The FBI has acquired what is believed to be the parachute used by thief and hijacker D.B. Cooper in his 1971 escape from an airplane.
After the children of Richard Floyd McCoy II, the man believed to be Cooper, provided the FBI with the parachute in September 2023, the case into the mysterious 1971 hijacking was reopened, RadarOnline reported. The FBI also acquired a harness and a skydiving logbook.
McCoy, a former Army soldier, was arrested in 1972 for a similar hijacking but was never definitively tied to the Cooper case.
The parachute was first discovered in 2022 when YouTuber Dan Gryder, who had been investigating the case for years, was invited to the McCoy family property in North Carolina. The parachute's unique alterations match details documented by Earl Cossey, the man who RadarOnline said provided the parachutes for the 1971 hijacking.
McCoy's children believe their mother, Karen, was also involved in the hijackings and kept the secret for decades. McCoy's children believe the parachute links their father to D.B. Cooper, as does Gryder.