An investigator has named a new suspect in the case of DB Cooper – the hijacker who got away with a $200,000 ransom by jumping out of a plane 52 years ago and was never seen again.
Eric Ulis, a civilian investigator who sued the FBI for access to the case’s files and evidence, claims the man behind the November 24, 1971 mystery was engineer Vince Petersen of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
Petersen worked as a subcontractor to Boeing at a titanium factory and fits the evidence left behind by the infamous hijacker, the DB enthusiast told The US Sun. He would have been 52 years old at the time of the crime and has been dead for a long time.
Ulis – who was five when the plane jacking took place – first landed in Petersen’s name after analyzing microscopic evidence left on the clip-on black tie DB left behind before parachuting from the plane.
Several of the particles found corresponded to specialty metals used in the aerospace sector, such as titanium, high-strength stainless steel and aluminum, Ulis explained.
Ulis suspects a man named Vince Peterson (pictured) is Cooper after a chemical trail was found in November on the tape to a Pittsburgh laboratory where Peterson worked
A man who investigated the DB Cooper case is suing the FBI because he believes a piece of the hijacker’s tie could solve the case
Eric Ulis (pictured), who calls himself ‘one of the world’s leading DB Cooper experts’, says he has discovered an adjustable spindle in a tie that matches the tie Cooper was wearing
The sleuth claims he has found “three particles of a very rare alloy of titanium and antimony that have a very specific equilibrium, a very specific mixture.” Ulis then combined the alloy with a U.S. patent granted to Boeing’s subcontractor in Pittsburg.
The company no longer exists, but Ulis managed to interview a man who worked there as a supervisor and pointed to Peterson.
Peterson also matches DB’s physical description, which described Ulis as “between 45 and 50 years old, clean-cut, conservative, with a high forehead and approximately six feet tall.”
After hearing the description, the supervisor reportedly responded immediately: “That sounds like Vince Petersen.”
Ulis then started watching Peterson and discovered that he routinely traveled to Seattle to work with Boeing on aerospace projects.
The Emerald City, as many know, was the destination of the ill-fated flight from Portland that the man incorrectly labeled by the media as DB Cooper hijacked on the afternoon of November 24, 1971.
Dressed in a smart suit and sunglasses, he purchased the Northwest Orient Airline ticket under the alias Dan Cooper, but due to a media misunderstanding, he was branded with the name many know today.
“It obviously doesn’t prove that Vince Petersen was DB Cooper, but it is certainly intriguing as far as anything else goes because we know he had access to the titanium and antimony particles found on Cooper’s tie,” Ulis told The US Sun. .
In November 1971, an “unremarkable man” identifying himself as Dan “DB” Cooper boarded a Northwest Orient flight from Portland to Seattle. He then told the pilot he had a bomb and asked for $200,000. The photo shows the plane he hijacked
“I hesitate to give a percentage of the likelihood that Vince Petersen is Cooper, but I will say that he is a compelling person.”
In comments to CNN, Ulis, 57, outlined how his lawsuit — which is still making its way through the federal courts — could prove crucial in the coming months, as the tie knot has a metal coil that could contain undiscovered DNA.
He added, “That’s all I’m trying to get: access to that pivot to open it up. Let the DNA expert take a swab of it, and let’s see what we can do with it.’
But the FBI — which closed the case unsolved six years ago — has refused to play along, forcing him to continue combing the stretch of river in Washington state where the money was found.
One of the great unsolved mysteries in FBI history, the mid-air heist began when Cooper ordered a bourbon and soda from his seat in 18E — and then handed a flight attendant a handwritten note saying he had a bomb.
An otherwise calm man who appeared to be in his mid-forties, he opened a carry-on bag to reveal a mess of wire and red sticks that looked like dynamite, and demanded four parachutes and the mass of cash.
After the plane landed in Seattle, as part of a ransom, he traded three dozen passengers for the money and parachutes, and ordered the pilot to fly to a new destination in Mexico City.
But while still in the skies over the Pacific Northwest, the eventual fugitive made one of the most brazen escapes in American history: He jumped from the plane shortly after takeoff with the money strapped to his waist into the night, to never to be found again. .
The only clue to what happened to Cooper was discovered nine years later, in 1980. A young boy camping with his family on the Columbia River, northwest of Vancouver, discovered $6,000 of Cooper’s ransom in a riverbank, pictured
In the years since, no trace of the criminal has been found, creating an air of mystery and even romance surrounding the stunt.
Among those fascinated by the case is Ulis, who told CNN he believes the parachute Cooper used that night is still there, and is planning another dig there next month.
‘I’m convinced DB Cooper’s parachute is somewhere in that area. It’s hidden somewhere under some blackberry bushes or a thicket or something like that,” he says. “It’s been there for 52 years.”
One of the few concrete clues about what happened to Cooper was discovered nine years after the incident, in 1980.
A young boy camping with his family on the Tena Bar section of the Columbia River, northwest of Vancouver, came across $6,000 in Cooper’s ransom, tied together by elastic bands, while digging a fire pit on the riverbank.
The discovery, confirmed by the serial number on the money, led the FBI to believe the money had been washed into the river 20 miles from Cooper’s drop zone and had been buried in the sand ever since.
But the theory was later called into question after scientists analyzed tiny particles of algae that had adhered to the banknotes and suggested the money had ended up in the river months after Cooper’s flight, leading many to believe he had survived the fall after all.
The remainder of Cooper’s ransom was never found, despite the FBI releasing the serial numbers to the public and offering rewards to anyone who turned in a matching note.
During the 45-year investigation, officials had a number of ideas about Cooper’s real identity, some of which are featured in the new Netflix show.
Robert Rackstraw (pictured), a military vet with a dark past full of fraud and scams, is one of the people believed to be the real DB Cooper, but there have been numerous suspects over the years. He died in 2019
Perhaps the most convincing was Robert Rackshaw, a retired pilot and military veteran with a dark past filled with accusations of murder and fraud.
Rackstraw has undergone extensive military training, serving in the National Guard, the Reserve, and in one of the U.S. Army’s most decorated combat divisions – the 1st Calvary Division – in Vietnam in 1969. Rumor has it that he was granted immunity for his crimes. after conducting Black Ops missions for the CIA.
Rackstraw was first considered a suspect seven years after the 1978 hijacking, with investigators saying “so many things” about him seemed to match Cooper’s description.
Because of his similarity to Cooper’s sketch, his military training and his criminal record, police were suspicious of Rackshaw, who died in 2019, but could not find any direct evidence linking him to the case.
Cooper would be in his 90s now, that is, if he survived the fall from the plane at all and if he is still alive.