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[Chaucer]

So, Gryder is exactly who and what we thought he was.

[andrade1812]

It's driving me nuts since everyone only mentions the babysitter, but another non-relative, a grad student at BYU, also saw McCoy on Thanksgiving at 10am.

[Bruce A. Smith]

Who's that, Marty? I never heard of a second witness.

In fact, I didn't know Denise Burns was the principal witness to McCoy being in Provo on 11.25.71, and was the lynch-pin in the Seattle FBI accepting that alibi and ignoring all the evidence that Calame's boys came up with - the phone calls, the gas receipts, etc.

[andrade1812]

The name is redacted 

[snowmman]

funny detail
"The following day, McCoy was on National Guard duty and flew one of the helicopters involved in the search for the hijacker."

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and funny in this article
"On the 10th, three days after the hijacking, the FBI arrested Richard McCoy Jr at his home on a charge of air piracy. They also had a search warrant for the house, where they found $499,970 wrapped in bank bands in a cardboard box. They also took two electric typewriters, a parachute and harness and a pistol as possible evidence."

We've discussed what "bank bands" are in terms of that phrase in the fbi files.
So when they found McCoy's money in the cardboard box, what do you think "bank bands" meant?


Never really looked into it, but I wonder if pretty much all the other hijackers who got money, got it delivered wrapped in currency straps.

EDIT: added picture of the money recovered from McCoy, showing the "bank bands". Evidently many were $50 and $100 bills. Not sure of the distribution. Duffel bag was supposedly 70 pounds, 3 ft long, 3 feet wide? (that's hard to believe)

[Bruce A. Smith]

So, Gryder is exactly who and what we thought he was.

Exactly what is he? I thought his video was wonderful, and his interviews with Chante and Little Richard unique. Has he proved who DBC is? Nope. Is he a huckster? Kinda.

[Bruce A. Smith]

I'm surprised so few people have commented on the Gryder video. Nobody's watching it? How come? If ya did, what's your reaction to it?

Darren, what did you think of the interviews with Chante and Rick (as I have learned today that's how he calls himself.)

I spent this afternoon trying to get in touch with Chante, Rick and Dan. No direct contact so far. Chante is still in the Salt Lake City area, just north of her homestead on Provo. I spoke with a colleague of her, who claims that she has known Chante "for years," but has never heard of the McCoy family connection to skyjacking.

Rick is a professional Mixed Martial Arts instructor and trainer in Virginia. Appears to be quite successful.

I don't have any direct contact information for Dan Gryder, but I've sent him an email via his website. May take awhile to hear back from him. Dan told Juan Browne in his Blanco Lirio video that he is "going dark" now that he has released the Cooper conclusion video and will not participate in the media frenzy that may erupt.

At the very least, I'd like to learn more about Karen McCoy and how she escaped prosecution. The kids might be able to shed some light on that. And on the kerfuffle with Calame and Rhodes in the 1980s, when the kids were teens. Karen died in 2020, which is why the kids are talking now.

[Parrotheadvol]

I'm surprised so few people have commented on the Gryder video. Nobody's watching it? How come? If ya did, what's your reaction to it?

I'll bite. I really enjoyed the video. I've always thought McCoy to be one of the better suspects simply because we know he had the motive, the know how, and most importantly - the balls to do the job. But once you get past that there are just too many other problems with McCoy. Being one of the better suspects, still isn't enough to make you the right suspect. It's one thing to do this crime and land within a few miles of your own home, but to do it hundreds of miles from your home is a different story. I thought McCoys children came off as sincere. Shante, I might add, I found to be very easy on the eyes. Rick, not so much, lol.  I guess my biggest issue was, that when Dan said he had McCoys children on board and they were ready to talk, I expected more. Granted they are too young to have any memories from the time of the hijackings, but when family members from one of the more prominent Cooper suspects come forward to talk, you hope for something a little more than what we got.
I guess that what I would like to know, is why do they believe their father to be Cooper? Is that just something they were told and so they accepted it, because if that's the case, that really isn't any different than Gossett's children. The other thing is, what in McCoys background - if anything - can link him to the particles found on the tie? This is something that was completely ignored. But overall, I really enjoyed the video. As I stated on the DZ, getting McCoys children to come forward and say that their father was Cooper was a coup. I just wish there was a little more substance.

[Bruce A. Smith]

I concur, Parrot.

[JAG]

I'm surprised so few people have commented on the Gryder video. Nobody's watching it? How come? If ya did, what's your reaction to it?

I'll bite. I really enjoyed the video. I've always thought McCoy to be one of the better suspects simply because we know he had the motive, the know how, and most importantly - the balls to do the job. But once you get past that there are just too many other problems with McCoy. Being one of the better suspects, still isn't enough to make you the right suspect. It's one thing to do this crime and land within a few miles of your own home, but to do it hundreds of miles from your home is a different story. I thought McCoys children came off as sincere. Shante, I might add, I found to be very easy on the eyes. Rick, not so much, lol.  I guess my biggest issue was, that when Dan said he had McCoys children on board and they were ready to talk, I expected more. Granted they are too young to have any memories from the time of the hijackings, but when family members from one of the more prominent Cooper suspects come forward to talk, you hope for something a little more than what we got.
I guess that what I would like to know, is why do they believe their father to be Cooper? Is that just something they were told and so they accepted it, because if that's the case, that really isn't any different than Gossett's children. The other thing is, what in McCoys background - if anything - can link him to the particles found on the tie? This is something that was completely ignored. But overall, I really enjoyed the video. As I stated on the DZ, getting McCoys children to come forward and say that their father was Cooper was a coup. I just wish there was a little more substance.

Agreed, Dan seems like a good dude and did a nice job overall.  But short of producing some physical evidence such as a ticket stub from 305 or some specific details, it just doesn't stand up. How about some details regarding:
- where he jumped and landed
- how he got out of there
- what he did with the parachute
- how he lost the money if it was tied to him
- something...anything...

You would think that the wife/mother would have shared some details to the story with the kids that was irrefutable.

Also:
- wouldn't the flight attendants have been able to identify him so shortly after 305  (~6 months) ?
- how did he go from being James Bond in one operation to a hot mess by all accounts in his 2nd attempt ? 

[Bruce A. Smith]

All good questions, JAG.

I'm on the hunt for Danny to get some of those answers. So far, nada.

[fcastle866]

I'm surprised so few people have commented on the Gryder video. Nobody's watching it? How come? If ya did, what's your reaction to it?

Darren, what did you think of the interviews with Chante and Rick (as I have learned today that's how he calls himself.)

I spent this afternoon trying to get in touch with Chante, Rick and Dan. No direct contact so far. Chante is still in the Salt Lake City area, just north of her homestead on Provo. I spoke with a colleague of her, who claims that she has known Chante "for years," but has never heard of the McCoy family connection to skyjacking.

Rick is a professional Mixed Martial Arts instructor and trainer in Virginia. Appears to be quite successful.

I don't have any direct contact information for Dan Gryder, but I've sent him an email via his website. May take awhile to hear back from him. Dan told Juan Browne in his Blanco Lirio video that he is "going dark" now that he has released the Cooper conclusion video and will not participate in the media frenzy that may erupt.

At the very least, I'd like to learn more about Karen McCoy and how she escaped prosecution. The kids might be able to shed some light on that. And on the kerfuffle with Calame and Rhodes in the 1980s, when the kids were teens. Karen died in 2020, which is why the kids are talking now.

Dan Gryder's video got a lot of views and comments, but I'm not seeing any change on the Wikipedia page statistics for views.  There was a spike on the anniversary, which is normal, but nothing since Dan's video.  I kind of hope that any news is good for the case.  Wiki page views are a good way to gauge how the interested the general public is in the case.  It's not a perfect way to measure, but it is a good reference.  Maybe Dan can get word out to more than just his followers.

[Darren]

Seems like Dan isn't stoked on the reaction from the Vortex since he said he'd get 90 or 99% agreement from this group.

HERE IS THE REASON THAT JUAN WAS FORCED TO TAKE THIS VIDEO DOWN AND RE UPLOAD:   

There is a "for profit"  PodCast called "The Cooper Vortex" owned and produced by Darren Schaffer.   I was formerly of the opinion that Darren just wanted the case solved.   Not true.  In recent days, it has come to my attention that both he and Eric Ulis "rely" on the uncertainty and mystery of the vortex to keep the mystery alive.   If this case is solved, there is no more need for Darren, Eric, or the PodCast (The Podcast centers on the DB Cooper mystery)   In other words, my video solved the mystery and this lets all air out of the balloon.   There is no need for a podcast or CooperCon convention on a mystery that is no longer a mystery!    It became imperative to these two knuckleheads to stop the propagation of my video after they both watched it.   They wanted Juan's video taken down, and they used the threat of a copywrite violation (Juan used a graphic from the podcast in the original upload) as the method to do that.  I worked.  Juan does not want a YouTube copywrite violation and upon receipt of Darren's email, he removed the original with all original comments.   Here is a copy of Darren's email to Juan.

"Dude,

You stole my logo, and wrote Dan Gryder on it. Why did you do that?  Dan just told me you were the one who did it. Are you going to take the video down?

Thank you.
Darren Schaefer"

The main question was "Are you going to take the video down?"    Seriously - you want him to take a video down because your logo was displayed with my name on it as a graphic?!?!

Yes Darren, he removed it and re uploaded it without your logo (the one that in effect helped to promote your podcast) -  you win.  But now we see who Darren Schaffer is.  He is the guy that relies on the DB Cooper always being a mystery.   My video had the potential to totally destroyed your little Cooper vortex world monthly pod cast revenue stream.  I get it.

Dan Gryder

Funny thing Dan asked me how much I make doing the podcast. I told him I don't make anything, I pay to do it.

Dan also sent me some nasty text messages to go along with this, and threatened to make videos about how unethical I am.

[EU]

[Parrotheadvol]

I stand by my comments that I thought Dan did a good job with the video and I really enjoyed it. But damn, things have taken a nasty turn. It's unfortunate that it's turned out like this. I'm not sure what Dan expected??