A North Carolina family has raised new suspicions that their late father, Richard McCoy Jr., may have been the infamous DB Cooper, the hijacker who vanished after jumping from a Boeing plane with $200,000 in 1971. According to his children, Chanté and Rick McCoy III, they discovered a parachute hidden in their mother's storage after her death in 2020, sparking their belief that their father was the elusive fugitive.
DB Cooper's identity has remained a mystery for decades, but aviation expert Dan Gryder believes the parachute found by the McCoys could be the one used by Cooper. Gryder, who viewed the parachute, described it as "one in a billion," saying it matched the unique rig prepared by skydiver Earl Cossey, who was involved in Cooper's hijacking. Gryder's claim has prompted the FBI to contact the McCoy family to examine the evidence further.
The parachute discovery isn't the first connection between Richard McCoy Jr. and DB Cooper. McCoy, a known criminal, was arrested in 1972 for a similar hijacking in Utah, just months after Cooper's daring escape. McCoy eventually broke out of prison, only to die in a police shootout. These past events have led some sleuths to speculate that McCoy could have been Cooper, though the theory was never widely accepted.
The McCoys waited until after their mother's death to come forward with the information, fearing she might be implicated in the hijackings. They explained that their family had long kept the secret, but they felt it was time to share the truth. "We've known for years, but it was too risky to talk about it," said Rick McCoy.
The FBI has been involved in investigating the newly discovered evidence. In 2023, agents searched the McCoy home and took possession of the parachute. Rick McCoy also provided a DNA sample, and officials suggested that exhuming his father's body might be the next step, though no such request has been made yet.
In 1980, more than a decade after Cooper's disappearance, a young boy found a packet of $20 bills along the Columbia River that matched the serial numbers of the ransom money. This discovery, along with the parachute and other clues, has kept public interest alive in the case, despite the FBI officially closing the investigation in 2016.
Whether DB Cooper survived the jump over the rugged terrain between Seattle and Reno has never been conclusively determined. The case remains one of the most enduring mysteries in aviation history. While the FBI has not publicly commented on the McCoy family's claims, their story has reignited interest in the case, and further investigation into Richard McCoy Jr.'s potential role as DB Cooper could soon be underway.
For now, the question remains: Was Richard McCoy Jr. the real DB Cooper? Only time will tell if this new theory holds any weight.
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