There was a murder in the summer of 1999, and it’s remained unsolved. The FBI recently released the cryptic notes found in the victim’s pocket, and asks for help to decipher them.
www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/march/cryptanalysis_032911
On June 30, 1999, sheriff’s officers in St. Louis, Missouri discovered the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick. He had been murdered and dumped in a field. The only clues regarding the homicide were two encrypted notes found in the victim’s pants pockets.
Despite extensive work by our Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), as well as help from the American Cryptogram Association, the meanings of those two coded notes remain a mystery to this day, and Ricky McCormick’s murderer has yet to face justice.
Here’s what I’ve got so far:
1. It’s not a sophisticated code.
2. There are no mysterious symbols, excepting what appear to be typos.
3. It’s a mnemonic code, so character/word frequency counts won’t work well.
4. The scribbled letter “n” stands for “and.”
5. Some of the characters that appear as the letter “R” are actually the letter “Q.”
6. I suspect that the character groups “WLD,” “SE” and “CBE” are the initials or references to people’s names.
7. The character group “on” means the same as the word, followed by a date.
8. “71″ likely refers to July 1 1999; “74″ refers to July 4; “75″ refers to July 5.
9. Parentheses are parentheses. The “+” means “plus” as it’s clearly different from the capital “T” in the cryptogram.
10. The last line indicates Day-Week-Month-Year. MIL suggests the word “military.”
Have at it.
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Update: Apparently the FBI has received so many responses and tips that it’s set up a separate website for them:
Tags: 1999, codes, cryptoanalysis, decoding, decypher, FBI, murder, Ricky McCormick, unsolved
Sunday, 10 April 2011 at 8:39 PM
finally , there’s a reasonable person .
i like ur analysis , and i like to share results with u .
i need much more background of the victim to crack his death list , so you knew anything , pls tell me .
Sunday, 10 April 2011 at 8:56 PM
alex c.– I know nothing more than what is available on the FBI’s own website that I linked to. My post was just my amateur guesses. If you can improve upon the assumptions I posted, have at it, and forward it to the FBI.
Tuesday, 12 April 2011 at 2:29 AM
saw that .
apparently FBI have no interest in providing the case files to outsiders for something hard to say .
not expecting their favors , i told them they did that wrong .
Tuesday, 12 April 2011 at 1:01 PM
alex– Since the case is still open, they’re unlikely to release information that might be used to exonerate the killer, once they catch him.
I’m curious. How did you find Tacky Raccoons? You’re the first from your nation to leave comments here.
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 at 9:53 AM
bing:
“Ricky McCormick” “St. Louis, Missouri”
you are sorted in advancing place .
and you are the only guy shared a lot .
i m quite sure that “NCBE” is the key .
all i need is the victim’s school homework pieces .
you might be available to reach his family , make a move if so , make your history if you like to .
Wednesday, 13 April 2011 at 4:53 PM
alex–
Bing? That’s funny.
This is interesting. I’ve updated the thread as well.
http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/04/08/huge-public-response-in-99-mo-murder-case/