The Dan Gryder video that "proves the case" is up. The video is 3 hours long, so start about half-way. The second half is unique - it is a substantive series of interviews with Richard McCoy's children, Chante McCoy and Richard McCoy III, who state that they father was DB Cooper. In fact, they claim that their mother was completely involved in both skyjackings AND helped him escape from the Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary. Whew. Their mother, Karen Burns McCoy died in 2020, along with Karen's mother, so the kids are now talking because they feel the family is no longer subject to prosecution.
There is a lot of fascinating family history that is revealed. The sister-in-law, Denise Burns, is interviewed and reveals that she lied to the FBI and was alone with Chante and Richie for the 3-4 days of the Thanksgiving holiday. "Karen told me she and Richard were going to California on a trip," she states on the video. Denise was the primary source for the "at home" alibi for the 2nd skyjacking.
Note: Chante (pronounced Shaun-tay) was six at the time of the Cooper skyjacking, and Richard was one. As a result, they do not have any direct information on the Cooper skyjacking. Gryder doesn't acknowledge that limitation and doesn't offer any concrete proof that McCoy was Cooper, other than the family's confessions.
Nevertheless, the video is a real treat for us Cooperites. Gryder takes us through 20 years' worth of his filming, and it's extensive. We see the inside of Himmelsbach's home - the one he moved to in Woodburn after he left his 40-acre mansion out by the Pudding River. We see interviews with Dona Elliott and the Ariel Tavern in both its heyday and decline. We visit the actual building for the Battleground VOR station.
The tour of McCoy ancestral lands is delightful. McCoy's high school in Raleigh, NC, the family home in Provo, interviews with many family associates, who all support the Cooper confession but offer no substantive details. Supposedly, in 1974 while on the lam McCoy confessed to his best friend from Raleigh, Talmidge Mitchell, even though Talmidge was an active-duty police officer at that time. I'd love to know if Karen traveled with Richard to PDX on 11.23.71, or did she stay in Vegas? I'd love to know the details of where McCoy landed as Cooper, and how he got back to PDX, or at least Las Vegas. Gryder never asks those kinds of questions.
BTW: Chante and Richard III were both at CC21, but incognito, and hanging with Dan Gryder.
Note: Dan Gryder sets new standards in thievery and videographing. He shamelessly admits that he has stolen lots of TV and documentarian clips. He interviews lots of people without giving their names (like me), nor does he supply an Index or a reference section to offer citations. Dan readily acknowledges that he has set a new low for journalistic integrity, but claims he had to do it to get the story out.
Another pet peeve: No one in the video pronounces Russ Calame's name correctly. It's KAL - am. Also, Bernie Rhodes was not an FBI agent. He was a federal sentencing officer in the Salt Lake City federal court.
Here's a link to the video:
