MO MO - Ricky McCormick, 41, St Louis, 30 June 1999

[grayjay]

Apologies in advance for yet another scenario, but does anybody think he was a punk pimp and got taken out as part of the string of prostitute killings?

 

[SammySheep]

Apologies in advance for yet another scenario, but does anybody think he was a punk pimp and got taken out as part of the string of prostitute killings?

Someone posted a few pages back that it was very possible he recieved his disability / ss check around the time of his death. Every since then I have had the thought that he saw the same prostitute on a regular basis this time of month and robbery had something to do with his death. I mean who was going to care if this guy died? The cops wouldn't if he hadn't had these notes. Also I've thought these notes could have been found with some personal belongings and not on him at the time of his death. I have yet to see an article from 1999 that mentioned these. My apologies if there happens to be one.

 

[OneLostGrl]

Hello!.... This is my 1st post, I've been waiting on my account to be activated. I have been following this case since last thursday and I found you guys last weekend. This is the best site by far of any that i've seen trying to solve this mystery and I'm finally glad to join you guys. I feel like you are all getting close, and Video1 I think you are dedicated to solving this and also a great leader. I don't know much about Down Syndrome but i do know it's very easy to spot in a caucasian, never seen an African american with DS that i have ever recognized. I do know this guy doesent look all there in the photo released, eyes look strange. I also know we have no solid proof this guy has children. If i have any idea's I will post, otherwise look on and help support any other reasonable theories. Sorry to get off the topic and again I'm happy to be over here now

:welcome:

 

[OneLostGrl]

To be honest, this screams DARPA.

It kinda does, doesn't it?

 

[Video1]

I think that if one assumes that Ricky was no rocket scientist (which might be wrong, but I doubt it), then any code he would have would probably be very basic and personalized. That is why I think the phonetic angle, while sounding simple, is far more difficult to crack because, as I have said before here, we don't know how Ricky spoke or heard spoken language. My hunch is that therein lies the rub and the reason that traditional cryptological method fails.

Adrian,

If you try running over those notes with phonetics your going to have a problem that we all ran into.

You need to go at that with structure and pull out the lines and cross reference the DS acronyms and read the links, this will give you the additional acronym match ups to complete some lines and an idea of how much is actually in there. Once you isolate those lines you can go at more random lines which how I got to 4SPARK.

He is being treated from several angles with diet, immune system, psychology and various therapies. There are medications, dosages, suffixes for medications and then there are phonetics. If you don't go at it a certain way you will end up like me today sprawled out watching Bugs Bunny and annoyed with Al Gore for inventing the internet.

The notes are pretty much broken out and I can read them now, just too busy today to do the letter skip thing.

 

[Adrian Harbinger]

Somebody advised me to post anything even if it's possibly slightly random, so hopefully you'll all forgive me. Anyway - I've been stuck on this one line quite a lot:

MUNSAISTENMUNARSE

I can't shake the feeling that it might just be an anagram of something possibly involving 'names' or 'surnames'
I noticed that people were taking the medical angle so thought I'd just point out that when you put this through the anagram solvers, 'autism nurses surname'

Plus, I think I already said, 'nu inmates surnames'

I'm veering way more towards this actually being a personal code than anything else. If you look at the way little chunks like SEP are repeated and NBCE I don't think it lends itself as much to the idea of a phonetic shorthand. You don't need to be a genius to come up with a code, just secretive or creative or perhaps having time on your hands.

Great input. Thanks!

 

[miley]

Someone posted a few pages back that it was very possible he recieved his disability / ss check around the time of his death. Every since then I have had the thought that he saw the same prostitute on a regular basis this time of month and robbery had something to do with his death. I mean who was going to care if this guy died? The cops wouldn't if he hadn't had these notes. Also I've thought these notes could have been found with some personal belongings and not on him at the time of his death. I have yet to see an article from 1999 that mentioned these. My apologies if there happens to be one.

I'm posting some quotes from riverguide - he too thought RM may have been a pimp. If anything, it may show a connection with Travis and possibly Lounge. Shadowraith found documents showing RM and Travis were in prison together (9 months I think) so, if they met, there is no telling what they may have cooked up. Maybe Travis honed in on RM's code writing and started doing it himself...

I believe this is the most interesting angle.

He was also involved in sex related crimes and had three residences and a modest income from a disability check. How do you maintain three residences on a disability check, unless you have a cash business on the side. Many of the victims were prostitutes and quite frankly he sounds like a "pimp." Those notes could be records of business activity or they could be records of a potential partnership/joint venture with Travis, that went sour. Or maybe he was Travis' procurer and was eliminated because he connected the dots...Does anyone know if Mccormick was African American also, like Travis ? Why was it that Mccormick had three residences but was evicted from another? It sounds like he may have maintained a couple of cribs and the landlord at one of them didn't want him to remain for one reason or another, aka pimping on the premises.

I had to use high beam to read the articles and as you know its a paid service and I can't post the links. The other bodies were females and it appears that all of these bodies were found in a two year period. The authorities went out of their way to say that they didn't think that they were related but we all know what that really means.

For search terms I used st louis, body found and West Alton.

Here's a reprint that appeared today from one of the 1999 articles:

http://www.stltoday.com/news/article_bcc02074-5b1a-11e0-b199-0017a4a78c22.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maury_Travis[/url]



This guy was implicated in some of the murders and killed himself in jail awaiting trial. The timeframes and locations overlap. He was a planner and may have had an accomplice. I don't really believe in coincidences. Mccormick was found in the same location as were many of the victims of a serial killer operating in this area during this time. The causes of death appear to be similar.

 

[Soulmagent]

Apologies in advance for yet another scenario, but does anybody think he was a punk pimp and got taken out as part of the string of prostitute killings?

I think that he could have been ,and not to be rude but the health condition and his appearance fall in a correct pattern for drug abuse of a certian drug ,which in the time period Ricky was murdered in was a huge problem ,in the same year designer drugs hit the streets. New markets ,new product.

I think if we find more about Ricky and his life we may get somewhere because Rickys code is a direct reflection of his life time exposure and enviroment ,He cannot draw on things he doesnt know about and we cant either ,JMO

Here is my link showing the designer drug induction to the Us , It had been in the UK already.
If anyone knows anything about compounds that might be worth looking at in reguards to the codes.
http://speakout.com/activism/issue_briefs/1354b-1.html

 

[tabasquito]

Interesting...but wouldn't they have taken the sheets of code, even if they couldn't decipher it.

Several of us have been tossing around that maybe he got his SSDI check and was headed to the Alton Belle to gamble. The Alton Belle was recently docked for docked gambling on 6/26/99. The bus would take him to the Jamestown Mall, which is 8 miles from the boat. The boat is across the river and the bridge/his health don't seem to support he walked...maybe shuttle/someone gave ride?

Would be curious to know if anything else was found on him...like wallet, any money. Says he was Id'd by fingerprints. One would think that he would carry some sort of ID.

Your post, along with the victim profile, got me to thinking. If he was a street guy, he might have been comfortable asking for a ride for the rest of the 8 miles to the Casino. And if on this occasion he asked the wrong person for a ride to the casino, and they figured he would have money on him for the casino.... well that's a good way to end up dead in a field.

If this is the case, the code may have nothing to do with his death which may have been a random robbery.

As for the bookie acronyms, etc... there is nothing normal in this code that a bookie would use.

And finally, I also thought I saw a few anagrams, so maybe that and the 4S PRK = Forest Park angle combined would lead to something in terms of the code.

 

[OneLostGrl]

I think that he could have been ,and not to be rude but the health condition and his appearance fall in a correct pattern for drug abuse of a certian drug ,which in the time period Ricky was murdered in was a huge problem ,in the same year designer drugs hit the streets. New markets ,new product.

I think if we find more about Ricky and his life we may get somewhere because Rickys code is a direct reflection of his life time exposure and enviroment ,He cannot draw on things he doesnt know about and we cant either ,JMO

Here is my link showing the designer drug induction to the Us , It had been in the UK already.
If anyone knows anything about compounds that might be worth looking at in reguards to the codes.
http://speakout.com/activism/issue_briefs/1354b-1.html

Background and Chemistry of MDMA-

http://www.erowid.org/references/texts/show/960docid831

MDMA; MDM; ADAM; ECSTASY; 3,4-METHYLENEDIOXY-N-METHYLAMPHETAMINE


http://www.lycaeum.org/leda/Documents/PIHKAL_109.9401.shtml

 

[dotr]

I was wondering why he would bother to identify a page as in P1,while everything else is in "code" Could R.M. be referring to a section of a parking garage-Park Level 1- or sounding out the letter P with one as in pawn or *advertiser censored*?

 

[SammySheep]

Background and Chemistry of MDMA-

http://www.erowid.org/references/texts/show/960docid831

MDMA; MDM; ADAM; ECSTASY; 3,4-METHYLENEDIOXY-N-METHYLAMPHETAMINE


http://www.lycaeum.org/leda/Documents/PIHKAL_109.9401.shtml

Does the bottom link stand out to anyone else....could this note be a recipe for drugs? i noticed right away some of the numbers were very close

 

[STEADFAST]

You know, I've started wondering, if the FBI put these notes out there because they were more interested in letting someone know there's a big 'ol fingerprint (in what looks like blood) instead of really caring about the actual meaning of the notes.

 

[Video1]

I've seen this, Video, but it just seems like a stretch and an exercise in thinking beyond the victim's intellect. Maybe he was a self-educated guy who is so smart that he outsmarted the law, but I somehow doubt it.

I think this is the code of a child. It is something constructed based on what he knew.

That's just a reference for the acronym that I tossed up quick, not saying he can comprehend it, but he can write it down. What he doing is simply taking notes, that's what all this is about what did he write and why.

This is not a complicated guy by any means.

 

[miley]

I was wondering why he would bother to identify a page as in P1,while everything else is in "code" Could R.M. be referring to a section of a parking garage-Park Level 1- or sounding out the letter P with one as in pawn or *advertiser censored*?

works with the car theory - wonder where the parking decks are located...
I've also wondered if it could be part of the key.


Interesting, in this news clip, it clearly states RM was found with his throat slashed... thoughts?
[video=youtube;Pbx5GLe4uK0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbx5GLe4uK0[/video]

 

[dotr]

works with the car theory - wonder where the parking decks are located...
I've also wondered if it could be part of the key.


Interesting, in this news clip, it clearly states RM was found with his throat slashed... thoughts?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pbx5GLe4uK0

I wonder which is the correct version, either way,it does not seem like a "natural" death to me.

Maj. Tom O'Connor of the Major Case Squad said authorities were treating the suspicious death as if it were a homicide. A medical examiner has not been able to determine an exact cause of death yet. An initial medical examination found no obvious gunshot or knife wounds, he said.

http://www.stltoday.com/news/article_bcc02074-5b1a-11e0-b199-0017a4a78c22.html

McCormick, who was identified by his fingerprints, suffered from chronic heart and lung problems, O'Connor said, and authorities have not ruled out the possibility that his health may have contributed to his death.

 

[ClarenceBodiker]

Just out of curiosity - Did it occur to anybody else that it might have something to do with the layout of a keyboard. (e.g. - AL means to use the letter in the middle of those two) Even if it doesn't I thought it might be quite a handy way of making a code. I'm sure somebody out there's already done it though right?

 

[bessie]

You're quite right OneLostGrl. I shouldn't have really have put the post mentioning the anagram with autism in it. I don't think it has anything to do with that at all but I know some people have been taking the medical angle and assumed they'd found some kind of link with hospital stuff.

I know that it's helpfull to have a bit of background info on someone if you're trying to find significant abreviations or words or whatever but really I think that as this is pretty much a code of some form or other (I think a couple of types combined) then sticking to actually trying to find a pattern or method within what is in front of us is the best option. Has anybody actually tried what I suggested yet and forming that spiral shape with the alphabet? It seems a pretty big coincidence that the letters NCB line up and point to a vowel 'I' or one letter down 'X' (quite often where there's an 'SE' next to it) Also this spiral pattern (of the alphabet twice) will give you MR next to 'E'. Maybe I'm not explaining this right... It looks to me that he might have used this for at least half the word or the vowels obviously in conjunction with something else. I think that this is definitely worth looking at. As for acronyms - It's easy to waste literally months thinking about what things could stand for. You could end up just creating an entire translation that sounds plausible but is entirely removed from the actual meaning. Has anybody tried the spiral thing yet? Basically it comes out looking a bit like a word search. The point I'm trying to make is that some of the pairs of letters (or three in the case of 'NCB') appear next to each other in it and could therefore indicate to use the one next to it. 'CB' appears a lot. In my spiral thing this would indicate the letter 'I'. Or perhaps a three letter one could mean to use the letter where they all meet like WLD would mean 'O'. Anyway, I think it's worth spending a few minutes looking out. Is easier if you do it on paper...

I started playing around with the grid, but wasn't really seeing anything. So instead, I wrote out the first nine or ten lines and picked out the letters in each that do not repeat. Don't have time to explain now, but the result was FCB in three or four lines. Will explain more when I get home from work.

 

[STEADFAST]

The FBI has all of the information, and it didn't help them solve it. I posted last week that power of suggestion is strong. Any more information would only confound us further. For example, if they told us RM liked to fish, we'd only see terms related to fish and fishing. It would blind us to other possibilities, IMO. "Fresh eyes" means just that, a fresh, unadulterated view. JMHO. Already, I think we've inferred too much about RM's character and lifestyle. It's difficult not to let our biases interfere. But for now, I'm going back to just playing with the writings and try to forget all I know about the author.

Thank you for posting this. I think the main benefit for the FBI in releasing these notes for millions to look at is that with so many people looking closely at the notes and researching whatever angle strikes them, someone will hit on the real subject of the notes. I really think, though, that it is going to take somebody from Ricky's place, time, and social millieu -- someone who would know what dialect Ricky was likely to use, what slang was common at the time, etc, no matter what the subject is. Hard to break a code (or cipher) if you don't know the language being used. They need to post these notes in near-north St. Louis.

 

[dotr]

I assume that they have already run these notes by RM's former teachers, classmates and friends, as well as in the prisons...
I would be interested in what, if any- t.v. shows, RM may have enjoyed in childhood, but especially any books or comics that he may have read, that might have inspired his code.