Reading that wiki summary it would seem likely that “Cooper” never made it out of the woods.
Speculation on my part regarding his lack of preparedness for the jump (no boots, poorly clothed, no steerable canopy) and the weather conditions (wet, cold, night) at the time could have resulted in possibly moderate to serious injury on landing in a remote area. Dragging himself to a water source, along with some/all money where he possibly died. Animals disperse the corpse, spring rains expanded the water source and carried money to where it was found.
They never found the money, either
Part of the money was found: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper#Recovered_ransom_money
But most of them were never used, they documented the serials of the bills.
Reading that wiki summary it would seem likely that “Cooper” never made it out of the woods.
Speculation on my part regarding his lack of preparedness for the jump (no boots, poorly clothed, no steerable canopy) and the weather conditions (wet, cold, night) at the time could have resulted in possibly moderate to serious injury on landing in a remote area. Dragging himself to a water source, along with some/all money where he possibly died. Animals disperse the corpse, spring rains expanded the water source and carried money to where it was found.