Two brothers claim that they have compelling physical evidence that proves their late father was the mysterious DB Cooper.
For over 50 years, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies have worked tirelessly to solve the DB Cooper mystery. Sunday marked 53 years since the man using that very name parachuted out of a Boeing 727 airplane that he hijacked in the Pacific Northwest.
For those unfamiliar, here’s a brief summary of what happened on Nov. 24, 1971: A middle-aged man calling himself “Dan Cooper” purchased a plane ticket from the Portland International Airport to Seattle.
Soon after takeoff, Cooper informed an airline employee that he had a bomb and wanted $200,000 in money. The plane eventually landed in Seattle, and the passengers were released. Cooper got the money and parachute he sought and jumped out of the plane, believed to be somewhere around Seattle or Reno, Nevada.
DB Cooper hasn’t been positively identified 53 years later. And to this day, folks continue to wonder if he even survived his jump out of the plane.
But YouTube personality Dan Gryder has brought new life to the fascinating mystery. As reported by the Cowboy State Daily, Gryder claims to have physical evidence that Richard Floyd McCoy II was the mysterious man:
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“Retired pilot, skydiver and YouTuber, Dan Gryder told Cowboy State Daily that he may have found the missing link after uncovering the modified military surplus bailout rig he believes was used by D.B. Cooper in the heist. It belonged to Richard Floyd McCoy II, and was carefully stored in his deceased mother’s storage stash until very recently.
McCoy has long been one of the FBI’s leading suspects after successfully pulling off an identical, but better-executed, hijacking in Utah just five months later.
“That rig is literally one in a billion,” Gryder said of the distinct parachute.
McCoy’s children, Chanté and Richard III, or “Rick,” agree with Gryder that they believe their father was D.B. Cooper, a secret that shrouded the family but wasn’t overtly discussed.”
Chanté and Richard III claimed that they refused to come forward for years because they didn’t want their mother, Karen, to face legal troubles. She passed away in 2020.
Richard McCoy Jr. Was A Prime Suspect In DB Cooper Mystery
McCoy somewhat resembled the man in the Cooper composite sketch. And in 1972, he pulled off an eerily similar hijacking with a plane going from Newark to Los Angeles.
Authorities later identified Richard McCoy as the perpetrator and arrested him. Three months after a successful escape from prison, McCoy was killed by FBI agents in a shootout at his home.
McCoy has not been ruled out as a suspect in the DB Cooper mystery, 50 years after his death.
