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📍 Case Summary
• Name: Ricky McCormick
• Date Found: June 30, 1999
• Location: A field in St. Charles County, Missouri, USA
• Age at Death: 41
• Cause of Death: Undetermined (body too decomposed)
• Main Mystery: Two encrypted notes found in his pockets — never decoded, even by the FBI
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🧍 Who Was Ricky McCormick?
At first glance, Ricky McCormick didn’t seem like someone who’d become the center of a cryptographic mystery that would stump the FBI for decades. Born in 1958, McCormick was a lifelong resident of the St. Louis area. He had a troubled life—marked by poverty, chronic health problems, and brushes with the law—but nothing in his history suggested international intrigue or genius-level code-breaking.
By most accounts, Ricky was quiet and reclusive. He dropped out of high school in the early grades and was reportedly “functionally illiterate,” though friends and family said he often scribbled strange notes and phrases to himself—seemingly part of a personal code or mental shorthand. He worked a series of low-wage jobs, including at a gas station near his home, and was known to carry around small notebooks filled with unusual jottings. Those close to him thought little of it at the time.
He also suffered from serious medical issues, including heart and lung conditions, and had been receiving disability benefits. In the weeks before his death, McCormick had reportedly visited the emergency room and was in poor physical health. He was not married but had fathered at least four children and maintained some connections with extended family, though he often disappeared for stretches of time.
Importantly, McCormick had a criminal record that included time served for statutory rape. Law enforcement suggested he may have had ties—at least peripherally—to drug activity, possibly acting as a go-between or runner for local dealers. Yet nothing in his profile prepared investigators for what they’d discover after his body was found in a field in June 1999.
The two encrypted notes in his pockets transformed Ricky McCormick from a marginalized man who lived in the shadows into the central figure in one of America’s most enduring unsolved mysteries.
🔐 The Notes That Baffled the FBI
When investigators examined Ricky McCormick’s body in June 1999, they found two handwritten notes in the front pocket of his pants. At first glance, the documents seemed like incoherent gibberish—strings of seemingly random letters, numbers, and symbols. But law enforcement quickly realized they might be more than just nonsense. These were potential ciphers, and they might contain clues to McCormick’s death.
The notes, written on two sheets of lined paper, totaled more than 30 lines and were composed of cryptic blocks like:
PRSE – 29 P 74 4 NALFX LWPAIBE 7T NUREXLT
NSEW LDNCBE NWLD XLDD QCTO QTRU TNCBE
Some words and character groupings repeated across both documents, suggesting the use of a consistent, rule-based cipher system. The notes were turned over to the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), an elite team tasked with breaking coded messages used by criminals and terrorists. For nearly 12 years, the notes remained classified as part of an active investigation.
🚨 A Rare Public Appeal
In 2011, after exhausting all leads, the FBI made an unusual move: they released the encrypted notes to the public in the hope that amateur code breakers might succeed where professionals had failed. This was highly uncharacteristic for the bureau. The case became widely known when the FBI published the documents on their website under the title:
“Help Solve an Open Murder Case”
They also quoted CRRU’s top cryptanalyst saying:
“We are really good at what we do, but we could use some help with this one.”
This plea sparked international interest from puzzle solvers, code enthusiasts, and linguists.
Why the Notes Are So Difficult to Crack
Despite thousands of attempts, no one has been able to definitively decipher the notes. Several reasons make them unusually difficult:
No Key or Context: Traditional ciphers often rely on having a known context, like a language, a subject, or a source text. In McCormick’s case, there’s none.
Possible Use of a Personal Code: McCormick reportedly had a habit of scribbling in his own form of shorthand or wordplay. If the notes were based on a code known only to him, even the most advanced supercomputers might not help.
Mixed Elements: The inclusion of numbers, repeated phrases, and inconsistent spacing has led analysts to consider that the cipher could be a blend of multiple encoding methods.
Mental Health Factor: Some speculate the notes may reflect symptoms of mental illness—possibly disordered thinking or schizophrenia—raising the possibility that the writing has no coherent solution.
📝 Not Just Gibberish
Despite the difficulties, experts remain convinced that the notes follow some internal logic. The repetition of letter groupings, the structured formatting, and the distribution of characters suggest intentional construction rather than random doodling. The FBI has gone on record stating that if the meaning of the notes could be determined, it might offer critical insight into McCormick’s final movements—or even his killer.
Cryptographers from organizations like the American Cryptogram Association have spent years analyzing the frequency patterns and formatting. Still, no viable solution has been accepted by the FBI as legitimate.
Delayed Disclosure Raises Eyebrows
One of the more controversial elements of this mystery is the 12-year delay between the discovery of the notes and their release to the public. McCormick's family claims they were never told about the notes until the FBI asked for help in 2011. Some theorists believe this could imply deeper intelligence or criminal involvement—perhaps that the notes reference illicit activity the bureau wasn’t prepared to disclose.
It also raises a bigger question: Were the notes even meant to be discovered? Or were they planted—either by McCormick’s killer or someone else trying to send a message?
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🔍 Theories
Homemade Code: A personal shorthand system Ricky used — possibly known only to him
Drug Involvement: Ricky may have been acting as a drug courier or informant, and the code could contain instructions
Mental Health Hypothesis: The notes may be the product of disordered thinking, rather than an intentional code
Third Party Involvement: Some theorize someone else wrote the notes — possibly related to his death
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❗ Key Questions That Remain
• Who (if anyone) killed Ricky McCormick?
• What do the notes actually mean?
• Why were they never mentioned publicly until 12 years after his death?
• Was he truly the author of the notes?
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📚 Why This Case Matters
• Still unsolved over two decades later
• One of the only unsolved murder-related code cases in FBI history
• Highlights the limits of modern cryptanalysis when a cipher has no known context
• Continues to fuel true crime podcasts, Reddit threads, and amateur investigations
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🔗 Further Reading & Resources
• FBI Official Case Page (still live)
• Articles from NPR, Wired, and Cold Case archives
• YouTube channels like Buzzfeed Unsolved and That Chapter have covered it in detail
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💬 “Breaking someone’s personal code is like trying to unlock a door with no idea what the lock looks like — or even if it’s really a lock.” – Cryptanalyst
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Timeline:
June 14, 1958
🎂 Ricky McCormick is born in St. Louis, Missouri.
June 22–25, 1999
🏥 McCormick visits emergency rooms twice, complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath.
June 30, 1999
🕵️♂️ McCormick's decomposed body is discovered in a cornfield near West Alton, Missouri. Two encrypted notes are found in his pockets.
July 2, 1999
📰 Local media report on the discovery of McCormick's body, noting the mysterious circumstances.
July 6, 1999
🧬 Fingerprints confirm the identity of the body as Ricky McCormick. No cause of death is determined.
March 29, 2011
🧩 The FBI publicly releases images of the encrypted notes, seeking assistance from the public to decode them.
March 31, 2011
🌐 The FBI reports receiving an outpouring of responses and establishes a dedicated page for public input on the case.
2012
🗣️ McCormick's family expresses skepticism about his ability to create such complex codes, stating he was barely literate.
Present Day
❓ Despite extensive efforts by professional and amateur cryptanalysts, the notes remain undeciphered, and McCormick's death is unsolved.
