FBI放棄45年懸案，傳奇劫機者下落依然是謎

It remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in the United States, a startling crime that captured the American imagination, inspiring songs, movies, TV shows and books.

它是美國懸而未決的最大謎團之一，這樁驚人的犯罪事件激發(fā)了美國人的想像力，為歌曲、電影、電視節(jié)目與書籍帶來了創(chuàng)作靈感。

In 1971, a man who called himself Dan Cooper hijacked a passenger plane from Oregon to Seattle where he freed the 36 passengers in exchange for $200,000 in cash. As the nearly empty flight took off again, flying south, he parachuted out of the airplane with the ransom, and was never seen again.

1971年，一個自稱丹·庫珀(Dan Cooper)的男人劫持了一架自俄勒岡飛往西雅圖的民航班機。他在拿到20萬美元現金后，釋放了機上36名乘客。這架幾乎清空的飛機再度升空、向南飛去的時候，庫珀帶著贖金跳傘離機，從此不見蹤影。

But after 45 years in which hundreds of leads were probed and discarded, the F.B.I. said this week it was no longer actively pursuing what it called one of the longest and most exhaustive investigations in its history.

45年來，美國聯邦調查局(FBI)對無數線索加以排查又放棄之后，于本周宣布，不會再主動推進這件他們自稱該局歷史上時間跨度最長也最巨細無遺的調查。

Who was D.B. Cooper?

D·B·庫珀是何許人也?

No one knows. Or someone does, but is not telling. The F.B.I. has described him as a “nondescript” man. He appeared to be in his mid-40s, which if true would make him about 90 years old by now. As the caper became widely known, he was referred to as “D.B. Cooper” in media reports.

沒人知道。又或許有人心里有數，卻不愿意說。FBI曾經把他描繪成一個“毫無特征”之人。他犯案時的年紀似乎是四十五六的樣子，果真如此的話，如今他就有90歲左右了。隨著這樁案子變得廣為人知，媒體在報導中稱他為“D·B·庫珀”。

How did he pull it off?

他是怎么作案的?

On Nov. 24, 1971, the man calling himself “Dan Cooper” approached the counter of Northwest Orient Airlines in Portland, Ore., dressed in a business suit and carrying a briefcase. He paid cash for a one-way ticket on Flight 305 to Seattle.

1971年11月24日，這個自稱丹·庫珀的人來到西北東方航空(Northwest Orient Airlines)在俄勒岡州波特蘭機場的柜臺。他身穿西裝，帶著一個公文包，用現金購買了一張飛往西雅圖的305航班的單程票。

“Thus began one of the great unsolved mysteries in F.B.I. history,” the F.B.I. said.

“然后，FBI史上懸而未決的最大謎團之一就此發(fā)生了。”FBI表示。

A “quiet” man, he ordered a bourbon and soda while waiting for takeoff. In midair just after 3 p.m., from seat 18C, he handed the flight attendant a note saying he had a bomb in his briefcase and showed her a glimpse of wires and red sticks. She wrote down his demands — four parachutes and $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills — and passed them to the captain.

這名“鎮(zhèn)靜”的男子在等待飛機起飛的時候，點了一份波本威士忌加蘇打水。下午3點剛過，飛機正在半空中，他從18C的座位上遞了張紙條給一名空乘，上面寫著他的公文包里有炸彈，還讓空服員很快瞥了一眼導線和紅色炸彈?？辗T記下他的要求——四副降落傘還有用20元面值的鈔票給付的20萬美元——然后轉給機長。

In Seattle, the passengers were exchanged for the money and parachutes. The flight resumed with “Mr. Cooper” and the crew en route for Mexico City, with the plane flying no higher than 10,000 feet, as he demanded.

在西雅圖，這些錢與降落傘換來了乘客的自由。班機載著“庫珀先生”與機組人員再次升空飛往墨西哥城，同時在他的要求下，飛行高度未超過1萬英尺(約合3048米)。

After 8 p.m., somewhere between Seattle and Reno, he jumped out of the back of the plane into a wooded area with a parachute and the ransom, and disappeared.

晚間8點過后，在西雅圖與內華達州里諾市之間的某處，他帶著贖金自機身后方跳傘離開，落入一片林地便消失了。

How did the story affect American culture?

這起事件如何影響了美國文化?

The high-flying exploit of the man known as D.B. Cooper infused American popular culture. The parts of his story that were known were dramatic enough to inspire writers, directors and musicians, but the unanswered questions had to be patched up with guesswork.

這位以D·B·庫珀留名的仁兄在高空作下的奇案，對美國的流行文化產生了很大的影響。故事中為人所知的部分已經夠戲劇化了，足以為作家、導演、音樂家?guī)盱`感，而那些無解之處就得靠眾人自行腦補。

The 2004 movie “Without a Paddle” was about three friends who headed into the wilderness in search of the lost ransom money and ended up finding his skeleton.

2004年上映的電影《尋寶假期》(Without a Paddle)描述了三名友人深入林野搜尋失落的贖金，最終他們找到了庫珀的遺骸。

In 1981, the movie “The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper” opened with Treat Williams in the lead role as a former Green Beret named J.R. Meade. The movie was based on J.D. Reed’s 1980 book, “Free Fall.” Other fictional books included “D.B.” by Elwood Reid in which “Cooper” is actually a Vietnam vet named Phil Fitch, and James M. Cain’s “Rainbow’s End” in the 1970s, which had similarities.

1981年，電影《D·B·庫柏的冒險旅程》(The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper)問世，由崔特·威廉姆斯(Treat Williams)領銜飾演一位名叫J.R.米德(J.R. Meade)的前美軍特種部隊成員。這部電影改編自J.D.理德(J.D. Reeds)于1980年出版的《自由落體》(Free Fall)。其他小說還有艾伍德·瑞德(Elwood Reid)撰寫的《D·B·》，在本書中，庫珀化身名叫菲爾·費奇(Phil Fitch)的越戰(zhàn)退伍軍人。至于詹姆斯·凱恩(James M. Cain)在1970年代所寫的《彩虹那端》(Rainbow's End)也有類似情節(jié)。

Artists from Todd Snider to Chuck Brodsky have written and performed songs about him.

從托德·史奈德(Todd Snider)到恰克·布羅斯基(Chuck Brodsky)等諸多藝人都譜寫、演唱過關于庫珀的歌曲。

“They say that with the wind chill, it was 69 below,” Mr. Brodsky sings. “Not much chance that he’d survive, but if he did where did he go?”

“他們說根據風寒指數，溫度為負69度(約合零下56攝氏度)，”布羅斯基唱著。“他的存活幾率不大，可要他活下來了，人又在哪兒?”

The Ariel General Store and Tavern, an archive of Coopermania in the Washington State town of Ariel, where he is believed to have landed, has kept the story alive with an annual get-together that toasts Mr. Cooper as a hero. Its next annual D.B. Cooper festival is planned for Nov. 26, including a look-a-like contest.

據信庫珀是在華盛頓州艾瑞爾鎮(zhèn)(Ariel)落地的，而這里的艾里爾雜貨店─酒館(Ariel General Store and Tavern)是庫珀迷的集散中心，每年都舉辦集會向庫珀致上英雄般的敬意，讓這個故事一直保持熱度。這里的下一屆年度D·B·庫珀節(jié)預計在11月26號舉行，到時還會有模仿大賽。

What happened to the money?

那些錢去哪兒了?

In 1980, a boy found a rotting package of twenty-dollar bills along the Columbia River worth $5,800 that matched the ransom money serial numbers. Using an inflation calculator, the ransom of $200,000 in 1971 would be equivalent to demanding about $1.2 million today. It is unclear what happened to the rest of the money.

1980年，一個男孩在哥倫比亞河(Columbia River)河畔發(fā)現一袋腐爛的20美元鈔票，總額5800美元，與贖金上的序列號相符。把通脹計算在內，1971年的20萬美元大致相當于現在的120萬美元。其他的錢則去向不明。

Who were some of the suspects?

有哪些嫌疑人?

The F.B.I. has said it interviewed hundreds of people, tracked leads across the nation, and scoured the aircraft for evidence. By the fifth anniversary of the hijacking, it had looked into 800 suspects. As The New York Times reported in 2011, the F.B.I. file on the case, available in an online vault, measures 40 feet long, cataloging more than 1,000 suspects, some supplied by psychics, some turned in by people suspicious of a family member, some coming in deathbed confessions.

FBI曾說已審訊了成百上千人，在全國各地追蹤線索，徹底搜查飛機尋找證據。劫持發(fā)生后五年內，FBI調查了800名嫌疑犯。2011年《紐約時報》就報道過，FBI關于此案的資料(在一個在線資料庫中能夠看到)長達40英尺，記載了1000多名嫌疑人的情況，有些是通靈者提供的，有些是懷疑家庭成員的人上報的，有些來自臨終懺悔。

One of the suspects interviewed was a man named Richard Floyd McCoy. He carried out a similar hijacking and escape by parachute less than five months after the Cooper flight, the F.B.I. said. But Mr. McCoy was ruled out because he did not match descriptions provided by flight attendants, and for other undisclosed reasons, the F.B.I said.

其中一名接受審訊的嫌疑犯名叫理查德·弗洛伊德·麥科伊(Richard Floyd McCoy)。FBI稱，他在庫珀劫機案發(fā)生不到五個月后，進行了一次類似的劫持，并跳傘逃跑。不過麥科伊的嫌疑被排除了，FBI表示，他不符合乘務員們描述的外貌特征，此外還有其他一些不便透露的因素。

The agency was not sure, even by 1972, that he was alive.

該機構無法確定他是否還活著，甚至到1972年都無法確定。

Q: Did the case influence the way the government handled hijackings?

問：此案是否影響了政府處理劫持的方式?

A: Hijackings during the Cold War were often desperate attempts at escape from the Iron Curtain, but during the 1970s criminals used them as leverage in ransom negotiations. The D.B. Cooper case became a storied example of an era of hijacking. By the mid-1970s, at least 150 planes had been “skyjacked” in the United States alone.

答：“冷戰(zhàn)”期間的劫機往往是逃脫鐵幕的瘋狂嘗試，不過在20世紀70年代，犯罪分子把劫機用作換取贖金的砝碼。庫珀案成為那個劫機時代的著名案例。到20世紀70年代中期，單在美國就至少有150架飛機遭到劫持。

Geoffrey Gray, a journalist who has contributed to The Times and who wrote the 2011 book on the investigation, “Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper,” said in an article published after the FBI announcement this week that the case was legally still open.

時報的特約記者杰弗里·格雷(Geoffrey Gray)2011年出版了一本關于此案調查的書，名叫《劫機：追捕D·B·庫珀》(Skyjack: The Hunt for D.B. Cooper)。本周，在FBI發(fā)表聲明之后，他在一篇文章中寫道，此案從法律上講依然沒有封案。

He said it had initially been deemed a case of air piracy, a felony that carried a statute of limitations of five years. However, a grand jury indicted the hijacker in absentia for violating the Hobbs Act, another federal statute aimed to prevent extortion that carried no statute of limitations.

他說，此案最初被認定為劫機案，這項重罪的訴訟時效是五年。不過，一個大陪審團指控缺席的劫機者違反了霍布斯法案(Hobbs Act)。霍布斯法案是另一項旨在防范勒索的聯邦法令——勒索案沒有訴訟時效。

“In theory, if Cooper were to walk out of the woods today, he could theoretically be charged with a crime,” he wrote.

“從理論上講，如果庫珀今天走出那片樹林，他依然可以被判罪，”他寫道。

Q: Why did the FBI decide to shelve the investigation?

問：FBI為什么決定擱置調查?

A: The agency said it was redirecting resources because “every time the FBI assesses additional tips for the Norjak case,” referring to the name it gave the D.B. Cooper probe, “investigative resources and manpower are diverted from programs that more urgently need attention.”

答：FBI稱，它是為了把資源用在其他事情上，因為“每次FBI評估Norjak案(這是FBI對庫珀案的代號)的新線索，調查資源和人手都不得不從其他更急需注意力的項目上轉到此案中”。

The FBI said that the “countless items” it has examined over the years would be preserved for historical purposes at its headquarters. The agency did say people could still contact the bureau if they had specific leads.

FBI稱，這些年它研究過的“無數物品”將為歷史目的保存在總部。該機構表示，人們如果發(fā)現具體線索，依然可以聯系該機構。

Gray said, “Hundreds if not more Cooper sleuths continue to harangue the office with their leads.”

格雷稱，“至少有數百名業(yè)余偵探繼續(xù)拿著自己的線索向該機構慷慨陳詞。”

Reassigning the lone agent on the case, he said, “is really an attempt by the bureau to spare the office from irritating calls, wacky emails and more.”

他表示，只給此案分配一名探員“真的是該機構為了免受煩人電話和奇怪郵件等等的騷擾”。