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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… McCormick was a high school dropout, but he was able to read and write and was said to be “street smart.” According to members of his family, McCormick had used such encrypted notes since he was a boy, but apparently no one in his family knows how to decipher the codes, and it’s unknown whether anyone besides McCormick could translate his secret language. The FBI can use your help to decipher these notes. Visit the FBI’s page about Ricky McCormick’s case to see the two notes and learn how you can help the FBI break the code. Image description: One of the coded notes found in Ricky McCormick’s pockets, including a variety of letters, numbers, dashes, and parentheses.
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…

McCormick was a high school dropout, but he was able to read and write and was said to be “street smart.” According to members of his family, McCormick had used such encrypted notes since he was a boy, but apparently no one in his family knows how to decipher the codes, and it’s unknown whether anyone besides McCormick could translate his secret language.

The FBI can use your help to decipher these notes. Visit the FBI’s page about Ricky McCormick’s case to see the two notes and learn how you can help the FBI break the code.



Image description: One of the coded notes found in Ricky McCormick’s pockets, including a variety of letters, numbers, dashes, and parentheses.

April 25, 2011
Tagged: crime, cryptanalysis, law enforcement, fbi,
Source: fbi.gov

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