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

[Video1]

The other thing is the trim packages fall in with the work, so he worked on Cadillac, Mazda, Ford, Nissan, Mazda, and possibly a used Nissan where he changes his reference for the car. There is a reason to do that and use a vin number.

It really seems like this guy is laying out his work, and he is doing it in the same order each and every time, and the only time he changes his term usage is when he crosses departments that operate differently.

He is a mechanic or I am crazy. But he is working on cars, its not a code at all. Its how he functions which is in line with that job.

 

[bessie]

i guess that would depend on the serial killer as an individual. travis did send that tipand map to le. they had to catch him by tracing the computer generating map off a website. so it's likely he wanted anonymous attention for himself. he wouldn't want to be caught, as his worst fear was going back to prison.
he actually killed himself in a jail cell before le could question him more as he was so afraid of going back to prison.

travis' first prison experience didn't seem to go very well for him, as evidenced in the letters he wrote to the judge.

he did hint in the map and tip to le that he was real and there was more. yet due to his fear of prison, it seems he did what he could to cover up that it was him.

he would have prints on file, so i believe he would have been very careful not to get prints on the paper. otherwise le would have matched the prints to him. they had to catch him by the computer website generated map to his personal computer.

he was savvy enough to evade le for that long. had he not sent in a tip and map who knows when he would have been caught. yet it was the need for attention to be brought to him that made him send the tip and map in.
the attention would be anonymous, yet it still would be attention, and likely he would relish in the fact that he knew it was for him.

maybe the code was "safe" enough a "tip" for travis (if it's his) to leave for le yet still not give up who he was.

But Ricky was the one with the history of writing in code. Yet, if RM was the writer of the notes, and MT killed him, he wouldn't have left the notes in RM's pocket. So I'm stumped. :waitasec: I do agree with your assessment of MT, though.

RM was identified by his fingerprints. Is that because he had no identification, or because of the state of decomp? No wallet, no ID would make me think the killer took them. If the murder was random, the killer probably went through RM'S pockets looking for money or drugs. In that case, I would expect the notes to be found tossed on the ground, and the articles say they were in his pocket. But I'd also expect him to have been beaten, stabbed, or shot.

 

[Video1]

His family did not know what he was writing, he could have applied a simple English code and then it would have evolved over the years, but an auto guy has other codes and he would need to use those codes to work forcing him to amend or maybe ad lib and scramble things which is what this looks like.

 

[chemcopout]

But Ricky was the one with the history of writing in code. Yet, if RM was the writer of the notes, and MT killed him, he wouldn't have left the notes in RM's pocket. So I'm stumped. :waitasec: I do agree with your assessment of MT, though.

RM was identified by his fingerprints. Is that because he had no identification, or because of the state of decomp? No wallet, no ID would make me think the killer took them. If the murder was random, the killer probably went through RM'S pockets looking for money or drugs. In that case, I would expect the notes to be found tossed on the ground, and the articles say they were in his pocket. But I'd also expect him to have been beaten, stabbed, or shot.

i hear you on that bessie, yet if rm had such a history of writing in code, how come le won't give us any other examples? i would guess rm wasn't a regular code writer, or maybe travis left the code in rm's pocket for le to find.

if mt was so afraid of going to prison, yet felt he was entitled to attention for his crimes (anon attention); then leaving his code in rm's pocket would be possible, imo. it would be a "safe" enough thing to do, as le would assume the code was rm's.

yet ricky is found in mt's dumping grounds. if ricky also had addresses in ill maybe it's not a far stretch they knew eachother? when did rm do jail/prison time and where? would they have ever been locked up together or had paths cross?

le said that rm's body was so decomposed that they couldn't determine cod.
yet if murder was the motive, say if mt killed rm since he thought he "knew too much" or maybe saw something, then robbery would be out. unless he needed money at the time or wanted to make it look like a robbery gone wrong.

even if the killer went through ricky's pockets (which is possible) if it was mt, it's likely he would plant the code there. if he did kill him in the case he thought he knew too much, my guess would be mt would grab everything out of rm's pockets to see if he had anything about him in there. (notes etc)

there's a lot of scenarios that coulda or woulda happened i guess.

with the decomp so bad as to not be able to determine a cod, the le only said it looked like rm had some head trauma. if the 2 knew eachother it could have been a crime of impulse in reaction to something at the time. even if they didn't know eachother.

if mt was dumping a body and rm was there, and mt noticed, he may use anything at hand to kill a potential witness.

also if rm wrote in code a lot; well we know he was on disability. was it possible he spent any time in state mental hospitals? did they order a mental health eval on his stat rape charge?

if he was inpatient in a mental hospital, that is one scenario where i could see rm would write in code. so that way the staff wouldn't know what he was writing or others. yet if he did so, it might be likely his drs at the time would have examples of his "code' in his charts. this would all be protected under privacys laws and i'm sure the feds already went this angle and found nada. just a thought though...

 

[chemcopout]

How do we know this is the correct Ricky McCormick? I'm only asking out of curiosity. I know that the DOB seems plausible but there has been no official release of the DOB. This could be someone else.

if his fingerprints were too decomposed, my guess is he had dna on file due to his criminal sexual assault on child charge, so they'd have matched it up either of those ways.

 

[Video1]

This would be a young man or maybe older with some learning challenges working in a large dealership selling one or two core brands with a Nissan add on franchise. It would have a used car dept. and a large service Dept.

It probably but not necessarily may have an attached rental car facility or working in conjunction with one.

Low level tech work with Nissan training and access to code and manuals, works with electronics well and probably better with those than any real motor or mechanical work and may in fact be training.

His notes are structured in a manner that he has been there for at least a couple months and makes use of proper notations for auto references for cross department work, and to track his labor for proper payment on his check.

The acronyms and vin numbers are just too much, you have 6 Nissan acronyms, car language abbreviated wrong but totally in line with car lingo and totally in order in repetitive fashion.

When I can back in what would now be 15 digits of a 17 digit vin code I know I have a car. Not only that but his language changes in at least one occasion to meet another department that he has to work with, the reference to placing a rental car in an Aisle which is how I read that is uncanny, no one say's Aisle but a Rental car facility, he is picking up language.

I have no idea what the FBI is doing with this deal, but I am not looking at a code in my mind. I am looking at a guy trying to cope inside an environment where you have to use different skills and language to communicate. And his choppy English seems to reflect that type of facility.

Its a guess, but there is a lot more to it but I am actually tired of looking at this guys notes.

If this is not Ricky, then they will catch this guy. He is just not that smart, and if it is well? this is not going to change that unless someone else wrote it.

JMO

 

[bessie]

if his fingerprints were too decomposed, my guess is he had dna on file due to his criminal sexual assault on child charge, so they'd have matched it up either of those ways.

This article says he was id'd by his fingerprints.

http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we...page=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM

I'll be back in a bit. Going to do some reading.

 

[SheerLuckHolmes]

There was one poster, but maybe not on this site, that days ago broke down both notes into mechanical terms. All about cars, the makes and models, VINS, everything. He had worked in automotive supply and he said it all fit. I think we are simply back around to car thefts, plain and simple.

 

[Video1]

There was one poster, but maybe not on this site, that days ago broke down both notes into mechanical terms. All about cars, the makes and models, VINS, everything. He had worked in automotive supply and he said it all fit. I think we are simply back around to car thefts, plain and simple.

That was me, I used build codes and took the numbers and broke them into features, but as an example of what they would look like.

What is actually doing is many cases is using trim codes, so LE SE XL STS ME, etc. In some case he utilizes other codes it would seem. He also appears to reference installs. That's why it all looks like code and you have all these numbers and letters, its just redundancy and its broken up by job not line of code.

I am pretty sure he is on a dealer lot doing installs, and standard auto work. But rather than reference stock #s he is reaching at trim codes and noting them so either their used cars or a list or want list of stolen vehicles.

The build codes I would have to rework now that I think its more simple than before. It might just be a list of cars to steal, but he has access to a car lot I am pretty certain of that. I don't work for an auto repair shop and never have, so find that guy and I bet we could knock this out in a couple hours.

Best,

K

 

[Video1]

Is this what you saw?. I have not run these against actual codes, but they would be new car codes and therefore a different code within the pages, that would actually be code#2.

Problem with a stolen car wish list using these would require the thief knowing each code, or he would just write chopped English like he did in other places Maybe SUNR MONRUF AUMWEHL TUA Y6SE or something along those lines for Sunroof, Moon Roof, aluminum Wheels, Auto, 6 cyl SE.

The biggest issue I had with these codes and their use was there is no reason to hand write them, they are on the original orders and they are dropped off with the driver, other than that access to them is pretty limited. However a mechanic cannot grab those truck slips and he cannot access an invoice, but he can hand write the code off the truck and pass that on. Which might explain two sets of codes and why he is working there. Than there is a language use which would act as a third code.

It looks like a very simple system, but of course there are electronics in there I believe and they have proprietary code as well. Its a very interesting format all in all, I would imaging if I took some time and actually keyed a system I could screw the FBI up this way, I really do not think its been done. But thinking for the FBI and what their looking at is not easy either.

26 = Color
ML = Body
SE = Trim
74 = Roof
SP = Sound Upgrade
RK = Power Passnger Seat
SE = Sport Pack
29 = Running Boards
KEN = Kenwood 6 Disc
OS = Whatever
OLE = Leather
175RT = Tires
RSE = Metallic Rose

 

[miley]

I definitely see your point ,Video1 - maybe there is discussion on car forums?

Let me ask, is the mechanic speak or auto codes the filler around the actual code? or possibly auto codes that actually stand for something else, or what does it all mean in your opinion?

from the link above,

Wucher said Travis also talked "every day" about his 2000 black Mitsubishi Eclipse. "He told me how to wax my car, how to take care of the engine."

Wucher called Travis' car his "pride and joy."

Once, Wucher said, he told Travis about a friend whose car was stolen and later found burning in East St. Louis.

"Maury told me that East St. Louis was a good place to dump things because there's not many police around," Wucher said. The bodies of at least four of Travis' suspected victims were found in the East St. Louis area.​

MT had two cars (the other, a Cavalier) and at one point worked for a trucking company. Of course, RM didn't own one, wonder if he had a DL?

 

[Video1]

I definitely see your point ,Video1 - maybe there is discussion on car forums?

Let me ask, is the mechanic speak or auto codes the filler around the actual code? or possibly auto codes that actually stand for something else, or what does it all mean in your opinion?

from the link above,

Wucher said Travis also talked "every day" about his 2000 black Mitsubishi Eclipse. "He told me how to wax my car, how to take care of the engine."

Wucher called Travis' car his "pride and joy."

Once, Wucher said, he told Travis about a friend whose car was stolen and later found burning in East St. Louis.

"Maury told me that East St. Louis was a good place to dump things because there's not many police around," Wucher said. The bodies of at least four of Travis' suspected victims were found in the East St. Louis area.​

MT had two cars (the other, a Cavalier) and at one point worked for a trucking company. Of course, RM didn't own one, wonder if he had a DL?

It appears to be the main code, problem is that while he appears to a Nissan fetish, each and every individual auto manufacturer has its own proprietary code systems for build codes and vin#s.

Where you might get off light is with a company such as General Motors who manufactures multiple brands may in fact cross build codes, but what complicated that is the fact that they build their packages differently. So a GMC 1500 P.U Truck and The same Model of Chevrolet are identical, but their packaged differently.

Mitsubishi and many of the others have different build codes and packages as well. Where this guy may have made things easy is he used trim codes, that means those vehicles come with standard options within the package, so if you see an option code over and above that package you would know that is what he is doing.

He seems to have utilized simple codes, but he is using them combined making it a little harder. And to be honest, these letters were written in 99, these packages change yearly as do options and features. Backdating into a 99 car can be done, but I am starting to see patterns but getting tired and as soon as I get one thing I notice another.

There are parts where he seems to use Roman numerals, and there also seems to be language between the codes possibly but its not a skip system, it looks like a slang abbreviation so in some parts I can ride over an entire line and in others I am baffled.

The amazing thing about it is, he has got due to the system, a huge amount of data in very little space, and reading his writing is not easy.

So yes, there does seem to be an intermittent and scattered language surrounding the code, so the codes would have to be taken out first rather than the other way around.

 

[bessie]

I definitely see your point ,Video1 - maybe there is discussion on car forums?

Let me ask, is the mechanic speak or auto codes the filler around the actual code? or possibly auto codes that actually stand for something else, or what does it all mean in your opinion?

from the link above,

Wucher said Travis also talked "every day" about his 2000 black Mitsubishi Eclipse. "He told me how to wax my car, how to take care of the engine."

Wucher called Travis' car his "pride and joy."

Once, Wucher said, he told Travis about a friend whose car was stolen and later found burning in East St. Louis.

"Maury told me that East St. Louis was a good place to dump things because there's not many police around," Wucher said. The bodies of at least four of Travis' suspected victims were found in the East St. Louis area.​

MT had two cars (the other, a Cavalier) and at one point worked for a trucking company. Of course, RM didn't own one, wonder if he had a DL?

Hi, Miley. I was just coming to post that same thing after reading again the article chemco posted. Guess waiters at the Mayfair Hotel make pretty good money. He seemed pretty obsessed with that car, according to his co-worker. I haven't found anything else yet that links him to cars other than the fact he lived on Ford Dr. He spent almost a year in prison from Feb '98-Jan '99. No telling who he hooked up with inside. Maybe someone RM was already working with. Then RM was killed around the end of June '99. Could they both have been part of the same car theft ring?

Video, if what we're looking at is a wish list of cars to steal, isn't it possible that the writer jotted them down as they were read to him over the phone, maybe? Or copied quickly from another list? That would explain the use of shorthand/code. I'm sitting here looking at notes I wrote while reading earlier, and in some places, they look a lot like RM's. I still think part of the notes could be directions. ME3 has made a pretty good case for Canada being a destination. I know most stolen cars that leave the country cross our southern border, but surely some go to Canada.

 

[Video1]

Hi, Miley. I was just coming to post that same thing after reading again the article chemco posted. Guess waiters at the Mayfair Hotel make pretty good money. He seemed pretty obsessed with that car, according to his co-worker. I haven't found anything else yet that links him to cars other than the fact he lived on Ford Dr. He spent almost a year in prison from Feb '98-Jan '99. No telling who he hooked up with inside. Maybe someone RM was already working with. Then RM was killed around the end of June '99. Could they both have been part of the same car theft ring?

Video, if what we're looking at is a wish list of cars to steal, isn't it possible that the writer jotted them down as they were read to him over the phone, maybe? Or copied quickly from another list? That would explain the use of shorthand/code. I'm sitting here looking at notes I wrote while reading earlier, and in some places, they look a lot like RM's. I still think part of the notes could be directions. ME3 has made a pretty good case for Canada being a destination. I know most stolen cars that leave the country cross our southern border, but surely some go to Canada.

If he was taking orders for stolen cars he would most likely would have had a broker of sort telling him what they wanted. He would know the codes himself working there. So no he would not have to take them over the phone.

He would probably watch in-bounds write the codes and then decipher them to the broker. If the guy wanted the vehicle what ever arrangements they would make to grab it would be put forth.

The shorthand appears to be him working in shop, or at least I think that is what it is, but I need to pull out the codes and I am pretty certain their there. If a 1999 SE Maxima came packed a certain way you might get maybe 5 or 6 upgrade codes. Roof, Leather, Pearl Paint, maybe a few more. Those codes if matched could be removed leaving less to work with, but more importantly they might show how he placed them.

If he placed the codes in the same manner on each car you could break that letter pretty quick. And he may have used the same placement as you can see the problem were having with this alone.

I would imagine I can get these codes with relative ease, but not sure about 1999. Of course this is assuming I am right about what he is doing. But it does make sense.

Best,

Kris

 

[grayjay]

I can see he might keep info on cars and where they are supposed to go to get chopped. I can also imagine if the notes are short term, even he wouldn't be able to read some of them a few months later, because it's all about the context.

 

[Reannan]

Video1, I think you are correct. The more I search, the more "hits" I find to link Ricky's code to Nissan auto parts. In fact, here is a 'Nissan NX Mandrel Bent Exhaust' muffler system for a 93-95 Nissan that has an order parts number of "NCBE". Found it at this link:

http://www.overkillengineeringmotorsports.com/91ninxmabeex.html

 

[Video1]

Video1, I think you are correct. The more I search, the more "hits" I find to link Ricky's code to Nissan auto parts. In fact, here is a 'Nissan NX Mandrel Bent Exhaust' muffler system for a 93-95 Nissan that has an order parts number of "NCBE". Found it at this link:

http://www.overkillengineeringmotorsports.com/91ninxmabeex.html

Beautiful, that makes sense.

Thank you!

Kris

 

[Video1]

PWRTRSEONDRSEWCDNCBE

Power top, rose on Dark rose, w/CD player and Coded exhaust.

That looks like a lock to me.

 

[Video1]

He is building a car! Guy is a car junkie and part of this underground rice rocket club. That would explain a lot, some adjustments needed but he is working on cars and maybe a motorcycle. Amazing.

 

[riddymcgivens]

He is building a car! Guy is a car junkie and part of this underground rice rocket club. That would explain a lot.

I think you are getting it! Man, Ive been following your posts since Thurs, over at the Examiner and now here. Glad you moved over, as this thread was the most interesting of them all. The entire time, I felt as if you were the closet out of everyone, although I also was curious about the medication stuff and drug running. Something kept telling me you were onto something. This is exciting stuff.