The decades-long mystery surrounding DB Cooper, the elusive plane hijacker who disappeared in the night with a $200,000 ransom, has taken a crucial turn. The FBI has reopened its investigation after discovering a parachute that may be linked to the infamous crime.

The parachute was found on the property of a family associated with one of the case’s main suspects, Richard Floyd McCoy II. McCoy was arrested for a similar hijacking shortly after Cooper’s daring escape. Newsweek reported.

YouTube investigator Dan Gryder, who has been working on the Cooper case for over two decades, played a crucial role in this development. He discovered the parachute at the McCoy family estate in North Carolina and shared his findings in a series of videos.

The FBI’s renewed interest in the case is fueled by the potential significance of the discovered parachute. It could provide crucial evidence to shed light on one of aviation history’s most enduring mysteries.

What happened to DB Cooper?

On November 21, 1971, a man named DB Cooper bought a one-way ticket to Seattle. During the Boeing 727 flight, he handed flight attendant Florence Schaffner a note claiming he had a bomb in his briefcase.

Schaffner alerted the plane’s captain, William A. Scott, after inspecting what appeared to be a makeshift bomb – although its authenticity remains uncertain. The typed note contained a demand for $200,000 in $20 bills and four parachutes.

Cooper briefly communicated with the flight crew using the plane’s internal phone, but stopped after a while. When the plane landed, he was gone. Authorities believe Cooper jumped from the back of the plane mid-flight and parachuted away.

In the 1970s, airport security measures were far less stringent than today, and investigators were unable to determine the exact time he exited the plane, making it difficult to identify his landing site.

To date, DB Cooper is officially unidentified and at large. The FBI launched a comprehensive investigation and interviewed over 800 suspects by 1976, but the case remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in aviation history.