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

Sunday marked the 53rd anniversary of the only unsolved plane hijacking case in US aviation history. Now, years after the FBI declared the case inactive, the agency may be re-examining, informally, evidence that recently came to light, Cowboy State Daily in Wyoming reports. 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 humble-looking man who later became known as DB Cooper purchased a one-way Northwest Orient Airlines ticket from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle on November 24, 1971, under the name Dan Cooper. Shortly after the plane blew up, Cooper handed a flight attendant a note saying he had a bomb and then showed a briefcase full of crossed wires and other items. He demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in $20 bills, which were handed to him upon landing in Seattle. In return, the 36 passengers were released and Cooper demanded that the plane, along with several crew members, take off again bound for Mexico City.

But shortly after 8 p.m., 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 wads of cash from the robbery washed up on the banks of the Columbia River. After a years-long investigation yielded clues but no definitive answers, the FBI closed the case in 2016.

McCoy, who is known to have carried out a nearly identical robbery in Utah five months later, had long been on the FBI’s short list. For this he was arrested, escaped from prison and was eventually killed in a police shootout.

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

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

The FBI did not immediately respond to the Daily News’ request for comment Monday.

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