The FBI may be on the verge of reopening the DB Cooper case

The FBI investigation in the infamous DB Cooper incident— America’s only unsolved plane hijacking — officially ended in 2016. But federal law enforcement may be taking renewed interest in the case after investigating a parachute harness long hidden in a family’s storage unit.

The DB Cooper incident

On November 24, 1971, a man registered as Dan Cooper boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 en route from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. Once in the air, Cooper passed a note to a flight attendant informing her that his battered briefcase was believed to contain a bomb, and that he would detonate it unless he received $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. The pilots of Flight 305 landed their plane in Seattle, and authorities complied with Cooper’s demands before the plane took off again for Portland. It was during this flight that the hijacker strapped on one of the parachutes, held his ransom and jumped into the night sky.

What followed was one of the most high-profile American criminal investigations of all time – a case that lasted more than 45 years, resulted in more than 800 suspicious leads and ended in no official charges or clear perpetrators.

“While the FBI appreciates the immense number of tips from the public, none to date have led to a definitive identification of the hijacker,” the spokesperson said. Office announced on July 12, 2016. “…To solve a case, the FBI must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and unfortunately, none of the well-intentioned tips or applications of new investigative technology have produced the necessary evidence.”

However, authorities did ensure that “if any specific physical evidence emerges – specifically related to the parachutes or money captured by the hijacker – individuals with that material are asked to contact their local FBI field office.”

Seven years later, a retired pilot, recreational skydiver and YouTuber took up the FBI’s offer.

A ‘one in a billion’ piece of evidence

As highlighted earlier this week in a two-part report from Wyoming’s Cowboy stands dailyDB Cooper sleuth Then Gryder believes he may finally possess evidence that can definitively link the hijacker’s identity to a man named Richard McCoy II. McCoy is a familiar name to Cooper case followers as one of the FBI’s old prime suspectsalthough many critics have fired him as the perpetrator.

But while it’s never proven to be the mysterious hijacker, McCoy’s own story is wild enough: He carried out a nearly identical story escape robbery just five months after the DB Cooper incident. Unlike Cooper, however, McCoy did not disappear into myth. Instead of, police arrested him within 72 hours thanks to fingerprints left on the plane, and McCoy was subsequently sentenced to 45 years in prison, although he always maintained his innocence. McCoy then managed to escape from his maximum security facility in Pennsylvania in 1974. Three months later, McCoy was cornered by police in Virginia City, Virginia, and killed in a shootout.

Gryder has attempted several times over the years to contact McCoy’s now-adult children, Chanté and Richard “Rick” III, but they declined to comment to protect their mother, Karen, from involvement with the DB Cooper -case. However, after Karen McCoy’s death in 2020, they felt it was time to discuss the alleged family secret. After extensive communication, Gryder eventually traveled to North Carolina to meet with the surviving McCoys and review their evidence.

According to Gryder himself, extensive two-part YouTube documentaryAmong the items believed to prove both their father’s and mother’s roles in the heist are a skydiving log that coincided with both the DB Cooper and Utah hijackings. They also unveiled a heavily modified military rescue parachute installation that they claim their father bailed out of Flight 305 in 1971.

“That scum is literally one in a billion,” Gryder said Cowboy stands daily.

The potential smoking guns wouldn’t have just gotten Gryder’s attention. On November 18 a third entry in his YouTube series The new finds prompted the FBI to contact Gryder and arrange a visit to the McCoy family estate in North Carolina. Additional video footage reportedly shows at least seven vehicles and more than a dozen FBI agents inspecting “every nook and cranny” for about four hours, McCoy III told the Wyoming newspaper. If true, this would be the first documented DB Cooper case to be officially closed in 2016.

(Related: Bitcoin bro searched for ‘how can I know for sure if I’m being investigated by the FBI’ before the FBI arrest. )

But now the DB Cooper case – and its possible ties to the McCoy family – remains in limbo. Rick McCoy III stated that he has provided DNA samples to the FBI and is willing to exhume his father’s body for further analysis. The FBI did not respond Popular science‘s request for comment, and forwarded Cowboy stands daily to the case’s last update in 2016. However, if it becomes clear that Richard McCoy II was DB Cooper, it would put to rest one of American law enforcement’s longest and most unique cases.

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