The decades-old mystery of DB Cooper, the elusive kidnapper who disappeared into the night after accepting a $200,000 ransom, has taken a significant turn. The FBI has reopened its investigation after the discovery of a parachute possibly linked to the infamous crime.
The parachute was found on the property of a family associated with Richard Floyd McCoy II, the prime suspect in the case. McCoy was arrested for a similar kidnapping shortly after Cooper’s daring escape, newsweek Informed.
YouTube investigator Dan Grider, who has been investigating the Cooper case for more than two decades, played a key role in this development. They uncovered the parachute on the McCoy family property in North Carolina and shared their findings in a series of videos.
The FBI’s renewed interest in the case was fueled by the potential significance of the discovered parachute. It could provide vital evidence to shed light on one of aviation history’s most enduring mysteries.
What happened to DB Cooper?
On November 21, 1971, a man known as DB Cooper purchased a one-way ticket to Seattle. During a Boeing 727 flight, he passed a note to flight attendant Florence Schaffner claiming he had a bomb in his briefcase.
Schaffner, after inspecting what appeared to be a makeshift bomb – although its authenticity remains uncertain – the plane’s captain, William A. Alerted Scott. The typed note contained a demand for $200,000 in $20 bills and four parachutes.
Cooper spoke briefly with the flight crew via the plane’s internal phone but it shut off after a short while. When the plane landed, he was gone. Authorities believe Cooper jumped from the back of the plane mid-flight and parachuted in with the cash.
In the 1970s, airport security was much less stringent than it is today, and investigators were unable to determine the exact moment he exited the plane, making it difficult to identify his landing zone.
To date, DB Cooper remains officially unknown and at large. The FBI launched an extensive investigation, interrogating over 800 suspects by 1976, but the case remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in aviation history.
