WA WA - D.B. Cooper Hijacking Mystery, 24 Nov 1971 #4

[Sweetluv]

He demanded $200,000 and 4 parachutes.
Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the highjacking...

 

[fridaybaker]

Question:

I may need my memory refreshed, but didn’t DB ask for a very specific amount of money? Like $600,000 or something? If this is the case, how was he so certain there would be THAT much in cash on the plane? Why did he ask for that specific amount?

Hey Lonewanderer,
My recollection is that the money wasn’t on the plane. It was given to him with the parachutes. Actually, they were marked bills, which is why they know for sure that the bills found in the river years later were the ones originally given to Cooper.

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Question:

I may need my memory refreshed, but didn’t DB ask for a very specific amount of money? Like $600,000 or something? If this is the case, how was he so certain there would be THAT much in cash on the plane? Why did he ask for that specific amount?

The money was delivered to the plane from the bank. In those days banks held large amounts of money sppecifically for ransom situations.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

They have solved the case…..again!
As my son used to say when he was small, “Daddy, I’m ‘keptical.” Every few years, someone has a book to sell, and they release new news around the date of the hijacking. Maybe this time it is different, and I hope it is, but I have seen this movie before and the ending is never satisfactory.
Same thing with Jack the Ripper.

 

[ColyH]

They have solved the case…..again!
As my son used to say when he was small, “Daddy, I’m ‘keptical.” Every few years, someone has a book to sell, and they release new news around the date of the hijacking. Maybe this time it is different, and I hope it is, but I have seen this movie before and the ending is never satisfactory.
Same thing with Jack the Ripper.View attachment 547175

This time it was Ricard McCoy so who will it be several months from now when new evidence is found pointing to another suspect: Robert Rackstraw, Kenneth Christensen, or maybe it was the guy who had a sex change operation? I think McCoy's children is trying to make a buck off of this mystery.

I still say that if you look at who went missing in November, 1971 and was never found is where you will find D.B. Cooper. There is no way he survived that jump.

 

[LinasK]

This time it was Ricard McCoy so who will it be several months from now when new evidence is found pointing to another suspect: Robert Rackstraw, Kenneth Christensen, or maybe it was the guy who had a sex change operation? I think McCoy's children is trying to make a buck off of this mystery.

I still say that if you look at who went missing in November, 1971 and was never found is where you will find D.B. Cooper. There is no way he survived that jump.

I was just coming here to report on this case, but none of the articles I've found are approved by WS that I know of. I was sure it was Robert Rackstraw, who also looks like the sketch and had a similar military background, but if there's DNA on the parachute, it cinches it that it's Richard McCoy.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

This time it was Ricard McCoy so who will it be several months from now when new evidence is found pointing to another suspect: Robert Rackstraw, Kenneth Christensen, or maybe it was the guy who had a sex change operation? I think McCoy's children is trying to make a buck off of this mystery.

I still say that if you look at who went missing in November, 1971 and was never found is where you will find D.B. Cooper. There is no way he survived that jump.

On the other hand, McCoy DID do a similar hijacking and DID survive. He seems a good candidate but was under 30 at the time of the Cooper hijacking. Probably too young, and I have never heard the opinion of the flight crew of the Cooper flight, who got the best look at DB. Surely they were shown pictures of McCoy.
They have never found a body, and it certainly isn’t for lack of trying. Nobody in the US fitting DB’s description was reported missing, at least that I know of.
McCoy’s rather comical mistake was hitching a ride in a jump suit while carrying a satchel full of money.

 

[LinasK]

On the other hand, McCoy DID do a similar hijacking and DID survive. He seems a good candidate but was under 30 at the time of the Cooper hijacking. Probably too young, and I have never heard the opinion of the flight crew of the Cooper flight, who got the best look at DB. Surely they were shown pictures of McCoy.
They have never found a body, and it certainly isn’t for lack of trying. Nobody in the US fitting DB’s description was reported missing, at least that I know of.
McCoy’s rather comical mistake was hitching a ride in a jump suit while carrying a satchel full of money.

Yeah, because it's his M.O., my husband thinks it's McCoy and that it wasn't a copycat.

 

[LinasK]

Was going back through the last thread on this case and found this post from Gardener1850: I can't buy it's Rackstraw because the FBI cleared him--they had his fingerprints and DNA to compare tot he evidence. That and the flight attendant being certain it wasn't him throws Rackstraw out for me.

 

[thefragile7393]

Was going back through the last thread on this case and found this post from Gardener1850: I can't buy it's Rackstraw because the FBI cleared him--they had his fingerprints and DNA to compare tot he evidence. That and the flight attendant being certain it wasn't him throws Rackstraw out for me.

If they did then why are they looking at all this again? Plus eyewitness testimony can be wrong so…maybe

 

[LinasK]

If they did then why are they looking at all this again? Plus eyewitness testimony can be wrong so…maybe

Because this guy found a parachute on McCoy's property and gave it to the FBI. He believes that it was altered in the way that DB Cooper would have altered it. In other words- a military parachute altered so that the rip cord could be self-pulled like a normal skydiving parachute.

 

[Dave32]

On the other hand, McCoy DID do a similar hijacking and DID survive. He seems a good candidate but was under 30 at the time of the Cooper hijacking. Probably too young, and I have never heard the opinion of the flight crew of the Cooper flight, who got the best look at DB. Surely they were shown pictures of McCoy.
They have never found a body, and it certainly isn’t for lack of trying. Nobody in the US fitting DB’s description was reported missing, at least that I know of.
McCoy’s rather comical mistake was hitching a ride in a jump suit while carrying a satchel full of money.

According to the wikipedia article on DBC, the flight crew pretty much ruled out McCoy -

In addition, all three of the stewardesses from the Cooper hijacking were shown photographs of McCoy and agreed that he was not their hijacker. They were even able to point to specific differences in the two men, specifically that Cooper's nose wasn't as broad as McCoy's, that Cooper had more hair than McCoy, and that Cooper's ears did not protrude as much as McCoy's. McCoy's photo was also shown to the ticket agent who sold Cooper his ticket, the gate agent, and the passenger seated closest to Cooper (Bill Mitchell), and they too concluded that McCoy and Cooper were not the same.

 

[LinasK]

According to the wikipedia article on DBC, the flight crew pretty much ruled out McCoy -

Eye witness accounts are notoriously unreliable. I put much more faith in the DNA evidence.

 

[kemo]

I recall reading a book about the case in the 90’s. I believe the title was “The Real McCoy”. It made the argument that McCoy was D. B. McCoy, supposedly a “good Mormon family man” spent that Thanksgiving by himself in Las Vegas but the FBI couldn’t verify his movements and the only reason he was cleared was that his wife “verified” he had returned to Utah at time that would make it impossible for him to have been D. B. I recall the photos of McCoy did appear consistent with D. B. but there was no good explanation why none if the witnesses could id him. Tina Mucklow (the stewardess) spent a lot of time with him. Apparently the FBI was very satisfied, after speaking with all the witnesses, that D. B. was in his 40’s and the “older” composite was the most accurate.

 

[LinasK]

I recall reading a book about the case in the 90’s. I believe the title was “The Real McCoy”. It made the argument that McCoy was D. B. McCoy, supposedly a “good Mormon family man” spent that Thanksgiving by himself in Las Vegas but the FBI couldn’t verify his movements and the only reason he was cleared was that his wife “verified” he had returned to Utah at time that would make it impossible for him to have been D. B. I recall the photos of McCoy did appear consistent with D. B. but there was no good explanation why none if the witnesses could id him. Tina Mucklow (the stewardess) spent a lot of time with him. Apparently the FBI was very satisfied, after speaking with all the witnesses, that D. B. was in his 40’s and the “older” composite was the most accurate.

The McCoy children are now saying that their mother was complicit in lying to give him an alibi.

 

[Breezymcdreamypants]

Question:

I may need my memory refreshed, but didn’t DB ask for a very specific amount of money? Like $600,000 or something? If this is the case, how was he so certain there would be THAT much in cash on the plane? Why did he ask for that specific amount?

200,000 and the cash wasn't on the plane already it was brought in exchange for all the passengers and most of the flight attendants being allowed off, it had all of the serial numbers taken down already and brought up on the tarmac at sea-tac

 

[Breezymcdreamypants]

Is anyone who resembles his description reported missing around November 24, 1971?

not in the United states I believe they checked for the whole week of Thanksgiving and found no one who matched the description was reported missing

 

[Breezymcdreamypants]

I'm sorry I have a very hard time believing that McCoy was cooper, those ears are way to noticeable for no one to mention that dan cooper looked like bing Crosby screwed dumbo

 

[TallCoolOne]

I'm sorry I have a very hard time believing that McCoy was cooper, those ears are way to noticeable for no one to mention that dan cooper looked like bing Crosby screwed dumbo

OMG! That almost made me snarf coffee outta my nose!

 

[dogface 82]

That $200 000 is actually worth $1.4 million now, apparently.

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Inflation is higher than people perceive. This is the same effect whereby boomers claim that 'At your age, I was only earning $3/hour!' not realizing that $3/hour in 1971 is the same as $22/hour now.

Agreed on Rackstraw. Eyewitness identification is notoriously terrible, but moreso in situations where someone gets a 10-second glimpse of a bank robber. The stewardess sat with Cooper for hours and there's no way that Rackstraw - who looked young-ish for 29, if anything - could be mistaken for someone in his mid-40s. Even in the interview videos from 1979, he still probably wouldn't' get mistaken for mid-40s. Agreed also that he probably liked people to think he was Cooper when he was younger but then got sick of it.

The problem with the death theory is the lack of a missing person/identification. This doesn't appear to be someone who was living on the margins of society and this crime got huge publicity, so it would be surprising if no family/friends were able to match the witness sketches to their friend who disappeared mysteriously at this exact time.

Ted Braden seems a similar but more likely suspect than Rackstraw, to me, if Cooper lived.

First the recent headlines are about a renewed FBI investigation of Richard McCoy. A parachute rig that could possibly be the DB Cooper rig was found on his mothers farm by Dan Gryder. Gryder makes several errors in terminology during his podcast. He does provide a look at McCoys sports jump logbook. The double L steerable round main was used for initial training. The PC (Paracommander) a higher performance steerable oval or triangular canopy was used for follow on training.

Two military surplus bailout rigs modified by Earl Cossey were provided to DB Cooper. Cossey's modifications are said to easily identifiable. The two belly reserves were provided by the same club. One was an inert practice dummy provided by mistake.

The unused main is presently in a museum.
Earl Cossey a junior high math teacher, coach and sport jumper was murdered April 23, 2013. It remains unsolved.
I looked up the list of suspects online. Ted Braden is the most likely to be DB Cooper. Just reading about him made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. He passed away in 2007.