A Michigan writer believes he may have uncovered the true identity of legendary skyjacker D.B. Cooper, whose incredible mid-air heist and improbable getaway has confounded researchers for nearly half a century.
The daring caper, which took place on Thanksgiving eve in 1971, saw a man dubbed 'D.B. Cooper' board a jet claiming to have a bomb and demanding $200,000. Upon receipt of the money, he parachuted from the plane and was never seen again.
In the ensuing decades, FBI investigators and independent researchers have worked feverishly to solve the mystery of who D.B. Cooper really was and what became of him once he leaped into oblivion with his ill-gotten funds.
Despite countless suspects and a myriad of theories ranging from the mundane to the conspiratorial, D.B. Cooper remains as elusive as he did on November 24, 1971.However, author Ross Richardson has identified a new suspect in the D.B. Cooper case which may resolve the matter once and for all.
While researching cases of missing persons in his native Michigan, Richardson came across the story of a grocer named Dick Lepsy, who mysteriously left his family in 1969.
Intrigued by the similarity between Lepsy's photograph and the FBI composite of Cooper, Richardson dug deeper into the vanished grocer's background and found further connections which strengthen the case that the two men were the same person.
Richardson pointed to how Cooper's tie and shoes matched the standard outfit worn by Lepsy and that the physical description as well as the accent of the skyjacker also fit with the vanished grocer.
The similarities were not lost on Lepsy's family, who recall their astonishment in 1971 when they watched news coverage of the Cooper case and were certain that the fugitive was their departed patriarch.
Fortunately, DNA evidence culled from the necktie left behind by the skyjacker aboard the plane could provide answers for both the Lepsy family as well as the Cooper hunters who have sought resolution to the case for so many years.
Visitors to the Coast to Coast website may recall that Richardson reached out to us back in 2014 to share many of these revelations which are now making headlines today.