FBI asks public for help breaking encrypted notes tied to 1999 murder

[lewisipso]

In what seems like a throwback to the still-unsolved Zodiac killings that terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s, the FBI has sent out a public appeal for amateur sleuths to help solve a key cryptographic clue in a 1999 murder case.
On June 30, 1999, police officers in St. Louis, Missouri found the body of 41-year-old Ricky McCormick, who'd been murdered and dumped in a field. The only clues investigators recovered from the scene were two encrypted notes stuffed into the victim's pockets.
"Despite extensive work by our Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), as well as help from the American Cryptogram Association, the meanings of those two coded notes remain a mystery to this day, and Ricky McCormick's murderer has yet to face justice," the FBI said in a press release today. CRRU chief Dan Olson added, "We are really good at what we do, but we could use some help with this one ... Maybe someone with a fresh set of eyes might come up with a brilliant new idea."

See notes at link

FBI asks public for help breaking encrypted notes tied to 1999 murder - Yahoo! News

[Odd]

Fascinating to me, and my wishes this works out. I'll just suggest if you pass this on to your crypto puzzle loving friends, and linguists, use the FBI link. The Yahoo story unnecessarily includes talk of Zodiak and doesn't make it clear the notes were written by the victim. Save them the time of wading through the writing 'talent' of some yahoos (how appropriate if unfortunate).

FBI — Help Solve an Open Murder Case, Part 2

Thanks Lew...I sure hope this crowd sourcing works to catch the filth who did this.

[Car 4]

Have they talked to the teams at NSA? Those folks can break anything!



Car 4

[lewisipso]

Inter Governmental communication? I doubt it.

[StoleIt]

Where is that kid from "Mercury Rising" when you need him?!

[APB]

My bet is on a one-time pad. Unless they find that, it's unbreakable, assuming the cipher was in fact completely randomly generated.

[Odd]

Lots of responses, now they need to sort the wheat from the chaff.

FBI Flooded With Tips on Encrypted Notes From 1999 Murder Mystery - FoxNews.com

Two days after soliciting the public's help in deciphering two coded notes found in the pocket of a Missouri man believed murdered 12 years ago, FBI officials are being inundated with potential clues, FoxNews.com has learned.

Dan Olson, chief of the FBI's Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit (CRRU), urged potential code-breakers to send their tips via mail rather than sending emails or flooding phone lines.

"We don't have the bandwidth to handle the emails we're getting," Olson told FoxNews.com on Thursday. "We're getting a bunch [of responses]."