10 Most Compelling Suspects In The D.B. Cooper Hijacking
3. Richard McCoy Jr.
In April1972, a similar hijacking to that of D.B. Cooper which involved seemingly too many similarities, including demanding four parachutes and a large sum of money in exchange for passenger safety, occurred. The demands given by the hijacker were so similar, authorities believed that the elusive D.B. had struck again.
Eventually, two days later, Richard McCoy Jr. was caught and arrested and sentenced to 45 years in prison for the offence. This led many to believe that McCoy Jr. was in fact Cooper, and that he had lost the money in the first heist and attempted it again in a successful second attempt.
McCoy frequently would also refuse to comment when asked if he in fact was Cooper. In the years after his death as a result of a shootout with the FBI in 1974, several former FBI agents were interviewed who positively identified McCoy as Cooper due to the similarity between the two crimes.
However, Richard McCoy Jr. did have an alibi for his location on the night of the first hijacking, as he was placed in Las Vegas on the night of the crime and spent Thanksgiving with his family in Utah the next day.