FBI needs YOU: The McCormick Case

The Game Room
1

Anyone see this?

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2011/march/cryptanalysis_032911/cryptanalysis_032911

Seems the FBI needs some help solving a decade old cold murder case. These notes were found in the pocket of the deceased.

After a cursory review it seems to me the code is in an english-based, gibberish language (like pig-latin) not necessarily your standard, letter substitution code.

I haven’t gotten around to putting them in a word document yet, but that would be a logical first step. Anyone out there got any good ideas?

2

In text, from Wikipedia:

the FBI has given us very little to go on. Aggravating. This is not a technical code, it is necessary to get into the guy’s head. It’s more of a profiling job, than a crypto. What age did it start? What shows/characters did he like? What languages was he exposed to?

3

Thanks for that! I see a couple potential typos, will check it in full this evening.

Agreed, need more info about the creator. His family doesn’t even know the code!

4

This almost seems like a kind of personal shorthand to me. Sort of like license plates, you know? Maybe mixed with some spelling errors of normal words. For example:

WLD RCB RNSE N T SGNENTRSE - CRSLE - CTTRSE WLD NCBE

CRSLE jumped out at me. To me, that says “seriously”. So this sentence could be something like:

wld - world/wild
rcb - receive?
rnse - ???
n - in
t - it/the
sgnentrse - ??signatures??
crsle - seriously
cttrse - ???
wld = world/wild
ncbe - ???

5

D-o-n-t
f-o-r-g-e-t
t-o
d-r-i-n-k
y-o-u-r
o-v-a-l-t-i-n-e?

6

My thought is that the E’s at the end of the words generally aren’t part of the actual word, just indicative of the end of a word, like the suffix in pig latin.

7

(FIRSE PASE ONDE 71 NCBE)
(CDNSE PRSE ONSE 74 NCBE)

If you look at these lines I think what I was talking about was a little more clear.

Firse = first.
Cndse = second.

Apparently “pase onde” likely means the same as “prse onse”. (passes on?)

8

Ovaltine?

A crummy commercial?
Son of a bitch!

9

Those three phrases break down further:

FIRSE PRSE “ON DE” 71 NCBE
CDNSE PRSE “ON S DE” 74 NCBE
PQTSE PRSE “ON RE DE” 75 NCBE

10

99.84.8 2 UNE PLSE
I looked this up and it came to a number of French Sites, one of which listed the smallpox vaccine. Not sure if it has anything to do with it or not.

11

FLRSEPRSEONDE (13 letters) 71 NCBE
CDNSEPRSEONSEE (14 letters) 74 NCBE
PRTSEPRSEONREDE (15 letters) 75 NCBE

adding the 13 plus the 71 … 84?
88?
90?

Funny how we are all working the same part of this???

12

WLD is more likely “would” not world or wild.

13

Ahhh, Haha I got it, It’s so obvious now.
I gotta go to bed now, but I’ll just jot ta reminder down in the margin of this notebook.

14

when I looked up 99. 84. 8 2 it came up mason county washington code of ordinances title 8 enviromental policy sepa & agency decisions ? I think we are missing alot of information about ricky mccormick , would be nice to know where he worked , where he was born ya know

15

[quote=“TruCelt, post:2, topic:576552”]

In text, from Wikipedia:

I see several characters different. Interesting how different people see different things.

16

Remember, you have to think as though you are living in 1999. Think of just the things that existed in that time period.

17

Have we confirmed that this is indeed his own handwritting?

PRSE
LSE
WLD
NCBE

Are used over and over again.

No letter in English utilizes an accento like above the N on the second line. I am thinking he is vacilating back and forth between his own version of Spanish and English shorthand with all of the PRSE and LSE language. On another note the NCBE could be New City Block and the E is a wasted letter like someone else said. I think the WLDNCB meens would not call back. The second line from the bottom on page one is instructions for him from someone else that he could be murdered and that his contact would not call back. The TRFXL7 seems like a plate. The FBI could not be so stupid as to not follow it so that has to have been tried already.

18

651 MTCSE HTLSE N CU TC TRS NMRE

651 MTCSE - 651 Mitshbishi
HTLSE N C - Hot license
HTLSE N C - hustling
UTC TRS - UTC trains
NMORE - No more

19

From what the web page says, the code seems very unlikely to be at all related to the murder. Sp this is really the FBI issuing a game challenge.

OTOH, if I solve it, maybe they’ll offer me a job.

I wonder if this was looked at by the NSA or CIA?

20

Where’s Biotop when you need him?