MO MO - Ricky McCormick, 41, St Louis, 30 June 1999

shadowraiths

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The FBI is seeking the public's help in breaking the encrypted code found in two notes discovered on the body of a murdered man in 1999.

The FBI says that officers in St. Louis, Missouri discovered the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick on June 30, 1999 in a field and the clues regarding the homicide were two encrypted notes found in the victim's pants pockets.

The FBI says that despite extensive work by its Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), and the American Cryptogram Association, the meanings of those two coded notes remain a mystery and McCormick's murderer has never been found.


Full article: click here
Ciphers: click here
 
Interesting....

I notice in the article they say that seeking the public's help in codebreaking is a special circumstance. Of course it would be rare for someone outside professional cryptography to be able to contribute, but the Zodiac case has one or more celebrated examples of citizen-solving, I believe.

I'm not bad at the skill, having run into opportunities to practice it in my field of work, but I definitely don't have the patience. Yi!
 
Interesting....

I notice in the article they say that seeking the public's help in codebreaking is a special circumstance. Of course it would be rare for someone outside professional cryptography to be able to contribute, but the Zodiac case has one or more celebrated examples of citizen-solving, I believe.

I'm not bad at the skill, having run into opportunities to practice it in my field of work, but I definitely don't have the patience. Yi!

bbm

I agree. I just wonder who could help with it if the FBI has been working on it for about 12 years and haven't been able to decipher it. I took a look at it and then thought - what could I do that they couldn't, kwim? Of course, there is obviously someone out there - or maybe two someones - who know what it means.
 
bbm

I agree. I just wonder who could help with it if the FBI has been working on it for about 12 years and haven't been able to decipher it. I took a look at it and then thought - what could I do that they couldn't, kwim? Of course, there is obviously someone out there - or maybe two someones - who know what it means.

I say give it to the genuis kid with the IQ higher than Einstein or people with autism that have that gift & throughly enjoy such things.
 
Anyone find anything further about the case itself? All I could locate were several StL Post Dispatch articles @ $2.95 apiece.
 
??? It's Ricky's code, so if he's dead, who else knows it?
I am surprised the fbi couldn't get other similar codes of his. If he was into it since he was a child, he must have others lying around.

Also, article said he dropped out of school, but that he could read an write. I bet he wasn't a very good speller, so chances are part of the note is misspelled which would make it harder to figure out if it really is a code. I read about a bit, and it seems like most people think it is just Ricky's own sort of shorthand.
 
The FBI is seeking the public's help in breaking the encrypted code found in two notes discovered on the body of a murdered man in 1999.

The FBI says that officers in St. Louis, Missouri discovered the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick on June 30, 1999 in a field and the clues regarding the homicide were two encrypted notes found in the victim's pants pockets.

The FBI says that despite extensive work by its Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), and the American Cryptogram Association, the meanings of those two coded notes remain a mystery and McCormick's murderer has never been found.


Full article: click here
Ciphers: click here

Why didn't they type it out for us! I can barely read it-- but, I do love encryption! Hmmmm
 
??? It's Ricky's code, so if he's dead, who else knows it?
I am surprised the fbi couldn't get other similar codes of his. If he was into it since he was a child, he must have others lying around.

Also, article said he dropped out of school, but that he could read an write. I bet he wasn't a very good speller, so chances are part of the note is misspelled which would make it harder to figure out if it really is a code. I read about a bit, and it seems like most people think it is just Ricky's own sort of shorthand.

Poor spelling would make it very hard. Sheesh.
 
I work in manufacturing, it looks like a bunch of random serial and part numbers. That's all I can come up with.
 
Why didn't they type it out for us! I can barely read it-- but, I do love encryption! Hmmmm

Ok, so here's what I've got for the 2nd page, if it makes it any easier to try and figure out. Some of his letters weren't super-clear, so I did the best I could:

ALPNTE GLSE-SE ERTE
VLSE MTSE-CTSE-WSE-FRTSE
PNRTRSE ONDRSEWLD NCBE
NWLDZLRCMSPNEWLDSTSMEXL
DULMT6TUNSE NCBEXC
(MUNSAISTENMUNARSE)
KLSE-LRSTE-TRSE-TRSE-MKSEN-MRSE
(SAE6NSE SE NMBSE)
NMNRCBRNSEPTE2PTEWSREBKNSE
26MLSE74SPRKSE29KENOSOLE173RTRSE
356LE CLGSEOUNUTKEDKRSE PSESHLE
651MTCSEHTLSENCUTCTRS NMRE
99.84.5 5UNEPLSENCRSEADLTSENSKSENBSE
NSREONSE PVTSEWLDNCBE (3XORL)
NMSENRSEIN2NTRLERCBRNSENTSRCRBNE
LSPNSENGSPSEMKSEKBSEPCBEAVXL’R
HMCRENMREFCBE 1/2MUNDPLSE
D-W-M14HIL XDRLX
 
Here's what I've got for the other page (there's a lot of "NCBE" in it, fwiw):

(MNDMKNEARSE-N-S-M-KNARE)
TFRHENPINSENPBSERCBBNSENPRSEINC
PRSENMRSE DPREHLDWLDNCBE(TFXLFTCXLNCBE)
AL-PRPPITXLYPPIYNCBE MGKSEWCDRCBRNSEPRSE
WLDRCBRNSE NTSSHENTXSE-CRSLE-CLTRSEWLDNCBE
ALWLDNCBETSMELRSERLSEURGLNEASNWLDNCBE
(NOPFSENLSRENCBE)NTEGDDMNSENCURERCBRNE
(TENETFRNE NCBRTSENCBEING)
(FLRSEPQSEONDE71NCBE)
(CDNSEPRSEONSDE74NCBE)
(BRTSEPRSEONREDE75NCBE)
(TFNQCMSPSOLEMRDELUSE TOTEWLDN1HLDNCBE)
(194WLD’SNCBE)(TRFXL)
 
The first thing that jumps out at me is that the "words" are extremely long, as though each real letter would be represented by two or more coded letters. I know absolutely nothing about coding, but this is interesting.

Oh, and also, the numbers 71, 74 and 75 are interesting because they are all major freeways that run through southwestern ohio.
 
Having worked with folks who are brain injured, I have to tell you, this looks an awful lot like the sort of gibberish they would write. It made perfect sense in their heads, but wasn't translating in writing.

I suspect the reason they haven't cracked this in 12 years is because it's just jibberish. If there's no order or logic behind it there is no "code" and therefore nothing to crack.

I think it's a lot more fun to hope that it's a brilliant mastermind who we just need to outsmart.
 
High recurrence of the letter combination "SE."

I agree with sfbaynancydrew; I'm afraid it will mean nothing - except to him: a private expression of a private language.
 
May I please ask was this the victims Ricky McCormicks hand writting?
 
Normally I would be all over this type of puzzle but with 1. no one's life in imminent danger and 2. no reward, I'm not feeling that motivated.

Plus, the cautious side of me is also suspicious of the FBI's motives for going public with this...they may just be trying to lure the killer by appealing to his ego. In other words, "the killer is so desperate for attention, he'll be dumb enough to come forward to try to get attention for "cracking the code".

I dunno...something just seems off about the whole thing.
 
May I please ask was this the victims Ricky McCormicks hand writting?

Good question, I'll see if I can find out.

I was also thinking I would let my Autistic son take a look at it fwiw, I'll print it for him, maybe he will get something out of it.

I have come up with a few words out of it so far, I usally can look at jumbles like this and find stuff in them, I'm not sure if it is part of my slight dyslexia but I rock at word finds...lol, not that that will help :crazy:
 
Good question, I'll see if I can find out.

I was also thinking I would let my Autistic son take a look at it fwiw, I'll print it for him, maybe he will get something out of it.

I have come up with a few words out of it so far, I usally can look at jumbles like this and find stuff in them, I'm not sure if it is part of my slight dyslexia but I rock at word finds...lol, not that that will help :crazy:
Thank you.I would like to look at his whole case story,the way he was murdered and where he was found ect.Is there anything out there on his case?I'm thinking these notes were in his pockets the day he died for a reason.Someone else he possibly knew knows this code too.Even if it's known only to them.
 
I wonder if he had a twin ?
 

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