Karen Burns McCoy, widow of the man who two Salt Lake authors claim was the legendary D.B. Cooper, testified in court Thursday about how the authors' book has devastated her life.
McCoy has filed a lawsuit against Russell Calame and Bernie Rhodes, authors of "D.B. Cooper: The Real McCoy," a book identifying a deceased Provo man, Richard Floyd McCoy, as the legendary hijaker who leaped from an airliner flying over the Northwest on Nov. 24, 1971, and has not been found.Richard Floyd McCoy was gunned down by FBI agents in 1974. He had escaped from a federal prison in Lewisburg, Pa., after he was convicted for a 1972 skyjacking in which he bailed out over Provo with $500,000.
The book and the publicity surrounding the book have destroyed her, McCoy said during testimony Thursday at a preliminary injunction hearing before 3rd District Judge Homer F. Wilkinson to prevent further distribution of the book.
"For 18 years I have tried to put this behind me," she said, weeping. "I worked very hard at just holding on. I tried to hold on quietly and with dignity. But I feel like everything I stand for, everything I live for, has been attacked and invalidated. I feel like I have been put up for public ridicule. (The authors) wrote lies in that book about me and impugned my whole character."
McCoy says the book erroneously reported that she threatened to throw her daughter under the wheels of a moving truck; she was romantically involved with an FBI agent while married to Richard McCoy; she conspired with the FBI to have her husband captured and killed; and she participated in his 1972 hijacking of a United Airlines jetliner.
"That book states I cooperated to have my husband killed. That is a total lie. They crossed the line. They will never prove that. Never!" she shouted.
"They stated I was unfaithful to Richard McCoy. That's a lie. I want you people to know something. All I have to give my children is who I am. That is not who I am. I was not unfaithful to Richard McCoy. I did not help have him killed. I feel like I'm barely holding on, and I have worked so hard to hold on," she said.
McCoy testified that the book has damaged her relationship with her employer. She said she had received other job offers prior to the book's publication. However, since the book and its publicity, interest "markedly cooled," she said.
When McCoy works with the public, even people from outside of Utah, she is often asked about the book, she said. Allegations in the book have also damaged her relationship with friends and peers, she charged.
However, the authors contend that their book accurately reflects McCoy's involvement in her husband's 1972 hijacking of United Airlines Flight 855.
"She was up to her neck in the hijacking," said David Watkiss Jr., attorney for the authors. "She was a known and active accomplice in a very, very serious capital federal offense."
Earlier this month, Wilkinson issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the authors from promoting their book. Outraged by the order, Watkiss went immediately to the Utah Supreme Court. After an emergency hearing, McCoy's attorney withdrew the request for that order.