The case of D.B. Cooper, the skyjacker who parachuted out of a plane above the Northwest woods with $200,000, is an unsolved mystery that has kept people guessing for more than 40 years.

"D.B. Cooper: Case Closed?" is the latest attempt to dig into the puzzles of who the man known as Cooper really was, whether he lived or died, and what happened to him.

The docuseries, which airs July 10-11 on the History channel, promises to shed new light on the case, revealing the "findings of a five-year investigation," as the History website says.

"D.B. Cooper: Case Closed?" features the work of a pair of journalists and a team of investigators who helped their search. More details from the show's web page:

"Testing and questioning their conclusions is a former Assistant Director of the FBI and a veteran crime journalist, who will also take viewers on a surprising journey into the details of the heist and various theories as to who could have pulled off the audacious caper. This deep dive into the elusive D.B. Cooper mystery includes rare interviews with numerous experts, insiders and one-time suspects, as well as a sit-down with the one person who not only spent the most time with him during the crime, but was also the last to see the infamous skyjacker before he jumped into history."

For those too young to recall, the D.B. Cooper case began Nov. 24, 1971, when a man dressed in a suit and tie boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines plane at Portland International Airport. The flight was headed for Seattle.

Once the plane was in the air, Cooper informed the flight crew that he had a bomb concealed in the briefcase he carried. The plane landed in Seattle, and as Cooper demanded, $200,000 and several parachutes were brought on board and delivered to Cooper.

The plane, now empty of passengers, took flight again, as Cooper had requested a flight to Mexico. But once the craft was airborne, Cooper parachuted out, in the vicinity of the Washington-Oregon border.

The man who used the name Cooper was never found, or identified. But that hasn't stopped waves of would-be sleuths from coming up with theories about who he was, and what happened after that fateful jump.

"D.B. Cooper: Case Closed?" airs at 9 p.m. Sunday, July 10 and at 9 p.m. Monday, July 11 on the History channel.

-- Kristi Turnquist



kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist