In 1995, Duane Weber told his wife Jo, “I’m Dan Cooper,” as he lay dying. Not DB, which was a typo made by the media when the incident was originally reported, but this was the real name the hijacker gave the flight attendant. It took Jo a few months to understand what her late husband was trying to tell her, but soon details of her life began to emerge, leading her to suspect that he was a notorious criminal.
For example, he claimed to have injured his knee jumping out of a plane, but there was no solid evidence linking Duane to an incident involving the plane.
Meet Duane Weber, one of DB Cooper’s suspects
On November 24, 1971, a mysterious guy hijacked an airplane and demanded a ransom of $200,000 ($1.3 million adjusted for inflation) from the United States government. He boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines plane in Portland, Oregon, with a message and a bomb.
This incident is known as the DB Cooper kidnapping. It remains open to this day as the most unsolved kidnapping mystery in American history.
In the vast area of rough terrain where Cooper crashed, neither his body nor his parachute were found. The story became part of mythology as time passed. For those familiar with the series, Cooper developed a reputation as a Robin Hood-like figure: your average Joe with the guts to try something as daring as that and the ability to see it through.
In 1998, the FBI eliminated Weber as a suspect when DNA tests on his discarded tie returned inconclusive results. The lack of a match to Weber’s fingerprint on either the cigarette butts (which the documentary describes as “missing”) or the area around his seat on the plane, along with this, convinced the FBI that the theory de Weber was wrong.
An apparent plane ticket was also “lost”, which would have a strong connection to the crime. However, the film leaves out several key details of the situation. Cooper also smoked like a chain smoker and drank bourbon on the plane (amid a bourbon business slump, no less).
Duane Weber Cause of death
Duane Weber’s cause of death was kidney disease, for which he was admitted to a Florida hospital.
Duane Weber Age at death
In 1995, at the time of his death, Duane Weber was 70 years old.
Who was Duane Weber’s wife?
On her deathbed, Jo Weber, the wife of Duane Weber, heard her husband say, “I’m Dan Cooper,” before she passed away. At the time of his death, they had been married for 17 years. Jo and Duane met at the Holiday Inn lounge at the Atlanta airport six years after the kidnapping. It was his birthday. She bought him a bottle of champagne and wrapped it with a $100 bill. They were married the following year in Colorado, where he was an insurance agent.
“He says, ‘Come here. Come closer.’ He wanted me two meters from his face, ”recalls Jo Weber. “He Said: ‘I have a secret to tell you.’ I said that?’ He says, ‘I’m Dan Cooper.'”
The media misidentified the name as “DB” years ago, but she immediately recognized him as a notorious hijacker. She began to remember events and connect them, and with the help of Tim Collins, she spent the next 23 years of her life trying to verify the dying man’s claims.
Jo was many years younger than her husband and did not know much about his former life. She found the fake IDs of Mr. John Carson Collins in her wallet after his death; Duane was probably used to using pseudonyms. The tax returns served as convincing evidence that she and Tim discovered. Most exciting, however, was a “sentimental trip” to the Columbia River in Washington state.
Jo recalled the couple’s visit to the region in 1979, including an incident in which Duane dumped a bag of “garbage” into the river. Jo remembers having a nightmare and talking about putting her footprints on the back stairs while she was sleeping.
A few months later, ransom money identifiable by its serial number was found on the banks of the Tina Bara River. She took her for a walk through the Tena bar. Two months later, $5,800 in cash belonging to Cooper was found there.
“I can’t get away from it,” Jo said. CBS. “Why would you have an old Northwest Airlines ticket? Why would you take me to the place where the money was finally found and why? There are too many pieces of the puzzle that fit together.”
Sadly, Jo Weber passed away in October 2021. She entered a long-term care facility in Pensacola, Florida in 2020.
How many children did Duane Weber have?
Duane Weber has two children with his second wife, Jo. He had at least one daughter with his ex-wife.
Duane Weber’s work
Duane Weber was an Army veteran with a lengthy criminal record who had served time in a Seattle prison and was well versed in the Pacific Northwest. One of the passengers described his hair as “shaggy”, an unusual look in the 1970s.
When Duane met his wife, Jo, he was working as an insurance salesman.
Related FAQ
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Who were Duane Weber’s parents?
There is no information on Duane Weber’s parents.
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Where was Duane Weber born?
Duane Weber was probably from Florida, where he was born.
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When did Duane Weber die?
Online records indicate that Duane Weber died on March 28, 1995.
Categories: Biography
Source: newstars.edu.vn