'Amazing find proves our dad is infamous Boeing hijacker DB Cooper'

Chanté and Rick McCoy III claim their father, Richard McCoy Jr, was the infamous fugitive who disappeared when he leaped out of a Boeing plane with $200,000 in cash

Two brothers say they've solved a five-decade old mystery that proves their own dad was the elusive plane hijacker DB Cooper.

Chanté and Rick McCoy III claim their father, Richard McCoy Jr, was the infamous fugitive who disappeared when he leaped out of a Boeing plane with $200,000 (£158,000) in cash after taking passengers and crew hostage in 1971.

They say they have found evidence including his parachute at their home, but wanted to wait until their mother died, in 2020, to come forward, for fear she could be implicated. After her death, the siblings met with aviation YouTuber Dan Gryder, who has seen the parachute and believes it’s the very one Cooper used in 1971.

Mr Gryder told the Cowboy State Daily: “That rig is literally one in a billion." He added that the parachute matched the modified parachute prepared by veteran skydiver Earl Cossey for police as part of Cooper’s demands before he disappeared somewhere between Seattle and Reno, Nevada.

DB Cooper sleuths have raised the possibility that Richard Jr was the fugitive for years given his own criminal past. Five months after Cooper held up the plane, Richard Jr was caught pulling off a similar hijacking in Utah. The thief eventually broke out of prison and died in a subsequent shootout with police.

The McCoy siblings told Mr Gryder they’ve known the truth for years, but talking about it remained taboo in their family. Mr Gryder published his latest theory and images of the parachute, with the FBI allegedly reaching out to the McCoys to see the evidence.

The McCoys said the FBI searched the North Carolina complex for additional clues and took possession of the parachute in 2023, with Rick also providing investigators with a DNA sample. The FBI has not made any public statements about the investigation or acknowledged that it has been actively looking into the DB Cooper case. The agency has said the case was officially closed in 2016 due to new information.