Man found dead, Secret Coded Note in pocket

[Pearls]

Unsolved Homicide Mystery regarding the discovery of a dead African American man with mental disabilities . Ricky McCormick was found dead & dumped in a field & the only clue to how he got to the field & why, is a coded note in his pocket that the FBI cannot solve and needs the public's help. Ricky McCormick’s encrypted notes are one of CRRU’s top unsolved cases. “Breaking the code,” said Olson, “could reveal the victim’s whereabouts before his death and could lead to the solution of a homicide. Not every cipher we get arrives at our door under those circumstances.”

This man often in childhood used his own code for notes and story's and such according to his mother and sister, he had a 57-IQ and only rode a bicycle around this sleepy town of which he seldom strayed away from.

Has anyone any updates on this case? Have you seen and worked the code? Any luck with it?

LINK TO CASE DETAILS AND PHOTOS OF NOTE FOUND: http://www.fbi.gov/n...analysis_032911

Edited June 30, 2014 by Pearls

[JGirl]

i remember reading about this a few years back

i have nothing new to add, but i'd be interested in any new developments for sure

[mbrn30000]

The last i heard what the fbi request for new info. I think that is the link you posted. I took a look at it then, but I am not a code person.

[docyabut2]

It seems the note found on him were quotes there are emphasize marks ( - ) around some of the sentences.Its one of the things you learn in school.So in his language or code he made up he was answering some one else.

Edited June 30, 2014 by docyabut2

[Pearls]

It seems the note found on him were quotes there are emphasize marks ( - ) around some of the sentences.

Interesting, thank you for your input. His family is deeply christian. Perhaps Bible quotes?.

[mbrn30000]

It is an interesting case. I think some code breaker would want to solve it.

[bubblykiss]

Cut to the chase, is it or is it not the key to deciphering the Voynich MS?

[docyabut2]

Interesting, thank you for your input. His family is deeply christian. Perhaps Bible quotes?.

As a teenager I remember making a code between us girls in passing notes in school so no one would under stand if the notes were caught ,we put a different letter under each letter of the alphabet. Perhaps this person just made up his own personal code and may be a link to his murder or it had nothing to do with his murder.

[mbrn30000]

Cut to the chase, is it or is it not the key to deciphering the Voynich MS?

No it's unrelated. Do you feel better now?

[mbrn30000]

As a teenager I remember making a code between us girls in passing notes in school so no one would under stand if the notes were caught ,we put a different letter under each letter of the alphabet. Perhaps this person just made up his own personal code and may be a link to his murder or it had nothing to do with his murder.

As i remember, this might be exactly what it was...a personal code. I will need to re read the case, but I think he used codes for some time in his life. His death is not solved, so the FBI wanted help in solving the code. Perhaps it might indicate who he was meeting...or what he was up to.

Edited June 30, 2014 by mbrn30000

[docyabut2]

As i remember, this might be exactly what it was...a personal code. I will need to re read the case, but I think he used codes for some time in his life. His death is not solved, so the FBI wanted help in solving the code. Perhaps it might indicate who he was meeting...or what he was up to.

It would really be hard to do if he did make up his own code.Did they ever find anything in his room or a secret place he would have put the code ?

[JGirl]

didnt the family say he had been making coded notes to himself since he was a child?

in any case he could very well have been writing nothing at all

from what i remember there have been some experts working on it for some time now and can't crack it. they put it out to the public to see if anyone wanted to try their hand at it.

[coolguy]

interesting and its nuts the FBI can't solve this.

[Eldorado]

Maybe it's not a code and merely gibberish. (pretending to take proper notes about important stuff, like he's a cop or a spy, Fantasy role play)

[George Ford]

Maybe it's not a code and merely gibberish. (pretending to take proper notes about important stuff, like he's a cop or a spy, Fantasy role play)

Could be, when I was young I used to try and copy grown-up joined hand writing but mine was just all gibberish. We used to have a code cracker on this forum. He pretty much solved this one http://en.wikipedia....Taman_Shud_Case on a thread here awhile ago.

_EDIT_

I found the link for the Taman Shud case here:- http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=158437&hl=%20taman&st=15

The user that solved it was http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showuser=140861 but he has not been active since last year

Edited June 30, 2014 by bulveye

[George Ford]

Also, there is a wiki page about this case:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_McCormick's_encrypted_notes

and here is a quote from the page;- "McCormick's "family members say they never knew of Ricky to write in code. They say they only told investigators he sometimes jotted down nonsense he called writing, and they seriously question McCormick's capacity to craft the notes found in his pockets." His mother, Frankie Sparks, said "The only thing he could write was his name. ... He didn't write in no code." His father, Charles McCormick, said Ricky "couldn't spell anything, just scribble." It was also noted that although other contents of the victim's pockets were revealed to the family members, they knew nothing about the notes "until the local evening news broadcast a report on the codes" twelve years later."

[George Ford]

Just realized you can read the notes down in columns a bit.

Here someone has had a good go at trying to make sense of it all:- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GEJqZI3F4eMidyHTz6pXLw5D6-_M96UJo4GajaeZ3J8/edit?hl=en

Edited June 30, 2014 by bulveye

[Pearls]

Also, there is a wiki page about this case:- http://en.wikipedia....encrypted_notes

and here is a quote from the page;- "McCormick's "family members say they never knew of Ricky to write in code. They say they only told investigators he sometimes jotted down nonsense he called writing, and they seriously question McCormick's capacity to craft the notes found in his pockets." His mother, Frankie Sparks, said "The only thing he could write was his name. ... He didn't write in no code." His father, Charles McCormick, said Ricky "couldn't spell anything, just scribble." It was also noted that although other contents of the victim's pockets were revealed to the family members, they knew nothing about the notes "until the local evening news broadcast a report on the codes" twelve years later."

I heard this interview long ago. I do not believe this to be the case. The family could be attempting to cover up something that happened to Ricky that they are aware of and withholding or are directly involved somehow in his death. His childhood friends and some people around town that Ricky did yard work and such for said he often talked of the coded notes and how he had done it all his life. His body was dumped in a field 30 miles from his town. He was murdered someplace else according to the FBI.

[docyabut2]

Both articles said

McCormick was a high school dropout, but he was able to read and write and was said to be “street smart.”

If he went to high school he must have known how to write or he would even have gotten that far .

Edited June 30, 2014 by docyabut2

[Skep B]

he had a 57 IQ

thats mildly developmentally challenged

Given that he did time for statuatory rape, I'd imagine a family member of one of the girls he was convicted for probably saw him out one night, offered him a ride, killed him, dumped the body and that was that.

It's probably gibberish, he saw other kids taking notes in his time in school, and being what he was w/ his IQ he was copying them, thinking thats something people do.

He most likely got used to doing it and it became a habit for him to scribble down things like that as possibly a coping mechanism.

[mbrn30000]

he had a 57 IQ

thats mildly developmentally challenged

Given that he did time for statuatory rape, I'd imagine a family member of one of the girls he was convicted for probably saw him out one night, offered him a ride, killed him, dumped the body and that was that.

It's probably gibberish, he saw other kids taking notes in his time in school, and being what he was w/ his IQ he was copying them, thinking thats something people do.

He most likely got used to doing it and it became a habit for him to scribble down things like that as possibly a coping mechanism.

Interesting thought. The only question is, why did the FBI ask for help in 2011? Surely they have more to do than worry about some gibberish...if that is so obvious to you, they should have realized and how did we ever hear about it? I am not saying you are wrong, since I have never heard his IQ. I guess that is in the FBI link. I read it in 2011 and don't remember that. Depending on the scale a 57 is close to feeble minded in the older scales and mentally deficient in the newer ones...I will have to go look into that number. Again though, why would the FBI even be curious about this code, if this was from a moron?

Edited July 1, 2014 by mbrn30000

[Pearls]

he had a 57 IQ

thats mildly developmentally challenged

Given that he did time for statuatory rape, I'd imagine a family member of one of the girls he was convicted for probably saw him out one night, offered him a ride, killed him, dumped the body and that was that.

It's probably gibberish, he saw other kids taking notes in his time in school, and being what he was w/ his IQ he was copying them, thinking thats something people do.

He most likely got used to doing it and it became a habit for him to scribble down things like that as possibly a coping mechanism.

You are victim bashing. It is not relevant to his homicide that he may have had an underage girlfriend in his youth. Unless it pertains to his murder.

Your clearly without conscience if you go around quoting crap like" it's evil to pity the weak. Are you so young that you have not yet learned it is failure more than success that educates & motivates. Gosh, I guess Jesus was just a fool wasting his time then. Spending it all with those weak failures.

[Skep B]

You are victim bashing. It is not relevant to his homicide that he may have had an underage girlfriend in his youth. Unless it pertains to his murder.

Your clearly without conscience if you go around quoting crap like" it's evil to pity the weak. Are you so young that you have not yet learned it is failure more than success that educates & motivates. Gosh, I guess Jesus was just a fool wasting his time then. Spending it all with those weak failures.

I have no comment on my having a conscious and all that, nor am I victim bashing. But, he's dead It's not going to hurt him.

Regardless, my point was that he was a low income, low intelligence black man with a crime that a protective family member would want personal revenge for. It fits a pattern.

Since you want to be jesusy in your condemnation of me, let me point this out "judge not lest ye be judged" Or, more importantly. "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword."

I am not without compassion, but pitying someone only cripples them further.

I'd rather not dillute this thread's conversation with a discussion about my amoral existence personally, If you'd liek to discuss our life views, do feel free to reach me via PM.

The only question is, why did the FBI ask for help in 2011?

Well, that's just it, they asked for help. They didn't spend a whole lot of time trying to solve it because its just not that important on a big scale.

However, if it had turned out to be an actual code, it's a pretty complicated one they might be able to use and modify if it turns out the guy was an savant, while unlikely, it's possible.

Plus, doing something public like this is kind of a "HEY, citizens, help us out, we really care about this." sort of PR move that a government entity like the FBI would concievably pull

[mbrn30000]

Well, that's just it, they asked for help. They didn't spend a whole lot of time trying to solve it because its just not that important on a big scale.

However, if it had turned out to be an actual code, it's a pretty complicated one they might be able to use and modify if it turns out the guy was an savant, while unlikely, it's possible.

Plus, doing something public like this is kind of a "HEY, citizens, help us out, we really care about this." sort of PR move that a government entity like the FBI would concievably pull

Supposedly they ask for help from the NSA and CIA...i hope they would not just waste our resources on a fun exercise...ok it could be PR...I would not be surprised at that. We know how politics is everywhere. I first heard about this when they asked for help in 2011. I am not a conspiracy type, but I have always wondered why they are curious. Could it be he was suspected of being linked to some larger enterprise? Idk....I am not a code guy, so I would be no help. I will have to review the case when I have more time.

[Skep B]

I doubt a poor mentally deficient guy was a part of anything larger, but his mind obviously worked differently, and if it just so happens to have contrived a useful code source, then he might be of some use in a big picture sort of way.

Objectively speaking, i mean. I'm sure he had value to the people who loved him and all that stuff