# FBI needs YOU: The McCormick Case
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [March 30, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552 "2011-03-30T20:09:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/21 "2011-03-31T10:57:39Z")
How odd that he does not have any obvious dates or use of standard notation for money. Perhaps those are a list of addresses?
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### Author:  [@bls5782](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bls5782)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/22 "2011-03-31T15:26:09Z")
The wiki file says that he has used cryptic notes like this since he was a kid.
It looks like a crude shorthand that he created, perhaps as a child and it has developed with him. If there were a _code_ to break it I think the FBI would have discovered that.
If we had some very early childhood notes it would probably help to get into his head to figure out what he was saying.
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### Author:  [@summerjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerjack)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/23 "2011-03-31T15:40:44Z")
Someone pulled the text versions off of the Wiki page. Odd. Has anyone looked up this case yet to find the actual police records on it?
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### Author:  [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/24 "2011-03-31T15:41:58Z")
Might require a helpful dream about now.
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### Author:  [@summerjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerjack)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/25 "2011-03-31T15:51:44Z")
> [@summerjack](#):
>
> Someone pulled the text versions off of the Wiki page. Odd. Has anyone looked up this case yet to find the actual police records on it?
Well, I found this:
[http://www.stltoday.com/news/article\_bcc02074-5b1a-11e0-b199-0017a4a78c22.html](http://www.stltoday.com/news/article_bcc02074-5b1a-11e0-b199-0017a4a78c22.html)
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/26 "2011-03-31T16:39:49Z")
The secret is to reverse the notes.
> [@](#):
>
> Note 2 text:
> ALPNTE GLSE-SE ERTE
> YLSE MTSE-CSTE-WSE-FRTSE
> PURTRSE ONDRSE WLD NCBE
> N WLD XLR CMS? NE WLD STS ME XL
>
> DULMT 6 TUNSE NCBEXC
>
> (MuNSA I STENMU NARSE)
> KLSE-LRSTE-TR SE-TRSE-MKSE N-MRSE
> (FREENSE SE N MRSE)
>
> NMN RCBX NSE PTE 2 PTE WSRC BREXE
> 36 MLSE 74 SPRKSE 29 KENOS OLE + 73 RTRSE
> 35 SLE CLGSE OUNNTXF DKRSE PSESHLE
> 65 **1** MTCSE HTLSE N CU TC TRS NMRE
> 99.8 **4**.8 2 UNE PLSE VCRSE AOLTSE NS **K** SE N SE
>
> NSRE **O** NSB PUT SE WLD NCBE (3 XARL)
> ?NTOSE NRSE I N 2 N TRLERCB ANSE NTSRCR O NE
> ASPUSE N G-SPSE MSKE R 8 SE NEBE AU XL R
> HM CRENMRE ECBE 1/2 MUNDDLSE
>
> D-W\_M-Y MIL XDRLX
> (MND NXNE A RSE-N-SPA UN ARE) (AL **F** MN)
> TFRNE N8TNSE N **G** BSE RCBBNSE NPRSE **IN** C
> PRSE NMRSE 8PRE-WLD ENLDUCBE (TFXLF TCXLN CBE)
> **A** L-PRPPIT XLY PPIY NCBE MGKSE WLD RCBE NSE PRSE
> WLD RCB RNSE N T SGNENTRSE - CRSLE - CTTRSE WLD NCBE
> AL WLD NCRETEME LRSE RLSE-R GLSNE AS N WLD NCBE
> (NDP **F** SE NLSRE NCDG) NTE GDDMNSEN CUREREBRNE
> (TENE TFRNE NCRQ TSE NCBE ING)
> (FIRSE **P** ASE ONDE 71 NCBE)
> (C **D** NSE PRSE ONSE 74 NCBE)
> (PRTSG TRSE ON REDE 75 NCBE)
> (TF NACMSP SOLE MRDE LUSE TOTE WLD. WLD NCBE)
> (194 WLD’s NCBE) (TRFXL)
There.
I think I solved it.
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### Author:  [@nellienel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nellienel)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/27 "2011-03-31T16:55:40Z")
I think you need to take the Es out of the code…All Es are at the end of set of letters.
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### Author:  [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/28 "2011-03-31T16:56:55Z")
Hmmm…
Why no "Z"s or "J"s?
Only one “Q”.
And yet plenty of "X"s.
Hmmm…
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### Author:  [@Doctor\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Who)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/29 "2011-03-31T16:56:58Z")
I say we solve it, but hold out on giving the feds the answer. At least until they solve 14 k of g in a f p d for us. 😛
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### Author:  [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/30 "2011-03-31T17:31:12Z")
> [@fluiddruid](#):
>
> CTTRSE WLD NCBE
“Cutters would be nice”.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/31 "2011-03-31T17:43:07Z")
> [@bls5782](#):
>
> The wiki file says that he has used cryptic notes like this since he was a kid.
>
> It looks like a crude shorthand that he created, perhaps as a child and it has developed with him. If there were a _code_ to break it I think the FBI would have discovered that.
>
> If we had some very early childhood notes it would probably help to get into his head to figure out what he was saying.
I saw that, and I found it interesting that the FBI says it doesn’t have any more samples of the code. Maybe the guy was kinda paranoid and routinely destroyed his notes, or some family member tossed them all out in a cleanup before anyone realized they might be important.
Or… the killer sanitized his house, which might make more sense if he hadn’t also left the notes in the victim’s pockets.
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### Author:  [@Warezchino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Warezchino)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/32 "2011-03-31T17:48:23Z")
Hello there:
first things, I want to apologize because my English is too broken, but I want to try to help, I’m a Spanish native speaker, but I will try to do my best.
In the first message, the first line the fifth character is not an “A” it’s an strange symbol, I’m not sure about, but, it looks like a tombstone (I’m watching the original message, not the WORD document).
(MND NXNE [+] RSE-N-SPA UN ARE) (ALFMN)
Because I’m still watching the same message, the first word looks like “MAD” not “MND”
also, must to be “MVNE” instead of “NXNE”, you must to observe how the first “M” in “MAD” it’s pretty similar than the second in “NXNE”
We can read something like "MAD MUNE [+] ??? but definitely there is a “P” hidden behind the (ALFMN), (PALFMN) and there is not an “F” but “S”, and a “S” instead the last “N”
we can read (PALSMS)= (PSALMS) it’s that right?
(MAD MUNE [+] PS (-J-S-PA UN ARE) (PSALMS)… PS instead PE.
Furthermore, I can see a pattern with the word “ELSE” starting from the sixth line and jumping between words to connect the word.
The word “NSE” is very constant in the first text; I can read something like:
This fucking right nigga (E?)
TFRNE
N8 or Nathan=Nate=night, (E?)
TNS (TNS is an acroynm for Typical Nigger Syndrome) (E?)
I think that:
WLD = WORLD
CBE = Can Be
NCBE = Not Can Be
NPBSE RCBBNSE NPRSE INC
PRSE NMRSE 8PRE-WLD ENLDUCBE (TFXLF TCXLN CBE)
AL-PRPPIT XLY PPIY NCBE MGKSE WLD RCBE NSE PRSE
WLD RCB RNSE N T SGNENTRSE - CRSLE - CTTRSE WLD NCBE
AL WLD NCRETEM **E L** R **S\*\*\*\*E** R **LSE** -R GLSNE AS N WLD NCBE
(NDPFSE NLSRE NCDG) NTE GDDMNSEN CUREREBRNE
TS=totally sweet (E for end?)
TEN= Teenager
(TENE TFRNE NCRQ T **SE** NCBE ING)
(FIRSE PASE ONDE 71 NCBE)
(CDNSE PRSE ONSE 74 NCBE)
(PRTSG TRSE ON REDE 75 NCBE)
TF= The fuck
TF also can be = The fucking North American Carry Many Single Pistol
MRDE=Murder
LUSE= Lose
TOTE= to carry a weapon?
WLD=World
(TF NACMSP SOLE MRDE LUSE TOTE WLD. WLD NCBE)
(194? World’s Not can be maybe something in relationship with the WWII, but in the image this looks more like this symbol \< than (
(194 WLD’s NCBE) (TRFXL)
Until here my collaboration, I hope could be useful for somebody but I didn’t want to be or sound like racist or stupid person, my deeply apologies, I don’t want to hurt somebody feelings. Peace
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### Author:  [@bls5782](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bls5782)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/33 "2011-03-31T17:49:58Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> I saw that, and I found it interesting that the FBI says it doesn’t have any more samples of the code. Maybe the guy was kinda paranoid and routinely destroyed his notes, or some family member tossed them all out in a cleanup before anyone realized they might be important.
>
> Or… the killer sanitized his house, which might make more sense if he hadn’t also left the notes in the victim’s pockets.
If my son started to create strange cryptic notes I would definately take a few aside to store them for him later in life.
The parents have got to have some old notes.
And unless he was a loaner kid he probably had a friend that he shared the _code_ with.
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### Author:  [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/34 "2011-03-31T17:53:02Z")
> [@Biotop](#):
>
> Might require a helpful dream about now.
Did you have the same backwards-talking dream with the dancing midget?
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### Author:  [@potaco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/potaco)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/35 "2011-03-31T17:54:41Z")
MRSE could be “mercy” or “merci”
TRSE could be “truce”
PRSE could be “purse”
WLD looks like “would” fits in a lot of places
The NCBEs and XL®s are interesting.
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### Author:  [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/36 "2011-03-31T18:06:41Z")
We need much more information about the victim. If we had some idea of what types of things he might encode, we could try to work it backwards. “Street Smart” isn’t very helpful.
It’s interesting to try and speculate why the individual would choose to write something in code in the first place. It seems he was writing this code for himself…which is a much different animal than writing a code for someone else. Why write a code for yourself? It’s almost as puzzling a question as the code.
Might there be some book that McCormick was fond of…or perhaps some other element of culture that could be used as a key for the code? It would be interesting to see the FBI file indeed!
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### Author:  [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/37 "2011-03-31T18:26:19Z")
He sounds sadly neglected as a kid. I think “He was street smart” might have been their excusing themselves for not caring better for him.
Update on tips received:
> **[FBI Flooded With Tips on Encrypted Notes From 1999 Murder Mystery](https://www.foxnews.com/us/fbi-flooded-with-tips-on-encrypted-notes-from-1999-murder-mystery)**
>
> Two days after soliciting the public's help in deciphering two coded notes found in the pocket of a Missouri man believed to have been killed 12 years ago, FBI officials are being inundated with potential clues, FoxNews.com has learned.
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/38 "2011-03-31T18:26:45Z")
What I would want to know about the victim:
1. At what age did he start writing these cryptic notes to himself? In all likelihood he used the same system throughout his life, with some refinements as he got older. The older he was when he started the code, the more complex it might have been at the start.
2. What sorts of things was he interested at the time he started writing in this code? Did he start studying a new language at school…for that matter, did he ever? Then the code might be more linguistically based. Was he interested in spy capers and the like? Then a cryptographic code might be expected.
3. What did he use these notes for? Did he expect others to find them, or did he use them as a kind of shorthand?
My best guess, looking at the notes and reading the meager details about the case, is that the victim was a somewhat paranoid guy who created secret worlds for himself. When I first saw the notes yesterday I thought the code might be linguistically based, because there were letter pairs (especially SE, TE, and RE) that appeared in a way that seemed to indicate tense or other grammar. But now that I’ve read a little bit more about the victim, I think those letter pairs might be a sort of filler text to throw off somebody who found the note.
Not that this means the note means anything…actually I don’t think it does. I have a hunch the note is more like a mental checklist than a “meet the killer here” letter.
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### Author:  [@summerjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/summerjack)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/39 "2011-03-31T18:29:44Z")
A lot of this case doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. How is it possible that this guy has two notes on him when he dies, and his family said he has done this since he was a child (for about 30 years!) and there isn’t a single other example? This guy wasn’t married, had at least 3 known addresses and 4 kids. It doesn’t seem possible that these are the only two notes of their kind.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2011, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fbi-needs-you-the-mccormick-case/576552/40 "2011-03-31T18:38:35Z")
Since this story broke, searching Ricky McCormick brings up pages of links to yesterdays reports. When I looked yesterday I found a link to a news report from the time that questioned whether there was a crime at all since he suffered from heart disease.
As someone already pointed out, this looks more like a personal shorthand than a letter based code. xxspudsmomxx may be on to something with the car references.
I’m not surprised that nobody kept notes that looked like gibberish. Why would anybody but the victim bother to save any?
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