Help The FBI Crack The Code, Solve A Murder:

Ricky McCormick and his code (courtesy St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

The FBI is asking for help from the public to help crack a code that was found with a dead man in St. Charles County in 1999.

Both the FBI and investigators with the St. Charles County sheriff's office believe forty one year-old Ricky McCormick was murdered, but the medical examiner ruled the man's death "suspicious." McCormick's body was already decomposing when it was discovered and made work difficult for the ME; however, investigators were intrigued by an injury to McCormick's head.

On Tuesday March 29th the FBI released two encrypted notes found in Ricky McCormick’s pants pocket on June 30, 1999.  They believe if they can crack the code, agents might be able to retrace McCormick's steps in the days that led to his murder and bring a resolution to this case.
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Family members told authorities that McCormick, who was a high school dropout, was "street smart"and had used encrypted notes since childhood.  They say they don't know the key to decipher the codes, or that if anyone, beside McCormick, can translate the secret he took to his grave. 

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The last sighting of McCormick was five days before his body was found near a cornfield off of Highway 367 near West Alton, when he received medication from a doctor at Forest Park Hospital in St. Louis for chronic heart and lung problems.

He had a minimal criminal record but nothing that investigators believed would have contributed to his death.  No one had reported McCormick missing and he was identified by fingerprints.

Investigators believe the notes notes found in McCormick's pockets were written up to three days before he died. 

In a news release the FBI said, "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, and Ricky McCormick's murderer has yet to face justice." 

"We are really good at what we do,"  said CRRU chief Don Olson, "But we could use some help with this one."  In fact, 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." 
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Investigators need another sample of McCormick's coded system, or a similar one, that they can compare. "Or, short of new evidence, Olson said, "Maybe someone with a fresh set of eyes might come up with a brilliant new idea."

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The maddening lines of letters, numbers, dashes and parentheses have agents stumped. "Even if we found out that he was writing a grocery list or a love letter," Olson said, "we would still want to see how the code is solved. This is a cipher we know nothing about."  

There is no reward being offered, just a challenge, the satisfaction and bragging rights that you helped the FBI possibly bring a killer to justice.

The FBI said breaking any code involves four basic steps:

• 1. determining the language used;
  
• 2. determining the system used;
  
• 3. reconstructing the key; and
• 4. reconstructing the plaintext.

Consider this cipher: Nffu nf bu uif qbsl bu oppo.

Now apply the four steps:
1. Determining the language allows you to compare the cipher text to the suspected language. Our cryptanalysts usually start with English.

2. Determining the system: Is this cipher using rearranged words, replaced words, or perhaps letter substitution? In this case, it’s letter substitution.

3. Reconstructing the key: This step answers the question of how the code maker changed the letters. In our example, every character shifted one letter to the right in the alphabet.

4. Reconstructing the plaintext: By applying the key from the previous step,

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If you have can help crack this code, please write to CRRU at the following address or call the FBI in St. Louis at 314-231-4324:

FBI Laboratory
Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit
2501 Investigation Parkway
Quantico, VA 22135
Attn: Ricky McCormick Case
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UPDATE:

Due to the extensive interest and help offered in this case, the FBI has set up a tip link for information here.