Two siblings from North Carolina have revealed that their deceased father was the infamous skyjacker known as DB Cooper, potentially rewriting a famous chapter of an American criminal mystery.
According to the New York Post, the profound assertion pivots on a recently discovered parachute and their father's criminal past.
Chanté and Rick McCoy III revealed that discovering a hidden parachute in their home led them to believe their late father, Richard McCoy Jr., was DB Cooper, the infamous fugitive who hijacked a Boeing plane in 1971. They brought this claim to light only after their mother's death in 2020, explaining that they had remained silent to shield her from potential legal consequences.
While clearing their parents' belongings, Chanté and Rick discovered an old parachute that closely resembled models from the era of the hijacking. Their father added to the intrigue by committing a similar crime, hijacking an airplane just five months after the DB Cooper case, before dying in a shootout with police following his escape from prison.
This startling connection between their father's criminal activities and one of the FBI's most enigmatic cases has placed the McCoy family in the spotlight.
Aviation YouTuber Dan Gryder examined the parachute and endorsed the siblings' hypothesis, stating, "That rig is literally one in a billion." Gryder's analysis supports the idea that this parachute could be the one DB Cooper used during his legendary escape.
After the evaluation, the FBI took the parachute for further analysis and collected a DNA sample from Rick McCoy in 2023 to learn more about the enigmatic hijacker's true identity.
The McCoy siblings confided in Gryder their longstanding knowledge of their father's double life, a topic which had been taboo within the family due to fears of implicating their mother, as relayed, “We've known the truth for years, but talking about it remained taboo in our family over worries that law enforcement would implicate our mother, Karen, in both hijackings.”
This delicate balance of family loyalty and the pursuit of truth illustrates the complex personal impacts of such criminal legacies.
The DB Cooper case has long baffled both the FBI and the public, with multiple claims and supposed evidence emerging over the decades, including another family's discovery of a parachute in Oregon in 2008, but none leading to definitive conclusions.
Noteworthy among the limited evidence recovered over the years are a black tie and a deteriorating package of $20 bills that matched the ransom money, found in 1980.
In 2016, the FBI closed the DB Cooper investigation, citing decades of dead ends and a lack of conclusive leads, though they acknowledged the possibility of exhuming Richard McCoy Jr. However, they have not taken any such action.
As new leads and evidence, including McCoy's parachute, emerge, the FBI has avoided public comment and maintained a guarded stance on its involvement in this latest development.
Whether law enforcement will ever solve the puzzle of DB Cooper's identity remains uncertain, but the McCoy family's allegations add an intriguing chapter to this enduring mystery. As the analysis unfolds, history buffs and law enforcement closely monitor the case, eager for a resolution that could finally tie up one of the biggest loose ends in American criminal lore.
