(AP/FBI)

The FBI says the case of airline hijacker D.B. Cooper isn’t a high priority, but you wouldn’t know it. For the past couple of weeks, this 40-year-old story of the guy who parachuted out of a plane with a $200,000 ransom, never to be seen again, has been the historical mystery du jour — even though the latest lead in the investigation has proven to be something of a bust.

Yes, the hot tip that came from a woman named Marla Cooper, who — based on some childhood memories — believes she’s the niece of the infamous hijacker, cooled down a bit this week when DNA testing failed to connect her uncle to a necktie D.B. Cooper left behind on a Boeing 727 in 1971. Of course, this doesn’t completely rule out Marla’s claim; it just means that, for now, the case is still unsolved. D.B. Cooper, dead or alive, continues to confound the authorities, and some say that’s exactly why America still loves this story.

To me, that’s been the most interesting theory to emerge from the recent coverage of this case. I’ve always assumed that the appeal of the Cooper case lay simply in its mystery (and the desire to solve it), but the draw may have more to do with what a Los Angeles Times story called “an American subculture that roots for the underdog.” In other words, Cooper, the “little guy,” ripped off the big corporation and got away with it, and people have been applauding him ever since. That may not reveal a whole lot about the hijacker, but it could tell us something about ourselves.

Writer Geoff Gray, who has a new book out about the case, gives this idea historical context in a recent interview, referring to the “economic anxiety, paranoia over technology and lack of confidence in the country’s direction” that existed around the time the hijacking took place. People back then, he says, wanted to see someone “break free and go against the system,” and perhaps they still do. Viewed in this light, D.B. Cooper’s true identity seems to matter very little, and in fact, might be better off left a mystery.

What do you think? Is D.B. Cooper the ultimate underdog, or just a mysterious criminal who continues to intrigue us?

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