Infamous DB Cooper plane hijacking case could finally be solved after siblings find parachute
True crime enthusiasts believe the mystery of DB Cooper is one step closer to being solved, after an amateur detective claimed the FBI have investigated a parachute found by the children of a key suspect.
The siblings have said they believe their father, Richard McCoy, was the real DB Cooper - a man who hijacked a passenger plane and jumped out of it in 1971. The clue they claim could help solve the case is a parachute they found their mother's belongings.
DB Cooper's real identity was never confirmed, but McCoy was one of the case's prime suspects.
Months after the DB Cooper hijacking took place, McCoy was convicted of a similar hijacking, where he parachuted out of a plane over Utah with $500,000 (£397,000).
The FBI originally ruled McCoy out of the DB Cooper case, believing he was at home with his family at the time of the first hijacking.
McCoy's two children, Chanté and Rick, found a military grade parachute in their mother's storage in 2022, YouTube sleuth Dan Gryder told Cowboy State Daily earlier this week.
The outlet reported FBI agents had searched the property in North Carolina, taken DNA evidence from McCoy's children and seized the harness and parachute as evidence.
In November 1971, a man calling himself DB Cooper boarded a passenger plane in Portland, Oregon to Seattle, before giving an air steward a note claiming he had a bomb on board.
The man then demanded four parachutes and $200,000 in cash (£159,000). When the plane landed in Seattle, he demanded the pilot take off for Mexico City. But just after the plane took off, he parachuted into the night and was never seen again.
The mystery has generated Netflix documentaries, television shows, and books - and is the only unsolved hijacking in US history.
The FBI officially closed the case in 2016, after decades of working through hundreds of potential suspects provided no concrete leads.
In a press release at the time, the agency said: "Although the FBI will no longer actively investigate this case, should specific physical evidence emerge - related specifically to the parachutes or the money taken by the hijacker - individuals with those materials are asked to contact their local FBI field office."
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McCoy was shot dead by police after escaping prison in 1974. His children told Mr Gryder they long suspected their father was DB Cooper but wanted to wait until after their mother's death, in 2020, to speak out, as they believed she could have been complicit in the hijackings.
Mr Gryder documented finding the parachute and harnesses in videos released on his Youtube channel in 2022 and 2023, before providing an update on Monday November 24 on the FBI's alleged involvement.
Mr Gryder, who has spent years investigating the cold case, told Cowboy State Daily the parachute and harness were "one in a billion" and said the FBI appeared to taking the find "seriously".
ITV News contacted the FBI for comment, who did not address the new developments.
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