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

Alright do we have this figured out yet?

I have been pondering over the code for 2 hours now and it looks to me as if the code is a combination of a cypher and the attempts of someone with a spelling disability to write. Many people who have done manual labor all their life and written little devleop these types of own writing skills after they forget how to properly spell words. So it's not a mathematical code to crack, but more a linguistic and sociological approach. How did McCormick pronounce the words? Were there words he used frequently when talking (e.g. like, awesome, bogus etc.) which could be found in the code? The melody of the language is neither English nor German nor any major European language, so I have the feeling that the syllables themselves are substitutes for certain words or meanings. What is the meaning of the numbers? I guess there are some repetitions which almost seem like abbreviation SUN, TUN and MUN (sunday night, tuesday night, monday night) or WLD. I also think that the standalone n stands simply for "and". There are many open questions about McCormick himself: - what did he work? - did he live alone? Did he have family? - was he an Asperger or Autism patient? - did he only write in code or did he write some "secret" stuff in code, but was able to write perfect letters etc. besides that? - are there other samples of his code other than these two fragments? What about his place, might there have been a book or something which would be the key to understand his cypher? Most interesting is the cypher combination of 99.84.52 which looks like a French telephone number. I also believe that XL refers to a person as there is the XL'R which could be XL (somebody)'s. There is also a reference to 1 n 2 which could mean One in Two (of what?) what is a 1/2 MUNDDLSE? There are also two groups of syllables which do not fit the pattern and could refer to further names: KENOSO, SPRK, AOK and UTKE SE is the most often used syllable McCormick is using, but it does not correspond to the most often used English syllable ing. There is an article on McCormick in the Archive section of [url]http://www.stltoday.com/[/url] but it is pay per view and I did not pay to see it... btw. is there no way to contact the FBI via Email? They only gave a postal address which is quite odd (or they were afraid to crash their mail server). I am not a code cracker, but I have studied IT and Linguistics (proficient in German, English, French, Italian, Spanish and some Asian languages) and work with people with disabilities (in IT research for them) and I have the gut feeling that this guy had his problems spelling out words correctly.

fbi are reading this thread and pissing themselves laughing

has anyone tried google translator?

[QUOTE=globallynaive;28899820]:words:[/QUOTE] oh boy, you sure know your stuff. and i'm p sure the fbi doesn't want to be contacted by mail cause they are just too federal for that or some sort of weird nitpicky government thing of the sort.

Decrypting this is like decrypting Kryptos K4 on a high scale using nothing but 2 sheets of paper, a pencil and a sharpener.

This thread is getting long. Are people trying to actually solve this? Would be awesome if FP was known as the main decryption for this murder case.

I found it quite hard to decipher the original images the FBI provided.. So I pulled them into Photoshop converted them to Grey-scale and ran them through a Genuine Fractals routine and mathematically increased the resolution by 700% without losing any image quality, then I filtered them 3 times with some unsharp masking, to bring out some hidden details, finally I inverted the colors which makes several characters that were unrecognizable before appear.. especially on the 2nd page where the smudging is. The files are 8 mb in size and I have it in both regular and inverted format. Inverted View [url]http://www.mediafire.com/i/?f5zukpyfsjdct5s[/url] Enlarged Regular View [url]http://www.mediafire.com/i/?84z1owcxf52ktmc[/url]

[QUOTE=l33tkill;28885784][img_thumb]http://i679.photobucket.com/albums/vv153/l33tkill101/fthis.jpg[/img_thumb] God dammit[/QUOTE] RCBR repeats four times [URL=http://img717.imageshack.us/i/fthis.png/][IMG]http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/6862/fthis.png[/IMG][/URL]

[QUOTE=Reach Monster;28900036]This thread is getting long. Are people trying to actually solve this? Would be awesome if FP was known as the main decryption for this murder case.[/QUOTE] It's impossible using Vignete Decryptions. Damn it all!

I noticed alot of the repeating letters only come in groups of one, two, three and four. Never more.

[QUOTE=tmcnutt;28900122]I noticed alot of the repeating letters only come in groups of one, two, three and four. Never more.[/QUOTE] Said the raven.

On that article, they said that he had been writing these notes since he was young...And that his parents seen them. This would probably be a lot easier, if they still had copies of these notes, and released them. More samples would probably make this a lot easier.

-snippity-

[QUOTE=l33tkill;28900833]Quote the raven :eng101:[/QUOTE] Quoth the raven! :flashfact:

Also, To whoever said that there was PI in the corner, I believe that is actually just "P1", which probably means...Page 1...I often write page numbers in a little circle like that on my coursework so I don't get it out of order.

[QUOTE=Zero Ziat;28900847]Quoth the raven! :flashfact:[/QUOTE] Touche

[QUOTE=Deiru;28901082]Also, To whoever said that there was PI in the corner, I believe that is actually just "P1", which probably means...Page 1...I often write page numbers in a little circle like that on my coursework so I don't get it out of order.[/QUOTE] I said that, but there was 2 pages in his pocket, why number 1 page and not the other? And apparently he knew nothing about math or logic or something. So because he knew nothing about math, maybe he learned about PI in secret, and no one would suspect it being PI because it was mathematical.

April fool anyone?

July 2, 1999 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Authorities say the body found near West Alton on Wednesday was that of Ricky McCormick, 41, who had addresses in St. Louis, Belleville and Fairview Heights. He was identified by fingerprints on Thursday. Police are asking for the public's help in determining how McCormick died and how his body wound up where it did - near Highway 367 between St. Louis and Alton. A woman driving along a field road west of Highway 367 found McCormick's body about 12:45 p.m. ******************************* July 3, 1999 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Man found near field may have died naturally The Major Case Squad was wrapping up its investigation Friday into the death of Ricky McCormick, 41, whose body was found Wednesday near a cornfield off Highway 367 near West Alton. Maj. Tom O'Connor said medical examiners had not been able to determine a cause of death, and the 18 people working the case had found no evidence of a crime. ******************************* July 7, 1999 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Deputies face long wait on tests of decomposed body The St. Charles County Sheriff's Department might have to wait as long as three months to obtain clues in the death of Ricky McCormick, 41, of St. Louis, whose decomposed body was found a week ago near Highway 367, west of West Alton. Deputies hope that toxicology tests from the medical examiner's office might shed light on the cause of his death.

[QUOTE=ludwig;28901751]July 2, 1999 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Authorities say the body found near West Alton on Wednesday was that of Ricky McCormick, 41, who had addresses in St. Louis, Belleville and Fairview Heights. He was identified by fingerprints on Thursday. Police are asking for the public's help in determining how McCormick died and how his body wound up where it did - near Highway 367 between St. Louis and Alton. A woman driving along a field road west of Highway 367 found McCormick's body about 12:45 p.m. ******************************* July 3, 1999 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Man found near field may have died naturally The Major Case Squad was wrapping up its investigation Friday into the death of Ricky McCormick, 41, whose body was found Wednesday near a cornfield off Highway 367 near West Alton. Maj. Tom O'Connor said medical examiners had not been able to determine a cause of death, and the 18 people working the case had found no evidence of a crime. ******************************* July 7, 1999 from St. Louis Post-Dispatch Deputies face long wait on tests of decomposed body The St. Charles County Sheriff's Department might have to wait as long as three months to obtain clues in the death of Ricky McCormick, 41, of St. Louis, whose decomposed body was found a week ago near Highway 367, west of West Alton. Deputies hope that toxicology tests from the medical examiner's office might shed light on the cause of his death.[/QUOTE] I am now monitoring this thread.

[QUOTE=ludwig;28901751]:words:[/QUOTE] thank you. :3:

[QUOTE=tmcnutt;28899902]has anyone tried google translator?[/QUOTE] What would that do? Google translator wasn't around in 1999. [QUOTE=ZeroMinus;28899003]How where his crimes committed? Try and compare the style of his murders to other cryptic killers that got caught or their notes decrypted he might have used similar styles. Where was he based? Try and contact people from the same area from the same time and see if they were aware of common street encrypting for drug dealers or gangs see if was related to anything, check library records see if anyone checked out cryptic books and check out their houses etc. (library card on insert of book) see if they pursued cryptology and do encryption for fun or local newspapers and build up a profile.[/QUOTE] Remember, though, the notes were supposedly written by the victim, not the murderer. I'm beginning to think Ricky was using a throwaway key - something that can't be figured out without brute-force, and the only person who could decode it was the intended recipient, who had a key that Ricky had given him. Or something similar.

Like a [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-time_pad]one-time pad[/url]?

[url]http://www.kplr11.com/videobeta/e01d1047-7447-4cac-ac1c-eb7a4e43e413/News/FBI-Code-Breaker[/url] the video mentions that he had criminal offenses including sexual assault...

It would be creepy if the killer himself decoded it, submitted it to the FBI and no one noticed. :ohdear:

I've got no idea whats going on, but I am still managing to get excited about it

A few more details from [url]http://www.stltoday.com/news/article_bcc02074-5b1a-11e0-b199-0017a4a78c22.html[/url] July 2, 1999 Authorities know the identity of a man found dead near West Alton on Wednesday afternoon, but they have a lot of unanswered questions. The body of Ricky McCormick, 41, who had addresses in St. Louis, Belleville and Fairview Heights, was found near a cornfield by a woman driving along a field road near Highway 367. But how McCormick died and ended up where he did is still a mystery. Maj. Tom O'Connor of the Major Case Squad said authorities were treating the suspicious death as if it were a homicide. A medical examiner has not been able to determine an exact cause of death yet. An initial medical examination found no obvious gunshot or knife wounds, he said. McCormick, who was identified by his fingerprints, suffered from chronic heart and lung problems, O'Connor said, and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that his health may have contributed to his death. His body was found in an open area by the southeast corner of the cornfield between the field road and a densely foliated levee, which is an old railroad grade along the southbound side of Highway 367. Lt. Craig McGuire, of the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department, said the levee is an unfinished section of the Katy Trail. Authorities reported Wednesday that McCormick appeared to have suffered an injury to his head. But O'Connor said Thursday that McCormick's body had decomposed enough that it was difficult to determine what injuries he might have had. McCormick had a St. Louis address, 1400 Chouteau Avenue, and several addresses in Illinois, O'Connor said. McCormick was not married, he said, but he was the father of at least four children. Police are working with McCormick's friends and family members to establish his whereabouts during the past few days. He was last seen alive late in the afternoon of June 25 at Forest Park Hospital in St. Louis, the former Deaconess Hospital, where he was receiving medication from his doctor, O'Connor said. No one had reported him missing, he said. McCormick had a criminal record, but O'Connor and St. Charles County Sheriff's Sgt. Kevin Wilson said they do not believe it contributed to his death. Authorities said he had a criminal record and was convicted on a charge of statutory rape. He was sentenced to three years but served 11 months, they said. Wilson said McCormick was unemployed and on disability welfare; he was not homeless. O'Connor said authorities found no evidence of fights or disagreements McCormick might have had. "We cannot find any motive for his death, " he said. "We're not absolutely sure that this is a homicide." Authorities were concentrating on a thorough search of the Alton area Thursday afternoon, he said. Anyone with information about McCormick's whereabouts between the afternoons of June 25-30 should call the Major Case Squad at 949-7900, Ext. 7501 or Ext. 7502.

For those of you stumped on [b]WLD[/b] WLD = Will Leave Drugs So far its practically guaranteed this is about some sort of drug deal. NCBE (18) - No Cash being Exchanged WLD (13) - Will leave drugs PRSE (7) - Please Reserve RCBRN (7), RCBRNSE (6) WLDNCBE (6) - Will leave drugs, no cash being exchanged. MRSE (3) - Must remember safe exit NMRSE (2), NPRSE(2), NCRSE (1), NARSE (1) - No money Reserve, No Price Reserve, No Cash Reserve NMRE (2) - No more reserve SOLE (2) - Sell on leave INC (2) - I need cash I gained this conclusion from the fact it is quite common the lower beings of a drug deal will have a 'Hiding Spot' that they place their product in. At a later date, after a buyer pays cash, they will either tell them or give them an encoded message to the location of the drugs. This prevents quite common robbery of drug dealers. These are all quite obviously acronyms. Probably produced in an extremely ghetto project part of a City. It is just how the business works that would prove this. If my acronyms are correct, it would prove to be an area of town like that sort because drug dealers primarily deliver the product at another date, or location. It is possible that the murderer was so inefficient he dropped a list of acronyms he wrote down. If this was true he is likely one of the pawns in the business.

So he decided to try and be inconspicuous in his drug dealing by MURDERING SOMEONE and putting the message on their body?