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

[dlbroox]

Exactly.

 

[CastlesBurning]

'A puzzling case' | Help solve this cryptic cold case that has stumped detectives

 

[dotr]

'A puzzling case' | Help solve this cryptic cold case that has stumped detectives

Thanks for posting a new article, funny was thinking about Ricky just the other day and meant to bump his thread, glad you did!
from link..

''On June 15, 1999, McCormick boarded a Greyhound bus from St. Louis to Orlando. He would stay two days at the Econo Lodge.

On June 22, McCormick walked into the emergency room at Barnes-Jewish Hospital complaining of chest pain. He was admitted, and discharged on June 24.

On June 25, McCormick walked into the emergency room at Forest Park Hospital, complaining of shortness of breath. He was not admitted.

On June 26, McCormick talked with his girlfriend, Sandra Jones, on the phone for the last time.

On June 27, McCormick was seen at his place of work, the Amoco station at 1401 Chouteau. Medical examiners determined that was his day of death.

On June 30, McCormick's body was found in a field just outside West Alton in St. Charles County.''

''More than 20 years later, the question remains. Was it McCormick himself? Could it have been a killer? Somebody else?

The FBI emphasized the characters in the codes were not random, but instead patterns and sequences. The notes contained numerous letter E's, references to the numbers 71, 74 and 75, and a focus on the repetition of the letters "NCBE."
''Breaking any code involves four basic steps:

1. Determining the language used.
   
   
2. Determining the system used.
   
   
3. Reconstructing the key.
   
   
4. Reconstructing the plaintext.''
   

 

[dotr]

Huge article.. includes some other mysterious cases. rbbm.
4 Mysterious Cold Cases to Know in 2020: Unsolved Murders, Disappearances
Aug 6 2020 By Daniel Dumas
''The meaning of McCormick’s notes has baffled both professional and amateur cryptanalysis to this day.
FBI
The Last and Only Cipher of Ricky McCormick
On June 30, 1999, the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick was found in a cornfield in West Alton Missouri. In McCormick’s front pocket were two pages of hand printed notes containing a complex cypher that the FBI, the American Cryptogram Association, and countless amateur codebreakers have—to this day—failed to crack. McCormick was a high school dropout who, according to a family member, “Didn't write in code. He couldn't spell anything, just scribble."

What We Know

McCormick’s body had been decomposing in the field for several days prior to its discovery —authorities had to use fingerprints to make a positive ID. The rate of decomposition made it difficult for medical examiners to determine a cause of death—even after an autopsy and a toxicology report. But after considering the suspicious nature of where his body had been found (the area had been used to dump murder victims before) investigators classified the death a homicide.

The two notes police found inside of McCormick’s pocket consisted of 30 lines of seemingly random letters and numbers. Some of the code contains parenthesis, other parts of it is circled.

St. Louis PD
McCormick was an ex-con who was semi-employed at a gas station and alternated between staying with family and living on the streets. He also suffered from heart and lung ailments and had been collecting disability at the time of his death. His criminal record consisted of a handful misdemeanors plus a stint in prison for statutory rape. McCormick’s body was found some 15 miles from his residence even though he did not own a car and public transportation did not service the area where he was found. McCormick also sporadically traveled by bus to Florida where a former girlfriend says he acted as courier for drug runners, shuttling marijuana back to Missouri.

The Investigation

There are conflicting reports about McCormick’s mental condition. According to a Riverfront Times article, while awaiting trial for statutory rape, his public defender believed McCormick might be "suffering from some mental disease or defect." She had him tested by a local psychologist who found McCormick mentally competent to stand trial. Though he was never diagnosed with any mental disorders, McCormick was considered to be street smart with an active imagination yet also possessed a naïve, childlike attitude towards the world, according to the Riverfront Times.

A few days before his death, McCormick’s girlfriend stated that after he returned from a drug smuggling job in Florida shaken and anxious. He went to several hospitals for treatment of chest pains and asthma in the days before his death. Some investigators believe he wasn’t actually looking for medical attention but believed his life was in jeopardy and was seeking a safe place to stay.

Parenthetical and circles on the notes suggest it could have been a to-do list.
FBI
Where the Case is Today

By 2011 the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit had exhausted its resources trying to crack the cipher. “Breaking the code could reveal the victim’s whereabouts before his death and could lead to the solution of a homicide,” the FBI said in a 2011 statement.

Some people, including some members of Ricky’s family, believe the notes to be the nonsensical script of a mentally disabled person. Other family members claim that Ricky had been writing in code since he was a boy. Experts, including the FBI agent in charge of the case, assert the notes are authentic. Small details in the handwriting—like circles around portions of the code—indicate that it was personal in nature, possibly a to-do list. According the FBI, the greatest challenge in this case is that McCormick likely intended the notes only to be read by himself. Other famous cyphers—like the Zodiac Killer—wanted their codes to be eventually cracked.

There is, of course, is the possibility that McCormick did not write the code — experts have not been able to conclusively prove that the notes are in his handwriting. It’s also feasible the code was written for him by the drug dealers he was working for or that he was just transporting the cipher from one place to another and was unaware of its meaning.

The FBI has an entire website dedicated to the case and invites amateur codebreakers to try and solve it. Ultimately it is believed the code contains information that will help catch McCormick’s murderers.''

 

[neesaki]

Has this been posted ? It has transcripts of the notes making it much easier to read.

McCormick Cipher - Notes and Code from Ricky Mc Cormick

 

[neesaki]

I have even considered the possibility the it has nothing or very little to do with the RM case. Perhaps they didn't want to tell the public the truth (terrorism, bioterrorism, etc.) and so they have tied it to the RM case because the notes were found around the same time, in the same area, and RM was known to write codes when he was younger. Maybe the whole RM thing is a red herring and the FBI just doesn't want to tell the public the truth until they know for sure what is in the notes. As to why they asked the public for help, who knows. Maybe if you can crack the code, it means you are involved. Maybe there are other code sheets we don't know about that they have already solved so they have an idea what it's about but the key is different for these and they can't crack it for whatever reason.

Then there is always the possibility that RM did write the code or that it's not a code at all and RM was just plain looney tunes. :banghead:

I’m thinking along these lines as well. Perhaps it’s really code by terrorist organization or organized crime, but FBI doesn’t want that information revealed. Safer to tie it to RMs murder. MO speculation.

 

[dotr]

I’m thinking along these lines as well. Perhaps it’s really code by terrorist organization or organized crime, but FBI doesn’t want that information revealed. Safer to tie it to RMs murder. MO speculation.

A terrorist connection, had not thought of that, hmmmm interesting!

 

[Grungster]

Are any additional photos of Ricky available?

 

[Grungster]

Also, whether the notes mean something or not, I don't think Ricky wrote the notes. If he was dyslexic, why the heck are there numerous letters on the note??

 

[Krispin]

Things would be easier to figure out if we knew for certain if Ricky wrote the notes or not. I know its been stated that Ricky could only write his name but even with the small sample size it'd be better than nothing to compare it to the notes. Is there no written documents saved of Ricky writing his name?

That being said, if Ricky did write the notes I feel they mean nothing to anyone except himself, and was a way to express himself.

 

[J-money]

Hi all I’m new to web sleuths. I joined specifically after finding web sleuths while looking into this case. I am from the St. Louis area and I remember hearing about it when he was found. At the time it was only about 15 minutes from my house but ran across the Ricky McCormick case again recently while watching That Chapter on YouTube. Mike did an episode specifically on the code. I believe I may have figured out what it is. Now keeping in mind Ricky was illiterate and dyslexic and as I started going over the code little things started to jump out at me. I’m fairly certain that the code is Rickys own personal style of short hand for bus stops. As in street intersections and bus numbers. One of the big ones that has been mentioned before is NCBE which is repeated over an over. I have come to believe that stands for (North City Bus Exchange) FLR=Florissant PRSEOND=Penrose WLD=Euclid NE=North East . With the numbers the precede each NCBE like 74,71,75 being the actual bus number. There are others I also believe I have figured out as well. Now I need to sit down with a print out of it and write what I believe to be the translations out. I just haven’t found time yet, but I thought I’d share my finding with you guys in the mean time.

 

[dotr]

Hi all I’m new to web sleuths. I joined specifically after finding web sleuths while looking into this case. I am from the St. Louis area and I remember hearing about it when he was found. At the time it was only about 15 minutes from my house but ran across the Ricky McCormick case again recently while watching That Chapter on YouTube. Mike did an episode specifically on the code. I believe I may have figured out what it is. Now keeping in mind Ricky was illiterate and dyslexic and as I started going over the code little things started to jump out at me. I’m fairly certain that the code is Rickys own personal style of short hand for bus stops. As in street intersections and bus numbers. One of the big ones that has been mentioned before is NCBE which is repeated over an over. I have come to believe that stands for (North City Bus Exchange) FLR=Florissant PRSEOND=Penrose WLD=Euclid NE=North East . With the numbers the precede each NCBE like 74,71,75 being the actual bus number. There are others I also believe I have figured out as well. Now I need to sit down with a print out of it and write what I believe to be the translations out. I just haven’t found time yet, but I thought I’d share my finding with you guys in the mean time.

Welcome to Ws J_money, thanks for chiming in with your theory, looking forward to more of your posts!

 

[lonewanderer]

There is one part of this code that drives me nuts.

WLD NCBE appears many times, and WLD'S NCBE appears once.

What could possibly make one word possessive over the other when they have both been used together in the same order before?

Its likely this is a shorthand code, but even still, what two words could possibly be normal and used that way, but take on a possessive form of the first word later?

I've thought about it a lot, like maybe "bag weight" and "bag's weight" or something, but it just drives me nuts as a riddle within the riddle.

 

[dms]

What could possibly make one word possessive over the other when they have both been used together in the same order before?

Morpheme deletion is a pretty common aspect of AAED, in my experience. "Her mom's house" becomes "her mom house," for example. If Ricky did this inconsistently, it would fit the situation you've described.

 

[Snaxle]

I agree with those who think there's a map/directions. This is my crack at it; maybe it'll make sense to someone:

(MNDMKNEARSE-N-S-M-KNARE) (ACSM?)
Turn north Past and southeast/2nd and past SER C turn N Passing
Pass and make up RE Hill And LD NCBE(TFXLE TCXL NCBE) *north/and continue bearing east? Never coming back ever?
AL-PRPPIT XLYPPIY N CBE Make W CD RCBR and Southeast/2nd Pass
road/would RCBR and Southeast/2nd NT Second time Southeast/2nd-Circle CL Turn road/would NCBE
AL road/would NCBE Time LR SE RL SE VRGLS NE AS N road/would NCBE
(No Pass turn NCBE)NTE GDDMNSENCURERCBRNE
(Then Turn CBR the NCBE INC) *ing?
(First Pass on/person DE 71 NCBE)
(Second Pass on /person /Southeast/Side/sept 74 NCBE)
(PRTSE Pass on /person RED 75 NCBE) *75 red school road? 6 minutes from home
(TF NRCMSP SOLE MRDE LU Southeast/end To The road/would N road/would NCBE)
(194 road's NCBE) (TRFXL) *194 Orchard Dr? home




ALPNTE GLSE - SE ERtE
VLSE MTSE-CTSE-WSE-FRTSE
PNRTRSE ONDRSE WLD NCBE
NWLDXLRCMSP NEWLD S TS MEXL
DVLMT 6TUNSE NCBEXL
(MUNSARSTENMUNARSE)
KLSE-LRSTE-TR SE-TRSE-MKSE?-MRSE
(SAEGNSE SE NMRSE)
NMNRCBRNSE PTE ZPTE WSRCBRMSE
36MLSE 74SPRKSE 29KENOSOLE 173RTRSE ( 26/36 miles south east 74 south park southeast 29 k east?) found hwy 367
35 GLE CLGSE VUNVTRE DKRSE PSESHLE
651MTCSE HTLSE NCVTCTRS NMRE
99.84.S ZUNE PLSE NCRSE AOLTSE NSRSE NBSE
NSREONSE PVTSE WLD NCBE (3XORL)
BNMSE NRSE INZ NTRLE RCBRNSE NTSRCRSNE
LSPNSE NGSPSE MKSERBSE NCBEAVXLR
HM CRE NMRE NCBE 1/2 MUND PLSE
D-W-M-4 MIL XDRLX

 

[HarveyPravia]

Hello all, I have just began my personal investigation into the case of Ricky McCormick. I first learned about his case soon after his notes were released to the public and have now just become fascinated with his case. After reading a few theories and understanding the full story of Ricky McCormick, I believe I had decoded part of the first sentence of the first paragraph in the first note. “The 13k (assuming it’s money) has been moved to ASMC.” I feel extremely confident in this first one because of the speculations of Ricky being involved in drug trafficking. The second sentence is something I feel… like I forced. “The hundred in paper bills is en route and will be in your presence.” I don’t have much confidence in the second one as I did in the first one. I believe the gang that Ricky was involved with had code that only they could understand and decipher. Anyway… I will be investing more time into this and might update soon. I’m not sure if this has been thought of since I didn’t read much of this topic on this website.

 

[dotr]

Hello all, I have just began my personal investigation into the case of Ricky McCormick. I first learned about his case soon after his notes were released to the public and have now just become fascinated with his case. After reading a few theories and understanding the full story of Ricky McCormick, I believe I had decoded part of the first sentence of the first paragraph in the first note. “The 13k (assuming it’s money) has been moved to ASMC.” I feel extremely confident in this first one because of the speculations of Ricky being involved in drug trafficking. The second sentence is something I feel… like I forced. “The hundred in paper bills is en route and will be in your presence.” I don’t have much confidence in the second one as I did in the first one. I believe the gang that Ricky was involved with had code that only they could understand and decipher. Anyway… I will be investing more time into this and might update soon. I’m not sure if this has been thought of since I didn’t read much of this topic on this website.

Welcome to Ws HarveyPravia!

 

[dotr]

Help solve this cryptic cold case that has stumped detectives | 'A puzzling case'​

Feb 14, 2020