The Case — Ricky McCormick & Cryptic Records
On June 30, 1999, a woman was driving along a rural road near Highway 367 near West Alton, Missouri. As she glanced out the window, she noticed something strange in one of the cornfields. She stopped her car and approached the field to investigate, only to be shocked and horrified to find the partially decomposed body of a man.
The body of the man was found wearing tattered Lee blue jeans and a stained white T-shirt. The advanced state of decomposition was so severe that the flesh on his hands had rotted away, causing his fingertips to separate and rest among the surrounding foliage.
The location where the body was discovered had gained notoriety as a dumping ground for murderers. In 1995, a sex worker was discovered murdered by gunshot in a dilapidated home along the same stretch of road.
The body was identified as that of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick through fingerprint analysis. Ricky had chronic health issues affecting his heart and lungs and was receiving disability benefits while being unemployed. Although he was not homeless, he lived in the Greater St. Louis region. He was unmarried and had fathered four children over the course of his life.
The discovery of Ricky’s body at that location raised many questions for investigators, as he lived 15 miles away and was unable to drive. This led to speculation that he may have been the victim of a homicide. The possibility of a head injury only added fuel to this speculation. However, the advanced state of decomposition made it difficult to confirm this with certainty.
Major Tom O’Connor of the Major Case Squad stated that they were investigating the death as a potential homicide. While a cause of death had yet to be determined, authorities could not immediately rule out the possibility that Ricky had died from his preexisting health problems.
As the cause of death was being investigated, authorities began tracing Ricky’s final steps. He was last seen alive on June 25th at Forest Park Hospital in St. Louis, where he was receiving medication from his doctor. Despite a thorough investigation into Ricky’s background, no evidence was found of anyone who held any grudges against him.
The next day, it was announced that the medical examiner was unable to determine the cause of death and the investigation failed to uncover any criminal activity. As a result, they declared that Ricky had died of natural causes, despite the unusual circumstances surrounding his death.
The case of Ricky McCormick was largely overlooked by the public until March 2011, when the FBI revealed that he had been murdered after all. To add to the mystery, two encrypted notes were found in his pockets. The FBI then turned to the public for help in deciphering these notes, stating: “On June 30, 1999, the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick was found murdered and discarded in a field by Sheriff’s officers in St. Louis, Missouri. The only leads in the homicide investigation were the two encrypted notes found in the victim’s pockets.”
The two notes contained over 30 lines of coded material using a mixture of letters, numbers, dashes, and parentheses. According to Ricky’s family, he had been writing such notes since he was a child. Investigators suspected that the notes may have been written as much as three days before his death.
Ricky had dropped out of high school and was known to have dabbled in codes and ciphers throughout his life. An investigator stated, “We spoke with the family and they said he did this frequently. No one truly knows what it means. It’s like writing in a private diary.”
The FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit and the American Cryptogram Association thoroughly analyzed the notes, but were unable to decode them. Ricky’s family also attempted to decipher the notes, but to no avail.
Dan Olson, the head of the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit, made a statement when the photos of the two notes were released. He said that the solution to the code could provide information about the victim’s whereabouts prior to his death and could lead to solving the homicide case. By releasing the notes, the FBI hoped that someone with a new perspective could understand the cryptic message.
The FBI put out a call for assistance from the public in the strange case of Ricky McCormick. The head of the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit, Dan Olson, released images of the two encrypted notes found in Ricky’s pockets after his murder, and expressed hope that someone with a fresh perspective might be able to decipher them. He noted that cracking the code could reveal crucial information about Ricky’s movements prior to his death and possibly help solve the murder. The FBI also requested information from anyone who might be aware of any other coded notes written by Ricky, as they believed that this could provide valuable context or allow for comparisons to be made. Olson stated that even if the notes turned out to be a grocery list or love letter, they would still be eager to learn how the code was solved, as this was a cipher system they were unfamiliar with.
In 2012, the family of Ricky McCormick disputed the FBI’s claim that he had a history of writing coded messages. They stated that they never informed investigators of such behavior and instead reported that he would sometimes scribble meaningless notes, which he referred to as “writing.” The family strongly denied that the notes found on Ricky’s person were written by him, further complicating the already puzzling case and leaving more questions than answers.
Ricky’s family publicly disputed the notion that he had a history of writing in code. They explained that they never informed investigators of such an activity, but rather that he sometimes wrote down nonsense that he referred to as writing. They strongly denied the authenticity of the coded notes found in his pockets, adding further mystery to the already puzzling case.
His mother, Frankie Sparks, referred to Ricky as “mentally challenged” while his cousin, Charles McCormick, shared that he often seemed detached, as if he “was in another world.” This led Charles to suspect that Ricky may have suffered from a mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. His aunt, Gloria McCormick, remembered that Ricky had seen a psychiatrist who reported that there was a “brick wall in his mind” and that Ricky refused to break it. According to her, he didn’t like the hardships of a poor life and had a vivid imagination.
The family of Ricky McCormick revealed that he had a history of making up elaborate stories and exhibited strange behavior. Despite advancing from one grade to the next in school, he struggled with reading and writing and was even unable to spell his own name. In 1992, he was arrested for sexual abuse and his public defender raised concerns about his mental health.
The family later revealed that two weeks prior to Ricky’s death, he bought a one-way bus ticket to Orlando. This was one of two trips he had taken along the coast in that year. The investigators were unable to determine whom Ricky had gone to meet in Orlando. Some speculated that he might have traveled there to buy marijuana.
Despite the family’s dispute, Dan Olson of the FBI’s Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit remains confident that the notes found in Ricky’s possession were indeed written by him. He explains that the format of the notes appears to be more like something written to oneself, pointing to specific instances such as circled segments that he believes represent a to-do list with items marked as completed.
The notes discovered in Ricky’s possession are still accessible on an FBI-managed website. Since 2011, many individuals have attempted to decipher the code and the website is filled with various theories. Some have theorized that the notes could contain information regarding a range of topics, from VIN numbers, betting records, drug transactions, addresses, and directions.
