In 1971, "DB Cooper" hijacked a plane from Portland, Oregon and eventually parachuted into the Pacific Northwest wilderness with $200,000 strapped to his body. He was never seen again. The DB Cooper tale continues to thrive in popular culture while sparking a seemingly endless stream of theories about the mystery man's identity. There's even a conference—CooperCon— organized by a "Cooperite" named Eric Ulis who now believes that Cooper's tie, left behind on the plane and scientifically analyzed in 2017, may have led him to the mystery man's identity. From Oregon Live:
The lab analysis found a variety of metals on the tie – most notably a unique and rare titanium alloy that Ulis' research indicates was produced by only one company: Crucible Steel – formerly Rem-Cru Titanium.
Ulis contacted the company, now known as Crucible Industries, tracked down former employees still alive who worked there in the 1960s and '70s, and traveled to Pittsburgh, where Crucible Steel was located. This led Ulis to the man he now believes was probably D.B. Cooper, the late Vince Petersen…
"I'm satisfied D.B. Cooper came from this company," Ulis told The Oregonian/OregonLive this week.
