeah I would not be so sure about the money never being spent. Like Simon said, you can go to pretty much any country and spend it. Countries where most people wouldn't even be aware of this and wouldn't even think to report serial numbers to the FBI.

Simon, most military parachutes can't really be steered well, even now a days. Round chutes just don't steer. This also happened when stuff like civilian skydiving was in it's infancy. Also, there are these things the secret service call super bills, they believe they come from NK or China, that are practically completely indistinguishable from a real bill. They find them with serial number references too.

I think that he did live. The FBI just doesn't want to admit they never caught him

Gonna pop my feet up and crack open a fresh cool bottle of Mad Dog 20/20 Golden Pineapple and let this man ramble in my ear.

I was 18 in september 2001, Simon, at my first duty station, after the buildings dropped, we went to defcon bravo, and i spent the next 12 hours guarding a door. prior to that we were in the middle of a Nuclear exercise, with everything on the runway, and quickly being put right back. My first plane ride to San Antonio, was like that, smoking in the airport with zero security checks. Good times.

Really interesting! This is one of my favorite villains. The motive was so for the rest of time we would be dying of curiosity over this.. Who was it? Why? Did he survive? Did he have an accomplice? And on and on our questions go

Wanted to comment that my driving instructor was actually a part of the military squad that searched the forests for him. He even showed me on a map where they looked, it was very interesting!! (The driving school I went to is run by first responders/military)

In 1971 I was 13 years old and living at McChord Air Force Base, which is outside Tacoma, Washington. However, I vividly remember when this happened. Incidentally, I'm wondering why Cooper trusted the parachutes. I would never trust a parachute given to me by anyone whose plane I had just hijacked.

WHOA, my grandpa looked just like that sketch (generic white man in the 70s), and a photo of him in a plane exists. I had no idea I was related to DB Cooper! Crazy!

There are 3 possibilities. . . 1. His makeshift bag fell apart during the jump and he lost all the money (that would explain why the money was not spent and there was a wad of cash in the river) 2. He made it and threw one wad away expecting to throw people off. 3. He died and just fell in an area of the forest that was particularly thick.

Kevin thank you so much for bringing to life one of my favorite stories! DB Cooper happened when I was about 7 And I live in the Pacific Northwest so I was fascinated by this as a child and have never really lost my love of the folklory story. Simon as always your small tangents are so much fun 🥰

I always assumed the “county” comment about Minnesota meant like, “that is beautiful country” like a beautiful part of the country or it’s very “country” like rural, but beautiful. Being from MN myself I’ve heard people tell me “that’s beautiful country” more than once

Lemmino covered the reserve shute thing, according to Tina he had tried to remove the functional reserve shute first to try and wrap the money in it. A training shute is way easier to remove than a real one, making it easier to use as a bag which would be attached securely to his person.

Simon obviously hasn’t asked chael sonnen what he knows 😂

I grew up in Minnesota and I often heard people say something like..."Oh, ya, up by Two Harbors, that's good country up there, real good deer hunting."

What happened with the map at 00:10:22? Minnesota got a whole lot bigger than I remember! lol

My favorite theory is that he had a terminal illness and a goal, and that the hijacking was a suicide run he had no intention of surviving.

Can't wait to hear who Simon thinks DB Cooper really was.

6:39 If he asked for one parachute, then they could have just given him a rigged chute (once again, the pun is wholly, fully and unapologetically intended), and let him "burn in". But if law enforcement think he's taking someone with him, then they can't risk killing an innocent person.

So my grandpa was both ex army airmen, a bowing employee, and the right height/age/build... We all think he was DB. I also have photos of him from his wedding to my grandma wearing a similar tie.

Well maybe it was like "Minnesota is beautiful country" instead of "... _A_ beautiful country.." Country as in land/area. Also, I've always thought it was weird how tripped out they get about money. I mean, I understand if they don't bring down the hammer, everyone would be stealing but they always have shootouts and give them such big prison sentences that, to the criminal, it's almost worth not leaving witnesses. You know? If there was a chance to get a lighter sentence and people weren't so freaked out over money, maybe criminals wouldn't be violent with it.

Ain't nothing like a good D.B. Cooper video.

Tina Mucklow holds the DB Cooper key to his identity. I'm sure right after the skyjacking the bureau showed her photos especially McCoy that she said NO . As years went by it's hard to remember but Tina could definitely rule out McCoy.

Very good work Kevin. And Simon, at 25:06 and 52:16 you said the word ‘effortlessly’ completely, well, effortlessly. I’m proud of you, buddy.

The show "Loki" had a fun poke at D. B. Cooper. He was actually Loki and the highjacking was part of a brotherly bet between him and Thor.

Requesting clarification on being a friendly criminal: how does this apply to cannibal criminals? Like, is it more or less friendly to share your meal with your meal like DB Cooper shared his ransom with the flight attendant?

FBI: This case is unsolvable. Also FBI: That guy? No, can't be him, he's alive.

Heckin fantastic! Cant wait to find out what "officially" happened to Cooper!

Kevin has inadvertently inspired a Writers of the Whistlerverse Awards convo between my bf. I blurted out "Kevin is second only to Danny, extra points for the Game episodes!" He agreed 🥰 but bronze is another story - I vote Callum, & he's still considering 😆

Fun Fact: due to this and similar incidences, a device named the Cooper vane was installed on Boeing 727’s. A mechanical rotating latch moved by airspeed across it, to lock the rear airstairs from opening while in flight

Saying "beautiful country" is pretty common in the US when talking about other areas of the US because it's a shortening of beautiful countryside.

Ooh one of my favourite mysteries I'm looking forward to this one!

57:43 I was typing this in the comment right before you said it. It's nice you took down all those serial numbers and transmitted them to a bunch of area banks. But: 1- DBC clearly had money on him because he was passing out $20s and saying "keep the change". He likely had about $500 of his own, "clean" money on him where he could have easily taken these duffle bags, hopped on a Greyhound, and finished the trip to Mexico, regardless of injuries. Additionally, $200K is worth a LOT more in Mexico, both then and now. He probably went down there, got married and lived an easy life the rest of the way.

kevin, jen and simon, i absolutely enjoy your show(s) and appreciate your efforts so much. thank you a lot for your work!

One of my absolute favorite mysteries. I have a theory and it's nome of the leading theories.

We were traveling via a small airlines from Fairbanks to Anchorage. They had us hand over our bags just before we walked on the plane and the bags went into the cargo hold without going through TSA. This was just a few years ago. During the flight we realized that one of our senators was on the flight. It was like flying back in the 70s.

Thanks for this AMAZING Episode! It was so interesting, was very well researched and the mystery surrounding Cooper's real identity was very well explored. Sure, it's not perfect, as Simon immediately thought of a solid argument to counter the "The Money was never spent" belief, but since this Script is coming from a single person/Author, we can't be too harsh on him/her!

Pre-Sept 2001 was a whole different world when it came to airports. I remember being able to go meet people at gates, no "get there in time to go thru security", no checking IDs and barely checking tickets

SIMON SAID "EFFORTLESSLY"!!

Chael P Sonnen (P for undefeated and undisputed) knows who DB Cooper is 💯🔥

can your editors please master your videos at a consistent volume lol

I'm so used to robberies and jackings in the US being violent that this story is just weird and chill. I can only assume that D.B maybe owed someone money or this was some weird test for a future plan and that's why he was so chill about everything. Even if he wasn't past military or worked in engineering that he had a really obsessive hobby or interest that provided the information.

Disney solved this mistery: it was Loki. :D

"That's pretty country" is a very common thing to say in the US, especially when commenting on someones home region. Verrrry common. I use that phrase frequently. Mostly, I hear it from truck drivers or other such well traveled persons. It's a way of saying "I've been there once."

I love the DB Cooper mystery and even watched another channel with it the other day and wondered... Has Simon done this one yet? And now you have! Thanks :)

IIRC, in those days major banks had "ransom/hijack" packs of bank notes with documented serial numbers. My understanding is that one of these was used for the Cooper hijacking. They did not need to take the time to try to photograph or photocopy each bill. Hijackings and kidnappings for ransom were more frequent in those days, and large banks apparently were ready for such situations.

Sorry to be spamming this request again, but could we get a video of the death of Gloria Ramirez, often called ‘the toxic lady’ who apparently made people in the emergency department treating her unwell. I’d love to hear it covered on Decoding the Unknown. Also really psyched to hear this episode! Another classic getting the old Decoding the Unknown treatment. Thanks to Kevin for writing and Jen for your editing!

I've heard people say "That's nice country", just meaning that it is a nice area, or referring to the countryside. Having been to Minnesota, it is, indeed, nice country.

A+ video! This channel is the only one to have the guts to say that none of the suspects are great. The analysis was very helpful for pointing out the holes in some of the other theories. I imagine that there would have to be some type of highly specific psychological profile and data points to be used to solve this case.