In an upcoming article, Lyle Christiansen, 77, claims his late brother, Kenneth, was able to elude federal authorities after committing the sensational crime 36 years ago, The Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune said Wednesday.

The hijacker, who was given the name D.B. Cooper by investigators, hijacked a plane in 1971 and parachuted out of the aircraft after receiving a $200,000 ransom.

The article details the late airline attendant's background as a paratrooper and connection to the targeted airline as evidence for the claim.

The only sign of the criminal has been the discovery of $5,800 on the banks of the Columbia River in 1980. Authorities matched the decomposing bills to the serial numbers from the lost ransom payout.

Upon hearing of the possibility that one of their neighbors may have been the man behind the unsolved crime, some Bonney Lake residents said the article offers an interesting but unproven allegation.

"It’s interesting, but it’s all circumstantial," Rose Edmiston told the newspaper.