The scandal could have been resolved, after a couple claimed to have found the parachute used in the robbery, in their mother's warehouse, and Cooper was their father, The Guardian reported.
Chante and Rick McCoy III said their father, Richard McCoy Jr., was the one who identified himself as Dan Cooper when he boarded a Northwest Orient Airlines flight from Portland to Seattle (USA) in November 2021.
Cooper, or perhaps McCoy, ordered a glass of bourbon and soda before giving a flight attendant a note saying he had a bomb in the bag.
" since you, I have a bomb and I want you to sit next to me," the note reads.
When the plane arrived in Seattle, Cooper had seized a $200,000 ransom, along with four umbrellas, and released passengers. Cooper then ordered the crew to fly to Mexico City, via Reno, Nevada, but 30 minutes after takeoff, Cooper jumped out of the plane somewhere in southwest Washington.
The Hacker case has confused the FBI, which spent 45 years investigating before officially closing the case in 2016. The case also attracted the attention of amateur detectives, especially after about $5,800 in ransom was found near Vancouver, Washington, in 1980.
In November this year, Dan Gryder, a retired pilot who spent 20 years investigating the case, told the Cowboy State Daily that the FBI was re- investigating Cooper's case after discovering the parachute in McCoy's warehouse.
According to the Cowboy State Daily, Gryder said of the parachute that "That parachute was truly one in a billion". He said FBI agents went to McCoy's house, searched "all corners" and McCoy's family handed over the parachute.
Gryder released two videos in 2021 and 2022 on his YouTube channel Probable Cause, recording statements about McCoys. In Gryder's latest video, released on November 18, he claimed the FBI reopened the investigation after contacting him in late 2023. Gryder said the FBI, which owns McCoy's parachute, is searching for "a link between McCoy's DNA and Cooper's DNA left on the plane."
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The possibility that Richard McCoy may have stolen a Northwest Orient Airlines plane is unreasonable.
McCoy was among the suspects wanted by the FBI after he robbed a plane on April 7, 1972, jumped out of the plane with $500,000 in cash, in the sky of Provo, Utah. McCoy was arrested two days later and sentenced to 45 years in prison, but he escaped in 1974 after three months on the run, he was killed by a FBI agent.
Perhaps McCoy died while hiding the secret to the plane robbery and 50 years later, the truth can finally be revealed.
