A reported tip has led investigators to a person who might have information on D.B. Cooper's 1971 jetliner skyjacking, and an unspecified item has been sent to a lab. It's the 'most promising lead we have right now' in a case that has captivated the public imagination, an FBI spokesperson tells a Seattle newspaper.

D.B. Cooper, the infamous airplane hijacker who vaulted into urban mythology by parachuting out of a jetliner over the Pacific Northwest with a $200,000 ransom, is back on the FBI's radar screen.

Cooper, whose case remains the only unsolved airline hijacking in U.S. history, became the stuff of legend on the night of Nov. 24, 1971, when he jumped from a Boeing 727 into the skies between Portland, Ore., and Seattle. He disappeared with the ransom he extorted -- 10,000 $20 bills.

The case has remained open, but the trail has been cold despite hundreds of tips, thousands of theories and dozens of breakthroughs in scientific investigation. Now the FBI, which has previously said that Cooper is likely dead, is looking at fresh evidence, according to weekend reports in the media in Seattle, the epicenter of the story that seemingly can never die.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-db-cooper-fbi-20110801,0,4554232.story