Could the mystery of D.B. Cooper finally be solved? Two siblings from North Carolina believe their deceased father, Richard McCoy Jr., was the infamous skyjacker who parachuted from a plane with $200,000 in 1971. Chanté and Rick McCoy III point to a parachute they discovered hidden in their family home as a key piece of evidence, as reported by the New York Post. This revelation comes over five decades after the daring heist that captivated the nation.
The still-unidentified man, known as Dan Cooper, hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305, holding passengers and crew hostage. He presented a note to a flight attendant claiming he had a bomb and demanded $200,000 in twenty-dollar bills and four parachutes. After receiving his demands, he jumped from the aircraft somewhere between Seattle and Reno, Nevada, vanishing into thin air.
The FBI launched an extensive investigation, one of the longest in its history, but D.B. Cooper remained elusive. The McCoys assert that the FBI searched their North Carolina home in 2023 and confiscated the parachute. Rick McCoy III even provided a DNA sample to investigators. Although the siblings claim they’ve long suspected their father’s involvement, discussing it was a sensitive topic within their family.
Adding intrigue to the story, aviation YouTuber Dan Gryder examined the parachute and believes it matches the one used in the hijacking. He described it as “one in a billion” to the McCoys, according to the New York Post. While some of the ransom money was found along the Columbia River in 1980, the FBI’s search for the perpetrator continued.
Interestingly, Richard McCoy Jr. himself was involved in a similar hijacking in Utah just five months after the D.B. Cooper incident. He received a 45-year prison sentence but later escaped. He was ultimately killed in a shootout with the FBI in Virginia. In 2016, the FBI officially scaled back its active investigation into the D.B. Cooper case due to limited resources and a lack of strong leads.
While other potential suspects have been considered over the years, none have been definitively linked to the crime. The mystery of D.B. Cooper continues to fascinate, and the McCoys' claim adds a new chapter to this enduring enigma.
