Why Twenties?

Why Were Twenty Dollar Bills D. B. Cooper's Denomination of Choice?

Twenty dollar bills were D. B. Cooper's currency of choice on hijack day.

💵 An interesting point about DB Cooper, is that he had a supply of $20 bills before he even got the ransom money.

🥃 Paid for his one-way airplane ticket with a 20, and broke another 20 for his bourbon and soda that he ordered on the plane. That's like walking round with 100s today, and apparently no smaller change!

🤔 It makes me wonder why, and where he got those 20s? Mercenary pay-out? Bank robbery? International currency exchange coming from overseas? Withdrew his savings as a heist investment? Pawned some stuff... (maybe a distinctive watch, since he wasn't seen wearing any watch or jewellery on the plane)? What do we all think?

🕵‍♂️ I've posed this question to a bunch of smart D. B. Cooper investigators, and brainstorming the topic has proven interesting and educational!

The $200,000 of ransom money that D. B. Cooper demanded and that was sourced from Seattle First National Bank and delivered to him, was also in $20 bills.

✈️ Theories included the 20s coming from overseas salary for military servicemen, or even for contractors to the CIA's covert operations in Southeast Asia. This could fit with Cooper being a military man on leave from overseas for the Thanksgiving holiday. A Cooper who was a CIA contractor between contracts might also have received a pay-out, then taken some time back home in the States, and been ready to head back overseas for another stint, away from the long arm of the law. Since many researchers believe Cooper had a military background, and may have known about the CIA test jumps from Boeing 727 jets, this theory seems plausible.

🔒 Another intriguing suggestion was that these few 20s could be the pocket money that convicts would be given when being released from prison. Inmates' "gate money" could well be issued in 20s. A Cooper with criminal experience would make sense of why he seemed confident to commit such a large heist as the theft and extortion of an airplane. The thought from the authorites was that newly-released inmates having some money in hand for their immediate living expenses would decrease their chance of returning to a life of crime. What if instead, a criminal's gate money became his gateway money that he invested in further brazen crime: a skyjacking?

🖨 Counterfeiting is another possibility to consider. At least one D. B. Cooper suspect was a known counterfeiter of 20 dollar bills! Another also had experience running a printing press. Could the hijacker have bankrolled his theft of 10,000 $20 bills by getting himself onto the plane using fake 20s? We believe that the FBI did not forensically examine the $20 bills taken as cash payments at PDX Airport ticket counter, nor the drinks cash on the hijacked jet. This was because it was deemed impossible to separate one customer's payment money from the rest of the takings. Would it have come out later, though, if either of those two bills Cooper paid with were a forgery?

💎 One more popular theory has been that Cooper spent 20s because he liked flashing cash! Looking like a smart, big-spender businessman may have been a key part of Cooper's heist persona. We can see from the flight attendant witness testimony that he tried to tip lavishly after receiving the bag of ransom money. This seems like a man who liked living large and appearing affluent, or wanted to look like he did.

💰 Perhaps the least exciting (but most practical) solution to The Puzzle of Cooper's Twenties is that he may have still had a normal job before the hijacking. 'Dan Cooper' could have had a decent income under his own name, and which he received or withdrew in 20s. We have to wonder, though, why a man with a decent job and seemingly good money, would suddenly commit such a massive crime.

One bank in Seattle maintained a $250,000 ransom package in case of crimes. Very convenient for a $200,000 skyjacking.

🏛 One fascinating point raised, though, is that Cooper may have not only recently visited a bank to obtain his seed money: the hijacker could maybe have had some connection himself to banking! It seems suspicious that D. B. Cooper just happened to hijack a jetliner en route to the city with a bank that serendipitously had enough cash set aside for paying ransoms in case of crime. A mighty large coincidence, to say the least. Apparently the ransom package was maintained by Seattle First National Bank after a robbery incident where a bank employee had been kidnapped by the bank robber! Another former SeaFirst National Bank employee, the gentleman who actually transported the ransom money to the airport for the hijacked airline, has stated that this type of fund was very rare. He was a security investigator with the bank, and went on to continue a long career with banking institutions, and had never heard of such a ransom fund elsewhere. Common sense also suggests that it would be unusual and uneconomic for most banks to hold so much cash out of circulation on their premises. Could D. B. Cooper have had a contact who was a teller at the one bank branch that did have a handy ransom cache ready and waiting? This interesting bank stash coincidence seems worthwhile to investigate further.

🔎We may never know for sure. Cooper could have had many reasons for using $20 bills. But whatever his reason, as usual in this D. B. Cooper mystery, several different theories sound intriguing, plausible, and well worth following up on.

~ D. B. Cooper Investigator 😎 🔍 🐊