Parachute hijacker ‘DB Cooper’ used in 1971 may have been found

The parachute used by the hijacker known as DB Cooper to jump out of a Boeing jet with $200,000 in cash after taking the passengers and crew hostage more than 50 years ago may have been found.

Sunday marked the 53rd anniversary of the only unsolved hijacking in American aviation history. Now, years after the FBI declared the case inactivecan the agency have a different, informal look, examine evidence that has recently come to lightreports Cowboy State Daily in Wyoming. The evidence is a parachute found in an outbuilding on the family property of Richard McCoy II, whose children have long suspected their father was Cooper, they told the outlet.

The modest appearance man who would come to be known as DB Cooper purchased a one-way ticket on Northwest Orient Airlines from Portland, Ore., to Seattle under the name Dan Cooper on Nov. 24, 1971. Just after the craft took off, Cooper handed a flight attendant a note saying he had a bomb, then a briefcase flashed full of crossed wires and other things. He demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills, which were given to him upon landing in Seattle. The 36 passengers were released in exchange, and Cooper demanded that the plane take off again, along with several crew members, destination Mexico City.

Just after 8 p.m., however, Cooper jumped out of the back of the plane with a parachute and the ransom money and disappeared into the night between Seattle and Reno, Nevada. Years later, three bundles of bills from the robbery washed up on the shores of the Columbia River. After a year-long investigation, they provided clues, but no definitive answers The FBI closed the case in 2016.

McCoy, who is known to have carried out an almost identical robbery five months later, across Utah, has long been on the FBI’s shortlist. He was arrested for it, broke out of prison and was eventually killed in a police shootout.

The mystery has intrigued many over the years, spawning books, documentaries and even a conference. Gryder, an aviation-obsessed YouTuber who is a retired pilot and skydiver, has been documents his search on his YouTube channel.

McCoy’s grown children, Chanté and Richard “Rick” McCoy III, reached out to him after the death of their mother, Karen, in 2020. They had held back before then because they suspected she was complicit.

The FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily News’ inquiry Monday.

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