A man who claims to be the brother of the hijacker D.B. Cooper said the legendary figure lived out the rest of his life in a small Western Washington town.

Cooper hijacked a commercial airplane 36 years ago, then jumped out with a parachute and $200,000 in ransom money. His body was never found.

The FBI has always maintained Cooper did not survive that fateful jump from a hijacked jet, but a Minnesota man says Cooper not only lived, but spent the rest of his life in Bonney Lake, Wash.

Drive down the old Buckley Highway and you'll see a sign shop. It's not much, but it's now in the national spotlight. The house is where many say Cooper lived out the rest of his life.

His legend inspired songs, poems and even movies. The identity of the infamous hijacker, has remained a mystery, until now.

A Minnesota man says he was channel-surfing when he found himself staring into the eyes of his older brother, Kenneth Christansen.

"I think he did it, there too many things that points to him," said Lyle Christansen.

Lyle, 77, told KOMO 4 News his brother, Kenny, was a trained Army paratrooper with the skills to survive a jump in harsh conditions.

The FBI has said Cooper knew the terrains of Western Washington. Kenny knew the area, too; he settled down in Bonney Lake.

Kenny's old house has been turned into a sign shop. Property records show he paid $1,400 for the house one year after Cooper's jump.

Lyle says it's a property his brother could not have afforded with his job at Northwest Airlines.

Years after the infamous hijacking, some of Cooper's money turned up. A boy found nearly $6,000 in decomposing $20 bills in the mountains. So the question remains -- where's the rest of it?

"That's the question! As far as I knew it's never been spent," said Rattenbury, who owns the sign shop. "There's a chance it could be buried around here somewhere. You never know."

And so the legend lives on. Lyle says "D.B. Cooper" took his greatest secret to the grave.

"He (Kenny) said on his deathbed, called me over and told me 'there's something you should know but I cannot tell you," Lyle said. "I didn't want to know anything bad about him so I said 'whatever it is, we still love you."'

Kenneth Christiansen died in 1994 from cancer.

Lyle Christansen is convinced, but there are still many skeptics. The mayor of Bonney Lake says if Lyle's story proves to be true, he'll have Kenny's house turned into a historical site.