The FBI investigation into the infamous DB Cooper incident – ​​America’s only unsolved plane hijacking – was officially closed in 2016. But federal law enforcement may regain interest in the case after examining parachute equipment long hidden in a family’s storage facility.

The DB Cooper incident

On November 24, 1971, a man registered as Dan Cooper boarded Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 en route from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington. Once in the air, Cooper handed a stewardess a note telling her that his battered briefcase supposedly contained a bomb and that he would detonate it unless he received $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. The pilots of Flight 305 landed their plane in Seattle, whereupon authorities complied with Cooper’s demands before the plane took off again for Portland. During that flight, the hijacker strapped on one of the parachutes, clutched his ransom, and jumped into the night sky.

What followed was one of the most high-profile U.S. criminal investigations of all time – a case that spanned 45 years, resulted in more than 800 suspect tips, and ended with no official charges or clear culprits.

“Although the FBI appreciated the tremendous number of tips from the public, none have led to a definitive identification of the abductor,” the FBI announced on July 12, 2016. “…To solve a case, the FBI must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and unfortunately, none of the well-intentioned tips or applications of new investigative technology have produced the necessary proof.”

However, authorities have indicated that “should specific physical evidence emerge – particularly related to the parachutes or money taken from the hijacker – anyone with these materials is asked to contact their local FBI field office.”

Seven years later, a retired pilot, recreational skydiver and YouTuber accepted the FBI’s offer.

A “one in a billion” piece of evidence

As highlighted in a two-part report from Wyoming’s earlier this week Cowboy State DailyDB Cooper detective Dan Gryder believes he finally has evidence that can conclusively link the kidnapper’s identity to a man named Richard McCoy II. McCoy is a familiar name to followers of the Cooper case as one of the FBI’s longtime prime suspects, although many critics have dismissed him as the perpetrator.

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But even though McCoy’s own story never proved to be the mysterious hijacker, it’s wild enough – just five months after the DB Cooper incident, he carried out an almost identical airline robbery. Unlike Cooper, however, McCoy did not become a myth. Instead, based on the fingerprints left on the plane, law enforcement arrested him within 72 hours and McCoy was subsequently sentenced to 45 years in prison, despite always maintaining his innocence. McCoy then managed to escape from his maximum security facility in Pennsylvania in 1974. Three months later, McCoy was cornered by police in Virginia City, Virginia, and killed in a shootout.

Gryder tried several times over the years to contact McCoy’s now-adult children, Chanté and Richard “Rick” III, but they refused to comment in order to protect their mother, Karen, from involvement in the DB Cooper case. However, after Karen McCoy’s death in 2020, they felt it was time to talk about the alleged family secret. After extensive communication, Gryder finally traveled to North Carolina to meet the surviving McCoys and examine their evidence.

According to Gryder’s own extensive two-part YouTube documentary, the items believed to prove her father and mother’s role in the robbery include a skydiving log that coincided with the DB Cooper and Utah kidnappings. They also revealed a heavily modified military rescue parachute system that her father allegedly used to jump out of Flight 305 in 1971.

“This facility is literally one in a billion,” Gryder said Cowboy State Daily.

The potential powerful weapons reportedly didn’t just pique Gryder’s interest. On November 18, a third entry in his YouTube series explained that the new findings prompted the FBI to contact Gryder and arrange a visit to the McCoy family estate in North Carolina. Additional video footage reportedly shows at least seven vehicles and over a dozen FBI agents examining “every corner” for about four hours, McCoy III told the Wyoming newspaper. If true, this would be the first documented DB Cooper case after its official conclusion in 2016.

( Related: Before being arrested by the FBI, Bitcoin Brother searched for “How do I know for sure if I’m being investigated by the FBI?”. )

But now the DB Cooper case – and his possible ties to the McCoy family – remain in limbo. Rick McCoy III said he had provided DNA samples to the FBI and was willing to exhume his father’s body for further analysis. The FBI did not respond Popular Science‘s request for a comment and forwarded Cowboy State Daily until the last case update in 2016. However, if it turns out that Richard McCoy II was DB Cooper, it would end one of U.S. law enforcement’s longest and most unique cases.

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