The remaining $194,200 has never been found.
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## The Suspects: A Survey of the Investigated
Over the course of the investigation, more than 1,000 individuals were examined as possible Dan Coopers. Most were quickly eliminated on physical description, age, or alibi. A smaller number received sustained attention. Several became prominent in public discussion. The FBI has officially excluded some; others remain in an uncertain category where the evidence neither confirms nor rules out involvement.
**Richard McCoy Jr.** is the name most often raised in connection with the case, typically by those who believe McCoy and Cooper were the same person. In April 1972, five months after the Cooper hijacking, McCoy hijacked a United Airlines flight and demanded $500,000 and four parachutes. He jumped from the plane and was identified, tracked, arrested, convicted of air piracy, imprisoned, and then escaped from federal custody. In November 1974, he was killed in a firefight with federal agents in Virginia Beach.
The parallels to Cooper’s hijacking are obvious: the same demands, the same method, a parachute jump, a cash ransom. McCoy was also a Vietnam veteran with military parachute training, and the specific equipment and tactics suggested someone with relevant experience.
The FBI, however, excluded McCoy as a suspect in the Cooper case based on physical description. Witnesses from Flight 305 who gave consistent descriptions of Cooper described a man whose appearance did not match McCoy. McCoy’s widow later acknowledged that she had helped plan the 1972 hijacking but denied that her husband was Dan Cooper. A 2023 development involved McCoy’s children reportedly providing a parachute and logbook to a private researcher who claims the items place McCoy at a relevant location—but this evidence has not been authenticated or publicly evaluated by the FBI.