Oklahoma Woman Claims Famed Hijacker D.B. Cooper Was Her Uncle

Over the years others have claimed that they thought D.B. Cooper was someone they know.  However, if this woman's memory is accurate than this sounds very intriguing.  The things she claims are amazing.

When an FBI agent pleaded several years ago for help finding notorious skyjacker D.B. Cooper, he wondered, off-handedly, if someone's "odd uncle" might be their guy.

Marla Cooper believes that her late uncle Lynn Doyle Cooper was the man who hijacked a plane in 1971 and parachuted away with $200,000 ransom into a rainy night over the Pacific Northwest.

The FBI has for years tried to find out if D.B. Cooper survived the jump, chasing more than 1,000 leads as the man who pulled off the nation's only unsolved hijacking became part of American folklore.

The agency said it is following up on a "credible" new lead in the Cooper case. FBI agent Fred Gutt declined Wednesday, however, to say whether Marla Cooper was connected to that lead.

"It is an unsolved crime and we are obligated to address that if new, credible information comes to us," he said, adding that the case is a low priority. The FBI is focused on criminal activity that threatens communities today, he said.

Marla Cooper told ABC News, which first reported her comments in an interview broadcast Wednesday, that she made the connection by piecing together her memories and her parents' comments over the years. Cooper, however, did not say why she chose to speak out now.

Cooper claimed on "Good Morning America" that she heard her uncle, L.D. Cooper, and another uncle planning something "very mischievous" over the holidays in 1971. "I was watching them using some very expensive walkie-talkies that they had purchased," she said.

Marla Cooper said her uncles said they were going turkey hunting around Thanksgiving.

On Nov. 24, 1971, a man who gave his name as Dan Cooper claimed shortly after takeoff in Portland, Ore., that he had a bomb, leading the flight crew of the Northwest Orient plane to land in Seattle. Passengers were exchanged for parachutes and ransom money.

The flight then took off for Mexico with the suspect and flight crew on board. The hijacker parachuted from the plane after dark as it flew south, apparently over a rugged, wooded region not far from Marla Cooper's grandmother's home in Sisters, Ore.

Marla Cooper said her uncle, L.D. Cooper, came home claiming he had been in a car accident.

"My uncle L.D. was wearing a white T-shirt and he was bloody and bruised and a mess, and I was horrified. I began to cry. My other uncle, who was with L.D., said `Marla just shut up and go get your dad,'" she said.

via Oklahoma woman claims famed hijacker D.B. Cooper was uncle, FBI won't confirm ties to new lead | StarTribune.com.