Will Richard McCoy II Be Confirmed as the Hijacker DB Cooper?

Infamous airplane hijacker DB Cooper has potentially been identified as Richard Floyd McCoy Jr, a North Carolina father, based on new DNA evidence. The FBI is now seeking to exhume McCoy’s body for further testing to confirm if he was indeed the elusive DB Cooper. This case remains the only unsolved skyjacking in US history.

DB Cooper Hijacking

On November 24, 1971, a man who went by the name Dan Cooper, later dubbed DB Cooper, hijacked a Boeing 727 traveling from Portland to Seattle. He claimed to have a bomb and demanded $200,000 cash plus four parachutes. After securing the money and parachutes, DB Cooper had the plane take off again and at some point jumped out of the rear exit, parachuting into the dense Pacific Northwest wilderness. He was never seen again.

The FBI investigated over 800 suspects but never conclusively identified DB Cooper. One of the only solid clues was partial DNA evidence from a clip-on tie Cooper left on the plane. The case remains open but inactive.

Will the case finally be solved? Betting site 22bet21.com is confident, offering odds of 1.333/1 or 75% that the hijacker will be named as Richard McCoy II.

Richard McCoy Matches Description

Richard McCoy Jr has long been discussed as a potential suspect for being DB Cooper due to his eerily similar plane hijacking just five months later. At the time, McCoy was a former Army Green Beret and Utah National Guardsman studying criminal justice at Brigham Young University.

In April 1972, McCoy hijacked a United Airlines flight in similar fashion to DB Cooper, wearing a disguise and parachuting out with $500,000 in ransom money. He was arrested days later and eventually died in a shootout trying to escape from prison in 1974.

DNA Evidence Points to McCoy

McCoy’s children recently revealed to investigator Dan Gryder, who has researched the DB Cooper case extensively, that they believe their parents were responsible for the 1971 hijacking. Startlingly, Gryder claimed the FBI asked McCoy’s son Richard III to provide a DNA sample, which showed similarities to the partial DNA from the DB Cooper tie.

The FBI now hopes to exhume Richard McCoy Jr’s body to conclusively match his DNA with evidence from the hijacking. They require the permission of McCoy’s surviving children to move forward with this.

According to Gryder’s sources, McCoy’s son’s DNA aligns with some but not all of the specific genetic markers found on the tie. Exhuming the body would provide the complete DNA needed to make a definitive match. If conclusive, this would finally unmask DB Cooper after decades of mystery.

Closing the Case

While the FBI stated in 2016 that they would no longer actively investigate the DB Cooper case, this DNA breakthrough seems to have renewed efforts to finally identify the infamous hijacker. The FBI has apparently already been on-site at the McCoy family’s North Carolina property as part of the revived investigation.

After 50 years, the tantalizing possibility of putting a name and face to the enduring mystery of DB Cooper has investigators following up on this DNA lead. If conclusive results match Richard McCoy Jr to evidence from the hijacking, it would close the book on one of the most puzzling unsolved crimes in modern American history. For now, the question remains: Will McCoy be confirmed as the elusive DB Cooper?