FBI asks public for help breaking encrypted notes tied to 1999 murder

reply to post by nyccodeman


I think its a good theory, but I dont know if it all adds up. This is from the FBI website:

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.

You would think the CRRU would have quickly noticed a list of drug deals.

I still think the first step is to get as many typed copies of the original note as possible and get to an agreeable copy and then work from there.

For what it's worth I've noticed that it appears as if the letter m is the only letter that is lowercase. In every instance the letter m is used it is lowercase. And no other letter ever appears to be lowercase that I can tell.

Originally posted by Frankenchrist
This is just a question.

Was he black?

no...he was an albino...the Mc in his name indicates a scot....pratt

Nevermind, wrong information.

reply to post by sepermeru


I'm not sure that obituary is the same guy. It say that Ricky died in 2004 but the FBI case is from a Ricky of the same name that died in 1999.

reply to post by FraggleRock


Yep, I just realized that as you were posting. I misread, my mistake, sorry about that. Moving on to try to find the real one.

i217.photobucket.com...

this is what stuck out to me... if this helps anyone...sorry tried to imbed image but didnt work

Originally posted by sciontist
i217.photobucket.com...

this is what stuck out to me... if this helps anyone...sorry tried to imbed image but didnt work

yea i picked up on them...look on pg 3 of this forum

Originally posted by thePharaoh

Originally posted by Frankenchrist
This is just a question.

Was he black?

no...he was an albino...the Mc in his name indicates a scot....pratt

Well, in this country most black peeps have white last names. Black people here dont have names like Uwe Blab or Dikembe Mutumbo.

Originally posted by Frankenchrist

Originally posted by thePharaoh

Originally posted by Frankenchrist
This is just a question.

Was he black?

no...he was an albino...the Mc in his name indicates a scot....pratt

Well, in this country most black peeps have white last names. Black people here dont have names like Uwe Blab or Dikembe Mutumbo.

ok im sensing that im gonna get angry with this twat.....why would it matter...he`s american...full stop.

what black person have you EVER seen called ricky Mcormick...i cant even spell these no pigment names.
watch your mouth...your attidude is suspect....

I AM PHARAOH

reply to post by thePharaoh


except for the RCBRN....

26 MLSE 74SPRKSE 29KENOSOLE 173RTRSE

26 miles east 74 s park se 29 keno sole 173 rt rse


Almost looks like short hand for directions. This line atleast.

Originally posted by thePharaoh

Originally posted by Frankenchrist

Originally posted by thePharaoh

Originally posted by Frankenchrist
This is just a question.

Was he black?

no...he was an albino...the Mc in his name indicates a scot....pratt

Well, in this country most black peeps have white last names. Black people here dont have names like Uwe Blab or Dikembe Mutumbo.

ok im sensing that im gonna get angry with this twat.....why would it matter...he`s american...full stop.

what black person have you EVER seen called ricky Mcormick...i cant even spell these no pigment names.
watch your mouth...your attidude is suspect....

I AM PHARAOH

You have never watched pro football have you? There is a grip of blacks that have scott and english names and even spanish names. Yeah, he is an American.

It does matter if he is black, especially in St Louis.

Looks like a trap to me - solve it and you must be the murderer!

Seriously though, if the FBI can't crack it, I have no hope.

reply to post by Cecilofs


This is what I got for the note with p1 circled in the corner. It could be note one, but it could also be a clue to solving it.

(MNDMKWEMRSE-N-S-PAKNARE)(AESM)
TFRNENPKNSEWPBSERCBRNSENPRSEINC
PRSENMRSE DPREHLDWLDNCBE (TFXLFTCXLNCBE)
AL-PRPPITXLYPPIYNCBEMGKSEINCDRCBRNSEPRSE
WLDRCBRNSENTSENENTXSECRSLE-CITRSEWLDNCBE
ALWLPNCBETSMELRSEURGLSNEASNWLDNCBE
(NOPFSE NLSRE NCBE) NTEGDDMNSENCURERCBRNE
(TEWETFRNE NCBRTSENCBEINC)
(FLRSE PRSEONDE71NCBE)
(CDNSEPRSEONSFE74NCBE)
(PR+SEPRSEONREDE75NCBE)
(TFNRCMSPSOLEMRDELUSE TOTE WLDNIXLDNCBE)
(194WLD’SNCBE)(TRFXL)

just a general reply

Has anyone stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, these notes have no significance. I'm just saying, 12 years and the Fed's plus who knows how many VERY talented code breakers i.e people and computer programs have not been able to figure this out. In my opinion, and this is just my opinion. The FBI knows this and this is just a clever ploy to lure out the unknown "suspect". Even with the repeating NCBE, WLD and the SE. It could just be the "suspect" toying with the authorities. And with the Fed's releasing this to the public for their "help", well, that could just be them hoping and praying that the killer slips up and maybe comes out of hiding if he/she catches wind of this. I know that's what I would do. Because I do know that if I was head of the FBI, I would not want to be catching flack when an every day citizen cracks this case. Just saying.

After much mulling... I think possibly, that some of the squiggly N's are actually just squiggles used to separate words. There are more clear Ns that are obvious. Take a look and tell me what you think.

reply to post by Mr1977


Yes I might do something just like that as well. But then there would be no fun in it for ATS.

reply to post by SlyingFaucers


Main item I noticed are the "E" letter appearing far far to often to mean anything in my opinion.

Eliminate the E ... It has to be a false letter, space of some type or space holder for a "any vowel"

Possibly this guy is a wheel of fortune nut as RSTLNE (the most common freebies) are all over this note over and over and over again in series repeating over and over again with these 6 letters always somehow grouped together. It is 2:30 AM and I have to go to bed but if someone wants to check out what is left after eliminating some or all of these you might be in business.

some interesting comments from the yahoo board.

So far this is what I have (my apologies in advance if anyone has already posted this, but I'm too lazy to go through all of the 3468 comments posted thus far to verify):

On the page titled "NOTES", the first 2 lines:

ALPNTE GLSE - SE ERTE
VLSE MTSE - CTSE - WSE - FRTSE

This is an address and phone number for the Missouri Institute for Mental Health, which is located in St. Louis, MO where the man Ricky McCormick who was murdered on June 30 1999 is from, according to the FBI help request (I have yet to find any old articles that talk about the details of this murder btw)

Address & Phone confirmed with Yahoo Maps: 5400 - ARSENAL STREET - (314) 877-6400
----------------------------------------------------------------
The three lines underneath that address...so far I got from it "PO DEPUE" (if you take every letter within these 3 lines that proceed the letter "N":

PNRTRSE ONDRSE WLD NCBE
NWLD XLRCMSP NEWLD STS ME XL
DULMT6TUNSE NCBEXL

I Googled "podepue" and "missouri" and I got results for Susan Depue, Sr. Research Specialist at the Missouri Institute for Mental Health (Interesting huh?)

The other information so far that I am getting from this first "paragraph" circled, is that this individual is talking about the nurse in charge, or the "PO" administered; meaning Per Os (mental health jargon meaning medication taken by mouth), that was given to him was the wrong dosage (thus reference to XL), sort of like Effexor XL or Welbutrin, but the dosage was given incorrectly which caused him great troubles or something like that; probably a psychotic reaction or serious health problems from this "error" or possible intentional experimentation on him. This paragraph is basically starting out by explaining what happened to him as a mental health patient and the improper dosage given. That is all I have so far...the rest is slowly coming along...the first page that I haven't started on yet, well this is a sort of diary of events from him travelling and doing something I can't tell what just yet, but you get a lot of driving directions and coordinates to a location.

I'm going to bed now. Goodnight.

I hope this helps. Thanks for your time reading this. Take care. JCM0511
email: dannysantopiettro at yahoo

I keep trying to post a reply explaining how I get this info but its taking too long to type and when someone replies it all gets erased, so I'll try to be quick and save what I write as I go along....also, I want to make clear that I dont care about getting credit, just solving this tragic event...finally, if you have never worked with children with autism, you may not understand the logic or find yourself frustrated
I first noticed the hyphens on page 2 and quickly identified that as a set of numbers; phone number, address, or social..etc. Remember, Mr McCormick created this language as a child, and therefore you MUST think as a child:

ALPNTE GLSE - SE ERTE
VLSE MTSE - CTSE - WSE - FRTSE

I started with breaking up CTSE-WSE-FRTSE

I then associated numbers to letters: A=1, B=2, etc. (I have now noticed people posting this on the thread so others are doing the same thing now, so I feel even more confident now)

Starting with CTSE
C=3
T=20
S=19
E=5
*Keep 3 because it is the first number and smallest* T-S=1
E-1=4 (See how I repeated that twice? That is the "law" of 2 and you'll see it again and again in this code, and its the reason he repeats letters twice in patterns.)

-------------------------
WSE; W=23, S=19, E=5
23-19=4 (the law of 2) add 4+4=8, then 19-5=14(the law of 2) 14/2=7
again...(the law of 2) You get two 7's....the answer is 877!
------------
Finally, I did it a 3rd time and got 314-877-6400

THEN I Googled the phone number (for the gentleman who accused me of being a farce) and found the Missouri Institute for Mental Health with that phone number...I quickly noticed the address as Arsenal Street and found those letters within the code:

ALPNTE GLSE - SE ERTE
VLSE MTSE = Arsenal Street (You use the same A twice b/c it is the first letter and the law of 2 remember?)

NOTE: If you are a computer scientist or math teacher and are pulling your hair out right now, then you will now realize why the FBI is asking for help, right? You don't use logic, you use children-like rules, which is sort of how the mind of some people work, such as autism champs! LOL

Finally, after you use those letters to get Arsenal Street....the remaining letters are:

PGLSETEVLSEME = 5400 (using the same math formula for the phone number and always, the law of 2!)

Coincidence? I get 5400 Arsenal Street 314-877-6400

Now, here is the tricky part...the next paragraph then changes "laws"...its no longer the law of 2 and the alphabet...its a game where you find the letters before a repeating letter:

Here is the next 3 lines:

PNRTRSE ONDRSE WLD NCBE
NWLD XLRCMSP NEWLD STS ME XL
DULMT6TUNSE NCBEXL

I immediately noticed the "N"s and wrote out all letters before the N's:

PODEPUE

NOW...I Googled PODEPUE...and got nothing...then I googled "podepue" and "missouri" and I got Susan Depue from the Missouri Institue for Mental Health. So for the gentleman who thought I had the answers and then Googled to make the answers fit (that doesnt even make logical sense does it?)...that's how I found her name in the pattern and confirmed with Google her association with the letter code....

Finally, I didnt even have to keep doing that, just kept staring at the code and I got the medications being wrong, the "mg" letters you'll see (after separating the "bad" letters), you'll get a message about the wrong dosage (see XL? He's talking about medications because I've gone through this where pharmacies think XR instead of XL, or EL, and that could cause you a serious health problem). Get it?

The paragraph below that seems to be a social security number or numerical code, the page titled "NOTES" is all incriminating evidence to point to the people responsible for hurting this man, the first page are directions, or a diary of where he travelled and what he did, and once all that is solved you'll get a story about the crime committed