Richard Floyd McCoy was D.B. Cooper, IMO

[Awsi Dooger]

The Unsolved Mysteries account of the D.B. Cooper episode was rather pathetic, like most other TV depictions of the skyjacking. UM simply implied Cooper had never been found, without mentioning the incredibly similar skyjacking just four months later, also in the Northwest, that was carried out by Richard Floyd McCoy. Perhaps some of you have seen the Discovery Channel two-hour version of McCoy's crime, called, "Flight From Justice: The Story of D.B. Cooper." Most recently it aired Thursday night, May 1.

I purchased the most relevant book, "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy," by Bernie Rhodes, and am convinced the Cooper incident is a non-mystery that ended with McCoy's death in 1974, shot by FBI agents many months after a prison escape. The similarities in modus operandi of Cooper and McCoy are beyond chance, plus the side-by-side layouts of the Cooper sketch and actual pictures of McCoy are remarkably similar, and exactly as I always envisioned Cooper -- younger than estimated but with a receding hairline and some hardness to him that masked the true age, along with make-up and partial disguise. Both skyjackers were remembered as having protruding ears, and McCoy's military nickname was Dumbo.

The theory is that Cooper came somewhat unprepared for the first skyjacking, and lost almost all the $200,000 after jumping from the plane, necessitating a modified rerun. The clincher, at least in my view: a narrow tie and mother-of-pearl tie clasp that D.B. Cooper left in the plane were identified by McCoy's relatives as belonging to McCoy.

If anyone else is interested in the book, I got it directly from the University of Utah Press by calling (801) 272-2211. They charged $18 including shipping. Amazon and other major online sellers were asking several times that amount for this relatively obscure book.

[TJ]

Richard McCoy was definitely mentioned in the Unsolved Mysteries segment, I have it in my notes. Perhaps you only saw the first part of the segment? He's mentioned at the end of the 2nd segment.

April 1972 - $500,000 extorted by another skyjacker - Richard McCoy- sentenced to 45 years for air piracy, escaped and tracked down and killed in gun battle with FBI. The composite drawing of D.B. Cooper beared resemblance to McCoy, a former Green Beret sky diver.

The Unsolved Mysteries account I thought it was pretty good, considering they only devoted 2 segments to it.

[The Gooch]

D.B. Cooper was a man named Duane Weber. If you read some articles about him on the internet, the evidence is stronger than that of McCoy. Even the chief investigator of the case believes it was Weber. I also saw this reported on CNN a couple of years ago.

[johnnyangel]

McCoy was NOT Cooper, amen.

The flight attendants on the plane who interacted with "cooper" face to face saw pictures of McCoy later on and have sworn affidavits that McCoy bore no resemblance to "Cooper"

I think you are focusing too much on a composite picture that would turn out to prove inaccuate in the end.

These were not the same men, plain and simple.

[Awsi Dooger]

First of all, I did not see, or perhaps remember, the mention of Richard McCoy during the second segment of the Unsolved Mysteries account. Thank you for pointing out my mistake.

But to suggest Duane Weber as a more likely D.B. Cooper than McCoy is an absurdity like Monty Python multiplied by Saturday Night Live multiplied by the national debt. Again, that's in my opinion. Weber made a supposed claim to his wife decades later. McCoy has a duplicate on his resume, undeniable and within months of Cooper's skyjacking. I have checked the internet accounts and read all the posts by Weber's wife on another site. There is zero physical evidence linking Weber to the Cooper episode, just a cute story and plenty of want-to-believe by a gullible public.

The book I cited was written and researched by two FBI men who worked directly on the McCoy incident and traced him back to Cooper. McCoy claimed to have been at home in Provo, Utah during the Cooper incident, preparing for Thanksgiving. But Bernie Rhodes and other members of the FBI conclusively placed him in Las Vegas the morning of the Cooper jump. They found a gas receipt on McCoy's credit card about 200 miles north of Las Vegas early that morning, on the I-15 route from Provo to Las Vegas. The handwriting matched McCoy's. There is also a gas receipt from a Las Vegas service station the day after the Cooper jump, with the license plate number jotted down by the attendant. It matched McCoy's plate number. Plus there is a phone call from the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas on Thanksgiving night to McCoy's residence in Provo.

The theory: McCoy drove to Las Vegas the morning of the Cooper jump, and took an early flight to Portland, where the Cooper skyjack originated. The timeline fits perfectly. McCoy made it back to Las Vegas, called his family to say he was returning, washed the remaining ransom loot in the casinos, then gassed up his Volkswagen and drove back to Provo. And get this, prior to the second skyjacking McCoy made a practice run a week or two earlier, on the same flight. Likewise, the FBI found that McCoy had registered and stayed at the Westward Ho Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas three weeks to the day before the Cooper episode. McCoy was a student at BYU. Both jumps took place during periods when classes were not in session.

Following the D.B. Cooper jump, Richard McCoy suddenly had enough money for expensive round trip tickets for himself and his entire family to visit relatives in North Carolina. McCoy could not account for where the money came from. He also had an injured ankle that was treated at BYU. I noticed no one took a swing at how McCoy's tie and mother-of-pearl tie clasp were somehow left by D.B. Cooper in seat 18E of Northwest Flight 305 from Portland to Seattle. I could go on and on...

Regarding the physical similarities, here's a sentence from "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy": "Stewardesses aboard the Cooper plane, when shown photographs of Richard McCoy, agreed that he appeared very similar to the FBI artist's conception of D.B. Cooper." Wigs were likely worn in both incidents, and both skyjackers had brown spots on their hands from applying makeup. I am hardly relying on a single picture of McCoy, there are many in this book. I did a physical evaluation by computer -- space between eyes, height and width of nose, lips, face, etc. and everything matched remarkably. Admittedly, it's merely utilizing a sketch in Cooper's case, not an actual photo.

The FBI agent who rejects the McCoy theory and has shown interest in the Weber aspect is Ralph Himmelsbach. Of course, since Himmelsbach wrote a rambling, unspecific book and has made a post-retirement career of the Cooper case, it's hardly in his interest to announce he screwed up and the real skyjacker died years before his book was published. Himmelsbach forfeited credibility when he matter-of-factly claimed on national TV that McCoy had been conclusively placed in Los Angeles during the Cooper jump, due to National Guard duty. That was contradicted both by the written record of McCoy's service. Besides, even McCoy didn't claim to be in Los Angeles, but home in Provo as I mentioned earlier. If he had a cinch Cooper alibi why didn't he use it?

My job is in the mathematics and statistics field. Above all, the odds that an incident like this could occur twice within months -- with so many aspects ranging from startling similarity to absolute duplication -- and then never be repeated again, yet with two completely different perpetrators unknown to one another, are almost beyond estimation.

[Awsi Dooger]

I realize my previous post was uncomfortably lengthy by newsgroup criteria, but I did neglect one vital aspect:

When Richard McCoy drove to Las Vegas early on Thanksgiving eve 1971, the day of the Cooper skyjacking, there was no further activity on his credit card until late the next night, Thanksgiving day itself, nor any phone calls from Las Vegas to the McCoy household, again until late Thanksgiving night. McCoy was not a gambler and denied visiting Las Vegas.

So where was Richard McCoy for that day and a half, if not undertaking the Cooper episode and return? Why would he nonchalantly use his credit card in early November at the Westward Ho in Las Vegas, and while purchasing the gasoline both before and after the timeline of the Cooper jump, then not even register for a hotel room the night after driving all morning from Provo to Las Vegas?

[Awsi Dooger]

(One thing I gathered from the cynical posts in this thread, and that I completely understand and agree with, is that virtually zero Richard McCoy-as-D.B. Cooper info is available on the internet. I was amazed with all the specific facts in the book, "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy." I will post some of the most relevant info here, in separate posts instead of one rambling and unruly one):

The dark, narrow clip-on tie and mother-of-pearl tie clasp that stewardess Tina Mucklow saw D.B. Cooper remove, and place on a seat, before his leap were shown to two of Richard McCoy's relatives, seperately and without explanation. They did not know the items had been taken from the D.B. Cooper flight. His mother-in-law identified the items as belonging to McCoy without requiring a second look.

McCoy's sister-in-law, who lived with McCoy and his family, was even more insistent: "That's Richard's tie, and that's Richard McCoy's tie clasp, so what are you guys doing with them?" When told where they were found, Denise Burns broke down and cried. "Well, wherever you got it from, that's Richards! He always wore that tie clasp when he went somewhere."

The tie and tie clasp were kept secret from the public for 20 years following the D.B. Cooper incident, to weed out kooks claiming to be Cooper. When asked what they had left behind on seat 18E, not a single person managed the correct answer.

Richard McCoy's sister-in-law, Denise Burns, claimed that on one occasion he wanted her to pick him up in the middle of the Nevada desert. "I said, 'No sir, Richard. I'm not going to set out there in the middle of no place by myself and then have the police come pick me up.' This was way before the one they caught him on."

[Awsi Dooger]

*Both skyjackers used small-aircraft FAA flight-plan forms to send typewritten instructions to the pilot's cabin designating flight path, altitude, flap settings, and speed (such as 10,000 feet, landing gear down, flaps lowered to 15 degrees).

Let me stop here for emphasis. That info was not released following the D.B. Cooper jump. And the FBI reportedly has no other record of a hijacker using such forms and being so specific, instead of merely "take me to Cuba" or "give me $200,000 in small bills." What were the odds of Richard McCoy miraculously duplicating D.B. Cooper's detailed and unique method of operation, if the skyjackers were not one in the same?

*Both men instructed that all written materials be returned.

*Both used the exact phrase "No funny stuff!" in their typewritten instructions.

*Both were obviously familiar with aviation, and correctly used the term "interphone" rather than "telephone."

*Both allowed all but one stewardess to deplane with passengers, and instructed the remaining stewardess to sit near him and deliver notes to the pilot.

*Shortly before jumping, both skyjackers ordered the remaining stewardess to turn off all cabin lights and then go forward into the pilot's cabin.

*Both instructed the fuel truck to be in the identical position, to the left of the plane's nose, in open view approximately 100 feet from the plane.

*Both wore a dark-brown business suit, white shirt, and tie.

*Both skyjackers sat in the identical place in the plane, the last row of seats in the coach section to the right side of the aisle.

*Both wore large, mirrored, dark reflector or wraparound sunglasses at least part of the time.

*Both demanded four parachutes, and made specific requests that indicated they were familiar with military chutes and how they were packed.

*Witnesses described D.B. Cooper as olive-complected, possibly Spanish, generally between 30 and 50. Approximately 5'10" and weighing 160-170 pounds. He had short black shiny hair, probably a wig, with sideburns below his earlobes and large protruding ears.

Richard McCoy was pegged at 5'10" and 170 pounds, generally in his late 20s to mid-40s. McCoy wore a dark wig, with a headband underneath to partially suppress his protruding ears. He had heavy, dark makeup and dark mascara on his long sideburns and mustache. Several witnesses thought him Spanish. (When arrested just days after the second skyjacking, McCoy was 29 yeards old, 5'10" and 170 pounds. With a receding hairline, a wiry look and some hardness to his face, McCoy appears much older -- 40ish to me -- in every picture in the book).

*Both skyjackers tried to secure the money bag to their bodies, and used the specialized term "D rings" when describing what they needed to fasten the bag.

*Both skyjackers demanded a specific flight route that paralleled a major north-south interstate freeway -- Cooper had Interstate 5 and the lights of Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon to orient himself while jumping, while McCoy had Interstate 15 and the lights of Provo, Utah plus Utah Lake for bearings.

*A patched letter, using words and sentences clipped from magazines, was sent to the Los Angeles Times in December 1971, saying: "I got away with it, as I knew I would, and will never be caught by the FBI -- signed D.B. Cooper." The day the letter was postmarked in Los Angeles, Richard McCoy was there with the Utah Air National Guard unit.

*Following McCoy's arrest, the FBI found newspaper articles about Cooper in McCoy's green Volkswagen and a file of Cooper clippings in his home.

*Between November 25, 1970 and April 5, 1972, Richard McCoy had his Volkswagen serviced at Peterson Motors in Provo. Each time the vehicle was repaired or serviced, a conscientious mechanic recorded the mileage. McCoy's mileage was very consistent, averaging 33 1/2 miles per day. Only between the visits of October 30, 1971 and November 30, 1971 was there a significant increase, accounting for an additional 860 miles than would be projected. The round-trip drive from Provo to Las Vegas was approximately 820 miles. And the D.B. Cooper flight was on November 24, 1971.

*D.B. Cooper needed instructions on how to open the aft cabin door and lower the rear stairs. Four months later, Richard McCoy managed all by himself. Gee, I wonder how he knew?

[Awsi Dooger]

The book "D.B. Cooper:The Real McCoy" also contains, on 174 and 175, the two most maddening pages I have ever encountered in literaure. While conducting a post-conviction report and sentencing recommendation, Bernie Rhodes -- the author -- interviewed Richard McCoy for the bulk of two days. After slowly confronting McCoy with the D.B. Cooper evidence the first day, causing McCoy's "complexion to turn the color of potted ham," the second day featured an edgy McCoy holding the composite sketch of D.B. Cooper and seemingly eager to fess up. McCoy flapped the composite like a wet photograph and repeatedly asked Rhodes if he wanted to discuss "that other thing."

A flippant Rhodes, admittedly intimidated by the elderly trial judge and how he might react to an unrelated confession and whether it was legally obtained, let McCoy off the hook completely, saying it was late and time to quit for the day. "You know what I think?," McCoy responded. "I think you're having a harder time, for some reason, than I am." Rhodes did not go back, and the FBI never interviewed Richard McCoy in regard to any involvement as D.B. Cooper.

During his trial, McCoy's court-appointed attorney, David K. Winder, asked McCoy if he had pulled off the Cooper skyjacking. "I don't want to talk to you about it," McCoy answered simply.

[Awsi Dooger]

Bumping because I have to remember these specifics and refer to them from time to time when the other DB Cooper thread has a reply. Easier if this is closer to the top.

Hey, almost three years between posts. Not the middle segment.

[Awsi Dooger]

Here's the one website that includes lengthy sections of the book, "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy." Unfortunately, some of the best segments regarding similarities of the two skyjackings are not included since the website focuses on the Mormon faith, and that's how the webmaster chose the sections. McCoy was a Mormon. I contacted the webmaster and he agrees with me that Cooper and McCoy were the same person.

http://www.ldsfilm.com/movies/DBCooper.html

[Awsi Dooger]

Looks like I'm trying to break the alltime record for most consecutive posts in a thread. This makes eight. Anyway, one aspect I don't understand is how some members of the FBI claim to place McCoy on the West Coast, specifically Los Angeles, on the day of the Cooper jump. It contradicts the credit card evidence but I've seen it mentioned several times, including this link I found tonight: http://www.thevillagesdailysun.com/a...villages01.txt

I've used Zabasearch.com, an awesome way to locate people, to look up some of these guys from the FBI. They are retired now so maybe they'll answer my questions. If so, I'll post the info here.

[Awsi Dooger]

No contact from the FBI guys. Predictable, I suppose.

Meanwhile, here's a good summary from one website regarding so many at the FBI, and people in general, wanting to discount McCoy as Cooper, despite how obvious it is: http://www.gasdetection.com/MDS/m032000.html

"Certainly, law enforcement had every reason at the time to disavow any connection between the crimes. Far better to label something as successful but self-destructive than publicize that it was done twice by the same perp. And, with people loving folk heroes and mythology, far better that Cooper simply never be caught.

For me, though, the similarity of the crimes, and Calame's assertions once he left the bureau, give strong credence to McCoy being Cooper, and the mystery being solved. Just don't bother telling that to the true believers."

[Awsi Dooger]

I'm bumping this since the other Cooper thread is getting plenty of posts, and this one contains some stuff the other one doesn't

[MsCooper]

New evidence regarding Duane L. Weber being D.B. Cooper. Skyjumping history plus recent contact with individual who has come forward with some things that should be known. Since this is a site dedicated to McCoy I will not be answering any posts, but I wanted those who have followed my search to know that with this 35 th anniversary, answers are starting to come.
Sincerely, JoWeber widow of Duane L. Weber AKA Dan Cooper.