D.B. Cooper: 52 years since America's only unsolved skyjacking

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) -- 52 years ago, on November 24, 1971, a man the world now knows as D.B. Cooper walked into the Portland International Airport the day before Thanksgiving, paid $20 in cash for a one way ticket to Seattle, then soon became the most infamous hijacker in U.S. history.

Once on the plane, Cooper slipped a flight attendant a note and claimed to have a bomb in a brief case. As soon as the hijacked jet landed in Seattle, Cooper exchanged the passengers for $200 thousand and four parachutes, then demanded to be flown to Mexico.

Over southwest Washington, he parachuted from the plane, vanishing into thin air with the money, never to be seen again.

In October, an amateur investigator led a team to the banks of the Columbia River where they believe his parachute could have been dumped. The area is also near where money connected to the heist was found in 1980.

Although no parachute has been found, the team told KOIN 6 News they found a white sheet, believed to have been purchased from a K-Mart store between 1964 and 1967. They suspect the sheet could have been used to wrap the money at one point, so it will be analyzed for any possible identifying fibers.