FBI Files Reveal New D.B. Cooper Suspect: Maine Pilot Once Investigated in Skyjacking Mystery

Newly released FBI files have revealed a previously unknown suspect in the D.B. Cooper skyjacking — a Maine pilot who was investigated at the time but whose identity was never publicly disclosed until now. The 1971 case, in which a man hijacked a Northwest Orient Airlines flight, collected $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted into the Pacific Northwest wilderness never to be seen again, remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in American commercial aviation history. The new suspect adds a fresh chapter to one of the most enduring mysteries in American criminal lore, offering amateur sleuths and professional investigators alike a new lead in a case that has captivated the public imagination for over half a century.