'I have proof DB Cooper is my dad,' son of copycat says declaring bomb was a dummy & gun unloaded in 'polite hijackings' | SMM6E60 | 2024-02-21 19:08:01
Late final week, The U.S. Sun solely revealed the FBI is
A COPYCAT criminal at present on the middle of the FBI's revived investigation into DB Cooper carried a dummy bomb and an unloaded gun to hijack two flights in five months, his son claims.
Late final week, The U.S. Sun solely revealed the FBI is quietly reinvestigating DB Cooper's unsolved 1971 skyjacking of Northwest Orient Flight 305, despite having publicly declared the case closed in 2016.
Richard Floyd McCoy Jr., a Vietnam veteran and experienced skydiver who carried out an virtually equivalent& skyjacking& 5 months after Cooper, is one suspect being intently examined.
His son, Richard "Rick" McCoy III, provided the bureau with a DNA pattern to test towards any remaining proof roughly six months ago.
He has additionally handed over one among his dad's previous parachutes and a logbook detailing apply jumps his father carried out earlier than the Cooper hijacking and his copycat stunt in 1972.
Rick informed The U.S. Sun that he's satisfied his dad was DB Cooper. He claims his mom, Karen McCoy, informed him and his sister on quite a few occasions that their dad was the notorious skyjacker and that she helped plan both of his heists.
DB Cooper hijacked Northwest Flight 305 on Thanksgiving Eve 1971 throughout its journey between Portland and Seattle.
The mild-mannered legal, described to be in his mid-40s, confirmed a stewardess what she believed to be a bomb in his briefcase and requested $200,000 and 4 parachutes in change for the lives of everybody on board.
Cooper parachuted from the aircraft with the ransom over southwest Washington and was never seen once more.
5 months later, on April 7, 1972, a 29-year-old McCoy staged an almost equivalent in-air heist aboard United Airlines& Flight 855, shortly after takeoff from Denver, Colorado.
McCoy brandished a gun and held a grenade in his hand. He demanded $500,000 and jumped from the aircraft over Utah.
In contrast to Cooper, McCoy was caught inside 72 hours. He was sentenced to 45 years in jail but escaped after two years and was killed in 1974 in a shootout with cops in Virginia.
<!-- End of Brightcove Player --> Regardless of his father's crimes, Rick McCoy stated his religious Mormon dad was a very good man who never meant to hurt anyone.
"Here's what my mom informed me," he stated. "She informed me in the course of the hijacks – plural – that not one of the weapons have been stay and his entire factor was he was both going to make it or they'd kill him, however he wasn't going to hurt anyone.
"My mom advised me that the gun he had was unloaded and the explosive units were not actual, they have been dummies.
"And I consider, on both planes, virtually all the passengers didn't know anything. Not that this makes it any better, nevertheless it was solely really the stewardesses and pilots who have been traumatized.
"So he didn't actually make any sort of direct menace. The truth is, on both [hijackings] individuals stated he was polite, or a minimum of as well mannered as you could be while committing a criminal offense.
"My mother was adamant he'd have by no means harm anybody. There were only two outcomes: both he'd die they usually'd kill him, or he'd get away."
PUSHING FOR PROGRESS
Richard McCoy has long been thought-about one of many main DB Cooper candidates and is among the few remaining key suspects to not have been ruled out by DNA.
That's because, for years, the McCoy family refused to cooperate with authorities or provide DNA or some other proof to help in the FBI's investigation.
Nevertheless, Rick says his family's stance changed after the dying of his mother in December 2020.
Karen was an accomplice to McCoy's April 1972 skyjacking. She helped him plan the in-air heist and drove him to the airport but was never charged.
Rick McCoy and his sister, Chante, declare their mom also confessed numerous occasions to helping McCoy plan the Cooper hijacking but waited till after her passing to return forward with the knowledge to defend her from prosecution.
The FBI contacted Rick last yr, just months after one among his father's previous parachutes was found on his grandma's property that he believes might be associated to the& Cooper heist.
McCoy remains one of the few outstanding DB Cooper suspects to not have been formally eliminated by DNA evidence[/caption]
Rick found a parachute (above) in a storage shed that is at present being appeared over by the FBI[/caption]
Recovering Cooper's& missing parachute& has lengthy been seen as one of many keys to lastly unlocking the mystery of the infamous criminal's true id.
Rick stated he final spoke to the bureau concerning the parachute roughly three months in the past when agents advised him it was being analyzed by specialists.
He described brokers as being "excited" by the discovery and intrigued by his father's logbook of apply jumps.
Of these logbooks, Rick shared, "Main up to the Cooper leap in November [1971], there's an entire bunch of apply jumps logged, and then there's a lull in jumps, apart from one that he did proper before the second hijacking.
"I additionally had a replica of his bounce teacher's logbook and the dates for the jumps listed line up perfectly. The FBI has that logbook too, now."
After turning over the evidence, Rick was asked by the bureau if he'd be prepared to offer a cheek swab for DNA evaluation, which he reluctantly agreed to do.
In coming to the decision, Rick defined, "After I surrendered the parachute they asked me, 'Do you really need to see this factor get solved?' And of course I do, in order that they stated, 'Nicely, give us your DNA then.'
"I had to think about it as a result of I wasn't super thrilled about them having my DNA, however I ultimately agreed to […] They didn't tell me what it was going for use towards, as a result of they're unsure what has my dad's DNA on it.
"But they've been in touch fairly often," he added. "They've been nice, as every time I've checked in on stuff, they've informed me it's within the queue.
"Because it's formally a closed case, the lab prioritizes open instances. But I understand that they are working on it, they informed me that considering all the publicity around this case in the meanwhile, it will be prioritized."
'DRIVEN TO CRIME'
Rick was simply 4 years previous when his father died.
McCoy escaped from prison two years into a 45-year time period for air piracy by fashioning a pretend handgun out of dental paste.
But his time on the lam solely lasted a number of months and he was cornered by police in Virginia Seashore after robbing a bank on November 9, 1974. He was fatally shot in a subsequent trade of gunfire with police.
With only a handful of first-hand reminiscences of his dad, Rick stated rising up, relations and associates would describe his namesake to him as a sort, selfless man and a conflict hero who was pressured into a lifetime of crime after the nation he served left him excessive and dry when he returned residence from two excursions in& Vietnam.
Throughout his time in fight, McCoy served as a demolitions skilled and a helicopter pilot, incomes a Purple Heart and a Distinguished Flying Cross.
McCoy died in 1974 in a shootout with police after robbing a bank in Virginia[/caption]
DB Coopers hijacking is the only unsolved crime of its sort in US historical past[/caption]
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Coopers tie is likely one of the only gadgets of proof remaining in the case[/caption]
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Upon his return to the US, he enrolled at Brigham Younger College& (BYU) to review regulation enforcement and had aspirations to develop into an agent for the FBI or CIA.
He also volunteered as a warrant officer within the Utah Nationwide Guard.
Based on Rick, his father struggled to seek out regular work, and the $243 a month he was receiving in veteran's advantages was not sufficient to help his spouse and two young youngsters.
Rick stated his father began suffering from crippling migraines after coming back from the warfare and went to the Division of Veteran's Affairs to hunt assist.
"Their answer was to remove his helicopter license, however it was his dream to turned a helicopter pilot for regulation enforcement, so he was really upset that they have been making an attempt to remove primarily what he'd labored his entire grownup life for," stated Rick, 54.
"He'd sacrificed a lot […] my dad undoubtedly felt a sure method contemplating he was very patriotic and was prepared to struggle for his country. And then when he had medical points from his time serving, they needed to punish him as an alternative of assist him."
In accordance with Rick, his mother confessed to each him and his sister numerous occasions through the years that their father was chargeable for the DB Cooper heist.
She informed the siblings she was complicit in both crimes and that their father can be irritated about not getting any credit for Cooper's feat.
"The overall theme of what she informed us was that my mom was involved in every little thing and to maintain our mouths shut," Rick recounted.
"There were numerous secrets and plenty of stuff I'd hear was conversations between adults and things like that, nevertheless it was beat into us to not speak about it.&
"She would say, 'Your dad can be upset that he didn't get the credit score [for DB Cooper]. The credit that he deserved,' and all that sort of stuff.
"She informed us she was concerned in both of the hijackings and helped him plan them, but she all the time made it seem – and I'll call BS on this – that he pressured her into doing it. And belief me, no one was forcing my mother to do something."
MCCOY-COOPER THEORY
Because the& McCoy-was-Cooper& concept goes, Rick stated it's his understanding that his father made a collection of mistakes in the course of the 1971 hijacking of Flight 305 over Portland that led to him dropping nearly all of the $200,000 ransom. ($5,800 of Cooper's ransom was discovered buried alongside the banks of the Columbia River in 1980, but the remaining $194,200 continues to be unaccounted for.)
After ironing out the kinks he encountered the first time round, McCoy then geared up to conduct a second try 5 months later in Colorado, this time for extra money and after extra rigorous preparation, which included bringing his personal bounce gear on board with him quite than counting on authorities to provide it.
Rick's beliefs mirror the theories put forward in the 1991 guide, DB Cooper: The Real McCoy, which was written by Bernie Rhodes and ex-FBI special agent Russell Calame. (Karen McCoy tried unsuccessfully to stop the ebook from being revealed.)
The authors also uncovered proof that means McCoy drove to Las Vegas, then to Portland days before the DB Cooper hijacking.
Relations had previously claimed to investigators that McCoy was at residence in Utah for Thanksgiving on the time of the heist and subsequently couldn't have been the offender – however bank card receipts and telephone data placed him inside a day's drive of where Cooper is believed to have jumped after hijacking Flight 305.
A clip-on tie left behind by Cooper was additionally recognized by certainly one of McCoy's family members as belonging to him, years earlier than its existence was revealed to the public.
A gold pin on the tie was believed to be one commonly worn by male college students at BYU the place McCoy studied.
Investigators recovered $499,970 wrapped in bank bands inside McCoys house in 1972[/caption]
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Coopers hijacked Northwest Airways jetliner is seen refueling at Seattle-Tacoma Worldwide Airport, November 25, 1971[/caption]
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Rick believes his father went to Vegas after the Cooper heist to launder no matter money he managed to maintain maintain of during his daring leap.
The following month, over Christmas, McCoy was out of the blue flush with cash, based on Rick.
He stated, "The one thing I used to be informed, and this was by my grandmother, that in December [1971], my dad rapidly had come out to North Carolina and purchased everyone – together with me – first-class tickets to hitch him.
"There have been no questions asked, and that's one other thing no one in my household talks about either."
ANSWERS ARE COMING
Requests for remark sent to the FBI about their correspondences with Rick have thus far gone unanswered.
Nevertheless, a source speaking on the situation of anonymity independently verified Rick's claims.
Rick stated it's his understanding that folks greater up within the bureau are very excited about lastly cracking the case once and for all.
Eric Ulis, one of the main unbiased investigators on the case, referred to as the McCoy improvement intriguing in an interview with The U.S. Sun.
Ulis believes the FBI was spurred into quietly reviving its seek for Cooper following a collection of discoveries he made during the last 12 months, together with the existence of a hidden spindle on Cooper's tie that he believes might have been missed throughout prior DNA checks.
But regardless of Rick's claims, Ulis thinks there is a "zero-percent probability" McCoy is Cooper.
Although McCoy shares a distinct likeness to the& DB Cooper sketch, Ulis stated he was far too younger to be the "40-something" Cooper and identified that quite a few witnesses who interacted with Cooper on Flight 305 stated he was not the offender when proven a photograph of McCoy by investigators.
Nevertheless, Ulis believes the FBI has just lately retested the tie for DNA and probably even the spindle, main them to contact Rick McCoy.
In 2001, the bureau obtained a partial DNA profile from the tie but the pattern was inconclusive and will only be used to discredit potential matches slightly than determine the wrongdoer.
However Ulis stated trendy know-how might have helped them glean extra conclusive samples, they usually're probably now working to rule out suspects one after the other.
"I discover this fascinating," he stated. "And as far as DNA is worried, it is sensible to me that the FBI would try and sequence DB Cooper's DNA from the spindle, if certainly they've tested it.
"In 2004, the FBI had a thing referred to as the DNA Initiative, where there were about seven or eight males they have been trying to get DNA from to match them to the DNA they procured in 2001.
"So factoring in this new info related to the spindle and the potential of getting close to a full DNA profile, it is sensible they might primarily have a DNA Initiative 2.0, which sounds prefer it could possibly be occurring here."
Ulis added, "I feel the probabilities that Richard Floyd McCoy Jr. was DB Cooper is pretty much zero, however prudence dictates they take a cold, onerous objective look first at the seven or eight males that they weren't capable of get rid of as a suspect in the early 2000s.
"However I feel it's nice news and I'm encouraged to hear that the FBI is listening to the work some of us are doing in this case."
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