D.B. Cooper case solved?

Hello everyone… I’ve missed talking to everyone and I wanted to get this posted before the weekend. I’ll see you tomorrow!

There are mysteries that we all have read about that were never solved. A few were D.B. Cooper, Jimmy Hoffa, and Amelia Earhart. Personally, I had my doubts about anyone solving them. D.B. Cooper was the alias of an unidentified man who, on November 24, 1971, hijacked a Boeing 727 aircraft (Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305), extorted $200,000 in ransom, and parachuted out of the plane—disappearing without a trace. It remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in U.S. history. Is this certain that they found the right person? No, but it is sure looking that way. 

This is a brief summary of the original hijacking. Shortly after takeoff, at around 3:00 PM, Cooper handed a note to flight attendant Florence Schaffner, who initially ignored it, thinking it was a phone number. He noticed that and whispered: “Miss, you’d better look at that note. I have a bomb.” He demanded 200,000 in cash, four parachutes, and a fuel truck ready at Seattle-Tacoma Airport for refueling. The flight attendant asked to see the bomb, and Cooper opened his briefcase, revealing what appeared to be red cylinders with wires and batteries.

The airline told the FBI what was going on and they met his demands. The FBI got together the money and they recorded the serial numbers so they could track him down. The plane landed in Seattle and he demanded that they go to Mexico City. He told them to fly at a low altitude (10,000 feet) and a slow speed of 200 mph. Cooper knew the Boeing 727 had an aft stairway that could be lowered mid-flight. He knew how to control altitude and speed to make a parachute jump survivable. At 8:13 PM, over southwestern Washington, somewhere near Ariel, Washington, and the Lewis River, the crew noticed a sudden pressure change…Cooper had lowered the rear stairway and jumped out into the night. That was the last known sighting of Mr Cooper. The plane landed in Reno, Nevada and the investigation started. 

Through the years, money was found in a creek bed near where he jumped and he left a tie on the airplane. It wasn’t much to go on. There were suspects and one of them was Richard Floyd McCoy and four others but nothing could be proved…until an amateur YouTube documentary maker named Dan Gryder found something. He made a documentary after years of researching and actually traveling to sites. He heard from Chanté and Rick McCoy III and they claim their father, Richard McCoy Jr., was D.B. Cooper. 

They had a very unique parachute in their mom’s old things and it matched the one that was given to D.B. Cooper. Gryder said: That rig is literally one in a billion. The FBI marked Richard McCoy Jr. off the list back in the seventies. What took his kids so long to say something?  The brother and sister said they waited until their mother died in 2020 to come forward, fearing she could be implicated as the parachute that allegedly belonged to Cooper was found in her storage area outside their house.

The FBI didn’t believe it until they got in touch with Gryder and he took them to the sibling’s parachute AND deteriorated money…some with the serials intact. Although it’s not official… the agents have said they are certain that McCoy was D.B. Cooper. I don’t know why it took them so long. He did the SAME thing the next year (1972) to a different airline. McCoy hijacked a United Airlines passenger jet for ransom in April 1972 and again asked for parachutes. To be fair though…the FBI thought it was a copycat at the time. From the New York Post: Gryder claimed the parachute at the McCoys’ home matched the modified parachute prepared by veteran skydiver Earl Cossey for police as part of Cooper’s demands before he disappeared somewhere between Seattle and Reno, Nevada. DB Cooper sleuths have raised the possibility that Richard Jr. was the fugitive for years given his own criminal past.

Richard McCoy Jr. was arrested for the hijacking of American Airlines a few days after it happened. They found him with a duffel bag full of money from the hijacking. He received a 45-year sentence but he escaped from prison in 1974 along with other prisoners in a garbage truck. Three months later he was found in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He went inside his home and was greeted by the FBI and he shot at them and was killed in the shootout. 

He had the experience because he served two terms in the Army and then another one where he went to Vietnam. He was awarded an Army Commendation Medal and The Distinguished Flying Cross and he also served as a warrant officer in the Utah National Guard…and he did a lot of skydiving. 

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

40 thoughts on “D.B. Cooper case solved?”

    1. In that first video some FBI agents said they are certain but it’s not official. If that money matches it’s a done deal probably…plus they said that parachute setup was not common…it was custom made and given to him at the time…so yea that is why I put the question mark. May not be but it is looking that way.

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    1. obbverse…Para Cooper! Have you known about him? I was wondering if people knew much about him out of the US…but I know you have been here. I remember hearing about him when I was young and it always interested me.
      Funny…I found it by mistake…I was searching for another Richard McCoy…and that story popped up.

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      1. Oh yeah, pre-internet this kind of juicy who-dunnit did the rounds in magazines as diverse as Time and Life to Adventurer and Playboy all the down to the National Enquirer. Good gossippy stuff sold by the bucketload then, as now, especially if the mystery was ongoing.

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      2. I’ve seen some documentaries…some swore you could not survive from that jump out of a plane going that fast…they were wrong. If he would have just been happy with the 200,000 grand which in 71…was a lot of money.

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  7. DB was a folk hero at the time. Another story from around then…The Army Math Research Center in Madison, WI was bombed in 1970. Three men were eventually arrested, tried, convicted, and served time. A fourth alleged accomplice has never been found. On the 50th anniversary the FBI released “aged” photos of him in an attempt to find him.

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  8. First, nice to see you back here.
    Cooper’s always interested me, quite the story. Obviously the guy absolutely had to have good knowledge of aircraft & the capabilities each has as well as diving experience. Seems like they got him…you sent me an article on this recently but it didn’t have, or I missed, the bit about them having old cash found there. If a serial number matches…case closed. Then onto the other Oregon mystery…what’s Sasquatch really?

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    1. Thank you Dave! It’s nice to be back.
      Yes…I’ve read quite a few…they showed a picture of some of the money. Yep! if those serials match…it’s pretty much closed.
      Oh yes…lets get Bigfoot/Sasquatch!

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      4. I can’t do heights at all! Not even Max on a ladder. No…they didn’t pinpoint where he landed but the parachute rig is one of a kind so they think he was the one.

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      1. I wonder if the kids ever profited from any of the stolen $$? I find it hard to believe they didn’t even if unknowingly. By staying silent, technically they were complicit. Aside from all that, you don’t rat your own parent out for something as paltry as money — alive or dead!

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      2. Probably not because it is deteriorated pretty bad…the money is in pieces….plus someone would be taking a chance spending it because of the numbers recorded. You would have to get it laundered.

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