A man hijacks a Northwest Orient jet, collects $200,000 and parachutes into the night. It remains the only unsolved U.S. airline hijacking.
Contested history
Consensus: On 24 November 1971 a man called Dan Cooper hijacked a Northwest Orient jet, took a $200,000 ransom and parachuted out over Washington State.
He died in the jumpDebated
The FBI long suspected he did not survive a night jump into rough terrain in a rainstorm with poor gear.
He survived and was never caughtDebated
No body or parachute has been found, and only about $5,800 of the money turned up, in 1980 on the Columbia River.
A specific named suspect has been provenUnsupported
The FBI investigated hundreds of suspects and closed its active probe in 2016 without naming the hijacker.