A parachute used by the skyjacker known as D.B. Cooper may assist authorities unravel the mystery of the infamous plane hijacking.
In November 1971, an unnamed man, now known as D.B. Cooper, boarded a plane in Portland and informed the flight attendant that he had explosives in his backpack. He demanded $200,000 plus four parachutes.
When the jet landed in Seattle, he was given the money and told the pilot to fly to Mexico before parachuting out near the Oregon border. He was never located, but over a decade later, a youngster discovered $5,800 of the money near the Columbia River.
However, no suspect has been publicly identified, and the mystery remains unresolved, despite various suggestions as to who could be responsible.
Richard Floyd McCoy, who carried out a virtually identical hijacking a few months after the Cooper event, has long been considered a possible suspect. McCoy was ultimately identified as the culprit and convicted of aviation piracy, receiving a 45-year jail sentence, although maintaining his innocence, according to the FBI.
However, in 1974, McCoy escaped custody and was slain in a gunfight with FBI agents in Virginia.
Although their father has been gone for 50 years, McCoy’s children believe he was also responsible for the D.B. Cooper hijacking, according to Cowboy State Daily.
Dan Gryder, an aviation YouTuber, believes McCoy is D.B. Cooper and has reached out to his children. Gryder told Cowboy State Daily for a Nov. 24 story that he discovered a parachute rig he believes Cooper used during the hijacking on a North Carolina farm owned by McCoy’s mother.
“That rig is literally one in a billion,” Gryder explained, describing it as a customized military surplus rig.
According to the newspaper, McCoy’s children had long suspected their father but had kept quiet to protect their mother, whom they believe supported their father. Their mother died in 2020, and the Cowboy State Daily stated that they spoke with Gryder for the first time.
Gryder stated that after discovering the parachute, he was called by the FBI, with whom he and McCoy’s son, Rick, met in September 2023. Gryder claimed that the FBI took the parachute, harness, and skydiving logbook as evidence.