Mena Man Shares His Connection To One Of History's Greatest Mysteries

On the eve of Thanksgiving in 1971, one of the greatest crimes in history took place over the skies of the Pacific Northwest. The man responsible, known only as D.B. Cooper, allegedly evaded authorities by skydiving from the back of a hijacked 727 airliner with a $200,000 ransom strapped to his body.

An extensive manhunt turned up nothing, and for years, no sign of Cooper or the ransom money surfaced until 1980 when eight-year-old Brian Ingram found almost $6,000 on the banks of the Columbia River in Washington.

"There were three bundles sitting there touching each other with rubber bands on them," he said. "They turned to powder. They were pretty old.

Now 36-years-old and living in Mena, Ingram plans to auction portions of the ransom money he recovered 27 years ago.

"There's people out there who talk about it every day or just read about it. And that's the only connection they have," he said. "There are quite a few bills, and we feel that we'd like to share that."

For more information on the auction, or to look at the bills, click on the link to the right.