Newly Uncovered Parachute May Reveal D.B. Cooper’s True Identity as Richard McCoy II

The decades-long mystery surrounding the identity of the infamous skyjacker D.B. Cooper may be on the verge of being solved, thanks to a newly discovered piece of evidence. The children of Richard Floyd McCoy II, Chanté and Richard McCoy III, have found a parachute on their family property in North Carolina, which they believe was used by their father in the 1971 hijacking.

Richard McCoy II, a former Green Beret and Vietnam veteran, was arrested in 1972 for a similar skyjacking involving a parachute jump, just months after the D.B. Cooper incident. Despite the similarities, the FBI initially dismissed him as a suspect due to his age; McCoy was 27 at the time, while Cooper was described as being in his mid-40s.

The siblings had long suspected their father’s involvement in the crime but waited until their mother’s death to come forward, as they believed she might have been complicit. They reached out to Dan Gryder, a retired pilot and aviation expert who has been documenting his search for D.B. Cooper on his YouTube channel. Gryder has been instrumental in examining the parachute and believes it could be the key to solving the case.

The parachute, described by Gryder as “literally one in a billion” due to its unique modifications, has prompted the FBI to reopen the case, which was closed in 2016. The FBI is now attempting to match DNA samples and has requested to exhume the body of Richard Floyd McCoy to see if the DNA matches, which could finally solve the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history.

D.B. Cooper, who hijacked Northwest Orient Flight 305 on November 24, 1971, demanded $200,000 and four parachutes in exchange for releasing the passengers. He parachuted out of the plane over southwest Washington and was never found. The discovery of this parachute and other evidence may finally bring closure to this enduring mystery.