title: D. B. Cooper

text: Local police and FBI agents immediately began questioning possible suspects. Acting on the possibility the hijacker may have used his real name (or the same alias in a previous crime), Portland police discovered and interviewed a Portland citizen named D. B. Cooper. The Portland Cooper had a minor police record, but was quickly eliminated as a suspect. In his rush to meet a deadline, reporter James Long confused the Portland Cooper with the pseudonym used by the hijacker. United Press International wire service reporter Clyde Jabin republished Long’s error, and as other media sources repeated the name, "D. B. Cooper" became the hijacker's pseudonym.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Due to the number of variables and parameters, precisely defining the area to search was difficult. The jet’s airspeed estimates varied, the environmental conditions along the flight path varied with the aircraft’s location and altitude, and only Cooper knew how long he stayed in free-fall before pulling his ripcord. The Air Force F-106 pilots neither saw anyone jumping from the airliner, nor did their radar detect a deployed parachute. Moreover, a black-clad individual jumping into the moonless night would be difficult to see, especially given the limited visibility, cloud cover, and lack of ground lighting. The T-33 pilots did not make visual contact with the 727.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: On December 6, 1971, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover approved the use of an Air Force SR-71 Blackbird to retrace and photograph Flight 305's flightpath, and to locate the items Cooper carried during his jump. The SR-71 made five flights to retrace Flight 305's route, but due to poor visibility, the photography attempts were unsuccessful.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In an experimental re-creation, flying the same aircraft used in the hijacking in the same flight configuration, FBI agents pushed a sled out of the open airstair and were able to reproduce the upward motion of the tail section and brief change in cabin pressure described by the flight crew at 8:13 p.m. Initial extrapolations placed Cooper's landing zone within an area on the southernmost outreach of Mount St. Helens, a few miles southeast of Ariel, Washington, near Lake Merwin, an artificial lake formed by a dam on the Lewis River. Search efforts focused on Clark and Cowlitz counties, encompassing the terrain immediately south and north, respectively, of the Lewis River in southwest Washington. FBI agents and sheriff's deputies searched large areas of the heavily wooded terrain on foot and by helicopter. Door-to-door searches of local farmhouses were also carried out. Other search parties ran patrol boats along Lake Merwin and Yale Lake, the reservoir immediately to its east. Neither Cooper nor any of the equipment he presumably carried was found.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Using fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters from the Oregon Army National Guard, the FBI coordinated an aerial search along the entire flight path (known as Victor 23 in U.S. aviation terminology but "Vector 23" in most Cooper from Seattle to Reno. Although numerous broken treetops and several pieces of plastic and other objects resembling parachute canopies were sighted and investigated, nothing relevant to the hijacking was found.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Shortly after the spring thaw in early 1972, teams of FBI agents aided by some 200 United States Army soldiers from Fort Lewis, along with United States Air Force personnel, National Guardsmen, and civilian volunteers, conducted another thorough ground search of Clark and Cowlitz counties for eighteen days in March, and then another eighteen days in April. Electronic Explorations Company, a marine salvage firm, used a submarine to search the depths of Lake Merwin. Two local women stumbled upon a skeleton in an abandoned structure in Clark County; it was later identified as the remains of Barbara Ann Derry, a teenaged girl who had been abducted and murdered several weeks before. Ultimately, the extensive search and recovery operation uncovered no significant material evidence related to the hijacking.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Based on early computer projections produced for the FBI, Cooper's drop zone was first estimated to be between Aerial Dam to the north and the town of Battle Ground, Washington to the south. In March 1972, the FBI concluded their original calculations were incorrect after a joint investigation with Northwest Orient Airlines and the Air Force determined Cooper probably jumped over the town of La Center, Washington.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In 2019, the FBI released a report indicating that, approximately three hours after Cooper jumped, a burglary was reported at a small grocery store near Heisson, Washington, an unincorporated community located within the calculated drop zone that Northwest Airlines presented to the FBI. The burglar was noted by the FBI to have taken only survival items such as beef jerky and gloves.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: A month after the hijacking, the FBI distributed lists of the ransom serial numbers to financial institutions, casinos, racetracks, and other businesses that routinely conducted large cash transactions, and to law enforcement agencies around the world. Northwest Orient offered a reward of 15% of the recovered money, to a maximum of $25,000. In early 1972, U.S. Attorney General John N. Mitchell released the serial numbers to the general public. Two men used counterfeit twenty-dollar bills printed with Cooper serial numbers to swindle $30,000 from a "Newsweek" reporter named Karl Fleming in exchange for an interview with a man they falsely claimed was the hijacker.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In early 1973, with the ransom money still missing, "The Oregon Journal" republished the serial numbers and offered $1,000 to the first person to turn in a ransom bill to the newspaper or any FBI field office. In Seattle, the "Post-Intelligencer" made a similar offer with a $5,000 reward. The offers remained in effect until Thanksgiving 1974, and though there were several near-matches, no genuine bills were found. In 1975, Northwest Orient's insurer, Global Indemnity Co., complied with an order from the Minnesota Supreme Court and paid the airline's $180,000 claim on the ransom money.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Later analysis indicated that the original landing zone estimate was inaccurate: Captain Scott, who was flying the aircraft manually because of Cooper's speed and altitude demands, later determined his flight path was farther east than initially assumed. Additional data from a variety of sources—in particular Continental Airlines pilot Tom Bohan, who was flying four minutes behind Flight 305—indicated the wind direction factored into drop zone calculations had been wrong, possibly by as much as 80 degrees. This and other supplemental data suggested the actual drop zone was south-southeast of the original estimate, in the drainage area of the Washougal River.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: FBI Agent Ralph Himmelsbach wrote, "I have to confess, if I [was] going to look for Cooper... I would head for the Washougal." The Washougal Valley and its surroundings have been searched repeatedly in subsequent years; to date, no discoveries traceable to the hijacking have been reported. Some investigators have speculated that the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens could have obliterated any remaining physical clues.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: On July 8, 2016, the FBI announced active investigation of the Cooper case was suspended, citing the need to focus investigative resources and manpower on issues of higher and more urgent priority. Local field offices would continue to accept any legitimate physical evidence, related specifically to the parachutes or to the ransom money, that may emerge in the future. The 66-volume case file compiled over the 45-year course of the investigation will be preserved for historical purposes at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., and on the FBI website. All of the evidence is open to the public. The crime remains the only unsolved case of air piracy in commercial aviation history.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: During their forensic search of the aircraft, FBI agents found four major pieces of evidence, each with a direct physical link to Cooper: a black clip-on tie, a mother-of-pearl tie clip, a hair from Cooper’s headrest, and eight filter-tipped Raleigh cigarette butts from the armrest ashtray.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: FBI agents found a black clip-on necktie in seat 18-E, where Cooper had been seated. Attached to the tie was a gold tie-clip with a circular mother-of-pearl stone in the center of the clip. The FBI determined the tie had been sold exclusively at JCPenney department stores, but was discontinued in 1968.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: By late 2007, the FBI had built a partial DNA profile from samples found on Cooper's tie in 2001. However, the FBI also acknowledged no evidence linked Cooper to the source of the DNA sample. Said FBI Special Agent Fred Gutt, "The tie had two small DNA samples, and one large sample . . . it's difficult to draw firm conclusions from these samples." The FBI also made public a file of previously unreleased evidence, including Cooper's plane ticket, composite sketches, fact sheets, and posted a request for information about Cooper's identification.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In March 2009, a group of "citizen sleuths” using GPS, satellite imagery, and other technologies unavailable in 1971, began reinvestigating components of the case. Known as the Cooper Research Team, the group included paleontologist Tom Kaye from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, scientific illustrator Carol Abraczinskas, and metallurgist Alan Stone. Although the Cooper Research Team (CRT) obtained little new information about the buried ransom money or Cooper's landing zone, the CRT found, analyzed, and identified hundreds of organic and metallic particles on Cooper's tie.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Using electron microscopy, the CRT identified "Lycopodium" spores, the source of which was likely pharmaceutical. The team also found minute particles of unalloyed titanium on the tie, along with particles of bismuth, antimony, cerium, strontium sulfide, aluminum, and titanium-antimony alloys. The metal and rare-earth particles suggested Cooper may have worked for Boeing or another aeronautical engineering firm, at a chemical manufacturing plant, or at a metal fabrication and production facility.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: The material with the most significance, explained Kaye, was the unalloyed titanium. In the 1970s, the use of pure titanium was rare and would only be used in aircraft fabrication facilities, or at chemical companies combining titanium and aluminum to store extremely corrosive substances. The cerium and strontium sulfide were used by Boeing's supersonic transport development project, and by Portland factories in which cathode ray tubes were manufactured, such as Teledyne and Tektronix. Cooper researcher Eric Ulis has speculated the titanium-antimony alloys are linked to Rem-Cru Titanium Inc., a metals manufacturer and Boeing contractor.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: FBI agents found two hair samples in Cooper's seat: a single strand of limb hair on the seat, and a single strand of brown Caucasian head hair on the headrest. The limb hair was destroyed after the FBI Crime Laboratory determined the sample lacked enough unique microscopic characteristics to be useful. However, the FBI Crime Laboratory determined the head hair was suitable for future comparison, and preserved the hair on a microscope slide. During their attempts to build Cooper's DNA profile in 2002, the FBI discovered the hair sample had been lost.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In the armrest ashtray of seat 18-E, FBI agents found eight Raleigh filter-tipped cigarette butts. The cigarette butts were sent to the FBI Crime Laboratory to search for fingerprints, but investigators were unable to find fingerprints and returned the butts to the Las Vegas field office. In 1998, the FBI sought to extract DNA from the cigarette butts, but discovered the butts had been destroyed while in the custody of the Las Vegas field office.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: On February 10, 1980, eight-year-old Brian Ingram was vacationing with his family on the Columbia River at a beachfront known as Tina (or Tena) Bar, about downstream from Vancouver, Washington, and southwest of Ariel. He uncovered three packets of the ransom cash totaling around $5,800 as he raked the sandy riverbank to build a campfire. The bills had disintegrated from lengthy exposure to the elements, but were still bundled in rubber bands. FBI technicians confirmed that the money was indeed a portion of the ransom: two packets of 100 twenty-dollar bills each, and a third packet of 90, all arranged in the same order as when given to Cooper.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: The discovery launched several new rounds of conjecture and ultimately raised more questions than it answered. Initial statements by investigators and scientific consultants were founded on the assumption the bundled bills washed freely into the Columbia River from one of its many connecting tributaries. An Army Corps of Engineers hydrologist noted the bills had disintegrated in a "rounded" fashion and were "matted together", indicating they "had been deposited by river action", as opposed to having been deliberately buried. That conclusion, if correct, supported the opinion that Cooper had not landed near Lake Merwin nor any tributary of the Lewis River, which feeds into the Columbia well downstream from Tina Bar. It also lent credence to supplemental speculation the drop zone was near the Washougal River, which merges with the Columbia upstream from the discovery site.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: The "free-floating" hypothesis presented difficulties; it did not explain the ten bills missing from one packet, nor was there a logical reason the three packets would have remained together after separating from the rest of the money. Physical evidence was incompatible with geological evidence: Himmelsbach wrote free-floating bundles would have washed up on the bank "within a couple of years" of the hijacking; otherwise the rubber bands would have long since deteriorated. Geological evidence suggested the bills arrived at Tina Bar after 1974, the year of a Corps of Engineers dredging operation on that stretch of the river. Geologist Leonard Palmer of Portland State University found two distinct layers of sand and sediment between the clay deposited on the riverbank by the dredge and the sand layer in which the bills were buried, indicating that the bills arrived long after dredging had been completed.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In late 2020, analysis of diatoms found on the bills suggests the bundles found at Tina Bar were not submerged in the river or buried dry at the time of the hijacking in November 1971. Only diatoms that bloom during springtime were found, placing the date range that the money entered the water at least several months after the hijacking.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In 1986, after protracted negotiations, the recovered bills were divided equally between Ingram and Northwest Orient's insurer Royal Globe Insurance; the FBI retained fourteen examples as evidence. Ingram sold fifteen of his bills at auction in 2008 for about $37,000.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: The Columbia River ransom money remains the only confirmed physical evidence from the hijacking found outside the aircraft.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: During the hijacking, Cooper demanded and received two main chutes and two reserve chutes. The two reserve (front) chutes came from a local skydiving school and the two main (back) chutes were supplied by a local pilot, Norman Hayden. Earl Cossey, the parachute rigger who packed all four parachutes brought to Cooper, described the two main chutes as emergency bailout chutes as opposed to sporting parachutes that skydivers would use. Cossey further described the main chutes as being like military chutes because they were rigged to open immediately upon the ripcord being pulled and were incapable of being steered. When the plane landed in Reno, FBI agents discovered two parachutes that Cooper left behind: one reserve (front) chute and one main (back) chute. The reserve chute had been opened and three shroud lines had been cut out, but the main chute left behind was still intact. The unused main chute was described by FBI agents as a Model NB6 (Navy Backpack 6) and is on display at the Washington State Historical Society Museum.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: One of the two reserve (front) chutes that Cooper was given was an unusable training chute intended to only be used for classroom demonstrations. According to Cossey, the reserve chute had a canopy inside of it that was sewn together so that skydiving students could get the feel of pulling a ripcord on a packed parachute without the canopy actually deploying. This non-functional reserve parachute was not found in the aircraft when it landed in Reno, leading FBI agents to speculate that Cooper was not an experienced parachutist because someone with experience would have realized this reserve chute was a "dummy chute". However, within days of the hijacking, it was revealed that neither of the parachute harnesses Cooper was given had the necessary D-rings required to attach reserve parachutes. Although Cooper lacked the ability to attach this "dummy" chute to his main harness as a reserve parachute, it was not found in the plane, so what he did with it is unknown. Cossey speculated that Cooper removed the sewn-together canopy and used the empty reserve container as an extra money bag. Tina Mucklow provided testimony that was in line with Cossey's speculation, stating that she recalled Cooper attempting to pack money inside a parachute container.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In November 1978, a deer hunter found a 727's instruction placard for lowering the aft airstair. The placard was found near a logging road about east of Castle Rock, Washington, north of Lake Merwin, but within Flight 305's basic flight path.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Over the 45-year span of its active investigation, the FBI periodically made public some of its working hypotheses and tentative conclusions, drawn from witness testimony and the scarce physical evidence.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: During the first year of the investigation, the FBI used eyewitness testimony from the passengers and flight crew to develop sketches of Cooper. The first sketch, officially titled “Composite A,” was completed a few days after the hijacking and was released on November 28, 1971. According to witnesses, the Composite A sketch—jokingly known as "Bing Crosby"—was not an accurate likeness of Cooper. The Composite A sketch, said witnesses, showed a young man with a narrow face, and did not resemble Cooper or capture his disinterested, “Let's get this over with" look. Flight attendant Florence Schaffner repeatedly told the FBI the Composite A sketch was a very poor likeness of Cooper.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: After multiple eyewitnesses said Composite A was not an accurate rendering of Cooper, FBI artists developed a second composite sketch. Completed in late 1972, the second “Composite B” sketch was intended to more accurately depict Cooper's age, skin tone, and face shape. Eyewitnesses to whom Composite B was shown said the sketch was more accurate, but the Composite B Cooper looked too "angry" or "nasty." One flight attendant said the Composite B sketch looked like a "hoodlum," and remembered Cooper as, “...more refined in appearance." Moreover, said witnesses, the Composite B sketch depicted a man older than Cooper, with a lighter complexion.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Using the criticisms of Composite B, FBI artists made adjustments and improvements to the Composite B sketch. On January 2, 1973, the FBI finalized “Revised Composite B,” their third sketch of Cooper. Of the new sketch, one flight attendant said Revised Composite B was, "a very close resemblance" to the hijacker. Opined another flight attendant, "the hijacker would be easily recognized from this sketch."


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In April 1973, the FBI concluded the Revised Composite B sketch was the best likeness of Cooper they could develop, and should be considered the definitive sketch of D.B. Cooper.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Flight attendants Schaffner and Mucklow, who spent the most time interacting with Cooper, were interviewed on the same night in separate cities, and gave nearly identical descriptions: around tall, mid-40s, short black hair combed back, 170-180 lbs, swarthy or olive skin tone, and with no discernable accent. The only person to recall his eye color was Schaffner who described them as being brown. The FBI relied heavily on the testimony of University of Oregon student Bill Mitchell, who sat across from Cooper during the three hours between take off in Portland and landing in Seattle, repeatedly interviewing him for what would become known as Composite Sketch B. His descriptions of Cooper were mostly the same as those of the flight attendants, except that he described Cooper as being somewhat smaller, stating that he thought Cooper was to and that at he was "way bigger" than Cooper and even referring to him as "slight". Robert Gregory, one of the only other passengers besides Mitchell who provided the FBI with a full description of Cooper, also provided a shorter impression of Cooper, describing him as . Gregory stated that he believed Cooper to be of Mexican-American or American Indian descent.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Cooper appeared to be familiar with the Seattle area and may have been an Air Force veteran, based on testimony that he recognized the city of Tacoma from the air as the jet circled Puget Sound, and his accurate comment to Mucklow that McChord Air Force Base was about twenty minutes' driving time from Seattle-Tacoma Airport—a detail most civilians would not know or comment upon. His financial situation was very likely desperate. According to the FBI's retired chief investigator, Ralph Himmelsbach, extortionists and other criminals who steal large amounts of money nearly always do so because they need it urgently; otherwise, the crime is not worth the considerable risk. Alternatively, Cooper may have been "a thrill seeker" who made the jump "just to prove it could be done".


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In May 1973, the FBI internally released an eight-page suspect profile. The profile speculated that Cooper was a military trained parachutist and not a sports skydiver because, in addition to his apparent comfort level with the military-style parachutes he was provided, his age would have made him an outlier in the sport skydiving community thereby increasing the likelihood that he would have been quickly recognized by a member of that community. The profile also speculated that Cooper was someone who exercised regularly due to comments by multiple eyewitnesses regarding Cooper's athletic looking frame despite his age. They also felt he was not a heavy drinker or an alcoholic because the only drink he was served was quickly spilled and he never requested another. The profile determined that an alcoholic would have likely been incapable of turning down further alcoholic beverages throughout the stressful and lengthy hijacking. By calculating the number of cigarettes he smoked throughout the hijacking, the FBI believed that he smoked around one pack of cigarettes a day. Several of Cooper's mannerisms led the FBI to conclude that he was more intelligent than a common criminal such as his vocabulary level, his proper use of aviation related terminology, complete lack of profane language, his calm demeanor, his style of dress, and the respect he showed for the female members of the crew. Cooper's ability to quickly and competently adapt to various situations as they arose indicated to profilers that he was likely the type of person who would commit a crime without the need or desire for an accomplice.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Agents theorized that Cooper took his alias from a popular French-language Belgian comics series featuring the fictional hero Dan Cooper, a Royal Canadian Air Force test pilot who took part in numerous heroic adventures, including parachuting. (One cover from the series, reproduced on the FBI website, depicts test pilot Cooper skydiving.) Because the Dan Cooper comics were never translated into English, nor imported to the U.S., they speculated that he had encountered them during a tour of duty in Europe.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Based on the evidence and Cooper’s tactics, the FBI speculated Cooper carefully planned the hijacking and had detailed, specific knowledge of aviation, the local terrain, and the 727’s capabilities.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Cooper chose a seat in the last row of the rear cabin for three reasons: to observe and respond to any action in front of him, to minimize the possibility of being approached or attacked by someone behind him, and to make himself less conspicuous to the rest of the passengers. To ensure he wouldn’t be deliberately supplied with sabotaged equipment, Cooper demanded four parachutes to force the assumption he might compel one or more hostages to jump with him. FBI agent Ralph Himmelsbach noted Cooper’s choice of a bomb—instead of other weapons previously used by hijackers—thwarted any multidirectional attempts by the FBI to rush him.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Cooper was also careful to avoid leaving evidence. Before he jumped, Cooper demanded Mucklow return to him all notes either written by him, or on his behalf. Mucklow said she used the last match in Cooper’s paper matchbook to light one of his cigarettes, and when she attempted to dispose of the empty matchbook, Cooper demanded she return it to him. Although Cooper was methodical in his attempts to retrieve evidence, he was unsuccessful: he left his clip-on tie in his seat.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Although Cooper was clearly familiar with the 727's capabilities and confidential features, its design was the primary reason Cooper chose the aircraft. With its aft airstair and the placement of its three engines, the 727 was the only passenger jet from which a parachute jump could be easily made. Cooper also knew the 727 had "single-point fueling,” a new feature with which all the fuel tanks could be rapidly filled through a single fuel port, and was familiar with the 727's typical refueling time.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: By specifying a fifteen-degree flap setting, Cooper displayed specific knowledge of aviation tactics and the 727’s capabilities: unlike most commercial jet airliners, the 727 could remain in slow, low-altitude flight without stalling. Cooper's specific flap setting also allowed him to control the 727’s airspeed and altitude without entering the cockpit, where Cooper could have been overpowered by the three pilots. First Officer Bill Rataczak, who spoke with Cooper on the intercom during the hijacking, told the FBI “[Cooper] displayed a specific knowledge of flying and aircraft in general."


title: D. B. Cooper

text: The most significant knowledge Cooper displayed was a feature both secret and unique to the 727: the aft airstair could be operated during flight, and the single activation switch in the rear of the cabin could not be overridden from the cockpit. Cooper knew how to operate the aft staircase, and had clearly planned to use it for his escape. The FBI speculated Cooper knew the Central Intelligence Agency was using 727s to drop agents and supplies into enemy territory during the Vietnam War. Since no situation on a passenger flight would necessitate such an operation, civilian crews were neither informed the aft airstair could be lowered mid-flight, nor were they aware its operation could not be overridden from the cockpit.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Cooper appeared to be familiar with parachutes, although his experience level is unknown. Mucklow said Cooper, "...appeared to be completely familiar with the parachutes which had been furnished to him," and told a journalist, "Cooper put on [his] parachute as though he did so every day," Cooper's familiarity with the military style parachutes he was given has led to speculation that Cooper was a military parachutist and not a civilian skydiver.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Larry Carr—who led the investigative team from 2006 to 2009—does not believe Cooper was a paratrooper. Instead, Carr speculates Cooper had been an Air Force aircraft cargo loader. An aircraft cargo-loading assignment would provide Cooper with aviation knowledge and experience: cargo loaders have basic jump training, wear emergency parachutes, and know how to dispatch items from planes in flight. As a cargo loader, Cooper would be familiar with parachutes, "...but not necessarily sufficient knowledge to survive the jump he made."


title: D. B. Cooper

text: From the beginning of their investigation, the FBI was skeptical about Cooper's chances and speculated Cooper did not survive his jump. The FBI provided several reasons and facts to support their conclusion: Cooper's apparent lack of skydiving experience, his apparent unfamiliarity with parachutes, his lack of proper equipment for his jump and survival, the inclement weather on the night of the hijacking, the wooded terrain into which Cooper jumped, Cooper's lack of knowledge of his landing area, and the unused ransom money.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: First, Cooper appeared to lack the necessary skydiving knowledge, skills, and experience for the type of jump he attempted. "We originally thought Cooper was an experienced jumper, perhaps even a paratrooper," said Carr. "We concluded after a few years this was simply not true. No experienced parachutist would have jumped in the pitch-black night, in the rain, with a wind in his face wearing loafers and a trench coat. It was simply too risky." Skydiving instructor Earl Cossey, who supplied the parachutes Cooper demanded, testified Cooper did not need extensive experience to survive the jump and "... anyone who had six or seven practice jumps could accomplish this." However, Cossey also noted jumping at night drastically increased the risk of injury, and without jump boots, Cooper would have probably suffered severe ankle or leg injuries upon landing.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Second, Cooper did not appear to have the equipment necessary for either his jump or his survival in the wilderness. Cooper failed to bring or request a helmet, and jumped into a 15 °F (−9 °C) wind at 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in November over Washington State without proper protection against the extreme wind chill. Although the contents of Cooper's paper bag are unknown, Cooper did not use any of the bag's contents to assist him during any part of the hijacking, so the FBI speculated the bag contained items Cooper needed for his jump, such as boots, gloves, and goggles.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Third, Cooper did not appear to have an accomplice waiting on the ground to help him escape. Such an arrangement would have required both a precisely timed jump and the flight crew's cooperation to follow a predetermined flight path, but Cooper did not give the flight crew a specific path. Moreover, the flight crew proposed—and Cooper agreed—to alter the flight path, and fly from Seattle to Reno for refueling, and Cooper had no way of keeping an accomplice apprised of his changed plans. The low cloud cover and lack of visibility to the ground further complicated Cooper's ability to determine his location, establish a bearing, or see his landing zone.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Finally, the ransom money was never spent, and the recovered portion was found unused. "Diving into the wilderness without a plan, without the right equipment, in such terrible conditions, he probably never even got his chute open," said Carr. FBI agent Richard Tosaw theorized Cooper became incapacitated from hypothermia during his jump, landed in the Columbia River, and drowned. However, FBI agents were not unanimous in their assessments of Cooper's ultimate fate. In a 1976 Seattle Times article, a senior FBI agent anonymously opined, "I think [Cooper] made it. I think he slept in his own bed that night. It was a clear night. A lot of the country is pretty flat . . . he could have just walked out. Right down the road. Hell, they weren't even looking for him there at the time. They thought he was somewhere else. He could just walk down the road."


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Conclusive evidence of Cooper's death has not been found. In the months following the Cooper hijacking, five men attempted copycat hijackings, and all five survived their parachute escapes. The survival of the copycats – several of whom faced circumstances and conditions similar to Cooper's jump – forced FBI lead case agent Ralph Himmelsbach to reevaluate his opinions and theories regarding Cooper's chances for survival. Himmelsbach cited three examples of hijackers who survived jumps in conditions similar to Cooper's escape: Martin McNally, Frederick Hahneman, and Richard LaPoint.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Hijacker Martin McNally jumped using only a reserve chute, without protective gear, at night, over Indiana. Unlike Cooper, who appeared to be familiar with parachutes, McNally had to be shown how to put on his parachute. Additionally, McNally's pilot increased the airspeed to 320 knots, nearly twice the airspeed of Flight 305 at the time of Cooper's jump. The increased windspeed caused a violent jump for McNally: The money bag was immediately torn from McNally, "...yet he had landed unharmed except for some superficial scratches and bruises."


title: D. B. Cooper

text: 49-year-old Frederick Hahneman hijacked a 727 in Pennsylvania and survived after jumping at night into a Honduran jungle. A third copycat, Richard LaPoint, hijacked a 727 in Nevada. Wearing only trousers, a shirt, and cowboy boots, LaPoint jumped into the freezing January wind over northern Colorado, and landed in the snow. In 2008, Himmelsbach admitted he originally thought Cooper had only a fifty-percent chance of survival, but subsequently revised his assessment.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: By 1976, most published legal analyses concurred the impending expiration of the statute of limitations for prosecution of the hijacker would make little difference: Since the statute's interpretation varies from case to case, and from court to court, a prosecutor could argue Cooper had forfeited legal immunity on any of several valid technical grounds. In November 1976, a Portland grand jury returned an indictment "in absentia" against "John Doe, "a.k.a." Dan Cooper" for air piracy and violation of the Hobbs Act. The indictment formally initiated prosecution to be continued, should the hijacker be apprehended at any time in the future.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Between 1971 and 2016, the FBI processed more than a thousand "serious suspects", including assorted publicity seekers and deathbed confessors.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Theodore Burdette Braden, Jr. (1928–2007) was a Special Forces commando during the Vietnam War, a master skydiver, and a convicted felon. He was believed by many within the Special Forces community, both at the time of the hijacking and in subsequent years, to have been Cooper. Born in Ohio, Braden first joined the military at the age of 16 in 1944, serving with the 101st Airborne during World War II. He eventually became one of the military's leading parachutists, often representing the Army in international skydiving tournaments, and his military records list him as having made 911 jumps. During the 1960s, Braden was a team leader within the MACVSOG, a classified commando unit of Green Berets which conducted unconventional warfare operations during the Vietnam War. He also served as a military skydiving instructor, teaching HALO jumping techniques to members of Project Delta. Braden spent 23 months in Vietnam, conducting classified operations within both North and South Vietnam, as well as Laos and Cambodia. In December 1966, Braden deserted his unit in Vietnam and made his way to the Congo to serve as a mercenary, but only served there a short time before being arrested by CIA agents and taken back to the States for a court-martial. Despite having committed a capital offense by deserting in wartime, Braden was given an honorable discharge and barred from re-enlisting in the military in exchange for his continued secrecy about the MACVSOG program.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Braden was profiled in the October 1967 issue of "Ramparts Magazine", wherein he was described by fellow Special Forces veteran and journalist Don Duncan as being someone with a "secret death wish" who "continually places himself in unnecessary danger but always seems to get away with it", specifically referring to Braden's disregard for military skydiving safety regulations. Duncan also claimed that during Braden's time in Vietnam, he was "continuously involved in shady deals to make money." Following his military discharge in 1967, the details of Braden's life are largely unknown, but at the time of the hijacking he was a truck driver for Consolidated Freightways, which was headquartered in Vancouver, Washington, just across the Columbia River from Portland and not far from the suspected dropzone of Ariel, Washington. It is also known that at some point in the early 1970s he was investigated by the FBI for stealing $250,000 during a trucking scam he had allegedly devised, but he was never charged for this supposed crime. In 1980, Braden was indicted by a Federal grand jury for driving an 18-wheeler full of stolen goods from Arizona to Massachusetts, but it is unknown whether there was a conviction in that case. Two years later Braden was arrested in Pennsylvania for driving a stolen vehicle with fictitious plates and for having no driver's license. Braden eventually ended up being sent to Federal prison at some point during the late 1980s, serving time in Pennsylvania, but the precise crime is unknown.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Despite his ability as a soldier, he was not well liked personally and was described by a family member as "the perfect combination of high intelligence and criminality". From his time working covert operations in Vietnam, he likely would have possessed the then-classified knowledge about the ability and proper specifications for jumping from a 727, perhaps having done it himself on MACVSOG missions. Physically, Braden's military records list him at , which is shorter than the height description of at least given by the two flight attendants, but this military measurement would have been taken in his stocking feet and he may have appeared somewhat taller in shoes. However, he possessed a dark complexion from years of outdoor military service, had short dark hair, a medium athletic build, and was 43 years of age at the time of the hijacking, which are features all in line with the descriptions of Cooper.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In 2003, Minnesota resident Lyle Christiansen watched a television documentary about the Cooper hijacking and became convinced that his late brother Kenneth (1926–1994) was Cooper. After repeated futile attempts to convince first the FBI and then the author and film director Nora Ephron (who he hoped would make a movie about the case), he contacted a private investigator in New York City. In 2010, the detective, Skipp Porteous, published a book postulating that Christiansen was the hijacker. The following year, an episode of the History series "Brad Meltzer's Decoded" also summarized the circumstantial evidence linking Christiansen to the Cooper case.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Christiansen enlisted in the Army in 1944 and was trained as a paratrooper. World War II had ended by the time he was deployed in 1945, but he made occasional training jumps while stationed in Japan with occupation forces in the late 1940s. After leaving the Army, he joined Northwest Orient in 1954 as a mechanic in the South Pacific and subsequently became a flight attendant, and then a purser, based in Seattle. Christiansen was 45 years old at the time of the hijacking, but he was shorter (5 ft 8 in or 173 cm), thinner (150 pounds or 68 kg), and lighter in complexion than eyewitness descriptions of Cooper. Christiansen smoked (as did the hijacker) and displayed a fondness for bourbon (the drink Cooper had requested). Schaffner told a reporter that photos of Christiansen fit her memory of the hijacker's appearance more closely than those of other suspects she had been shown, but could not conclusively identify him.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Despite the publicity generated by Porteous's book and the 2011 television documentary, the FBI stands by its position that Christiansen cannot be considered a prime suspect. It cites the poor match to eyewitness physical descriptions and a complete absence of direct incriminating evidence.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Bryant "Jack" Coffelt (1917–1975) was a con man, ex-convict, and purported government informant who claimed to have been the chauffeur and confidant of Abraham Lincoln's last undisputed descendant, great-grandson Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith. In 1972, he began claiming he was Cooper and attempted through an intermediary, a former cellmate named James Brown, to sell his story to a Hollywood production company. He said he landed near Mount Hood, about southeast of Ariel, injuring himself and losing the ransom money in the process. Photos of Coffelt bear a resemblance to the composite drawings, although he was in his mid-fifties in 1971. He was reportedly in Portland on the day of the hijacking and sustained leg injuries around that time which were consistent with a skydiving mishap.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Coffelt's account was reviewed by the FBI, which concluded that it differed in several details from information that had not been made public and was therefore a fabrication. Brown, undeterred, continued peddling the story long after Coffelt died in 1975. Multiple media venues, including the CBS news program "60 Minutes", considered and rejected it.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Lynn Doyle "L.D." Cooper (1931–1999), a leather worker and Korean War veteran, was proposed as a suspect in July 2011 by his niece, Marla Cooper. As an eight-year-old, she recalled Cooper and another uncle planning something "very mischievous", involving the use of "expensive walkie-talkies", at her grandmother's house in Sisters, Oregon, southeast of Portland. The next day Flight 305 was hijacked; and though the uncles ostensibly were turkey hunting, L.D. Cooper came home wearing a bloody shirt—the result, he said, of an auto accident. Later, Marla claimed, her parents came to believe that L.D. was the hijacker. She also recalled that her uncle, who died in 1999, was obsessed with the Canadian comic book hero Dan Cooper and "had one of his comic books thumbtacked to his wall"—although he was not a skydiver or paratrooper.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In August 2011, "New York" magazine published an alternative witness sketch, reportedly based on a description by Flight 305 eyewitness Robert Gregory, depicting horn-rimmed sunglasses, a "russet"-colored suit jacket with wide lapels, and marcelled hair. The article observed that L.D. Cooper had wavy hair that looked marcelled (as did Duane Weber). The FBI announced that no fingerprints had been found on a guitar strap made by L.D. Cooper. One week later, they added that his DNA did not match the partial DNA profile obtained from the hijacker's tie, but acknowledged that there is no certainty that the hijacker was the source of the organic material obtained from the tie.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Barbara Dayton (1926–2002), a recreational pilot and University of Washington librarian who was born Robert Dayton, served in the U.S. Merchant Marine and then the Army during World War II. After discharge, Dayton worked with explosives in the construction field and aspired to a professional airline career, but could not obtain a commercial pilot's license.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Dayton underwent gender reassignment surgery in 1969, changed her name to Barbara, and is believed to be the first person to undergo this surgery in Washington State. She claimed to have staged the Cooper hijacking two years later, presenting as a man, in order to "get back" at the airline industry and the FAA, whose insurmountable rules and conditions had prevented her from becoming an airline pilot. Dayton said that the ransom money was hidden in a cistern near Woodburn, Oregon, a suburban area south of Portland, but eventually recanted the entire story, ostensibly after learning that hijacking charges could still be brought. She also did not match the physical description particularly closely. The FBI has never commented publicly on Dayton, who died in 2002.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: William Pratt Gossett (1930–2003) was a Marine Corps, Army, and Army Air Forces veteran who had military service in Korea and Vietnam. His military experience included jump training and wilderness survival. Gossett was known to be obsessed with the Cooper hijacking. According to Galen Cook, a lawyer who has collected information related to Gossett for years, he once showed his sons a key to a Vancouver, British Columbia, safe deposit box which, he claimed, contained the long-missing ransom money.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: The FBI has no direct evidence implicating Gossett and cannot even reliably place him in the Pacific Northwest at the time of the hijacking. "There is not one link to the D.B. Cooper case," said Special Agent Carr, "other than the statements [Gossett] made to someone."


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Joe Lakich (1921–2017) was a retired U.S. Army Major and Korean War veteran whose daughter was killed less than two months before the hijacking, as a consequence of a botched hostage negotiation conducted by the FBI. The events culminating in the death of Lakich's daughter, Susan Giffe, would be studied by hostage negotiators for decades as an example of what not to do during a hostage situation. Lakich and his wife later sued the FBI, and ultimately an Appeals Court ruled in their favor, holding that the FBI acted negligently during the hostage negotiation.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Lakich would become a Cooper suspect in large part due to the revelation that Cooper's tie contained microscopic particles of uncommon metals, such as pure titanium. It is speculated that few people during that era would have contact with such materials, and that Cooper may have worked in a manufacturing environment working on electronics as engineer or manager. When the hijacking occurred, Lakich was working in Nashville as a production supervisor at an electronics capacitor factory and would have likely been exposed to the materials found on the tie. When Cooper was asked by Tina Mucklow why he was committing the hijacking, he replied: "It's not because I have a grudge against your airlines, it's just because I have a grudge." It is believed by some that this "grudge" was Lakich's anger toward the FBI for their failed efforts at rescuing his daughter less than two months earlier.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: John Emil List (1925–2008) was an accountant and war veteran who murdered his wife, three teenage children, and 85-year-old mother in Westfield, New Jersey, fifteen days before the Cooper hijacking, withdrew $200,000 from his mother's bank account, and disappeared. He came to the attention of the Cooper task force due to the timing of his disappearance, multiple matches to the hijacker's description, and the reasoning that "a fugitive accused of mass murder has nothing to lose". After his capture in 1989, List denied any involvement in the Cooper hijacking: no substantial evidence implicates him, and the FBI no longer considers him a suspect. List died in prison in 2008.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Theodore Ernest Mayfield (1935–2015) was a Special Forces veteran, pilot, competitive skydiver, and skydiving instructor. He served time in 1994 for negligent homicide after two of his students died when their parachutes failed to open and was later found indirectly responsible for thirteen additional skydiving deaths due to faulty equipment and training. In 2010, he was sentenced to three years' probation for piloting a plane 26 years after losing his pilot's license and rigging certificates. He was suggested repeatedly as a suspect early in the investigation, according to FBI Agent Ralph Himmelsbach, who knew Mayfield from a prior dispute at a local airport. He was ruled out, based partly on the fact that he called Himmelsbach less than two hours after Flight 305 landed in Reno to volunteer advice on standard skydiving practices and possible landing zones, as well as information on local skydivers.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Richard McCoy (1942–1974) was an Army veteran who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, first as a demolition expert and later with the Green Berets as a helicopter pilot. After his military service, he became a warrant officer in the Utah National Guard and an avid recreational skydiver, with aspirations of becoming a Utah State Trooper.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: On April 7, 1972, McCoy staged the best-known of the so-called "copycat" hijackings (see below). He boarded United Airlines' (a with aft stairs) in Denver, Colorado, and, brandishing what later proved to be a paperweight resembling a hand grenade and an unloaded handgun, he demanded four parachutes and $500,000. After delivery of the money and parachutes at San Francisco International Airport, McCoy ordered the aircraft back into the sky and bailed out over Provo, Utah, leaving behind his handwritten hijacking instructions and his fingerprints on a magazine he had been reading.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: He was arrested on April 9 with the ransom cash in his possession and, after trial and conviction, received a 45-year sentence. Two years later, he escaped from Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary with several accomplices by crashing a garbage truck through the main gate. Tracked down three months later in Virginia Beach, McCoy was killed in a shootout with FBI agents.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In their 1991 book, "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy", parole officer Bernie Rhodes and former FBI agent Russell Calame asserted that they had identified McCoy as Cooper. They cited obvious similarities in the two hijackings, claims by McCoy's family that the tie and mother-of-pearl tie clip left on the plane belonged to McCoy, and McCoy's own refusal to admit or deny that he was Cooper. A proponent of their claim was the FBI agent who killed McCoy. "When I shot Richard McCoy," he said, "I shot D. B. Cooper at the same time."


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Although there is no reasonable doubt that McCoy committed the Denver hijacking, the FBI does not consider him a suspect in the Cooper case because of mismatches in age and description, a level of skydiving skill well above that thought to be possessed by the hijacker, and credible evidence that McCoy was in Las Vegas on the day of the Portland hijacking, and at home in Utah the day after, having Thanksgiving dinner with his family.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Sheridan Peterson (1926–2021) served in the Marine Corps during World War II and was later employed as a technical editor at Boeing, based in Seattle. Investigators took an interest in Peterson as a suspect soon after the skyjacking because of his experience as a smokejumper and love of taking physical risks, as well as his similar appearance and age (44) to the Cooper description.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Peterson often teased the media about whether he was really Cooper. Entrepreneur Eric Ulis, who spent years investigating the crime, said he was "98% convinced" that Peterson was Cooper; but when pressed by FBI agents, Peterson insisted he was in Nepal at the time of the hijacking. He died in 2021.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Robert Wesley Rackstraw (1943–2019) was a retired pilot and ex-convict who served on an Army helicopter crew and other units during the Vietnam War. He came to the attention of the Cooper task force in February 1978, after he was arrested in Iran and deported to the U.S. to face explosives possession and check kiting charges. Several months later, while released on bail, Rackstraw attempted to fake his own death by radioing a false mayday call and telling controllers that he was bailing out of a rented plane over Monterey Bay. Police later arrested him in Fullerton, California, on an additional charge of forging federal pilot certificates; the plane he claimed to have ditched was found, repainted, in a nearby hangar. Cooper investigators noted his physical resemblance to Cooper composite sketches (although he was only 28 in 1971), military parachute training, and criminal record, but eliminated him as a suspect in 1979 after no direct evidence of his involvement could be found.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In 2016, Rackstraw re-emerged as a suspect in a History program and a book. On September 8, 2016, Thomas J. Colbert, the author of the book, and attorney Mark Zaid filed a lawsuit to compel the FBI to release its Cooper case file under the Freedom of Information Act.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In 2017, Colbert and a group of volunteer investigators uncovered what they believed to be "a decades-old parachute strap" at an undisclosed location in the Pacific Northwest. This was followed later in 2017 with a piece of foam, which they suspected was part of Cooper's parachute backpack. In January 2018, Tom and Dawna Colbert reported that they had obtained a "confession" letter originally written in December 1971 containing "codes" that matched three units Rackstraw was a part of while in the Army.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: One of the Flight 305 flight attendants reportedly "did not find any similarities" between photos of Rackstraw from the 1970s and her recollection of Cooper's appearance. Rackstraw's attorney called the renewed allegations "the stupidest thing I've ever heard," and Rackstraw himself told "People" magazine, "It's a lot of [expletive], and they know it is." The FBI declined further comment. Rackstraw stated in a 2017 phone interview that he lost his job over the 2016 investigations. "I told everybody I was [the hijacker]," Rackstraw told Colbert, before explaining the admission was a stunt. He died in 2019.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Walter R. Reca (1933–2014) was a former military paratrooper and intelligence operative. He was proposed as a suspect by his friend Carl Laurin in 2018. In 2008, Reca told Laurin via a recorded phone call that he was the hijacker.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Reca gave Laurin permission in a notarized letter to share his story after his death. He also allowed Laurin to tape their phone conversations about the crime over a six-week period in late 2008. In over three hours of recordings, Reca shared details about his version of the hijacking. He also confessed to his niece, Lisa Story.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: From Reca's description of the terrain on his way to the drop zone, Laurin concluded that he landed near Cle Elum, Washington. After Reca described an encounter with a dump truck driver at a roadside cafe after he landed, Laurin located Jeff Osiadacz, who was driving his dump truck near Cle Elum the night of the hijacking and met a stranger at the Teanaway Junction Café just outside of town. The man asked Osiadacz to give his friend directions to the café over the phone, presumably to be picked up, and he complied. Laurin convinced Joe Koenig, a former member of the Michigan State Police, of Reca's guilt. Koenig later published a book on Cooper, titled "Getting the Truth: I Am D.B. Cooper".


title: D. B. Cooper

text: These claims have aroused skepticism. Cle Elum is well north and east of Flight 305's known flight path, more than north of the drop zone assumed by most analysts, and even further from Tena Bar, where a portion of the ransom money was found. Reca was a military paratrooper and private skydiver with hundreds of jumps to his credit, in contradiction to the FBI's publicized profile of an amateur skydiver at best. Reca also did not resemble the composite portrait the FBI assembled, which Laurin and Osiadacz used to explain why Osiadacz's suspicions were not aroused at the time. In response to the allegations against Reca, the FBI said that it would be inappropriate to comment on specific tips provided to them, and that no evidence to date had proved the culpability of any suspect beyond a reasonable doubt.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In November 2018, "The Oregonian" published an article proposing William J. Smith (1928–2018), of Bloomfield, New Jersey, as a suspect. The article was based on research conducted by an Army data analyst who sent his findings to the FBI in mid-2018. Smith, a New Jersey native, was a World War II veteran. After high school, he enlisted in the United States Navy and volunteered for combat air crew training. After his discharge, he worked for the Lehigh Valley Railroad and was affected by the Penn Central Transportation Company's bankruptcy in 1970, the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history at that time. The article proposed that the loss of his pension created a grudge against the corporate establishment and transportation field, as well as a sudden need for money. Smith was 43 at the time of the hijacking. In his high school yearbook, a list of alumni killed in World War II lists an Ira Daniel Cooper, possibly the source for the hijacker's pseudonym. The analyst claimed that Smith's naval aviation experience would have given him knowledge of planes and parachutes, and his railroad experience would have helped him find railroad tracks and hop on a train to escape the area after landing.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: According to the analyst, aluminum spiral chips found on the clip-on tie could have come from a locomotive maintenance facility. Smith's information about the Seattle area may have come from his close friend Dan Clair, who was stationed at Fort Lewis during the war. (The analyst noted that the man who claimed to be Cooper in Max Gunther's 1985 book identified himself as "Dan LeClair".) Smith and Clair worked together for Conrail at Newark's Oak Island Yard. Smith retired from that facility as a yardmaster. The article noted that a picture of Smith on the Lehigh Valley Railroad website showed a "remarkable resemblance" to Cooper FBI sketches. The FBI said that it would be inappropriate to comment on tips related to Smith.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Duane L. Weber (1924–1995) was a World War II Army veteran who served time in at least six prisons from 1945 to 1968 for burglary and forgery. He was proposed as a suspect by his widow, Jo, based primarily on a deathbed confession: three days before he died in 1995, Weber told his wife, "I am Dan Cooper." The name meant nothing to her, she said; but months later, a friend told her of its significance in the hijacking. She went to her local library to research Cooper, found Max Gunther's book, and discovered notations in the margins in her husband's handwriting. Like the hijacker, Weber drank bourbon and chain-smoked. Other circumstantial evidence included a 1979 trip to Seattle and the Columbia River, where his wife remembered him throwing a trash bag just upstream of Tina Bar.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Himmelsbach said, "[Weber] does fit the physical description (and) does have the criminal background that I have always felt was associated with the case,", but did not believe Weber was Cooper. The FBI eliminated Weber as an active suspect in July 1998 when his fingerprints did not match any of those processed in the hijacked plane, and no other direct evidence could be found to implicate him. Later, his DNA also failed to match the samples recovered from Cooper's tie.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Cooper was not the first to attempt air piracy for personal gain. In early November 1971, for example, a Canadian man named Paul Joseph Cini hijacked an Air Canada DC-8 over Montana, but was overpowered by the crew when he put down his shotgun to strap on his parachute. Encouraged by Cooper's apparent success, fifteen similar hijackings—all unsuccessful—were attempted in 1972. Some notable examples from that year:


title: D. B. Cooper

text: With the advent of universal luggage searches in 1973 (see Airport security), the general incidence of hijackings dropped dramatically. There were no further notable Cooper imitators until July 11, 1980, when Glenn K. Tripp seized Northwest Orient Flight 608 at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, demanding $600,000 ($100,000 by an independent account), two parachutes, and the assassination of his boss. A quick-thinking flight attendant drugged Tripp's alcoholic drink with Valium. After a ten-hour standoff, during which Tripp reduced his demands to three cheeseburgers and a ground vehicle in which to escape, he was apprehended. Tripp attempted to hijack the same Northwest flight on January 21, 1983, and this time demanded to be flown to Afghanistan. When the plane landed in Portland, he was shot and killed by FBI agents.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Despite the initiation of the federal Sky Marshal Program the previous year, 31 hijackings were committed in U.S. airspace in 1972; 19 of them were for the specific purpose of extorting money. In 15 of the extortion cases, the hijackers also demanded parachutes. In early 1973, the FAA began requiring airlines to search all passengers and their bags. Amid multiple lawsuits charging that such searches violated Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure, federal courts ruled that they were acceptable when applied universally and when limited to searches for weapons and explosives. Only two hijackings were attempted in 1973, both by psychiatric patients; one hijacker, Samuel Byck, intended to crash the airliner into the White House to kill President Nixon.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Due to multiple "copycat" hijackings in 1972, the FAA required that the exterior of all aircraft be fitted with a spring-loaded device, later dubbed the "Cooper vane", that prevents lowering of the aft airstair during flight. The device consists of a flat blade of aluminum mounted on a pivot. The pivot is at the center of the blade. The vane is fastened to the forward end of the blade forward of the pivot and extends away from the fuselage. The long edge of the vane is perpendicular to the blade. When the airplane is in flight, the force of air pushing against the vane exceeds the resistance of the spring and rotates the vane and blade about the pivot so that the vane becomes parallel with the airflow. This places the portion of the blade aft of the pivot over the edge of the airstair and physically blocks the airstair from opening. When the airplane is on the ground and the force of the spring is greater than the airflow against the vane, the spring rotates the vane perpendicular to the airflow and pivots the blade away from the edge of the airstair. This allows normal operation of the airstair on the ground. Operation of the vane is automatic and cannot be overridden from within the aircraft. As a direct result of the hijacking, the installation of peepholes was mandated in all cockpit doors; this enables the cockpit crew to observe passengers without opening the cockpit door.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: In 1978, the hijacked 727-100 aircraft was sold by Northwest Orient to Piedmont Airlines, where it was re-registered N838N and continued in domestic carrier service. In 1984, it was purchased by the charter company Key Airlines, re-registered N29KA, and incorporated into the Air Force's civilian charter fleet that shuttled workers between Nellis Air Force Base and the Tonopah Test Range during the F-117 Nighthawk development program. In 1996, the aircraft was scrapped for parts in a Memphis boneyard.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: On April 23, 2013, Earl J. Cossey, who packed the four parachutes that were given to Cooper, was found dead in his home in Woodinville, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. His death was ruled a homicide due to blunt-force trauma to the head. The perpetrator remains unknown. Some commenters alleged possible links to the Cooper case, but authorities responded that they had no reason to believe that any such link exists. Woodinville officials later announced that burglary was most likely the motive for the crime.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Himmelsbach famously called Cooper a "rotten sleazy crook," but his bold and unusual crime inspired a cult following that was expressed in song, film, and literature. Novelty shops sold t-shirts emblazoned with "D. B. Cooper, Where Are You?" Restaurants and bowling alleys in the Pacific Northwest hold regular Cooper-themed promotions and sell tourist souvenirs. A "Cooper Day" celebration has been held at the Ariel General Store and Tavern each November since 1974 with the exception of 2015, the year its owner, Dona Elliot, died.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: Characters and situations inspired by Cooper have appeared in the story lines of the television series "Prison Break", "Justified", "The Blacklist", "NewsRadio", "Leverage", "Journeyman", "Renegade", "Numb3rs", "30 Rock", "Drunk History", "Breaking Bad", and "Loki", as well as the 1981 film "The Pursuit of D. B. Cooper", the 2004 film "Without a Paddle", and a book titled "The Vesuvius Prophecy", based on "The 4400" TV series.


title: D. B. Cooper

text: An annual convention, known as CooperCon, is held every year in late November in Vancouver, Washington. The event, founded by Cooper researcher Eric Ulis in 2018, is a multi-day gathering of Cooper researchers and enthusiasts. CooperCon took the place of the annual D.B. Cooper Days, which ended when the owner of the Ariel Store Pub died and the pub was forced to close.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: Abbott Elementary is an American mockumentary sitcom television series created by Quinta Brunson for ABC. It stars Brunson as a second-grade teacher at Abbott Elementary, a fictional predominantly Black school in Philadelphia. The ensemble cast includes Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and William Stanford Davis.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: The series premiered as a midseason entry in the 2021–22 television season on December 7, 2021, and was met with critical acclaim; the show's first season was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, winning three. In March 2022, the series was renewed for a 22-episode second season, which premiered on September 21, 2022.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: A documentary crew is recording the lives of teachers working in underfunded, mismanaged schools. One of the places they have decided to document is Philadelphia's Willard R. Abbott Elementary School, a predominantly Black Philadelphia public school. Conditions at the school are harsh and most teachers do not last more than two years. Second grade teacher Janine Teagues and history teacher Jacob Hill are two of three teachers in a group of twenty to make it past one year. They work with experienced kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard, second grade teacher Melissa Schemmenti, tone-deaf school principal Ava Coleman, and recent substitute hire Gregory Eddie.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: In an interview on "Good Morning America", Brunson revealed that the fictional school of "Abbott Elementary" is named after Joyce Abbott, one of Brunson's elementary school teachers, and that her mother's job as a teacher for 40 years is what led her to create the series. Brunson also stated that Barbra Howard, a character portrayed by Sheryl Lee Ralph, is based upon her mother.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: On September 3, 2020, an untitled workplace comedy pilot starring Brunson landed a put pilot commitment at ABC with Brunson, Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker serving as executive producers.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: In February 2021, ABC gave the project an official pilot order, originally with the title of "Harrity Elementary". In May, the project was given a series order under a new name of "Abbott Elementary". Filming for the first season began on August 16, 2021, in Los Angeles, California, and concluded on November 5, 2021. In August, three crew members tested positive for COVID-19 but production was not impacted.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: The first season premiered on December 7, 2021, and concluded on April 12, 2022, consisting of 13 episodes. On March 14, 2022, just before the first season was set to conclude, the series was renewed for a second season.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: According to a tweet made by Quinta Brunson, the first day of filming for the second season began on July 18, 2022. On July 21, 2022, ABC ordered the second season of 22 episodes, giving it a full-season order.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: In March 2021, Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, and Sheryl Lee Ralph were announced to star in the series alongside Brunson. In November of the same year, William Stanford Davis was confirmed to recur as Mr. Johnson, the janitor. Brunson portrays Janine Teagues, the optimistic second-grade teacher who leads the series and its ensemble. Williams portrays Gregory Eddie, a substitute first-grade teacher who harbors a crush on Janine. James portrays Ava Coleman, the school's inept principal. Walter portrays Melissa Schemmenti, a second-grade teacher alongside Janine. Perfetti portrays Jacob Hill, an awkward history teacher, and Ralph portrays Barbara Howard, an old-school kindergarten teacher whom Janine looks up to.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: In an interview with "Insider", Brunson revealed that her character of Janine Teagues was originally planned to be just a side character in the series, as a staff member of Abbott. During the initial visions of the series, Barbara Howard was meant to be the "driving force" of the series.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: In July 2022, just months prior to the series returning for its second season, it was announced that Davis would be promoted to series regular for the season. Additionally, a week before the season premiere it was announced via "The Wrap" that the season would see the introduction of various recurring guest stars, including Lauren Weedman as Kristen Marie, Leslie Odom Jr. as Draemond Winding and Keyla Monterroso Mejia as Ashley Garcia. All of whom appeared within the first eight episodes of the season.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: The second season also featured a cameo from Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty in the premiere episode, which garnered a large amount of online attention. When asked by the National Hockey League, executive producer Patrick Schumacker stated that Gritty's appearance in the series was "a long time coming." He revealed that Gritty was originally due to appear in one of the early episodes of the first season, but scheduling conflicts delayed the cameo.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: The series does not use any original music or score written or recorded for it, instead using pre-existing and/or library music, often used as diegetic music (or source music), often performed "live" by cast members. The previously released song, "Hold'em", performed by Maker, was used as its main title theme.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: In the US, the show airs on ABC. In Australia and New Zealand the show was first released on Disney+ under the Star content hub on February 16 as a Star Original with a 6 episode premiere with new episodes weekly before airing in several countries in Europe such as UK, France, Italy and Germany.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: In Canada, the series airs on Global, with episodes available to stream on the Global TV app the next day. The first season is currently available to stream on Disney+ under the Star content hub.


title: Abbott Elementary

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds an approval rating of 98% with an average rating of 8.3 out of 10, based on 45 reviews. The site's critical consensus said, ""Abbott Elementary" earns top marks for its empathetic yet sidesplitting critique of the U.S. education system, plus some extra credit for a deftly handled will-they-won't-they dynamic." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 80 out of 100 based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Abbott Elementary

text: Angie Han of "The Hollywood Reporter" said "[it] works well enough to deliver a consistent good time — and I suspect that given time, "Abbott Elementary" could blossom into something truly special". Han also said the first episodes "[are] a willingness to deal with class head on, while also finding humor in the characters' situations", and concluded that "Abbott Elementary" is "crowd-pleasing."


title: Abbott Elementary

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has received an approval rating of 100% with an average rating of 9 out of 10, based on 11 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads, "Class is back in session and the plucky teachers of "Abbott Elementary" remain an absolute delight, with creator/star Quinta Brunson's savvy and sweet sensibility honed to perfection." Meanwhile, Metacritic has reported an average rating of 90 out of 100, based on eight reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Abbott Elementary

text: Including viewership recorded over a 35-day period through "linear and digital platforms" (known as MP35) after its original broadcast, the pilot episode on December 7, 2021, increased to a 2.4 demographic rating, with 7.1 million viewers. ABC said the 300% increase was its "largest percentage growth for any new comedy premiere". The viewership of the second episode, "Light Bulb", increased by 5.6 million viewers to 9 million after 35 days.


title: Toni Collette

text: Toni Collette Galafassi (born Toni Collett; 1 November 1972) is an Australian actress, producer, singer, and songwriter. Known for her work in television and independent films, she has received various accolades throughout her career, including a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award, a Tony Award, and two British Academy Film Awards. She has also won five AACTA Awards, from eight nominations.


title: Toni Collette

text: After making her film debut in "Spotswood" (1992) and being nominated for the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, her breakthrough role came in the comedy drama "Muriel's Wedding" (1994), which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination and won her the AACTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role. Collette achieved greater international recognition for her role in the psychological thriller film "The Sixth Sense" (1999), and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She received BAFTA Award nominations for her performances in the romantic comedy "About a Boy" (2002) and the comedy drama "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006).


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette's films include diverse genres, such as the period comedy "Emma" (1996), the action thriller "Shaft" (2000), the period drama "The Hours" (2002), the romantic drama "Japanese Story" (2003), the comedies "In Her Shoes" (2005) and "The Way, Way Back" (2013), the horror films "Krampus" (2015) and "Hereditary" (2018), and the mystery film "Knives Out" (2019). Her Broadway performances include the lead role in "The Wild Party" (2000), which earned her a Tony Award nomination. In television, she starred in the Showtime comedy-drama series "United States of Tara" (2008–2011) and the Netflix drama miniseries "Unbelievable" (2019). For the former, she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette married Dave Galafassi, drummer of the band Gelbison, in January 2003. The couple have two children together. As the lead singer of Toni Collette & the Finish, she wrote all 11 tracks of their sole album, "Beautiful Awkward Pictures" (2006). The band toured Australia, but have not performed nor released any new material after 2007. Collette and Jen Turner co-founded the film production company Vocab Films in 2017.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette is the eldest of three children; she has two younger brothers. She was raised in the Sydney suburb of Glebe until the age of six, then in Blacktown. Her father, Bob Collett, was a truck driver, and her mother Judy ("née" Cook) was a customer-service representative. Collette later learned on an episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" that Bob was possibly born as a result of his mother Norma's ("née" McWhinney) having an extramarital affair with a US Navy chief petty officer stationed in Australia during and after World War II. Norma and her husband (Harold "Stanley" Collett) were going through a divorce, and Bob's DNA test determined that Stanley was not his biological father. Despite a public appeal in August 2015, her biological grandfather's name is not known.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette has described her family as "[not] the most communicative" but has said that despite her parents' lack of money, they were supportive and made their children feel cared for. She has fond memories of growing up in Blacktown, where she and her mother watched Saturday afternoon movie matinees presented by Bill Collins. She described her younger self as having "crazy" amounts of confidence. When she was 11, she believed she had appendicitis and convinced her doctors: She was taken to an emergency department and had the appendix removed. As a student at Blacktown Girls High School, her favourite activities included netball, tap dancing and swimming, and she took part in local singing competitions. Her ambition was to perform in musicals, as she loved to sing and dance.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette's first acting role was a high school performance of "Godspell" at the age of 14; she auditioned by singing Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love for You". She decided to become an actor the following year, and was influenced by Geoffrey Rush's stage performance in "The Diary of a Madman" (July–August 1989). In 1989, with her parents' approval, she transferred to the Australian Theatre for Young People, later explaining, "I was 16. And it's not like I wasn't good at school, or I didn't enjoy it, I did. I just loved acting more. I don't regret that decision, but I can't believe I made it." The actor returned the extra "e" at the end of her surname which Stanley Collett had removed as it sounded better for a stage name. She started at National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in early 1991, but left after 18 months to appear as Sonya in "Uncle Vanya" (August–September 1992), directed by Neil Armfield, alongside Rush in the title role.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette made her television debut in 1988 on a comedy, variety show "Blah Blah Blah" as a singer. Her first acting role was in 1990, a guest appearance as Tracy, on the Seven Network drama series "A Country Practice" Season 10, Episode 31, "The Sting: Part 1". Her first professional theatre role was as Debbie in "Operation Holy Mountain" in May of that year at Q Theatre, Penrith. Frank Barnes of "Journal of the N.S.W Public School Teachers Federation" noticed, "Collette [is] simply amazing in her professional debut as the girl with cerebral palsy." She joined the Sydney Theatre Company and, from December 1990 to February 1991, appeared in "A Little Night Music" at the Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. She performed Cordelia in "King Lear" (March 1994) and was also in stage productions at the Belvoir Street Theatre, directed by Rush.


title: Toni Collette

text: In 1992, she made her feature film debut in the ensemble comedy drama "Spotswood" (known in the US as "The Efficiency Expert"), which starred Anthony Hopkins and included a then-newcomer Russell Crowe. She played Wendy, a factory worker who harbours a secret attraction towards fellow worker Carey (Ben Mendelsohn). "Filmnews" Peter Galvin observed, "it's here that the film finds real warmth, vigour, and pain, all contained in [her] expressive face; she's terrific and so is Mendelsohn simply because we believe them." Andrew Urban of "Urban Cinephile" felt that, "[she] has a lovely role and does it with minimalist excellence." For the performance, she earned her first AACTA Award nomination, for Best Supporting Actress. Between auditions for roles, she worked part-time delivering pizzas and selling jeans.


title: Toni Collette

text: In 1992, her agent alerted her to a proposed film project with a good role; a year later "Muriel's Wedding" (1994) was financed and started casting in June 1993. Although the actor auditioned on the first day, she did not win the role until three months later. In preparation for portraying Muriel, the actor gained in 7 weeks. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing US$15.2 million on a budget of US$9 million. James Berardinelli of "Reelviews" called her "vibrant and energetic", while Peter Stack of the "San Francisco Chronicle" opined that Collette played the lead role with "disarming earnestness". She received her first Golden Globe Award nomination, for Best Actress and won the AACTA Award for Best Actress.


title: Toni Collette

text: In 1996, she had parts in three critically acclaimed films. In the comedy drama "Così", which reunited her with "Muriel's Wedding" castmate Rachel Griffiths, she played an actor recovering from drug addiction. David Stratton of "Variety" magazine said Collette "[gave] a terrific performance". In the drama "Lilian's Story" she played an eccentric woman sent to a mental asylum in her youth. Stratton found her to be "poignant" and took note of her range and depth. She won her second AACTA Award, this time for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. In the period comedy "Emma", an adaptation of Jane Austen's novel of the same name, she played Harriet Smith, a close friend of the titular character. Originally dismissive of Austen's works, she found "Emma" to be "warm and witty and clever". Jane Ganahl of "San Francisco Chronicle" wrote, "[Harriet was] played with heartbreaking empathy... desperately trying to meet Mr. Right – so awkwardly you fear she'll slip on a banana peel."


title: Toni Collette

text: She starred alongside Lisa Kudrow, Parker Posey and Alanna Ubach in "Clockwatchers" (1997) which depicted the lives of four friends working in an office. Dustin Putman of "TheFilmFile" called it a "jewel of a film" and praised the performances of the cast, particularly Collette whom he referred to as "outstanding". For her supporting role as Michelle in "The Boys" (1998) she won her third AACTA Award. Although "Velvet Goldmine" (1998), returned less than half its production budget at the box office, Metacritic reports a 65% score based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". It grew in stature after its release to become a cult film. Collette credited it with revitalising her passion for acting as it had freed her from distress she had been facing. Her next film, "8½ Women" (1999) was not as well received: Metacritic gave it a "generally unfavorable" score of 36%.


title: Toni Collette

text: When Collette received M. Night Shyamalan's script for "The Sixth Sense" (1999), she feared it would be a "formulaic Hollywood action drama". However, she was moved by the story and agreed to audition, winning the role over other actors, including Marisa Tomei. She portrayed Lynn Sear, a mother struggling to raise her son Cole (Haley Joel Osment) who communicates with ghosts. Gary Thompson of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" observed, "the scene in the car when [Cole] divulges his secret is so riveting... and it's so well-acted by Osment and Collette." He added, "she'd become the greatest screen weeper of her generation." "The Sixth Sense" grossed US$670 million on a budget of US$40 million and became the second-highest-grossing film of 1999. It gathered six Academy Award nominations including Collette's for Best Supporting Actress. She reflected, "There was some definite feeling we all had that it was going to somehow be special. [... It] did really well and has been loved by a lot of people."


title: Toni Collette

text: In 2000 she made her Broadway debut with a leading role in "The Wild Party", playing Queenie, a masochistic showgirl who hosts a lavish party with her husband. Originally written for Vanessa Williams, it went to Collette after the former was unavailable. Charles Isherwood felt under-whelmed by the musical and the actor's performance, "[Collette's] Queenie is flat and one-dimensional; she doesn't convey the warmth that invites emotional investment." Ben Brantley of "The New York Times" differed, "Ms. Collette... gives the evening's most fully realized performance," but criticised the lack of chemistry with Yancey Arias. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Collette turned down the title role in "Bridget Jones's Diary" due to her Broadway commitments.


title: Toni Collette

text: She followed with a supporting role in the action thriller "Shaft" (2000). The film received "mixed or average reviews", and grossed US$107.2 million on a budget of US$46 million. Kam Williams of "African American Literature Book Club" noticed, "Collette lends the film some convincing and welcome dramatic weight as the frightened, conflicted Diane." However, John Patterson of "The Guardian" rated it as a "career low" for her. In 2001 she appeared in the HBO TV movie "Dinner with Friends" and played Beth, a middle-aged woman who struggles with her husband leaving her for another woman. Steven Oxman of "Variety" said that she was "well suited" to her role, while Bruce Fetts of "Entertainment Weekly" praised her "flawless" American accent. The show earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.


title: Toni Collette

text: In 2002 she had a supporting role in "The Hours", based on the novel of the same name, playing Kitty, a woman who plans to undergo surgery for her infertility. John Patterson felt she gave an "utterly convincing small-scale emotional meltdown born of suburban sadness and sexual self-repression." The film received positive reviews and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In "About a Boy" (2002) she portrayed a woman with depression who attempts to commit suicide. Daniel Saney of "Digital Spy" said that she was "as impressive as ever" while Sheila Johnston of "Screen Daily" praised her "powerful presence". She was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress for both 2002 performances.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette played the lead role in "Japanese Story" (2003) as Sandy an Australian geologist who develops an intense relationship with a Japanese businessman. It was screened at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. The performance led to reviewers welcoming her return to lead roles: the first since "Muriel's Wedding". John Patterson wrote that she gave a "shattering performance, masterfully controlled and detailed, and all the proof her fans ever needed of her special brilliance." Richard Porton of the "Chicago Reader" remarked, "[her] pitch-perfect performance and the stunning evocation of the forbidding and beautiful outback make this film unexpectedly rewarding." Critics praised her emotional range, with some regarding the performance to be the best of her career. She won her fourth AACTA Award statuette for her portrayal of Sandy Edwards in "Japanese Story". Her two releases of 2004, "The Last Shot" and "Connie and Carla", were rated as having "mixed or average reviews" by Metacritic.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette's only film in 2005, "In Her Shoes", was a comedy drama about the relationship between two sisters (Rose and Maggie Feller) and their estranged grandmother, co-starring Cameron Diaz and Shirley MacLaine. Based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Jennifer Weiner, the film received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, and was a moderate independent success, earning US$82.2 million worldwide. She was subsequently nominated for a Satellite Award for Best Actress for her performance of Rose, a successful-but-lonely lawyer with low self-esteem, which Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" noticed, "As usual, [her] face is a fine-tuned transmitter of her emotions, moment by moment, and she becomes the locus of audience feeling."


title: Toni Collette

text: In 2006 the artist starred in "Little Miss Sunshine", a comedy drama road movie about a family's trip to a children's beauty pageant. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of that year, and its distribution rights were bought by Fox Searchlight Pictures for one of the biggest deals in the history of the festival. Sharon Waxman of "The New York Times" called her "funny and believable", while Stella Papamichael of BBC felt that she was "underused". The film received critical acclaim, resulting in her second BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. It grossed US$100.5 million worldwide and became one of the most successful independent films of the mid-2000s. Also in that year the actor took supporting roles in the thrillers "The Night Listener" and "The Dead Girl". The latter was released to "generally favorable" reviews, while "The Night Listener" was higher earning with a revenue of US$10.5 million.


title: Toni Collette

text: In her first television engagement in five years, the HBO-BBC joint miniseries "" (2006), she played an Australian government employee who tries to cope with the events following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and the resulting tsunami in Thailand. The film received mixed reviews from critics. Robert Bianco of "USA Today" said that it was, "inexcusably tasteless, tone deaf... and dull", and Brian Lowry of "Variety" remarked that the film, "[grasps] for higher ground that it never reaches." Despite this, praise was given to the performances of the cast. For her role, Collette earned her first Primetime Emmy nomination and third Golden Globe nomination. At a ceremony in August 2006, Collette inducted Helen Reddy into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame and described her song, "I Am Woman" (1971) as "timeless".


title: Toni Collette

text: After working as a juror at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, she starred in two releases of 2007, "Towelhead" and "Evening". They received "mixed or average reviews". Kelly Vance of "East Bay Express", called "Towelhead" "one of the most intelligent films of the year" and praised the artist's performance. In her review of "Evening", Putman called it "flawed in more ways than one" but lauded her for "[enlivening] her scenes with pathos". In 2008 she played a small role in "Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger," and also served as an executive producer. Her scenes were shot in a week. The film received tepid reviews and failed to recoup its $6 million budget. Bernadete McNulty, writing for "The Daily Telegraph", wrote, "[her] presence may have got this Australian debut from writer/director Cathy Randall off the ground [but] her slight role is insufficient to make it fly the distance." Her other 2008 film, "The Black Balloon", was better received, for which she was also co-executive producer. Frank Hatherley of "Screen Daily" praised the film and her acting, "[she] gives another of her warm, full-blooded portraits" and Roger Ebert venerated her performance as being the heart of the film. She won her fifth AACTA Award for the role of Maggie Mollison in "The Black Balloon".


title: Toni Collette

text: In 2008, Collette accepted the leading role in the Showtime TV comedy-drama series, "United States of Tara". Created by Steven Spielberg and Diablo Cody, it revolves around Tara Gregson, a wife and mother of two, who has dissociative identity disorder, and is coping with alternate personalities. She was given the leading role by Spielberg without auditioning. In the role, she portrayed multiple characters and found that it required more preparation than she normally did. However, after she understood the characters better, she found it easier to play them. The show was originally planned for a twelve-episode season, but was renewed for a second and third season after it gave the network its highest ratings since 2004. The series and her performance received "generally favorable reviews". Tim Goodman of the "San Francisco Chronicle" called her a "tour de force", and Ariana Bacle of "Entertainment Weekly" praised the actor's "flawless" transition between personalities that felt so "insanely distinct" that they could have each been a different actor. Collette won both the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a TV Comedy in 2009 and was nominated for both again in the following year. Also in 2009 she lent her voice to the critically acclaimed stop-motion dramedy "Mary and Max."


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette was originally set to star in 2009's "Away We Go", but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. She then starred as a single mother of a precocious child in "Jesus Henry Christ" (2011). The film received "mixed or average reviews"; James Plath of "Movie Metropolis" called her "terrific" but John DeFore of "The Hollywood Reporter" felt that she was severely underutilised. She later had a supporting role in the horror-comedy "Fright Night" (2011). The film reunited her with filmmaker Craig Gillespie who had directed her in several episodes of "United States of Tara". Debbie Lynn Elias of "Behind the Lens" called her "pitchfork perfect" while Emmet Asher-Perrin of "Tor.com" said that she was "charming as always". The film received "generally favorable reviews", and was a commercial success grossing US$40.5 million on a US$30 million budget.


title: Toni Collette

text: Collette's first release of 2012 was the independent comedy drama "Mental". She played Shaz, a hitchhiker who is hired as a nanny to take care of five mentally ill sisters. Despite giving the film a negative review, Gary Goldstein of the "Los Angeles Times" said that the actor "rips into her woolly role as if channeling a leftover personality from her "United States of Tara" days." Luke Buckmaster of "Crikey" called her "charismatic and all-inhabiting". She received her third AACTA Best Actress nomination for the role. Later in the year, she played Peggy, a supporting role in the biographical drama, "Hitchcock". Deborah Ross, writing for "The Spectator", provided an unenthusiastic review and wrote, "["Hitchcock"] wastes many of its cast members - particularly Toni Collette."


title: Toni Collette

text: In 2013 Collette earned critical acclaim for her work in the independent film "The Way, Way Back", opposite Steve Carell and Sam Rockwell, and in "Enough Said", with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini. For "The Way, Way Back", she received positive reviews: Andrew O'Hehir of "Salon" magazine praised her "brilliant, understated performance;" Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone" noticed her star quality; Berardinelli described her adaptability and said that she gives a performance far and above what the role required. Her performance in "Enough Said" was also well received; Katie Smith-Wong of "FlickFeast" praised her for bringing humour to the film but Joseph Walsh of "CinVue" said that she was underused. Later that year, Collette starred in the CBS TV drama, "Hostages", which received reviews that were generally favourable, but weak ratings. "RedEye"s Curt Wagner was fascinated by her performance, while Verne Gay of "Newsday" felt she was "superb", and "USA Today"s Bianco as "nuanced" and "grounded". The series aired for fifteen episodes and, due to a combination of low ratings and a closed narrative, did not return for a second season.


title: Toni Collette

text: In the comedy drama "Lucky Them" (2013), which debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival, Collette portrayed Ellie Klug, a music critic assigned to write about a disappeared musician and childhood sweetheart, and tasked herself to track him down. She took on the role because she felt the script had a realistic and in-depth approach to topics like self-sufficiency and self-realization. She later said that, out of all the roles she had played, Ellie resembled her the most. The film earned "generally favorable reviews", with praise for her performance. David Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" wrote that it was "centered by smart, soulful work by the wonderful Toni Collette" and that she played her character "with warmth, realness and emotional transparency that make you stay with her even when she's pushing people away." The film also screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, where Joe Bendel of "Libertas Film Magazine" ranked her performance as the fourth-best of the festival. Upon release, Mike D'Angelo of "The Dissolve" wrote that she "is capable of anything".


title: Toni Collette

text: After a 14-year absence, Collette returned to Broadway in 2014, starring as Jennifer Jones in Will Eno's play "The Realistic Joneses" alongside co-stars Marisa Tomei, Michael C. Hall, and Tracy Letts. The play examines a couple who project their insecurities and fears onto their next-door neighbors with the same last name. The play opened to positive reviews, with the actor and the entire cast earning high praise. Charles Isherwood from "The New York Times" wrote that "Ms. Collette exudes a touching, exasperated dignity as Jennifer." "Variety"s Marilyn Stasio called her work "terribly funny", while Rooney of "The Hollywood Reporter" claimed, "Collette, whose naturalness can cut through even the very deliberate theatrical artifice of Eno's dialogue and scene construction, anchors the play with her somber restraint and deadpan delivery." The "New York Post"s Elisabeth Vincentelli, who was more critical of the play, highlighted her performance: "[she] does some heavy lifting to fill in Eno's blanks. You can read deep sadness in the wide planes of her expressive face, in her lost, unfocused eyes." The artist and her co-stars won a Drama Desk Special Award for Best Ensemble Performance.