The Manhunt Begins: An Empty Sky and a Baffled FBI
When the plane landed safely in Reno, Nevada, around 10:15 PM, law enforcement swarmed the aircraft. They found it empty except for the crew. The hijacker was gone. He had left behind only a few small items: his black clip-on tie, a mother-of-pearl tie clip, and eight filtered Raleigh cigarette butts. This was the sum total of the physical evidence left on the plane from the man who had just committed the perfect crime.
The FBI immediately launched one of the most extensive and expensive investigations in its history, codenamed “NORJAK” for Northwest Hijacking. The initial challenge was immense: where, exactly, did he jump? The pilots could only estimate a general area based on their flight path. The harsh weather and darkness meant that the two Air Force fighter jets scrambled to tail the 727 never saw a thing. There was no “X” on the map.
Investigators focused on a vast, unforgiving wilderness in southwestern Washington, near the small town of Ariel. Hundreds of soldiers, FBI agents, and local law enforcement scoured the dense forests, mountains, and rivers. They searched on foot, in helicopters, and even from a submarine in Lake Merwin. They found nothing: no parachute, no briefcase, no tattered money, and no body. It was as if the man and the money had simply been erased from existence.
How “Dan Cooper” Became “D.B. Cooper”
One of the most enduring pieces of the Cooper legend is the name itself, which arose from an early case of media error—a critical lesson in how information can shift as it spreads. Shortly after the hijacking, law enforcement began questioning potential persons of interest. One such man in the Portland area was named D.B. Cooper. He was quickly investigated and cleared of any involvement. However, a reporter, eager for a scoop, overheard the name and mistakenly reported it as the hijacker’s alias. The name stuck.
This small but significant detail highlights a recurring theme in the case: the blending of fact and fiction. The mysterious skyjacker was never “D.B. Cooper” to the crew or the FBI during the event. He was Dan Cooper. The name that became famous was a journalistic accident, a ghost name for a ghost suspect. This distinction is crucial for anyone seeking to understand the primary source material, like the declassified files available on the FBI Vault, which refer to the unidentified subject as “Dan Cooper.”
The investigation settled in for the long haul. The FBI compiled a list of the serial numbers from all 10,000 of the twenty-dollar bills and distributed it to banks, casinos, and law enforcement agencies worldwide. For years, any Cooper bill that surfaced could theoretically lead them to their man. But for nearly a decade, not a single one appeared.
