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

[sreshowtime]

I would like to know too if this was confirmed as Ricky's handwriting. Was the paper it is written on found to have come from his residence, from a note pad there?
Do they know for certain it was something he wrote?
Was he known for writing notes like this, or is the note totally out of character?
Was type of employment did he have? Was he mentally challenged or his health otherwise jeopardized?
What were the circumstances surround his death? How long had he been missing before found?

Too bad they didn't tell more about Ricky...how does the FBI expect anyone to take a real stab at this, without supplying more specific information on the victim and what was going on in his life at that time.

Of course it could be a ploy to lure someone out of the woodwork.
Very interesting though, Almost looks like directions, or a conversation.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

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

Quote
Investigators believe the notes in McCormick's pockets were written up to three days before his death.


Where was he during this time?Where did he write it?Did he write these notes?

 

[mysticrose]

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...page=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...page=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

 

[bessie]

I would like to know too if this was confirmed as Ricky's handwriting. Was the paper it is written on found to have from his residence, from a note pad there?
Do they know for certain it was something he wrote?
Was he known for writing notes like this, or is the note totally out of character?
Was type of employment did he have? Was he mentally challenged or his health otherwise jeopardized?
What were the circumstances surround his death? How long had he been missing before found?

Too bad they didn't tell more about Ricky...how does the FBI expect anyone to take a real stab at this, without supplying more specific information on the victim and what was going on in his life at that time.

Of course it could be a ploy to lure someone out of the woodwork.
Very interesting though, Almost looks like directions, or a conversation.

The article says that according to his family, he was known to write encoded messages "since he was a boy", but no one in his family knows how to decipher them.

I agree it would be helpful if we knew more about his background and the circumstances of his death.

Even though I know this is virtually uncrackable, I'll probably drive myself nuts trying.

 

[sreshowtime]

Ahh I didn't read the article first posted, had found another one & came to WS to see if anything about Ricky... more detail in this article here.

That is sort of sad to me that his family didn't know how to decipher his notes or that they must have never really spoken with him about what & why he wrote that way. BLess his heart.

 

[mysticrose]

Got to go play Ponies with my little one, I will try to come back later, my son now has a copy and he is looking at it diligently, lol

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I wonder if he had a twin ?

If he wrote these encrypted notes all the time(growing up?)Maybe one of his friends?or someone he knew growing up wrote it(growing up,notes like these)with him and some one knows how he did this.I'm thinking he must have shared this with someone.

 

[Reannan]

I normally love this kind of thing, but I don't look at it and get any sort of "feeling" that it means anything. It just seems entirely too random. I saw a facebook status yesterday that went something like "If Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, unite, it will be the most time consuming website ever known to mankind, and will be called YouTwitFace.com. I REALLY can't afford something else to obsess over, so I am going to check back on this thread every so often, but I don't think I will tackle trying to solve it. If anyone can, it will be someone here at WS's however! :rocker:

 

[mysticrose]

Seem like the note that has the circles around it to me is directions to some where at least part of it.

 

[mysticrose]

Wow we have alot of guests tonight ! Please come join us ....

 

[Ms Suzanne]

I normally love this kind of thing, but I don't look at it and get any sort of "feeling" that it means anything. It just seems entirely too random. I saw a facebook status yesterday that went something like "If Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, unite, it will be the most time consuming website ever known to mankind, and will be called YouTwitFace.com. I REALLY can't afford something else to obsess over, so I am going to check back on this thread every so often, but I don't think I will tackle trying to solve it. If anyone can, it will be someone here at WS's however! :rocker:

LOL YouTwitFace.com

LOL LOL.

 

[tlcya]

things that repeat a lot tend to be commonly used words in code/encryption

repeats I have noticed

CDNSE
PRSE
PRSE
NCBE

 

[tapu]

for those who wonder how the public could ever help, google how the zodiac's codes were solved by (i think this is right this little old couple working at home

i think the article is unclear on this: what they need is not just another page of ricky's code, but that as well as the "translation" of it. it may not be the same code as the others but it would give code-breakers a chance to know what kind of code the guy uses.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

Seem like the note that has the circles around it to me is directions to some where at least part of it.

I circle things like that and when I do that it is because it is the most important to me to remember.It's also seperate things.

 

[tapu]

A common type of code is a substitution code. You use each letter to stand for another letter. They're not just randomly assigned though. There's a system. Say, each alphabet letter stands for one 6 places over from it. That would be fairly simple to solve, but people who can write in code throw in all kinds of complications. For example, they might reverse the alphabet and then count 6 over, or throw in random letters, skip letters, double or triple code by coding the first code over.... Tricksters, they are.

 

[tapu]

things that repeat a lot tend to be commonly used words in code/encryption

repeats I have noticed

CDNSE
PRSE
PRSE
NCBE

Yes. And though someone may have noted this already, since e is the most common letter in English, that can help make the first break. after that, you use position with e to figure out letters around it.

 

[grayjay]

So interesting. He may have been too good at keeping secrets, but the fact that he had three addresses might indicate he was making money. These don't look like grocery lists or reminders. They don't look like names or sentences. I'm guessing N is a connector or separator, and SE, WLD and CBE are key chunks. These are not thoughtfully written, but more like someone would jot down while on the phone or in a hurry, where frequent corrections become more necessary because writing the code isn't that simple when talking to someone.

JMO, but I can definitely see why they'd want to figure it out. It suggests racketeering and doesn't seem random.

 

[Ms Suzanne]

You know,when I first saw these notes I thought of when my older kids were growing up and my younger kids now and it kind of reminded me of the cheat codes they get for thier video games.I do not play video games so I would not know how to read them.

 

[tapu]

i think the long strings of letters are because he isn't showing word breaks. that makes it way harder. actually, if you show word breaks, it's relatively easy to break the code using frequency algorithms. sometimes coders show breaks, but not the real ones. aggravating little sh-ts, aren't they?

 

[tapu]

You know,when I first saw these notes I thought of when my older kids were growing up and my younger kids now and it kind of reminded me of the cheat codes they get for thier video games.I do not play video games so I would not know how to read them.

That's interesting.... Imagine if these weren't codes he made at all, but cheats he got for video games!

Oh wait. I forget when it said this happened. I think it was before video game cheats. Nonetheless, i'll post this because ms suzanne's observation might still be helpful. also the parts guy's idea. there may be something totally unrelated, and not coded by ricky, that this represents.