Calling all code-breakers! FBI asks for help in solving murder of man who had mysterious encrypted notes in his pocket







It's a murder mystery that has stumped some of the world's finest crime-fighting brains - a case of a grisly death that hangs on two scraps of paper with an unintelligable yet fairly neat series of letters.

But the FBI has put out a fresh appeal in the hope that a new generation of amateur online sleuths and code-crackers can help solve the 1999 murder case that went cold.

Ricky McCormick, who was murdered and dumped in a field in St. Louis, Missouri, had two encrypted notes stuffed in his pockets when police found the body.

Mystery: Some of the best code-breakers in the world have been stumped by the notes found in the pockets of murder victim Ricky McCormick. Now the FBI is asking amateur code-breakers to help

Secret notes: Murder victim Ricky McCormick, 41 The notes contain more than 30 lines of coded material, using a variety of letters, numbers, dashes and parentheses. Dan Olson, chief of the Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), said: 'We are really good at what we do, but we could use some help with this one ... Maybe someone with a fresh set of eyes might come up with a brilliant new idea. He said several CRRU examiners who are experts at breaking codes have been stumped over the years and have applied a variety of analytical techniques in their research. McCormick was described as a 'street smart' high school drop-out, who could read and write.

His family said at the time that he had used such encrypted notes since he was a boy, but none of his friends or relatives could decipher the code. The FBI said on Wednesday: 'Despite extensive work by our Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), as well as help from the American Cryptogram Association, the meanings of those two coded notes remain a mystery to this day. Page two: Second note found in Ricky McCormick's pocket. But is it gibberish or could it really help the solve the grisly riddle of his death?

Investigators believe the notes were written up to three days prior to his death.

Mr Olson added: 'Breaking the code 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.

'Standard routes of cryptanalysis seem to have hit brick walls.

Mr Olson said: 'Even if we found out that he was writing a grocery list or a love letter, we would still want to see how the code is solved.

'This is a cipher system we know nothing about.'

The FBI is hoping that the active online community of code-breakers who solve ciphers for fun may be able to help.