'Credible Lead' Found In 40-Year-Old Hijacking Case

The FBI says it may have what it describes as a "credible lead" in the nation's oldest hijacking case ... a mystery which has gone unsolved since 1971.

It was in that year that a man calling himself "D.B. Cooper" hijacked an airplane demanding $200,000. He received the money, and parachuted out of the airliner as it flew over the Pacific northwest.

In response to a lengthy article on the case which appeared recently in the British newspaper The Telegraph, FBI spokeswoman Ayn Sadalo Dietrich said that they are not anticipating a "big break" in the case, but are doing "due diligence" on a tip. The agency is working to extract a fingerprint from an item which may be connected  to the case, and comparing it to one taken from the Boeing 727 after the skyjacking took place. USA today reports that Dietrich says the testing is being done at a lab in Quantico, VA.

Additionally, DNA from Cooper's tie, which was left on board the airplane, may match a sample from a person of interest, according to a report from Fox News.

FMI: www.fbi.gov