In Ariel, a small town in Washington State nestled between pine trees and raging rivers, not only ate turkey on Thursday and forced the rite of Thanksgiving Day. In and tradition these days is to offer in the village tavern on the health of a man who might still be alive or may already be dead, but that, regardless of their own fate, was installed in the legend in 1971 never leave. In Ariel
want to believe that DB Cooper, the mysterious passenger on 24 November of that year hijacked a plane in Portland (Oregon), demanded a ransom of $ 200,000 and vanished without a trace after a parachute jump with the loot on the State of Washington, is still alive. His body was never found. Nor money. Neither the parachute. So every year, dozens of fans flock to this mysterious character Ariel's Tavern to celebrate their feat during the "days of DB Cooper. It is the only unsolved case in the history of hijackings. And one of the most famous and celebrated crimes of the United States.
DB Cooper has had hundreds of applicants to play him in real life. But more than a thousand suspects who have passed through the sieve of the FBI has joined this year, with the help of New York detective Skipp Porteous, Sherlock Investigations Agency, a new name: Kenny Christiansen. Bourbon and soda lover, a former soldier, a former paratrooper, a former flight attendant and a resident of the State of Washington until his death in 1994, Kenny Christiansen is, according to his brother Lyle Christiansen, DB Cooper, attentive and quiet man who hijacked a Boeing 727 wearing a pearl in the buttonhole of his elegant black suit.
To understand the complexity of the case must travel in time back to that November 24, 1971. A middle-aged man, tall, wide forehead, protruding ears, coat and black tie and impeccable suit purchase a ticket in Portland under the name of Dan Cooper, a journalistic error would add a B to name a few hours later, carving and in history. Will take flight on Northwest Orient Airlines 305 bound for Seattle. He sits in the back row of that plane that travels 36 passengers and six crew and asked for a bourbon and soda. At takeoff the flight attendant gives him a note. Florence Schaffner, 23, put it in his pocket without paying attention: according to later told the passengers he made sexual advances constantly, so I thought this would be one more. But Cooper reacts immediately: "Miss, look at the note. I have a bomb." On paper, the man with the pearl in the eye tells you that you're hijacking the plane, tells carrying a bomb in his bag and asked to sit by his side for instructions. "I want, when we land in Seattle, I hand over $ 200,000. I also want four parachutes. Refuel as we land and do not exploit this nonsense or do." While the flight attendant comes to the cabin to inform the driver of the situation, DB Cooper, his face hidden behind dark glasses who used to jump from the plane.
"The other passengers barely remember, because the pilot never reported that the plane had been hijacked. They said it had mechanical problems and therefore were going to take longer to land. Hence, the identification has always been difficult, "explains Skipp Porteous COUNTRY in a telephone interview. The sketch was done in Cooper relied primarily on statements from the attendant Schaffner." And she said that the picture Kenny Christiansen is the most like the kidnapper of all you have taught over the years, "he says proudly." But the FBI has not bothered to search for other flight attendants to show it. That is one of the things that I have yet to do, "he continues.
That rainy night, Mr B Cooper calmly sipped his bourbon while waiting for the air landing perfect gentleman. When the plane finally arrived in Seattle, the passengers landed without a scratch and oblivious to the reality of abduction. DB Cooper did not flinch. He waited until she delivered $ 200,000 in notes 20 and parachutes. Negotiated the departure of two flight attendants and was left with a third, Tina Mucklow, which today looks Porteous. Made the transaction, ordered the pilot to be directed toward Reno (Nevada). Gave specific orders as to what height to fly, how fast and how to put the plane's wings, and he specified that there will stamp the back door. The Boeing 727 was the only model with a ladder allowing use that door to jump and, of course, the kidnapper knew those details. DB Cooper handed weighing five kilos money through his body, asked the stewardess to close in the cockpit with the pilot and he was alone.
Nobody knows what they thought at the time, he opened the door of the plane and faced the cold and the storm that raged outside. At his feet, more than 3,000 feet away, the State of Washington and its rugged mountains, glaciers and forests infested with bears waiting to devour him. Or maybe not. That's the mystery.
"DB Cooper was my brother Kenny and did survive." Lyle Christiansen contacted in February services Porteous agency to make him reach the writer, film director and screenwriter Nora Ephron the letter detailing how he came to the conclusion that his brother was missing and the abductor in which I proposed to write the screenplay for a movie. Porteous delivered the letter, which Ephron ninguneo and getting no response, Christiansen said. His tenacity led to the curiosity of this particular detective, who was to cure and change habits to investigate the mundane. "When I began to request information and compare them, I realized that was before the most important event of my life. There are too many coincidences," says Porteous, who, after three decades of occupation, still aspires to the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol spoke.
"Kenny Christiansen bought a home in Bonney Lake, Washington State, just one year after the kidnapping with cash. He worked as a mechanic and car chief for Northwest Airlines, which would explain his knowledge of hijacked plane. However, long-haul routes covered, explaining that this crew did not know him. And most importantly, had been a paratrooper in the Army and even skydiving risk had to pump extra money. "
This is what Lyle Christiansen said Porteous when he began to describe her brother, a type different, lonely and quiet, fascinated by the childhood memory of bundles of $ 20 bills, which barely knew him friends and never married. But also on his deathbed, Kenny wanted to make a confession to Lyle: "There is something you should know, but I can tell." The reality is that Kenny Christiansen was gay, something he never officially to his brother. "Maybe that was what he meant, since they experienced a time when it was not easy to come out. But perhaps the secret was another ...", suggests Porteous, who also has bequeathed Kenny home to one of their male partners.
The mystery that has surrounded the identity of DB Cooper and that weighs on the FBI for 36 years has fueled the collective imagination endlessly about who became the most wanted criminal of the United States. "It was an incredible victory in the battle of man against machine. A single individual from technology, big business, the system. So is portrayed as a curious Robin Hood, taking from the rich, or at least power . No matter if you give it to the poor or not, "he reflected during the 25 th anniversary of the kidnapping the sociologist Otto Larsen, University of Washington.
In Ariel, a neighbor named Richard Purdy wrote after the kidnapping the first of many songs about the case, entitled Story of DB Cooper I, which was already mystified. In Washington State in 1972 appeared the first shirts with the question "DB Cooper, where are you?". Today, his portrait robot is a pop icon that even decorated ashtrays are sold online. To the area hundreds of bounty hunters came in search of a body and thousands of dollars that some ferocious chase into the murky waters of a local lake helped by a submarine. But all that appeared were $ 5,800 decomposition along the Columbia River in 1980. We wrote books, novels and, of course, Hollywood tried to exploit the dramatic potential history with a movie, a million dollars in the air, but had quality actors like Robert Duvall, was lost in the mists of mediocrity.
As for the suspects, has been of all kinds. From John List, a mass murderer, to Richard McCoy Jr., one of four men who hijacked planes DB Cooper style a few months later. McCoy was arrested a few days to escape from a plane in Denver (Colorado) with half a million in his parachute, but the FBI could never prove that it was DB Cooper.
Then there Ghunter people like Max who DB Cooper in his book, What really happened? (What happened really?) claimed to have corresponded with the kidnapper for 10 years. And a woman, Jo Weber, who in 2000 claimed that her husband, Duane Weber, said before his death he was the kidnapper disappeared. There were some who even gave interviews under that name. But no suspects changed the main thesis of the FBI investigation, which still maintains that DB Cooper died after jumping from the plane. "I've seen and heard everything, and none has been proven to survive," says Ralph Himmelsbach, the retired FBI agent who has worked more years in the case. However, the agency opened a month ago case files hoping to get to close someday.
The FBI has also ruled out because Kenny Christiansen sees no resemblance to the kidnapper, who in theory was another big and eye color. "But there are other photos that are identical. Not seem to reconcile the DNA tests, but I question the type of evidence collected at the time the FBI, so now it all depends on circumstantial evidence. In addition, the FBI would never admit that I I have reason. After the millions that have been spent, would never let them steal the case "cries Porteous. "I have to figure out where that was Kenny Christiansen November 24. I need to find someone who would have confessed his identity and I have to get the files Max Ghunter to contrast. The hijacker wrote him a letter. There could be an important DNA test. "
While all this happens, this weekend will have been reunited in Ariel, as every year since 1971, who did not want to believe in the death of Robin Hood. Carl Steinwachs, a local resident, explained 25 years ago in The New York Times the reasons for that community to resist burying DB Cooper. His arguments about the feat of the hero are as current as ever: "Everyone tries to earn a living, but all is against the common man. Look at politicians, win elections and then steal money. As large companies. DB Cooper was a ordinary man who did the same but openly, not as corporations and politicians they do in secret. Had to think, plan and execute. I think he succeeded. He is a hero and I would hate to discover that died in the attempt. "
want to believe that DB Cooper, the mysterious passenger on 24 November of that year hijacked a plane in Portland (Oregon), demanded a ransom of $ 200,000 and vanished without a trace after a parachute jump with the loot on the State of Washington, is still alive. His body was never found. Nor money. Neither the parachute. So every year, dozens of fans flock to this mysterious character Ariel's Tavern to celebrate their feat during the "days of DB Cooper. It is the only unsolved case in the history of hijackings. And one of the most famous and celebrated crimes of the United States.
DB Cooper has had hundreds of applicants to play him in real life. But more than a thousand suspects who have passed through the sieve of the FBI has joined this year, with the help of New York detective Skipp Porteous, Sherlock Investigations Agency, a new name: Kenny Christiansen. Bourbon and soda lover, a former soldier, a former paratrooper, a former flight attendant and a resident of the State of Washington until his death in 1994, Kenny Christiansen is, according to his brother Lyle Christiansen, DB Cooper, attentive and quiet man who hijacked a Boeing 727 wearing a pearl in the buttonhole of his elegant black suit.
To understand the complexity of the case must travel in time back to that November 24, 1971. A middle-aged man, tall, wide forehead, protruding ears, coat and black tie and impeccable suit purchase a ticket in Portland under the name of Dan Cooper, a journalistic error would add a B to name a few hours later, carving and in history. Will take flight on Northwest Orient Airlines 305 bound for Seattle. He sits in the back row of that plane that travels 36 passengers and six crew and asked for a bourbon and soda. At takeoff the flight attendant gives him a note. Florence Schaffner, 23, put it in his pocket without paying attention: according to later told the passengers he made sexual advances constantly, so I thought this would be one more. But Cooper reacts immediately: "Miss, look at the note. I have a bomb." On paper, the man with the pearl in the eye tells you that you're hijacking the plane, tells carrying a bomb in his bag and asked to sit by his side for instructions. "I want, when we land in Seattle, I hand over $ 200,000. I also want four parachutes. Refuel as we land and do not exploit this nonsense or do." While the flight attendant comes to the cabin to inform the driver of the situation, DB Cooper, his face hidden behind dark glasses who used to jump from the plane.
"The other passengers barely remember, because the pilot never reported that the plane had been hijacked. They said it had mechanical problems and therefore were going to take longer to land. Hence, the identification has always been difficult, "explains Skipp Porteous COUNTRY in a telephone interview. The sketch was done in Cooper relied primarily on statements from the attendant Schaffner." And she said that the picture Kenny Christiansen is the most like the kidnapper of all you have taught over the years, "he says proudly." But the FBI has not bothered to search for other flight attendants to show it. That is one of the things that I have yet to do, "he continues.
That rainy night, Mr B Cooper calmly sipped his bourbon while waiting for the air landing perfect gentleman. When the plane finally arrived in Seattle, the passengers landed without a scratch and oblivious to the reality of abduction. DB Cooper did not flinch. He waited until she delivered $ 200,000 in notes 20 and parachutes. Negotiated the departure of two flight attendants and was left with a third, Tina Mucklow, which today looks Porteous. Made the transaction, ordered the pilot to be directed toward Reno (Nevada). Gave specific orders as to what height to fly, how fast and how to put the plane's wings, and he specified that there will stamp the back door. The Boeing 727 was the only model with a ladder allowing use that door to jump and, of course, the kidnapper knew those details. DB Cooper handed weighing five kilos money through his body, asked the stewardess to close in the cockpit with the pilot and he was alone.
Nobody knows what they thought at the time, he opened the door of the plane and faced the cold and the storm that raged outside. At his feet, more than 3,000 feet away, the State of Washington and its rugged mountains, glaciers and forests infested with bears waiting to devour him. Or maybe not. That's the mystery.
"DB Cooper was my brother Kenny and did survive." Lyle Christiansen contacted in February services Porteous agency to make him reach the writer, film director and screenwriter Nora Ephron the letter detailing how he came to the conclusion that his brother was missing and the abductor in which I proposed to write the screenplay for a movie. Porteous delivered the letter, which Ephron ninguneo and getting no response, Christiansen said. His tenacity led to the curiosity of this particular detective, who was to cure and change habits to investigate the mundane. "When I began to request information and compare them, I realized that was before the most important event of my life. There are too many coincidences," says Porteous, who, after three decades of occupation, still aspires to the 15 minutes of fame that Andy Warhol spoke.
"Kenny Christiansen bought a home in Bonney Lake, Washington State, just one year after the kidnapping with cash. He worked as a mechanic and car chief for Northwest Airlines, which would explain his knowledge of hijacked plane. However, long-haul routes covered, explaining that this crew did not know him. And most importantly, had been a paratrooper in the Army and even skydiving risk had to pump extra money. "
This is what Lyle Christiansen said Porteous when he began to describe her brother, a type different, lonely and quiet, fascinated by the childhood memory of bundles of $ 20 bills, which barely knew him friends and never married. But also on his deathbed, Kenny wanted to make a confession to Lyle: "There is something you should know, but I can tell." The reality is that Kenny Christiansen was gay, something he never officially to his brother. "Maybe that was what he meant, since they experienced a time when it was not easy to come out. But perhaps the secret was another ...", suggests Porteous, who also has bequeathed Kenny home to one of their male partners.
The mystery that has surrounded the identity of DB Cooper and that weighs on the FBI for 36 years has fueled the collective imagination endlessly about who became the most wanted criminal of the United States. "It was an incredible victory in the battle of man against machine. A single individual from technology, big business, the system. So is portrayed as a curious Robin Hood, taking from the rich, or at least power . No matter if you give it to the poor or not, "he reflected during the 25 th anniversary of the kidnapping the sociologist Otto Larsen, University of Washington.
In Ariel, a neighbor named Richard Purdy wrote after the kidnapping the first of many songs about the case, entitled Story of DB Cooper I, which was already mystified. In Washington State in 1972 appeared the first shirts with the question "DB Cooper, where are you?". Today, his portrait robot is a pop icon that even decorated ashtrays are sold online. To the area hundreds of bounty hunters came in search of a body and thousands of dollars that some ferocious chase into the murky waters of a local lake helped by a submarine. But all that appeared were $ 5,800 decomposition along the Columbia River in 1980. We wrote books, novels and, of course, Hollywood tried to exploit the dramatic potential history with a movie, a million dollars in the air, but had quality actors like Robert Duvall, was lost in the mists of mediocrity.
As for the suspects, has been of all kinds. From John List, a mass murderer, to Richard McCoy Jr., one of four men who hijacked planes DB Cooper style a few months later. McCoy was arrested a few days to escape from a plane in Denver (Colorado) with half a million in his parachute, but the FBI could never prove that it was DB Cooper.
Then there Ghunter people like Max who DB Cooper in his book, What really happened? (What happened really?) claimed to have corresponded with the kidnapper for 10 years. And a woman, Jo Weber, who in 2000 claimed that her husband, Duane Weber, said before his death he was the kidnapper disappeared. There were some who even gave interviews under that name. But no suspects changed the main thesis of the FBI investigation, which still maintains that DB Cooper died after jumping from the plane. "I've seen and heard everything, and none has been proven to survive," says Ralph Himmelsbach, the retired FBI agent who has worked more years in the case. However, the agency opened a month ago case files hoping to get to close someday.
The FBI has also ruled out because Kenny Christiansen sees no resemblance to the kidnapper, who in theory was another big and eye color. "But there are other photos that are identical. Not seem to reconcile the DNA tests, but I question the type of evidence collected at the time the FBI, so now it all depends on circumstantial evidence. In addition, the FBI would never admit that I I have reason. After the millions that have been spent, would never let them steal the case "cries Porteous. "I have to figure out where that was Kenny Christiansen November 24. I need to find someone who would have confessed his identity and I have to get the files Max Ghunter to contrast. The hijacker wrote him a letter. There could be an important DNA test. "
While all this happens, this weekend will have been reunited in Ariel, as every year since 1971, who did not want to believe in the death of Robin Hood. Carl Steinwachs, a local resident, explained 25 years ago in The New York Times the reasons for that community to resist burying DB Cooper. His arguments about the feat of the hero are as current as ever: "Everyone tries to earn a living, but all is against the common man. Look at politicians, win elections and then steal money. As large companies. DB Cooper was a ordinary man who did the same but openly, not as corporations and politicians they do in secret. Had to think, plan and execute. I think he succeeded. He is a hero and I would hate to discover that died in the attempt. "
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