D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!: Who was Sheridan Peterson and why was he a chief suspect in 1971 plane hijacking?

Adding to Netflix's ever-growing roster of true-crime documentaries is D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! The four-part docuseries was directed by Marina Zenovich, with P.G. Morgan acting as the showrunner. It will be released on the global streaming platform on July 13, 2022 at 3 am ET.

The documentary will cover the biggest unsolved mystery in U.S. history. After spending 45 years and an enormous amount of resources on the investigation to find D.B. Cooper, the FBI finally ended the search in 2016. The extensive manhunt led the agency to examine close to 800 suspects, eventually ruling out almost all of them.

D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! will also talk about Sheridan Peterson, who was among the prime suspects being looked at in the case. He was a former Marine, experienced smokejumper, and a technical editor at Boeing.

Peterson checked a lot of boxes, but he was never arrested or detained in connection with the case. He died on January 8, 2021, at the age of 94, having been known as the chief suspect in the skyjacking case of 1971 for the better part of his life.

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D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!: What was the skyjacking case of 1971?

On November 24, 1971, a man in his mid-40s, dressed impeccably, purchased a $20 ticket for a Northwest Orient Airlines Flight traveling from Portland to Seattle. He introduced himself as Dan Cooper, who was eventually misreported as D.B. Cooper by media outlets, thereby becoming the more popular moniker.

Nothing was out of the ordinary until Cooper handed a note to a flight attendant on the plane. The note warned her that he was carrying a bomb in his briefcase which he would set off if he was not provided a ransom of $200,000 and two parachutes. The Netflix docuseries D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! will dive deeper into the case in its first episode.

After landing at Seattle-Tacoma airport, Cooper exchanged 36 passengers on the plane for the ransom. He then directed the pilot to fly the plane to New Mexico, not flying at a speed greater than 150 knots and at an altitude greater than 10,000 feet.

The slow speed and low altitude enabled him to parachute off the plane at some point between Seattle and Reno, Nevada, without anyone noticing. Weeks and months of extensive search yielded nothing. Decades of manhunt also remained futile. The unsolved mystery made the case the subject of many conspiracy theories and fables.

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D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!: Sheridan Peterson's profile checked most boxes for being D.B. Cooper

Apart from the striking resemblance to the sketch of D.B. Cooper procured by investigators, Sheridan Peterson became the chief suspect in the skyjacking case, covered in the documentary D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!, because of his experience as a smokejumper. A smokejumper is a firefighter who parachutes into remote areas to douse wildfires.

Peterson also served as a Marine during the Second World War and later worked as a technical editor at Seattle-based Boeing. Given the hijacker's extensive knowledge of the Boeing aircraft that was carrying passengers on the fateful Thanksgiving eve of 1971, Peterson fit the mold perfectly.

In an article for the National Smokejumper Association magazine, Peterson even wrote,

"Actually, the FBI had good reason to suspect me... There were too many circumstances involved for it to be a coincidence."

Elaborating further, he also mentioned that at the time of the heist, he was 44-years-old which put him right in the ballpark of the hijacker's age. What was even more incriminating was a photo of Peterson simulating a skydiving maneuver for Boeing, wearing a suit and tie, the same kind of outfit the hijacker was wearing. Ordinarily, skydivers don't wear such formal garb. However, when interviewed by the FBI, Peterson maintained that he was in Nepal during the skyjacking incident.

History Channel investigator Eric Ulis also investigated the case and spent over 7,500 hours investigating whether Peterson was the skyjacker. Ulis was ultimately "98%" convinced that Peterson was the infamous skyjacker.

Former FBI agent Mary Jean Fryar, in an interview with The Oregonian in 2019 said,

"He was a charming guy."

She, along with another agent, questioned Peterson and took his DNA sample. Unlike the other prime suspects that were ruled out via DNA testing, the bureau remained mum on Peterson's sample. He was never arrested or detained in the case.

The FBI has maintained the belief that D.B. Cooper did not survive the skydiving escape and closed the investigation in 2016, stating that the resources would be better utilized in other cases.

D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?! will premiere on Netflix on July 13, 2022.