D.B. Cooper hijacked a plane from Portland in 1971. His parachute may finally have been found.

Published 9:14 am Wednesday, November 27, 2024

In 1971, a man known as “D.B. Cooper” hijacked a plane from Portland International Airport, stole $200,000 and leapt from the plane into the history books.

Now, more than 50 years later, an amateur investigator believes he may finally have the answer to what happened to him.

A parachute believe to be connected to the infamous hijacker may have been found in North Carolina, thousands of miles from where Cooper disappeared.

Youtuber and amateur investigator Dan Gryder has been investigating D.B. Cooper for decades. He claims to have found the parachute on a property belonging to family of Richard McCoy II.

“This story has been a 20-year quest for me, but as of today, it’s over,” Gryder said in his 2023 video announcing his discovery.

McCoy has long been seen by amateur investigators as a possible identity for D.B. Cooper, and was investigated by the FBI as a suspect. McCoy, who was killed in a police shootout in 1974, was known for performing an almost identical heist a few months after Cooper’s hijacking made headlines.

Finding Cooper’s parachute has been the quest of many amateur investigators. Like almost everything else Cooper had on him when he leapt from the plane, his parachute has never been recovered.

The parachute Gryder uncovered matches the color, type and unique modifications given to Cooper as part of his demands, Gryder said.

“This is what I’ve been looking for, for 20 years,” Gryder says in a video unboxing the parachute. “This is the D.B. Cooper parachute. We just solved it. Literally.”

The only unsolved skyjacking in American history

The mystery surrounding D.B. Cooper has captivated the nation for decades.

The man, who identified himself as “Dan Cooper” boarded a Boeing 727 from PDX to Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971. Once in the air, he ordered a drink and then handed a flight attendant a note, claiming to have a bomb in his briefcase.

Cooper held the plane’s passengers hostage, demanding $200,000 and four parachutes when the jet landed in Seattle. After he received his ransom, the passengers were allowed to leave and he demanded the plane be flown to Mexico. As the plane soared over the Portland area at about 8 p.m. that evening, Cooper strapped the cash and parachutes to his body, opened a door on the plane, and leapt.

The FBI never solved Cooper’s case, officially closing it in 2016, making it the only unsolved skyjacking in U.S. history.

But Cooper’s legacy has lived on. About $6,000 of the money stolen by Cooper was discovered west of Vancouver, Washington, in 1980. In 2023, Arizona resident Eric Ulis made headlines after he announced plans for a new search near Vancouver, where he believed Cooper stashed his parachute.

But Gryder and McCoy’s family have a different theory. Gryder told the Wyoming newspaper Cowboy State Daily that he discovered the parachute accidentally while visiting the McCoy family in North Carolina two years ago.

He was at the McCoy property to visit Richard McCoy II’s grave, he told the newspaper. While in an outbuilding, he says he found crates containing parachutes and other gear.

Gryder and McCoy’s son, Rick McCoy turned the parachute, harness and skydiving logbook to the FBI.

What happens next is unclear. Gryder said that FBI investigators told him a possible next step would be to exhume McCoy’s body and attempt to get a DNA match with evidence left behind, but the agency has not commented publicly about the case since closing it in 2016.

The FBI says anyone with “specific physical evidence” related to the case, should contact their local FBI office.