FBI needs YOU: The McCormick Case

The Game Room
61

Ok
For those who are “Positional People” – and we know who we are don’t ME – Here are two of the P1 messages in a positional format. The first is an attempt to capture alignment. The second is purely positional. I have used an @ for any illegible characters and given this my best guess at questionable chars. Since I am not sure if Code tags are allowed here I just pasted from a text editor so I am aware this may not appear correctly aligned here but should align correctly when pasted into your fave text editor.

The row column numbering should help with the discussion of letter interpretation.

My wife says I am spending too much time on this and not enough on her…well with her…ok on her… so I could only get the P1 message done. Will try to take on the other message after taking on the wife.

p.s. The spaces between characters will facilitate the import of the data in to your fave spreadsheet too. Just tell it the data is space delimited. And Yes I am a C coder hence the beginning index being 0. :wink:

Message P1 - Grid 1 (Positional with alignment)
| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4
| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
0| _ _ ( M N D M K N E A P S E - A - S M K N A R E ) _ _ _ _ _ ( A L S M N )
1| @ T F R N E N P T N S E N P B S E R C B B N S E N P R S E 1 N C
2| P R S E N M R S E @ P R E H L D W L D N C B E ( T F X L F T C X L N C B E )
3| A L - P R P P I T X L Y P P I Y N C B E M G K S E W L D R C B R N S E P R S E
4_| W L D R C B R N S E N T S G N E N T X S E - C R S L E - C L T R S E W L D N C B E
5_| A L N L P N C B E T S M E L R S E R L S E @ R G L S N E A S N W L D N C B E
6_| ( N O P F S E N L S R E N C B E ) N T E G D D M N S E N C U R E R C B R N E
7_| _ _ _ _ _ ( T E N E T F R N E N C B R T S E N C B E I N G )
8_| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( F i R S E P R S E O N D E 7 1 N C B E )
9_| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( C D N S E P R S E O N S @ E 7 4 N C B E )
10| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( P R t S E P R S E O N R E D E 7 5 N C B E )
11| ( T F N a C M S P S O L E M R D E L U S E T O T E W L D N W L D N C B E )
12| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ( 1 9 4 W L D ’ S N C B E ) ( T R F X L )
Message P1 - Grid 2 (Positional no alignment)
| _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 4
| 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
0| ( M N D M K N E A P S E - A - S M K N A R E ) ( A L S M N )
1| @ T F R N E N P T N S E N P B S E R C B B N S E N P R S E 1 N C
2| P R S E N M R S E @ P R E H L D W L D N C B E ( T F X L F T C X L N C B E )
3| A L - P R P P I T X L Y P P I Y N C B E M G K S E W L D R C B R N S E P R S E
4| W L D R C B R N S E N T S G N E N T X S E - C R S L E - C L T R S E W L D N C B E
5_| A L N L P N C B E T S M E L R S E R L S E @ R G L S N E A S N W L D N C B E
6_| ( N O P F S E N L S R E N C B E ) N T E G D D M N S E N C U R E R C B R N E
7_| ( T E N E T F R N E N C B R T S E N C B E I N G )
8_| ( F i R S E P R S E O N D E 7 1 N C B E )
9_| ( C D N S E P R S E O N S @ E 7 4 N C B E )
10| ( P R t S E P R S E O N R E D E 7 5 N C B E )
11| ( T F N a C M S P S O L E M R D E L U S E T O T E W L D N W L D N C B E )
12| ( 1 9 4 W L D ’ S N C B E ) ( T R F X L )

62

Here are some repeated sections:

TFRNE
SE
PRSE
NCBE
RNSE
TRSE
WLDN (wouldnt?)
WLD (would?)

It also looks as if it is grouped into 4 character segments for the most part.

63

8 First Person
9 Second Person
10 Third Person

64

Oops just noticed the 2, 3, and 4, are off by one space.
:smack:

65

I have an answer to that…he’s writing it for the same reason I’m writing my diary in a code…It’s because I don’t want anybody I know (my family for starters) to read it, but a person who is REALLY interested in what I had to say…My family would draw wrong conclusions from the things I wrote down,but the person that tries so hard to decipher the same,would also have a brain to stop and think why I wrote the things I wrote :slight_smile: That person would want to help…
It drags one another :wink:

Also,you seem to not pay attention to the original note,but only look at Word example that is full of flaws…for instance…did you notice that he writes certain letters smaller than others? It keeps repeating troughout the notes…also, he keeps writing letter m in small caps…

A true question for FBI would be: who drew those lines around text pieces with obvious intention to make a sense of it?
a) Did the victim did it? If so, he was obviously aware that the notes will be found,so he tried to help the person who would decipher it.
b) Did the police/FBI did it while trying to solve it? I doubt because it would be considered tampering with the evidence…
c) Did the killer did it? What would be his motive?

My guess is a)
Why?
I always look at things from my perspective (duh) what if I were him…When I write a lot of things on one sheet of paper,like a lot of reminders,but in a time seperated sequence, I tend to separate 'em with lines,just to not confuse myself…especially if I have an intention to rewrite them later somewhere ‘safe’ (read diary)
I heard once that there is a whole branch of experts that specialize in research of texts and can detect when was something written, was person under stress at the time, was a certain part written before,or later…I’m surprised they didn’t check notes in that way…that would certainly help a lot.

Also, part with numbers** 99.84.8 2** could be a map location (latitude and longitude)

Hmm…just googled one part,and found this–>http://www.castigliola.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=123&Itemid=1
It seems somebody solved it, and it actually sounds reasonable…

66

These are Test Scores

67

Must have been Spring Semester… Started off strong, but like the rest of us, began to wain as a heavy case of Spring Fever set in. :wink:

68

It seems he was keeping track of his seizure episodes and medications he was taking by noting only first of the letters in words…

69

Interesting…I noticed the NCBE last night when web crawling.

This is taken from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2825368/
and deals with neuropsychopharmaca:

So was he epileptic?

Anyone found a Coroners report or Autopsy Summary on his death. I know they don’t release details but usually generic cause of death.

If the answer has already be posted, I plead lazy and I am ready to be flogged…

70

r=are, se-n=seeing, un are=unaware
(MND NXNE A RSE-N-SPA UN ARE) (ALFMN)

r=are, ne=any
TFRNE N8TNSE NPBSE RCBBNSE NPRSE INC

se=see, nm=no more pre-wld=pre world or wld=would
PRSE NMRSE 8PRE-WLD ENLDUCBE (TFXLF TCXL NCBE)

al=all, rppit=rip it, x=across, wld=would, nse=not see, prse=person
AL-PRPPIT XLY PPIY NCBE MGKSE WLD RCBE NSE PRSE

wld=would, rnse=rinse, n=in, t=the sgnen=second
WLD RCB RNSE N T SGNENTRSE - CRSLE - CTTRSE WLD NCBE

al=all, wld=would, n=not, c=see, rlse=or else, ur=your, as=as, n=in
AL WLD NCRETEME LRSE RLSE UR GLSNE AS N WLD NCBE

ndpfse=no difference, n=in “nlsre and ncdg”<----(a possible hint to his code, if u figure out nlsre or ncdg u will have the alternate word)gddmnsen=god damn sense
(NDPFSE NLSRE NCDG) NTE GDDMNSEN CUREREBRNE

t=to, se=see
(TENE TFRNE NCRQ TSE NCBE ING)

firse=first, pase=pass, on=on, de=the,
(FIRSE PASE ONDE 71 NCBE)

cdn=second, se=see, prse=person, on=on, de=the
(CDNSE PRSE ONSDE 74 NCBE)

prt=partly, se=see, t=third, prse=person, on=on
(PRTSE TRSE ON REDE 75 NCBE)

mrde=murder, luse=loose, to=to, te=the, wld=world
(TF NACMSP SOLE MRDE LUSE TOTE WLD. WLD NCBE)

wld=would
(194 WLD’s NCBE) (TRFXL)

71

one thing to keep in mind about languages, the most complex languages are the ones that are learned by people born into them, languages like english/french/whatever that have a long history of new learners tend to get simpler over time.

this could be a super complex code since he was never going to teach it to anyone else.

72

They killed Ricky?!

You bastards!

73

The FBI doesn’t want to give too many clues out lest a cold case become even colder. However, the following things are almost absolutely necessary to know in order to crack the code:
[ul]
[li]What he did for a living[/li][li]Any cell phone records[/li][li]If he was planning on making any big-ticket purchases[/li][li]The nature of any mental illnesses he may have had (especially paranoia and/or OCD)[/li][li]If he had any known enemies[/li][li]His hobbies[/li][li]Places and establishments he was known to frequent[/li][li]If he was dyslexic or dysgraphic[/li][/ul]
Pretty much all of these could be answered by the family (except maybe his enemies).

In any event, in my speculation:
[ul]
[li]The parentheses separate distinct thoughts or ideas.[/li][li]I think that he took the vowels out of words he didn’t have a specific code for. I think |SGNENTRSE| is “signature” and |GDDMNSEN| is “goddamn”. |EN| is added to both of these, probably as meaningless text to confuse a reader. |SE| also appears, but shows up at the end of a lot of the words… it probably means something… I’m thinking it’s self-referential, like “I” or “my”.[/li][li]The line |WLD RCB RNSE N T SGNENTRSE - CRSLE - CTTRSE WLD NCBE| is particularly interesting to me. |WLD| isn’t “would”, “world”, or “wild”… he uses it far too often to have just taken the vowels out of it. “Went” or “want” seems more likely. |NCBE| appears a lot with |WLD|, so I’m thinking it’s “went home” or want to go home". [/li]
I think the line says, “Went/want [somewhere/someone] to [do something], they needed my signature - seriously - [something] and went home/want to go home.”

|RNSE| only appears once in both notes, so whatever he was doing, it was very infrequent or only once.

Directions or prices? Buying something for the house? |TRFXL| and |TFXLF TCXLN CBE| from earlier in the note seem to be similar thoughts.[/ul]

The second note’s even more difficult. I’ll take a look at it later on.

74

This is easy.
These are Microsoft product codes.
I successfully registered Windows 7 Ultimate with
YLSE-MTSE-CTSE-WSE-FRTSE

75

Sorry.
It is April 1st here!

76

Just my thoughts. First the guy was a high school drop out, so I wouldn’t expect him to be a Rhodes Scholar. Secondly, it appears that note one is refering to directions to NCBE, which appears to be National City Bank of Evanston, because the route from St. Louis to Evanston includes driving on I-94, not 194. Note 2 seems to refer to directions, possibly to Sparks, Nevada and Hwy 395. I say this because possibly the reference to WLD that he uses so often means Win, Lose or Draw, which is a Nevada casino term.

Just a couple of thoughts.

77

My theory on these notes are that they are indeed written in a form of shorthand, and people like US_SOLDIER may be onto something with how Ricky McCormick may have read them.

Not so much on this forum, but others have asked “where there even computers than?” and I don’t know if they’re joking or not. 1999 was the year before the Y2K scare and was still in the height of computer sales, people signing up for the Internet and AOL, ect…

The reason that I bring up the computers is that on another forum someone referred that the last circled bit on the “NOTES” page “D-W-M-Y MIL XDRLX” (as is the common interpretation as I’ve seen) the “XDRLX” could possibly be chat room type for XD = smiling/grinning and RLX = relax. This got me thinking about my old chat room days and I remember seeing ASL (Age, Sex, Location) all of the time. So what if “D-W-M-Y MIL” is really “D-W-M 14 1986” and possibly stood for Date-White(race,or With)-Male 14 (age) 1986 (when he was told the person was born, I got 13 doing it in my head but allot of kids tend to say they’re a year older even if it’s a day past their birthday) or something similar. With the fact that almost everyone agrees that there seems to be directions or at-least an address in the notes, I’m thinking these could be notes from a chat session setting up a meeting and possibly describing what he/they intended to do at or after this meeting.

Another forum had posted (I couldn’t register there so I chose here instead) a list of possible convictions that showed up for Ricky McCormick in the St. Louis area and it included statutory rape of someone under 14 years of age in 1992 I believe (MO - MO - Ricky McCormick, 41, St Louis, 30 June 1999 | Page 10 | Websleuths for reference). So he does have a history of sexual assault on minors, this help leads me to think there is a chance his death and the “awkward” place his body was recovered could possibly have been caused from him meeting another predator at this location, the kids family caught him while at the location, or possibly a disagreement with an accomplice. The bad thing about this theory is even if the notes are deciphered and identifiable information (screen name, ect…), there’s little if no chance of recovering the logs used during the chat sessions.

78

Side note: I’m a high school drop out, granted I took my GED after a few years of dropping out, I’m certified with various CompTIA, MCTS, and CWNP certifications. Granted from the picture I saw of him he didn’t look like the brightest person, it looked like a mug shot and from personal experience no one looks good in mug shots. That said, I think people are looking WAY too much into this high school drop out stuff… If anything don’t say high school drop out means he’s stupid, but the fact it seems he may have spent time in a mental facility or something along those lines to judge his mental ability (there’s been more than a few high school or college drop outs that became millionaires or shined in professions that requires thinking.

Sorry about the new post, I exceeded the time limit alloted to make edits to a post in my original post but felt this should be said.

79

I agree with you, him being a high school dropout is really irrelevant,it only means he was doing smth else with that time,and skipped too much classes…
It has got nothing to do with his intelligence.

80

Disregarding the final Es, here are some guesses:

TFRNE N8TNSE - to foreign nation’s

PRPPIT XLY - property actually

MGKSE - making case

SGNENTRSE - signatures

GDDMNSEN - goddamn

CUREREBRNE - cure reborn? curare?

NCRQ - and see our cue

(TRFXL) - try fax letter

TF NACMSP - try for national CMSP

SOLE MRDE - sole murder

ALPNTE GLSE - Alpine, Global Locating System

YLSE MTSE - why else mountains

CSTE-WSE-FRTSE - central standard time, western standard, fronts

aaaaaand, ADHD takes over. That’s all I got.