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E053: Ricky McCormick
1.5k Plays5 years ago
A note containing over 30 lines of coded text, including numbers, letters, and parentheses remains unsolved by the world’s best code breakers. When a code leaves the FBI stumped, do you have the skill it takes to solve the riddle?
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
Sleuth Hounds, have you ever considered creating your own podcast? Have you been inspired by listening to some of your favorites and thought, I'd love to try this out on my own? Whether it's a true crime podcast like ours, a motivational podcast, or maybe one filled with tips and strategies for those interested in the same activities you are,
00:00:22
Speaker
When Maggie and I first decided to start our podcast, we knew absolutely nothing about what podcasting would entail. But when we found out that the platform Buzzsprout was one for which we didn't need any special equipment, just a computer microphone, some quiet space in each other, we knew this was the way to go.
00:00:43
Speaker
It is intuitive to use, fun to play around with, and so helpful in getting analytical data about our number of downloads to track trends and from where our listeners hail. Best yet, Buzzsprout is affordable, even by our teacher salary standards. Buzzsprout will get your podcasts listed on every major podcasting platform. So, what are you waiting for? Fulfill that dream of yours and start today.
00:01:11
Speaker
If you use our Coffee and Cases referral code, 709-643, linked on Facebook and in our show notes, not only will you help support our show, but you will receive a $20 Amazon gift card after your second month on a paid plan. It's that easy.
00:01:30
Speaker
Podcasting isn't hard when you have the right partners. Join over 100,000 podcasters already using Buzzsprout to get their message out to the world. Now, it's time for the world to hear what you have to say.
00:01:45
Speaker
Last year, Allison introduced me into rebus puzzles, and now I'm addicted. I love the challenge behind the puzzle, the minute spent trying to solve the riddle, the relief that follows a challenge met. But what about when the answer never comes?
00:02:02
Speaker
While I love rebus puzzles, there are some that stuck me. No matter how long I look at the picture, no matter how many times I say it in my head or even out loud if I'm being honest, I just can't get it. I can't solve the puzzle and I can't break the code.
00:02:18
Speaker
Picture that on a bigger scale, where more is on the line, where the thrill of solving a puzzle might come hand in hand with solving a case. The stakes increase when someone's life's on the line. The FBI has entire units dedicated to cracking codes, people who are responsible for deciphering the riddle and turning what looks like a jumbled mess into coherent words and phrases. According to FBI experts, there are four simple rules to breaking codes.
00:02:47
Speaker
One, determine the language that allows you to compare the text to a specific language. Two, determine the system. Are the words rearranged? Maybe they take on new meanings? Is something a substitute? Three, reconstruct the key.
00:03:04
Speaker
This is crucial because without that, you can't achieve number four, which is to put the riddle into plain text. So what happens when you can't get past step two? There are a few codes that cross FBI desks that can't be solved.
00:03:19
Speaker
And today's case is one that's puzzled FBI agents for years.
The Mysterious Case of Ricky McCormick
00:03:24
Speaker
When a man is found dead in a field and is so badly decomposed, his fingers are falling off, a coded note in his pocket might hold the clues to find his killer. But this code isn't like the others. This code's been passed from agent to agent with no luck. Even after it was made public, few helpful hints have come in. You know the drill, Sleuthhounds. Let's break this code. This is the story of Ricky McCormick.
00:03:49
Speaker
Thank you.
00:04:24
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement.
00:04:41
Speaker
So justice and closure can be brought to these families. With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:05:02
Speaker
All right, Sleuth Hounds, we are in the final stretch. If you are a long time listener of ours, you know where the next 15 seconds of this episode is going. If you're a new listener, welcome to our show. Maggie and I have been trying for quite a bit to get to 150 ratings on Apple Podcast. We are tantalizingly close with 141 ratings.
00:05:30
Speaker
Being teachers, Maggie and I appreciate the hard work that goes into achieving a long-term goal, and we are so thankful that because of you all, we are so close to checking a goal off of the list for coffee and cases. While we are close, we still aren't there yet.
00:05:48
Speaker
So if you're listening and you like what you're hearing, rate us. It only takes a second to click that five-star rating and just a few seconds longer to tell us what you like most in a written review. Keep sharing, Sluthounds, and pretty soon you will stop hearing us beg each week for these ratings.
00:06:07
Speaker
Just make sure that you follow us on social media, coffee and cases podcast on Facebook or at coffee cases podcast on Instagram, or as always, listen in each week to know when that bonus episode will air. Now let's get into our show.
00:06:22
Speaker
On a warm summer's day in June, the body of Ricky McCormick was found between a cornfield and a road in St. Charles County, Missouri. When police arrived on the scene, they found a five foot, six inch tall man in stained nasty blue jeans and a dirty white t-shirt. And he was so badly decomposed that the flesh on his hand was so rotten that his fingertips were falling off and were laying in the grass next to him. And that body was identified as Ricky McCormick.
00:06:52
Speaker
So how long does it take for a body to decompose like that? So I didn't like look up that specific question and now I'm gonna do that on my phone but um like I do know that he wasn't out there long enough to do that. Oh.
00:07:16
Speaker
I didn't know if like where you said it was a summer's day in June. I didn't know if like heat would make it well faster um they so not to give too much away but they basically say that if it was just normal circumstances that
00:07:38
Speaker
he would not have been to the state that he was. Okay, so immediately they know something is odd. Right. Okay. So the investigators were confused by the fact that Ricky's body was discovered more than 20 miles or that's like around 32 kilometers from his home because he didn't drive, he didn't own a vehicle and he was reliant on public transportation and that was not available in the area where his body was found.
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, 20 miles isn't like you're going out for a stroll. Yeah, I'm gonna go walk 20 miles and be back in a couple hours. So, police were actually very familiar with this area. In fact, and you all know me, I cannot pronounce names, so. We had an article by Christopher, we talked about this before the show. I'm gonna go with Trito,
00:08:34
Speaker
But we're just gonna refer to him as Christopher because I cite his article quite a bit and it has a long title so it's just easier if I just say in the article that Christopher wrote so y'all know what I'm talking about. We're on a person basis for this author.
00:08:52
Speaker
But that article is called Code Dead to the encrypted writings of Ricky McCormick called the key to his mysterious death. Now you all know why I just want to say in the article by Christopher because that's really wrong. In 1995, authorities discovered a bullet-ridden body of an alleged prostitute that was in an abandoned house along that same stretch of road. And then two years after Ricky's death, state crews were like just mowing the grass along the roadway.
00:09:22
Speaker
And about 300 yards from where they found Ricky, they found two nude women who were dead. What? Yeah, so like essentially this was like just a dumping ground for dead bodies. Okay.
00:09:36
Speaker
So not the best of areas. No. So Ricky's body was sent away for an autopsy. But what the examiner found left police even more puzzled. So as I mentioned before, and we talked about it a little, Ricky was badly decomposed. His fingertips from the knuckle down had started to already fall off. But Ricky had only been missing
00:10:04
Speaker
Well, Ricky was never actually officially reported missing, but the last sighting of Ricky was three days, like two or three days before his body was found. You should see the look on my face. So in two to three days, there's that level of decomposition. Yeah, and they said that, like, there wasn't any, like, extremely hot days. Like, it was just an average June day. There wasn't any, like, real rain or anything like that that would have
00:10:34
Speaker
kind of pushed it along. So they thought that maybe he was like kept in a trunk of someone's car or maybe like in a metal storage shed or something and then done there. But I still feel like that's a very quick. Well, like I said, I'm not sure, but yeah.
Background and Life of Ricky McCormick
00:10:54
Speaker
So the autopsy doesn't really give away much. They are unable to determine his cause of death and they blame the heavy decay as part of that. Pathologists do eventually rule Ricky's death as undetermined.
00:11:10
Speaker
which okay like right everything is i feel like exactly but um police aren't satisfied with that ruling and they're for sure that ricky was a big demo foul play but yeah because i mean that's not natural to decay in three days right like that alone i feel like there has to be something more involved than just you had a heart attack on the side of the road right
00:11:34
Speaker
So despite checking Ricky, his surroundings, and interviewing his family, his friends, and his girlfriend, they don't really get any significant leads. And pretty soon, Ricky's case is put on the back burner as more cases come into the office and stuff. So with little to go on, police just kind of begin building an investigation around Ricky's past, trying to find out who this guy is. And they find some pretty
00:12:05
Speaker
weird to say the least stuff about Ricky. So, Ricky is a high school dropout. Okay. Which, you know, that does not define, you know, determine your future. He was, for most intents and purposes, unemployed. Also, this is kind of embarrassing, but, you know what, I'll show you guys. So, I was, like,
00:12:33
Speaker
basically yesterday's old. That's how, when I found this out. That is, it is for intent, for most intents and purposes, not, like I have been saying that wrong my whole life. What have you said? I think I've, I mean like intensive purposes or something. Like I've been saying that wrong my whole life. And when I talked to you and I was like, I know that this isn't wrong. And then I was like, holy crap, I am so stupid. And I teach English.
00:13:02
Speaker
That's so funny. So I know I have students all the time and they'll type something and they're like like a lot when I make my words. Yeah. Or like instead of saying whether they say rather.
00:13:18
Speaker
That's weird. Instead of whether or not, they'll say rather. And I'm like, what? What are you saying? Yeah. So for all intents and purposes. Yeah, not all intents and purposes. He's unemployed or was unemployed. He was unmarried and he was a father of four children, which we will talk about more in depth in a little bit.
00:13:44
Speaker
So I feel like what you told me so far, I mean, if he's not in school and he's not employed anywhere, then there really wouldn't, I wouldn't think there'd be like a wide range of people who he would come in contact with every day. Yeah. And I read his age and he's not like, wasn't, you know, like old, but he wasn't like,
00:14:07
Speaker
super young. I'm gonna have to remember um how old he was. He was 41 so it's not like he's like super old but like you should be established at the age of 41 and he just kind of wasn't and we talk about that or I'll talk about that in just a little bit. Um so he wasn't like most people his age um in fact his mother used one of the words that like I hate the most
00:14:33
Speaker
There's a gigantic dictionary, so why choose this word? But his mother describes him as retarded, and the only reason I'm saying it is because that's a direct quote from her. And obviously people use it not the correct way.
00:14:51
Speaker
even I just feel like he shouldn't use it. There's other ways to describe people in general but I'm sure it meant he was just slow because in most every article that I read Ricky was described as barely getting by in school as falling through the cracks or being just kind of pushed along from grade to grade until he eventually dropped out.
00:15:11
Speaker
Okay, so there were like then sadly Yeah, and I mean like you don't really think about it until you're in that situation, but you know by the time Kids are in high school. You know we've seen they kind of just been pushed along and stuff like that It is it is sad and some people said that he couldn't read or write and then other places said that it was like on a very like
00:15:35
Speaker
childish level that he could read or write and that he was socially awkward and not meaning like Sheldon Cooper socially socially awkward like doesn't know how to do social things but like just kind of like he would isolate himself he would stand alone on the playground and kind of ignore when the other kids tried to include him yeah and like again
00:16:03
Speaker
being teachers we see that side of things too and I feel like if COVID has taught us anything it's taught us to value friendships and social interactions because they've been so limited. Agreed. And you know I know that you see this at your school and I do at mine as well that there are
00:16:21
Speaker
There always seems to be kids who appear to be alone like they're in the lunch line alone and like there's conversations happening around them but they're not like included in the conversations or on you know a dismissal when they're waiting on the bus like the same situation and like every day you want them to find a friend and like you know your heart breaks a little when that cycle repeats the next day for that kid.
00:16:45
Speaker
and I think that kid was Ricky and his teachers at times did reach out to his family just to see you know kind of what was going on but right I mean like from what I can tell obviously I don't think he had like the most normal or best home life like it I didn't really read anything about that but I mean if you describe your kid as retarded then yeah yeah that's not it's not a good sign
00:17:10
Speaker
No, it's not. So now it makes sense the unemployment. Yeah. Because if he doesn't have the reading or writing ability, you know, to like fill out an application or to even have an interview. Right. And where he would isolate himself, you know, I get that now.
00:17:32
Speaker
And he did have one cousin, Charles, that he was close to. They were like brothers. And Charles said that Ricky almost lived in another world. He would often talk to himself or talk about things that didn't really make sense. He kind of argues that Ricky probably had untreated bipolar disorder or maybe even schizophrenia. And so I kind of think something like that went untreated that only plays into
00:18:00
Speaker
that person being even more isolated because i think it's don't really know how to like handle that type of thing now don't get me wrong i don't think talking to yourself
00:18:13
Speaker
I would hope doesn't indicate mental disorder because I talk about it all the time. I was hearing A to Z because I talk to myself all the time, especially if Anthony is still at work. Right now, my district is virtual. A lot of districts in Kentucky are still part way in person. Anthony, if he's at the office, I'm like,
00:18:36
Speaker
Okay Maggie, let's check your emails and see if you guys have emailed us. So, I get it. I know. Or like, I'll even sing. It's so bizarre. It's so weird. I know if anybody heard me, I'll be like, let's see if anyone has texted me.
00:18:56
Speaker
Or like I was walking to get the microphone to record and I'm doing a horrible, horrible attempt at a British accent. But I was, I looked at Rodney and I was like, I'm going to go get my microphone and then I'm going to record. I have no idea why I do it. So anyway, but obviously what Ricky did was to an extreme.
00:19:21
Speaker
which like sometimes I'll do that at school too and like I'm sure the kids are like, oh my God, this woman is crazy. Cause I'll be like, get out your pizza. They're probably like, oh my God. So basically slow towns, we're weird. Yeah. So now you guys know.
00:19:47
Speaker
So according to the Christopher article, so there we are again, Ricky's aunt Gloria said that Ricky did actually go see a psychiatrist and like
00:20:02
Speaker
I just feel like this is really weird what she said the psychiatrist said but basically he said that Ricky had a brick wall in his mind and Christopher quote Gloria at saying quote he said Ricky refused to break the wall he didn't like the life of living poor and had an active imagination in quote and I promise that like this much backstory will kind of make sense when we get further into like the actual case
00:20:28
Speaker
But again, just kind of oddities that he has. Okay. So I did say that Ricky was basically unemployed and he was. He did hold down like, you know, a few side jobs from time to time. At one point he was, like he mopped floors. He was a dishwasher. He was a busboy. He worked at a service station. But Ricky also drew a disability check for a chronic heart condition.
00:20:58
Speaker
And maybe because, you know, Ricky preferred to be alone or maybe it just fit his lifestyle better when he was working, he preferred to work the night shift. And in that Christopher article, his aunt actually said that he was a vampire because he would sleep all day and then come up with the sun. And I feel like that's kind of... Yeah, they're kind of... Oh, man. But I do feel like that's true of a lot of people that don't have, like,
00:21:24
Speaker
A very big social life. I do feel like they tend to sleep more during the day and then be up at night time Like I kind of just seen that as a trend No, I mean like anybody that knows me, you know that I love to sleep I don't obviously stay up all night because again I love to sleep but like if my day could just naturally start at 10 o'clock Like I would be the world's happiest person like I need at least like I mean
00:21:50
Speaker
During the school night, I probably, or week, I probably get like six to seven and a half hours of sleep, but on the weekends, my husband and I don't have kids right now, and I take advantage of it. Like, if I'm rolling out of bed at 12 o'clock in the afternoon on a Saturday, I'm like, oh, yes, success! This is so good! I love it, but I don't think I would be described as a vampire.
00:22:17
Speaker
No, no, I could never. But you know what's weird? So obviously, Sleuth Hounds, Maggie and I are a lot alike in a lot of ways. That's one where we're not alike. I'm a morning person. I could see that for you. Yeah. I'm, you know, when I, my alarm goes off and I get up at, you know, 5.30, 6 o'clock. Don't you think, are you a breakfast cooker? Like you cook breakfast? Sometimes, sometimes. But once I'm awake, once I roll out of bed, I'm awake.
00:22:47
Speaker
I do say though, I do have to say though, like the older I get, the more guilty I feel the longer I lay in bed. Oh, don't feel guilty sleeping. I know. And I'm like, I'll catch myself on Saturdays, like making myself get up at like nine or 10. And then I, cause I feel so bad cause I'm like, I'm an adult now. Like I should be doing laundry or like cleaning something. No, you need the rest.
00:23:13
Speaker
But the last thing I would call you though is a vampire because of your...
00:23:19
Speaker
Thank you. So something that I think does kind of hold a little bit of significance in this case is the fact that Ricky didn't have his driver's license so he had to hitchhike and we know you know most that a lot of the cases that we've read about or that we've covered people that are hitchhikers tend to meet nasty ends some of the time. Right.
00:23:44
Speaker
But, um, I didn't really read anywhere where police speculated Ricky's incident was like a hitchhiking adventure gone wrong. Hmm. So, so far I feel like Ricky's life, you know,
00:24:00
Speaker
has been a little odd, but now the ghosts in Ricky's closet are about to start emerging because we're about to start talking about how Ricky became a daddy. Oh no, okay. So in November of 1992,
00:24:17
Speaker
Ricky found himself in court facing charges of first-degree sexual abuse because the mother of Ricky's children was a girl he'd been sleeping with since she was 11.
00:24:43
Speaker
And like, wow. So it gets even weirder because in some of the articles that are read, like, okay.
00:24:51
Speaker
when she's 11. Like I was playing with Barbies at 11. So like, that's gross. But a bunch of the articles that I read said that like, Ricky's mom and aunt knew this girl by her nickname, which is Pretty Baby.
00:25:11
Speaker
So I don't know, like, is that a nickname? That's even more disturbing. I know. Is that a nickname he gave her? Or like, is that a nickname like, oh, like my aunt, like my family calls me G, because I don't know why, but they do. So like, is it a nickname like everybody called her that? Or like, was that his pet name for her? Because if it was, and like they knew that, and they knew the situation, like, it's just even more wrong. I'm not called Chels, no. It's just that name.
00:25:42
Speaker
Oh my goodness. If they knew they deserve to face whatever punishment, I hope that he, well, did he get charged with something? See, I don't even think those charges are enough. Well, he did. He has no idea. No idea what is going on. Yeah. It grossed me out. And like, when I read that, I was kind of like, this dude, I feel like there's definitely some undiagnosed mental problems with this man. I mean,
00:26:13
Speaker
So regardless, okay, this girl is now 14 at the time of his trial and she's giving birth to two children by Ricky at this time. Okay, also, where is this girl's parents? I didn't even think about that just now. Yeah. Because he would have been, this man would have been in jail a long time before my child turned 14. Well, absolutely, because my little sleuthound is 11. If you think that I'm gonna let her be with some adult male,
00:26:41
Speaker
Oh my God, it's like that one show on Netflix where that family knows. Oh my God. What's the name of that? That the, the girl like is being abused. It's based on a true story by her. Oh my God. You go out about it. You're going to watch it.
00:26:56
Speaker
Anthony and I watched it and the whole time I was like, I know these people are not this stupid. But they found out that she's being sexually abused by their neighbor. And they just like, he kidnaps her and they're like, they pretend like it's fine. And then like, he says, my therapist says that I need to sleep beside of her to help with my anxiety. And this is after they already know that he's like,
00:27:18
Speaker
have like been abusing their daughter they're like okay sure come on in i mean like the whole time i'm like i know these people aren't just um i'm gonna share it with i'll find it and i'll share it with you. Wow but let me say this too as a parent to an 11 year old i am not i'm probably the least violent person you will ever meet in your entire life it's true but if someone harms my child i
00:27:47
Speaker
I'm capable of anything. Yeah. I'll just leave it at that. So he, he does go to jail for all of 13 months. Oh my goodness. And he later goes on to father two more children, though I don't think it was by this, a girl I didn't see who was the mother of his other two kids, but yeah. And I would fear too, if he's been with a girl who's that young,
00:28:25
Speaker
okay okay so back back to ricky yeah back to the case so ricky you know we're back to the beginning has been found dead the badly decomposed body police are baffled and all that stuff so what could have possibly happened to this recluse of a man like about it oh battery acid
00:28:37
Speaker
I feel like there could be a trend. That's true. There's an attraction to a child.
00:28:47
Speaker
What could cause somebody to decompose? And then maybe somebody was angry. Maybe they found out about him with being with this. Maybe it was the daddy of that girl. That's my theory. Okay. You tell me, you tell me what you know and we'll see. So there are some claims that Ricky was tied up in drug activity and that he died as a result of like, um,
00:29:15
Speaker
kind of like a drug deal or a drug like a message gone bad believers of this theory cite that in the weeks leading to his death that Ricky made a few random trips to Florida and according to the woman he was dating when he died her name is Sandra Ricky made those trips to pick up marijuana and so that seems weird why can't you get listen
00:29:41
Speaker
Again, I'm not an illegal drug user. We're not drug users. No. I wouldn't have the first clue where to find marijuana. Yeah, I don't even know what it would look like. My guess is I wouldn't have to go to Florida to get it. Right. Yeah.
00:29:59
Speaker
He go, he's making these trips and that's what she thinks he's going for. And you know, she says that he regularly accepted offers to pick up and deliver packages for money. So that kind of lends credence to this theory that maybe he was like a curator of drugs or notes.
00:30:19
Speaker
She does go on to say that like in the weeks leading up to his death that he seemed like kind of unsettled or scared and we'll kind of talk more about that behavior in a little while. Okay. But the Christopher article says like it's unclear who Ricky went to meet when he went to Orlando on his last visit but
00:30:44
Speaker
There were phone records that show both he and his girlfriend made a significant amount of calls to several places in central Florida before his arrival, which would kind of to me be like they're kind of planning things out. And then Sandra and Ricky exchanged a similar string of phone calls during the two days that Ricky was in Florida.
00:31:03
Speaker
and that he made at least one phone call to the St. Louis gas station where he worked. And there were some articles that said the gas station might have been like kind of shady and been involved with this type of stuff. Okay. So according to Sandra, Ricky, like I said, did accept offers to like pick up packages and money. And like, I just feel like that's a big red flag. Like,
00:31:29
Speaker
Every time, in any movie, when you meet someone, they're like, take this letter to the corner of 7th and Waller Avenue. Bad news. Yeah, you're a delivering drugs person. You don't know it, but you are. That's why you don't put somebody else's luggage in the airport. Oh, life lesson number two. There you go. So was it possibly somebody
00:31:59
Speaker
capitalizing on Ricky's like maybe kind of disabilities or like how naive he was or am I just really naive and try to see the good in people and like just assume people are kind of taking advantage of him when really he knew what was going on but
00:32:18
Speaker
the marijuana story is credible because Sandra says that he would bring the marijuana back to smoke which like you said if you're going to purchase marijuana I mean not I'm assuming you just
00:32:32
Speaker
would do that in your own neighborhood or city. I don't think you would have to go all the way to Florida, but he would bring in Ziploc bags full of marijuana bundles that were like the size of baseballs. And so to me, that is like, I feel like that's a drug dealer status. Like I don't know, but like, I don't think the like normal user has a baseball size thing of marijuana. Like all I've seen in movies, it's like real, like the joint. Yeah. Or like just a lot. Yeah.
00:33:01
Speaker
Not a baseball size of it. No. So, Ricky returns from his last Florida trip just about two weeks before he dies. And it's then that people really start to notice the change in his behavior. So, as Sandra said, he starts acting different kind of like if somebody were to be after him.
00:33:22
Speaker
I know I mentioned that Ricky did have some serious medical issues and he starts seeking medical attention in the days leading up to his death, almost as if he's using the hospital as like a refuge of some kind. Oh, like they're not gonna come get me if I'm in a hospital.
00:33:39
Speaker
Yeah, because around three o'clock in the afternoon on the 22nd, June 22nd, 1999, Ricky goes into Barnes Jewish Hospital's emergency room complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath.
00:33:54
Speaker
and if you have ever had chest pains I had to go to the ER with chest pains because I thought I was like literally having a heart attack and it is scary because they rush you straight back there you have to take x-rays of your heart and my mother lied to me and said they wouldn't give me an IV and they did no no so just so you all know
00:34:17
Speaker
So you're gonna get stuck with a needle. So Ricky did have that serious heart condition and he did have asthma. So his visits with these complaints were not unusual. He had been a pretty frequent visitor to the ER with similar complaints since he was a little kid.
00:34:38
Speaker
So he told his doctors he didn't abuse drugs or alcohol, which his family backed up. But we obviously knows a lie because he smoked marijuana with Sandra. And has baseball-sized marijuana balls. Yeah, marijuana balls. So that tells you how streetwise Allison and I are.
00:34:58
Speaker
And several places said that despite his health, like his heart issue and his asthma, Ricky was a chain smoker and would drink like up to 20 caffeinated beverages a day. What? Yes, like that was his heart's biggest blow.
00:35:16
Speaker
two cups of coffee and a soda. And I'm like, oh my gosh, there's so much caffeine I'm drinking. No, I hardly ever drink soda. And if I do, like, if I have a Mountain Dew, Anthony can tell. He'll be like, did you drink Mountain Dew today? And then I'll be like, maybe. And it'll be like 3 o'clock in the morning and I'm in the bed and I'm like, OK. It's time to go sleep. Let's go. I want to be around your house. Yeah, let's paint something.
00:35:44
Speaker
So doctors do rule out a heart attack but they do keep Ricky for observation just to kind of be sure and they keep him in the hospital for two days and he is discharged on June 24th and they do give him like orders for a follow-up visit but he never makes those appointments. So now this next little bit I mean like
00:36:08
Speaker
if you can put it behind the things we know about his past, it doesn't make me feel sorry for him. After he leaves the hospital, he goes straight to his Aunt Gloria's house. So the one who talked about like his experiences with the psychiatrist. And in so many places that I've read, it said that despite the fact his own mother lived around the corner, he preferred to visit with Gloria and was actually much closer to her than he was his own mom.
00:36:37
Speaker
And we kind of saw that with the names and the yeah, and I do kind of like understand that I do feel like aunts and uncles are able to form like a special bond with their nieces and nephews because it's like they're parent but they're also like almost on a friend level at times because I know like
00:36:55
Speaker
When I was younger, things that my mom would say to me, like if my aunt said it that I was really close to, it almost took on like a new meaning because it came from my aunt and not my mom. Right. So according to the Christopher article, it said, quote, everybody needs someone to talk to. And this is Gloria talking. Now and then she said, Ricky would come and visit and talk with me.
00:37:18
Speaker
But according to Gloria, he revealed very little about his life, the problems that he might be facing or like what he was doing in his just day-to-day activities when he was with her. And Sandra said the same things about him. Like he just didn't really reveal a lot, not a lot about his trips to Florida, not a lot about like what he was doing day-to-day. So just very like recluse and just like kind of private. So basically all we know is like speculation. Yeah, basically.
00:37:48
Speaker
So around 5 p.m. on the next day, which was June 25th, Ricky entered the emergency room at Forest Park Hospital, which was less than two miles from Barnes Jewish Hospital, and a little tidbit of random information. If
00:38:06
Speaker
y'all don't already know i'm like obsessed with abandoned houses and hospitals and like library or just like abandoned schools like all that stuff like the thought of the things like the memories that are there or like the life that this building had just kind of um like really intrigues me and um this hospital was abandoned
00:38:30
Speaker
like in the mid 2000s I think if I'm remembering correctly and I literally spent like 45 minutes looking at pictures and watching videos of people tour this place after it was abandoned and it looks like it's kind of straight out of the walking dead it's very like oh my god yeah
00:38:46
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of creepy. And like one time I made Anthony back in Eastern Kentucky, it was a hospital in a town and then they turned it into like a nursing home. And then it had been abandoned for a while and they were doing like an auction of this stuff inside. I made Anthony and you could like go in and look at the stuff.
00:39:05
Speaker
Oh, of course we weren't going to buy anything, but I was like, let's go. I want to go through this old hospital. And I was like, Anthony, let's just buy it because it's such a pretty building. And I was like, we could live here. We can make it a house. And he was like, oh my gosh, I need to go. He was like, people have died here. Right. I'm with Anthony on this one. So we decided. And I was like, you could put it into such a cool like bed and breakfast and you could do like haunted houses and stuff. He was like, you're so stupid.
00:39:32
Speaker
So, unlike the last ER visit, when Ricky was complaining about chest pains, this time he comes in and says he couldn't breathe, which, you know, he has asthma. And doctors just kind of chalk that up to an asthma flare up. He isn't admitted. He's released around six o'clock that afternoon. And it's actually not clear when he left the hospital. Gloria, in a couple articles, said that he actually spent the night in the waiting room and then left the next morning, which kind of, again,
00:40:02
Speaker
points to him using that the hospital was kind of like a safety. So Sandra told police that she talked to Ricky on the phone at 11 30 a.m. on the 26th and he said that he was gonna go to the gas station get something to eat and that you know everything was okay and the last sighting that we have of Ricky was on June 27th.
00:40:26
Speaker
And the day after. So the day after that and he was leaving the gas station and had no idea that his death was only like days away because he's full sweep and full circle now has been found dead on June 29th.
The Unsolved Encrypted Notes and Public Involvement
00:40:42
Speaker
Okay. So those last couple of days for him were just hospital visits and. Right. And that's about it. That's about it.
00:40:52
Speaker
So Ricky's case does stay pretty cold for the most part. So cold in fact that FBI, the FBI decides to take a huge step forward and let the public in on some like sensitive case information. Right, which usually they don't do, right? We talked about that. Like they'll keep information back so that way they'll know if someone has insider information.
00:41:16
Speaker
Right, and what they release is very big in Ricky's case. They tell the public, and this is in 2011, so Ricky died in, what was it, 1999? 1999? Yeah, so it's a while. They tell the public that they actually found notes on Ricky's body that were encrypted.
00:41:39
Speaker
they're coded and so they wanted the public to see if they could crack the codes because the FBI wasn't able to crack the codes.
00:41:50
Speaker
I'm according to the, which is crazy and I will, you will find out why in a second. Cause I was like, holy crap. So according to the unsolved murder of Ricky McCormick to date the FBI cryptic analysts and racketeering records unit, which is called CRRU.
00:42:11
Speaker
have been unable to decipher the baffling note and they feel like this note could help solve Ricky's murder. Dan Olson is chief of the FBI CRRU unit said quote, it doesn't happen often that we have an unsolved cipher of this length and significance. The characters are not random. There are many ease, for example, that could be used as a spacer. There are many characteristics that suggest it could be solved.
00:42:39
Speaker
many patterns. The problem is we don't know why it's not solvable in quote. I know there's 13 so there's 30 lines of this coded text including numbers letters and parentheses and it's it's like
00:42:59
Speaker
It's weird. So it turns out there are actually a ton of theories about who could have, you know, created this code that was found in Ricky's pocket. And I'll go into detail about those in a second. But this puzzle has stumped the world's best code breakers.
00:43:16
Speaker
people around the world remain like just baffled about this. It's actually on the FBI's list of that ranks third on the FBI's list of unsolved cases only behind like as far as codes only behind an unbroken code.
00:43:34
Speaker
by the Zodiac Killer in 1969. And a secret threat letter that was written to an undisclosed public agency about 25 years ago. So if you Google, like, the CCRU's unsolved codes, Ricky's is third. Wow. Yeah. I'm glad I didn't even see it. Yeah, we'll definitely post it so that you guys can see it because, I mean, I feel like if anybody could break it, it's gonna be one of our sleuthounds.
00:44:04
Speaker
Oh, totally. I love riddles, too. Oh, yeah. I feel like this would be like a logic problems. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. As far as like the Rebus puzzles go, I tell you all like I really do like I will sit and I've like started with my kids at school. I'll put them up sometimes for them to do like, especially if I can find like
00:44:27
Speaker
if it's like halloween like i'll put a halloween one up or something like that um and like i'll sit and stare and stare at them and sometimes i can't get them and then like i'll finally figure it out and i'm like duh like it's so what you finally figured out so um the fbi typically and this is why i was like what they usually unlock the meaning of codes in just a matter of hours
00:44:57
Speaker
hours. That's wick. And this is, so PS, Sleuth, Allyson, and I are not recording together right now, so I'm going to send her a text message with a link to an article that has those codes in there. Okay.
00:45:15
Speaker
But like, so we're a couple of hours, and this is like 11, 12 years later, so they're desperate. And like, unlike the Reba's puzzles where I can Google the answer, they cannot do it. I got a little too excited. I was gonna say, maybe they were sending it thinking like,
00:45:39
Speaker
There's some secret code with friends. Like, did you do that when you were little? Oh, yeah. Like, have a secret language or whatever. But I feel like no kids could come up with a code that the FBI can't break. Yeah, exactly. Like, which, again, like one of the theories, you're going to be like, I don't know, because I just don't know. So so I totally was not picturing. So Maggie just sent me the link.
00:46:09
Speaker
And I was not picturing Ricky McCormick the way he looks. Yeah, I did not either whenever I was. We'll post this picture. Like he just looks like an average dude. Like I just... Yeah. Yeah. Which I guess we say that every time. They just look like an average person. So I'm looking at the code and it's like little paragraphs almost with like
00:46:34
Speaker
circles around the different parts. And there's like no spaces to indicate different words. So it's like, you know, a letter has to be a space. Right. But then, I mean, there'll be like on one part of it, it'll say like, I'm looking at the second picture and there's like short phrases in parentheses.
00:47:05
Speaker
and it'll like I see a 71 and then in the line below it I see a 74 and the one below it I see a 75. Yeah and they were like years or something. Yeah and they run those numbers um like well I'll tell you. So um Dan Olson goes on like
00:47:28
Speaker
quite a bit he does quite a bit a bit of explaining in that Christopher article that I've been citing but he walks us through like his steps to break the code in that article and he says when McCormick's code originally hit like in the article it says when McCormick's code originally hit his desk Olsen attacked them as he always does counting characters and looking for patterns so just kind of like what you were doing
00:47:52
Speaker
He attempted to break them down naturally with graph paper and a pencil. He dissected the strings of letters and numbers on whiteboards amid the accurate width of dry erase markers. He employed computers with state of the art software to perform statistical analysis. Olsen worked on the codes for a solid two weeks and he got nowhere.
00:48:12
Speaker
He even brought in other analysts to look at and brainstorm ideas. He consulted experts for clues. He compared the letters and numbers. So like how you almost said there's like a pattern. They looked to see if that could possibly have been like street addresses in St. Louis. They looked at maps across the country, but they didn't really hit anything substantial. It was more just all kind of like coincidence.
00:48:41
Speaker
Like, have you ever, okay, so I buy, this is like the best gift for me ever, but those puzzle books, like you can get in the grocery store, but I love every puzzle in it. I love like, cyclocrostics and the logic problems and things like that, but there's one type of puzzle that's a cryptogram.
00:49:06
Speaker
And it's what you just said, like it's basically like code breaking, but for dummies, you were not like FBI CRRU. But yeah, I mean, you'll have to look and you say, okay, well, if the little letter R repeats a bunch, it's likely a vowel and a more common vowel, like an E.
00:49:31
Speaker
And then, but it gives you a category. So it'll say like, I don't know, flowers. And so you kind of can narrow it down a little, right? Exactly. So you could try to figure out, you know, which flower it is. And, but you do have to kind of see if you can see patterns, look for common letters, which likely again, represent a vowel or like an S or a T or something like that.
00:49:59
Speaker
So basically, tomorrow, Allison is going to have this solved, is what she's saying. I'll have it solved by tomorrow, now. On Friday, they'll say, Allison solved. It's Ricky with the book for me. I just took a look at a good lunch, you know. In between grading papers, I quickly glanced at it, solved it. You're welcome, world.
00:50:24
Speaker
So there are the theories behind who has written the notes and I'm going to talk about I think I talked like three or four maybe. So one is what I think we all kind of just naturally want it to be like we want this note to be by the murderer if he was murdered like
00:50:42
Speaker
you know the part of us that loves the mystery wants it to be that the murderer has like put some kind of secret clues into this like code um and there are law enforcement agents that believe it is the killer but then there are also people who kind of think that the code was planted on Ricky's body to serve as a red herring to distract police away from locating the killer which i had never thought of because i guess my brain doesn't work like that but i was kind of like that's genius in a way
00:51:12
Speaker
I mean, it's absolutely genius, but then at the same time, I feel like, like who thinks of that as a red herring? Like who is like, you know what? Let's put a code on him. Let's just draw words. Right. Let's just create something that's completely random and hope it throws them off. No, I get if they put like,
00:51:40
Speaker
I don't know, a random key. Yeah, or a hotel. Because that doesn't make a lot of thought or time. But something like that, I feel like, I don't know. And then like in 2011, when that's released, they're like, Told you this would work. Yeah, it paid off. Yeah. There are like people that hold to the theory that Ricky wrote the notes. So this is actually the most popular theory.
00:52:09
Speaker
And even Dan Olson says, quote, it is done in more of a format of something written to oneself than something written to someone else, unquote.
00:52:22
Speaker
So according to the Unsolved Murder of Ricky McCormick, that article that I talked about a little earlier, Ricky was obviously known for concocting tall tales and his display of unusual behavior. He was also reportedly, like I said, only semi-literate and some believed struggled with learning disabilities and mental health issues. If you remember the word that Ricky's mom called him.
00:52:52
Speaker
most people believe that ricky wrote the note in a shorthand that he developed over the years and if that's possible this note may never be disoffered because like i think i've said this before but i always read my case to anthony before alison and i record it or at least try to and he kind of talked about like if ricky
00:53:13
Speaker
was like, you know, handicap or had a learning disability, then we might not even spell correctly. So he might spell round like R-O-N-D and leave out the U. So we would never know that to be able to decipher code written by him. You're right. Which I was like, he said that and I said, huh. Or could even like transpose letters like, you know, maybe it's supposed to be
00:53:45
Speaker
I don't know. Like maybe he just transferred it in, but it's written like a U because it's written upside down or something like that. So, you know, perhaps that's why the FBI can't get past the step number two, which is determining the system that's used.
00:54:06
Speaker
So
Theories and Public Challenge
00:54:07
Speaker
there is confusion regarding whether or not like Ricky's family kind of stands behind the capabilities of him writing this note. Some members of Ricky's family said that he could read and write or that he sorry that he could not read and write and there was absolutely no way that he would have been able to form a complex coded message. There are other family members though that said Ricky had been writing in his own quote secret language
00:54:33
Speaker
says he was a child and this is kind of what you said like when you make up like coded words with your friends and stuff like that. This little tidbit of information from that um and saw a murder article I was like this is weird but then Anthony was like no it's not but unfortunately we don't have any existing like handwriting samples of Ricky's and at first I was like that's really hard to believe like you don't have a grocery list dude wrote down you don't have a telephone number
00:55:02
Speaker
But then Anthony was like, you know, if he wasn't comfortable writing down things, he's going to avoid writing them down. So there probably wouldn't be anything to compare the note with.
00:55:14
Speaker
So the third theory, and I'll lie to you all, this is the last theory, was that Ricky was like, curing, which I think is a very hard word to say. It's a lot of vowels. The note, so the unsolved murder of Ricky McCormick, article states,
00:55:35
Speaker
Cryptographer Alonca Dunnan contends that Ricky, this is a quote from that article, likely didn't write the note. Instead, after taking into consideration Ricky's education and background, Alonca suggests that he may have worked as a courier for coded messages for criminals. However, if Ricky was killed because he was carrying notes,
00:55:58
Speaker
for nefarious people, it seems odd that the killer would have left the note on his body to have it found by police and quote, right? It's true. Like why if he is carrying back the code and like you're trying to let your other person know like we're going to meet here to do this deal or whatever, you wouldn't want police to find that. But I do kind of feel like
00:56:23
Speaker
we know i do feel like maybe we know he was curing drugs so why would this be a crazy theory i don't know yeah i don't know but they do think that this note could if cracked give some sort of indication of who he thought might be after him they think that if the code is correct that they will
00:56:46
Speaker
essentially it will help them solve the case. They've said they don't know if it will give like locations maybe, maybe people that they need to be like looking at or looking for or people that were with Ricky or the people responsible, but everything that I read said that police think that this code is the key to this case. All right, well Slootowns, let's get cracking.
00:57:12
Speaker
We all love a good riddle. We love working hard to solve a puzzle. And the code in Ricky's pocket are among the hardest codes left to crack. These codes have stamped the best code breakers in the world. But I know you all can solve this case. You can break this code. Just remember the four steps. One, determining the language used. Two, determining the system used. Three, reconstructing the key.
00:57:39
Speaker
and four, reconstructing the plain text. If you are able to crack the code, you're urged to contact FBI Laboratories, Crypto Analysis and Racketeering Records Unit at 2501 Investigation Parkway, Quantico, Virginia, 221-35. Attention, Ricky McCormick-Ace. Good luck, Sleuthounds.
00:58:06
Speaker
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00:58:35
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.