Children of Richard McCoy have turned in a modified parachute to the FBI

The children of a D.B. Cooper suspect handed over new evidence to the FBI because they think their dad was the culprit.

A parachute long hidden on family property in North Carolina is said to match the type used in the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history.

The suspect in question was arrested for a similar skyjacking just months following the D.B. Cooper event.

The children of convicted skyjacker Richard McCoy II believed their dear old dad may have been D.B. Cooper, the notorious (and notoriously unidentified) central figure in 1971’s unsolved skyjacking. It’s the only one in United States history, in fact, without an answer—until, perhaps, now.

Just months after the Cooper incident, McCoy was convicted of an incredibly similar skyjacking that also included a parachute jump. His children, Chanté and Richard III (Rick), have long thought the clues added up.


They may now have evidence to back up their suspicions.

Chanté and Rick had kept quiet out of consideration for their mother, Karen, who they believed was potentially complicit in both crimes. But as both parents are now deceased, the opportunity arose for the siblings to come forward with their suspicions. And, crucially, they seem to have hard evidence: a modified parachute that they (and amateur D.B. Cooper sleuth Dan Gryder) believe was used in the daring escape.

“That rig is literally one in a billion,” Gryder told Cowboy State Daily after releasing a series on YouTube about his suspicions. It was that YouTube series, Gryder said, that drew the FBI back into the case.

According to Gryder, the FBI now has the parachute and harness that were once tucked away in a storage shed on family property in North Carolina, along with a harness and a skydiving logbook that Chanté claims show D.B. Cooper’s movements near Oregon and Utah (the locations of the two skyjacking events). This is the first real movement from the FBI on the case since the bureau closed it in 2016—even if some former personnel claimed it remained secretly open.

Seems like was their mother passing that allowed them to contact the FBI

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The suspect in question was arrested for a similar skyjacking just months following the D.B. Cooper event.

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I read this earlier today and had to laugh. Wouldn't that make someone suspect #1?

I know the 70s were crazy with hijackings but was there that many where the guy parachuted out that it could be anybody?

Also, what a madman to potentially have pulled it off twice!

D.B. Cooper was a popular bar discussion at Bragg years ago. We used to debate how we might pull it off.

#1 ... tailgating that bird would have been a bitch. That was a DC 10 if I remember correctly, but the cargo ramp being lowered at that altitude in thick air at that (fast) stall speed, estimated 260 knots, would have caused a vortex that would have caused major control problems, with the ramp lowered ... and would have been tough to off ramp for even a great jumper. He would have been spinning like a top upon exit ... likely to cause a cigarette roll or worse.

2 - the chute was a military T-10. Difficult to steer, unrealiable for a hop and pop.

3 - his DZ was in a heavily wooded area with old growth 60'-100' timber into 30 knot winds the night of the jump. Imagine driving over a bridge at 35 mph in a pickup, jumping out of the truck, over the bridge rails and into trees. Kinda like that jump Rambo made in First Blood. (We all laughed about that jump when we watched the premiere at the Alvin C York theater on Ardenes.)

4 - I've tailgated C-123s, C-130s, Shithooks, Sea Horses and Lears. They were always my favorite jumps because you basically yell yeeeehaaaa and run off the ramp and hit your arch whel you bail. I've jumped with 100 pd rucks and a weapon under my arm into pitch black darkness. I'm a Jumpmaster and for years was into sport parachuting. But this guy supposedly did it in a suit while holding a bag of cash, into the pacific northwest wilderness.

Most of us agreed, it could be done, very ballsy, but damn ... he rolled the dice.

He was also very trusting of his rigger ... no way to check the pack in the bird except for a quick feel and a onceover of the visible parts of the rig.

Some of us have been discussing this on our private FB page and on another forum where nothing but military Airborne guys are allowed. It's about 50-50 on whether he survived or not. If he did he had a horseshoe up his arse.

But let's say it was this Richard McCoy guy ... and he did it again and was caught and killed the second time (and he wasn't a copy cat).

Let's say his rig had been modified by a rigger (details never released) with a cutout and toggles and a modern (for the time) capewell system that might have allowed him to steer the thing into the wind and he survived the plf into the 60' trees and he somehow managed to grab the trunk, pop his risers and climb down the tree ... then hump out of that forest and disappear all the while holding onto that 35# bag of cash.

What happened to the money? (A few grand supposedly was found in a river deep in the canyon.)

How was he not impaled by a tree branch or have an eye gouged out or his nuts ripped off or a briken leg or arm or shattered ankle? Because I've seen all kind of tree landings on Nijmegen DZ (this little postage stamp DZ at Bragg) and 75% of the time there were injuries involved ... sometimes death. That this guy escaped unscathed ... the odds are so far against that ... but yeah, I guess it could be done.

Still, it all just doesn't add up.

Sure, he was an avid skydiver but he wasn't military trained. He never attended jump school, never went through HALO Course, never jumped a ruck even. Neither did he have SERE or Recondo schools under his belt. He wasn't short tabbed Ranger Qualified and he never went through the Q Course at Bragg. Yet, this heavy smoker in his early 30s humped his way out if that forest with all kinds of underbrush and undulation ... all the while evading 1500 men and dogs looking for him.

Two things have convinced most people that Richard McCoy is D.B. Cooper. The similarities between the artist's sketch and McCoy's mugshot, and the fact that he had 31 jumps as a sport parachutist.

The odds are so against it.

Now, this rig that's shown-up in his wife's barn .... how is that explainable?

The guy did have a history as an "avid parachutist." It's not unusual to keep your old rigs. Sometimes they're not sellable. Sometimes, often is the case, your old rig gets stored away for sentimental reasons as you move up in the sport. That's a perfectly plausible explanation. And I don't know if the rigger that packed the chute that was used the night of the jump is still aluve or if he remembers specific details ... we're hearing he's not but that in '71 he gave some very specific details about two modifications that he made ... if it comes out that there was hand sewing done to the gores or the top vent or a skirt was added, or hardware replaced or if the wood had been notched (a rumor that's been tossed around) ... if any of that is on this rig they found, then okay. But I think, imho, we'd have already heard that from the FBI.

Anyways, I'm drinking, can't sleep, tldr.

Never trust the FBI these days, they wanna clear this case.

They'll never solve the DB Cooper case nor will they ever solve the Zodiac Killer case nor will they ever solve the Jack the Ripper case. Just mho.

McCoy is discussed in the 16 minute time window.

Always assumed it was McCoy.

This is the best post I’ve read on this site in a while

Well said


Also


All the way!

Everyone was focused on Rackstraw but McCoy always made the most sense.