Breaking the Code: The Mysterious Death of Ricky McCormick and the Unsolved Cipher

[00:00:00] Somewhere the sun shines, somewhere the birds sing the glory of a new dawn, somewhere it's spring again. But here, here it's always Halloween. It's the Rogue Transmissions halfway to Halloween Hullabaloo.

[00:00:18] Rogue Transmissions, an unhinged anthology of indie podcasts, is invading your streaming device to throw a hell-raising halfway to Halloween party. Rogue Transmissions, a new video of the show, featuring all of your indie podcasting favorites, including

[00:00:40] Brew Crime, Chick Lit, October Pod, our True Crime Podcast, Pitney and Amelia's Bitchin' Boutique, Spine Chillers and Serial Killers, Serial Napper, Twisted and Uncorked, and Witches Talking Tarot. It's coming Tuesday, April 29th, to this podcast.

[00:01:02] That's right, the Rogue Transmissions, Halfway to Halloween Hullabaloo, is coming to the podcast you're listening to right now, on Tuesday, April 29th, 2025. Rogue Transmissions, Rogue Transmissions, Rogue Transmissions, Halfway to Halloween Hullabaloo. List of participating podcasts may vary. Lieutenant for external assaulting. Enjoy Rogue Transmissions responsibly. Avoid prohibited.

[00:01:30] Hey, it's Nikki. Wanted to let you know that I've launched an ad-free Serial Napper feed, so you can enjoy the podcast without interruptions. For just $2 a month, you can unlock ad-free episodes while still supporting the podcast. It's super easy. Just visit Serial Napper on your Spotify app and click the button at the top of the page that says, exclusive episodes for subscribers. Don't use Spotify for your listening? No problem.

[00:01:57] Just visit patreon.com slash serialnapper to get your episodes ad-free and enjoy uninterrupted storytelling while you get your naps in. Sweet dreams. The case featured in this episode has been researched using police records, court documents, witness statements, and the news. Listener discretion is advised. All parties mentioned are innocent until proven guilty, and all opinions are my own.

[00:02:41] Hey everyone, my name is Nikki Young, and this is Serial Napper, the true crime podcast for naps. I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep, or perhaps to give you nightmares. The date is June 30th, 1999. A body is discovered in a cornfield about 20 miles outside of St. Louis, Missouri. The man, 41-year-old Ricky McCormick, is found dressed in nothing but dirty blue jeans and a stained white t-shirt.

[00:03:10] His body is badly decomposed, so much so that his cause of death is pretty much impossible to determine. At first glance, it seems like another tragic and forgotten death. A man with few means and likely mental health struggles. But then, investigators find something that would turn this case on its head. Two pages of handwritten notes. These aren't ordinary scribbles, though.

[00:03:36] The notes are written in an intricate, unbreakable code, something that has baffled both elite codebreakers and amateur sleuths for years. Over 30 lines of cryptic letters, numbers, and symbols, carefully arranged in a pattern that no one can seem to decipher. It's believed that the victim, Ricky, had written these notes shortly before his death. But what did they mean?

[00:04:03] Could these strange symbols hold the key to understanding how Ricky McCormick died or even why? Despite his struggles with mental health and criminal activities, many believe that these notes could be the missing piece to solving his mysterious death. So, dim the lights, put your phone down, and listen as I dig into the eerie case of Ricky McCormick,

[00:04:27] a man whose final words, hidden in plain sight, may reveal a truth far more chilling than anyone could have imagined. If only someone could read them. So, let's jump right in. Born on June 14, 1958, Ricky McCormick's life was marked by isolation, struggle, and a haunting sense of disconnection from the rest of the world. From a young age, it was very clear that he was just a little bit different from the other kids.

[00:04:57] His cousin, Charles McCormick, who shared a bond with Ricky that was almost brotherly, would recall how Ricky often spoke like he was in another world, leading many to suspect that Ricky might have suffered from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. As a boy, he would visit a psychiatrist a couple of times, but he didn't receive much else in terms of treatment due to financial constraints.

[00:05:22] According to that doctor, Ricky had a brick wall in his mind that he simply refused to break through. His family was incredibly poor, and Ricky, he preferred to live in his mind instead of suffering through his grim reality. He preferred the world that he had created for himself, one of make-believe and happy thoughts, a stark contrast to the world that he actually lived in.

[00:05:48] Though it's believed that Ricky never received proper treatment for his mental health issues, his family remembers his tendency to spin elaborate stories and his unpredictable behavior. As a boy, he often spent recess standing alone, and school officials, they'd call his mother to ask if something was wrong with him. Despite that, teachers passed him along from grade to grade, and Ricky struggled. To the surprise of no one,

[00:06:16] when Ricky dropped out of St. Louis Martin Luther King High School, he could barely read or write. He was severely delayed, which would make life all the more difficult for him. It's said by those who knew him that Ricky seemed to live in the shadows. Chronic lung and heart issues, a history of mental health struggles, and an inability to keep steady work, they all added to his sense of instability. He drifted between homes, his mothers,

[00:06:46] his aunts, his girlfriends, often seeking escape from the harsh realities of St. Louis, a city that was plagued by gang violence and hardship in the 90s. But even within this chaos, Ricky found solace in distance. As a teenager and later as an adult, he frequently hitchhiked or took buses to escape the streets where drug dealers and gang members often lurked. Without a formal education,

[00:07:14] his life as an adult included a series of odd jobs, a floor mopper, a dishwasher, a busboy, and a service station attendant. And he was supplemented by disability checks for chronic heart problems. The night shift was his preferred shift, and he became known as a night owl, leaving his home at dusk and returning at dawn. Ricky McCormick's life wasn't just marked by struggles with mental health and instability.

[00:07:42] It also took a dark turn in 1992. That year, Ricky found himself in trouble with the law when St. Louis police arrested him for fathering two children with a girl under the age of 14. The girl, only known by the nickname Pretty Baby, was just 11 years old when she began to be abused by Ricky, according to court records. Now this is horrific.

[00:08:09] A child was abused by a grown man over several years, resulting in two pregnancies. She is the victim in this situation. However, I think it's also important to note that this may have never happened if Ricky was afforded proper attention and care for his mental illness. People with severe mental disabilities, they may have impairments in cognitive functioning or emotional regulation, and that could significantly reduce their capacity

[00:08:38] for intentional action or understanding what's right and what's wrong. That's why resources and intervention are incredibly important for public safety. As Ricky awaited trial on the first-degree sexual abuse charge, his public defender raised serious concerns about his mental health. She stated that there was reasonable cause to believe that he was suffering from some kind of mental disease or defect, and she requested a mental health examination.

[00:09:08] In many legal situations, someone who is severely mentally disabled, they might not be held fully responsible for their actions, especially if it's proven that they weren't able to understand the nature of the crime or control their behavior due to their mental condition. This is the basis for defense like insanity or diminished capacity, where a person's mental state at the time of the offense, it's taken into account. A local psychologist was called in

[00:09:37] to evaluate him at the former St. Louis State Hospital. Following the evaluation and after a hearing, the court determined that Ricky was fit to stand trial. His mental diminishment, it wasn't taken into consideration for the crime that he committed. On September 1st, 1993, Ricky McCormick pleaded guilty to all charges. He would spend just 13 months behind bars at the Farmington Correctional Center. Shockingly,

[00:10:06] he was released early on conditional release, and it's insane to think about. This grown man, whether he had a mental illness or not, he had been abusing a child over the course of several years, even fathering her children. The courts apparently believed that he was capable of determining what was right or wrong in the situation, and yet, he would spend a little over a year in jail for his crime.

[00:10:35] No matter your thoughts on whether or not this mentally disabled man should be held liable for the things that he did, one must admit that it's not safe for him or the public for him to just be a free man walking around without any sort of help for his mental illness. The troubled relationship with Pretty Baby, it was just one chapter and a life that seemed to spiral into more erratic behavior. After Ricky McCormick was released from prison,

[00:11:05] he found a job working the graveyard shift at an Amoco gas station in downtown St. Louis. It wasn't the kind of place where one could expect peace or safety. The station was run by two brothers, Juma and Baha Bob Hamdala, men with violent reputations and shady dealings. And it wasn't long before Ricky seemed to get caught up in their web. He was extremely agreeable and naive, and he would go along

[00:11:34] with most ideas that were presented to him. While working at the Amoco, Ricky made several mysterious trips to Florida. His girlfriend, Sandra Jones, she later told police that she believed Ricky was smuggling marijuana for the Hamdala brothers and that he seemed frightened during those trips, as if he didn't want to do it, but he felt he had to or there would be consequences. On June 15, 1999,

[00:12:03] just two weeks before his body would be found in a cornfield, Ricky walked into the Greyhound bus terminal in downtown St. Louis. He purchased a one-way ticket to Orlando, Florida, and this would be the last of at least two trips he had taken to the state that year. What happened during his stay at the Econo Lodge in Orlando? It remains unclear, but phone records show that Ricky and his girlfriend, Sandra Jones, they made multiple calls

[00:12:32] to people in central Florida ahead of his arrival. During his stay, he also placed at least one call to the Amoco gas station where he worked. According to a sheriff's department investigation report, it's believed that Ricky would often accept offers to transport packages in exchange for money. On these trips to Florida, he would return with marijuana sealed in Ziploc bags, which he would then stash in his apartment, and this was a fairly

[00:13:01] common occurrence. But after that final trip to Florida, something seemed off about Ricky when he returned home to his girlfriend. Sandra noted that he just seemed kind of different. He was scared, more anxious than she had ever seen him. And his behavior, it grew more erratic. He seemed to sense trouble was looming, but he didn't know where to turn. The last few days of Ricky McCormick's life were clouded by confusion,

[00:13:31] pain, and an urgent need for medical care, or perhaps just a desperate search for safety. On June 22, 1999, at around 3 p.m., he walked alone into the emergency room at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, complaining of chest pains and shortness of breath. For Ricky, this wasn't really anything new. He had a long history of visits to the ER, struggling with asthma and persistent chest pain since childhood. He told the doctors

[00:14:00] that he didn't use drugs or drink much alcohol, a statement that his friends and families would confirm. But his smoking habit, at least a pack a day since he was 10, and his coffee consumption, which he estimated to be more than 20 caffeinated drinks every day, it certainly contributed to his health issues. Doctors ruled out a heart attack, but they decided to admit him to the hospital for observation. He stayed at the hospital for two days,

[00:14:30] and when he was discharged on June 24, he was given instructions to return for a follow-up visit in the coming week. But Ricky would never make it to those appointments. Just the very next day on June 25, Ricky McCormick returned to the emergency room, this time at Forest Park Hospital, less than two miles away from Barnes-Jewish. He complained of difficulty breathing after mowing grass. Doctors diagnosed him

[00:14:59] with another asthma flare-up, but this time they did not admit him to the hospital. At 5.50pm that night, Ricky was officially released, though it's unclear exactly when he left the hospital. It's believed that he actually spent the night in the waiting room, unable to find a safe place to go. Again, all the while he was experiencing these health issues, he was also acting out of the normal, like he was afraid of what might be waiting for him around the corner.

[00:15:28] The following day, on June 26, he spoke with his aunt Gloria on the phone at around 11.30am. He told her that he was now out of the hospital, and he was heading to the Amoco gas station to grab something to eat. And that would be the last time anyone actually heard from him. On June 27, a gas station employee reported seeing Ricky at the Amoco. He left the station at some point, and medical examiners would later confirm

[00:15:57] that he had likely died that very same day. So the last time Ricky McCormick was seen alive was on June 27, and then Ricky McCormick disappeared. The grim discovery of Ricky's body came on June 30, 1999, just days after he vanished from the Amoco gas station. A woman was driving along a rural field road near Highway 367 near West Alton, Missouri, when something

[00:16:26] caught her eye in one of the nearby cornfields. She pulled over, drawn by a peculiar sight, and as she approached, the horror of what she saw became clear. The decomposed body of a man lying face down in the dirt. The man was wearing dirty Lee blue jeans and a stained white t-shirt. This particular stretch of road had become infamous in the area. It was a place where bodies had been dumped by killers in the past.

[00:16:55] Back in 1995, a sex worker was found shot in an abandoned house not too far from the same spot. But this time, the body would belong to 41-year-old Ricky McCormick. It's time for a quick break and a word from tonight's sponsors. Hang on, I'll be back before you know it. Let me tell you about the online cannabis company that's revolutionizing how we deal with life's challenges. From sleepless nights to stress-filled days,

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[00:19:23] an immediate investigation. Ricky had only been missing for three days, but his body was in a shocking state of decomposition. Given the warm June weather, it wasn't entirely unexpected, but it was far worse than anyone had anticipated. His body was so badly decomposed, the police were unable to identify him visually. It wasn't until they turned to his fingerprints that they were able to confirm his identity, but even then,

[00:19:52] it was really complicated. His fingertips had decayed to the point that they had pretty much fallen off, leaving only the raw skin of his hands behind. The location where Ricky McCormick's body was found added yet another layer of mystery to an already perplexing case. The cornfield was located about 15 miles away from where Ricky had lived, and there was one key detail that stood out. Ricky couldn't drive. He had no car,

[00:20:22] no way to make the journey on his own, and this led investigators to speculate that he may have been the victim of a homicide and his body had been dumped there, but there was still so much that they just didn't know. Adding to the confusion, authorities noticed signs that Ricky may have had a head injury. The advanced decomposition made it pretty much impossible to be certain, but it was one more piece of the puzzle that pointed to foul play. As the investigation

[00:20:51] into Ricky McCormick's death unfolded, his girlfriend, Sandra Jones, couldn't shake the nagging thought that the answers to his mysterious demise might lie with Baha Bob Hamdala. She recalled that when Ricky returned from his last trip to Orlando, he seemed different. He was anxious, scared, almost as if something had gone terribly wrong. She told investigators that she suspected Ricky might have done something illegal during his time in Florida,

[00:21:20] something that could have put him in harm's way, and if anyone was capable of hurting Ricky, it was probably Bob Hamdala. She had seen the dark side of the Hamdala brothers during Ricky's time working at the Amaco gas station. Both brothers had violent reputations, and Ricky had been involved in some shady dealings with them. In her mind, it wasn't just a coincidence that Ricky had been around these dangerous individuals. If Ricky had crossed the line,

[00:21:49] if he had become involved in something more sinister than he realized, it was easy to imagine that Bob Hamdala could have been involved in his disappearance and ultimately his murder. Bob and Juma Hamdala, the two brothers who had employed Ricky McCormick at the Amaco gas station, they were no strangers to trouble. Just two months after Ricky's body was discovered, Juma opened fire to Bob during a heated argument. Bob survived, but the incident,

[00:22:18] it served as a grim reminder of the volatile nature of their relationship. Meanwhile, Bob had ties to the drug trade in St. Louis City, and his violent past included a 1998 arrest for second-degree assault after he beat a man with a hammer. In 2002, Bob's violent streak continued when he shot a customer in the face after an argument. He was convicted, but in 2008, after a retrial, he was released when the court found

[00:22:48] that he had acted in self-defense. Beyond the Hamdala brothers, investigators began to turn their attention to a man named Gregory Lamar Knox. Knox had connection to Ricky's housing complex, and he was a known drug dealer with a history of involvement in murder-for-hire schemes. Police received a tip from a confidential informant that seemed to tie Knox directly to Ricky's death. The investigation revealed possible links between Knox and the Hamdala brothers,

[00:23:18] further deepening the suspicion that Ricky's demise could be tied to the dangerous world of drug trafficking and gang violence. Despite their efforts, the police were never able to substantiate the tip. A series of stakeouts and surveillance all failed to provide the breakthrough that they were hoping for. The leads, although promising, ultimately led to nothing. And so, once again, they were left with the same grim reality. A dead body in a cornfield

[00:23:47] and no answers about how or why he died. Major Tom O'Connor of the Major Case Squad spoke to the press, and they announced that they were treating Ricky McCormick's death as a homicide investigation. But with no clear cause of death and such a significant level of decomposition, authorities couldn't rule out the possibility that Ricky may have died due to his ongoing health issues. His history of asthma, chest pains, and other health problems,

[00:24:16] it all made it plausible that his death could have been a result of natural causes. But everything about the situation raised doubts. After conducting a difficult autopsy, they could not determine a clear cause of death. There was no obvious trauma, no clear evidence of foul play. And because Ricky's body was left in a high-temperature environment that sped up the decomposition process, the St. Charles County Medical Examiner's Office, they ultimately ruled

[00:24:45] his cause of death undetermined. The investigators were also unable to find any physical evidence linking Ricky's death to a crime. There was no murder weapon in sight, no visible signs of a struggle. In light of this, the authorities made an unexpected decision. They announced that Ricky McCormick, he had died of natural causes, despite the strange and unsettling nature of his death. Given the absence of any definitive proof of a homicide, the case was officially

[00:25:15] closed with the cause of death listed as undetermined, but leaning toward natural causes. This conclusion left many people baffled, especially those who knew Ricky and those who believed that he probably had been involved in something much darker in the days leading up to his death. How could a man who had been in and out of the hospitals, who had been visibly scared and possibly involved with dangerous people, simply die from natural causes

[00:25:44] in such a bizarre and suspicious manner? The discovery of Ricky McCormick's body was only the beginning of the strange and unsettling details that would emerge. As investigators combed through his belongings, they found something even more perplexing tucked into his pants pocket. Two pieces of paper, each covered in scrawled paragraphs, written in what appeared to be a code. Now, if you're interested in seeing the papers for yourself,

[00:26:13] I'll have them posted over on my social media pages. They're strange, and they include what looks like paragraphs with random letters and numbers. Some lines are written between brackets, and some look like they're outlined in speech bubbles. At the end of the writing, there's what looks like could be an address written out. The letters are littered with repeating clues, leading some to believe that the code is solvable. Among the most bizarre elements of the cipher

[00:26:42] are the reoccurring letters NCBE, and a series of numbers 71, 74, and 75. So what do they mean? There are two main theories about these cryptic elements. The first suggests that the numbers could correspond to local highways, the kind that crisscrossed through the area where Ricky McCormick's body was found. If so, they might represent key locations, landmarks, or places tied

[00:27:12] to Ricky's life or death. But there's another theory, and it's far darker. Some believe that these numbers and letters are slang used by local drug dealers, cryptic codes for illicit deals or territory. So could Ricky have been involved in something dangerous? Was he targeted by someone in the world of drugs, someone who left these bizarre clues behind as a twisted signature? But it gets even more perplexing. Some experts suggest that the cipher

[00:27:41] might not be a code at all, but rather a series of random numbers and letters. Mere gibberish. Or perhaps even a schedule for medications. Or, more intriguingly, the parts of a car. Yet there's one more theory, one that brings the focus back to Ricky McCormick himself. What if Ricky McCormick was the one who created the cipher? After all, Ricky, he wasn't a man who fit into any mold. Though he was only semi-literate

[00:28:10] and had possible learning disabilities, he had a gift for storytelling. His friends and family recalled him spinning elaborate tales, weaving stories that often seemed far-fetched and even fantastical. Could he have created his own code? A shorthand that he developed over the years. And if he did, if the cipher was his creation, it would make it nearly impossible for anyone else to break it. What if, in his final moments, Ricky used the code

[00:28:40] to tell his own story, one that only he could understand? The notes were unlike anything that the police had ever seen before. They were cryptic, jumbled, and seemingly nonsensical. And they couldn't make heads or tails of them, neither could anyone else at the time. It was a clue, but one that only raised more questions. The police passed the notes on to the FBI, who kept them under wraps even from Ricky McCormick's family, as they tried to decipher the strange writing.

[00:29:09] For 12 long years, the FBI's cryptanalysis, they worked tirelessly trying to crack the code, and possibly to crack the case. But as the years dragged on with no answers, the FBI finally decided to release the notes to the public in March of 2011. By then, the mystery had become a national curiosity, and the FBI was hoping that someone might be able to provide the breakthrough that they had been waiting for. The mystery deepened further

[00:29:38] when it became clear that even Ricky McCormick's own family couldn't decipher the notes that were found in his pockets. The coded messages, seemingly jumbled and nonsensical, baffled everyone who saw them. Dan Olson, the chief of the FBI's cryptanalysis and racketeering records unit, CRRU, he publicly appealed to the internet for help. He asked people to look at the two pages of bizarre symbols, letters, numbers, and lines. It was explained,

[00:30:09] quote, breaking the code could reveal the victim's whereabouts before his death and could lead to the solution of a homicide. The hope was that by putting these notes in the hands of a fresh set of eyes, someone could uncover the meaning. The FBI didn't just want the public to look at the notes in isolation, though. They asked if anyone knew of other cryptic messages that Ricky had written during his life, hoping to find more examples that could provide a context or make comparisons.

[00:30:39] They emphasized that even something as mundane as a grocery list or a love letter would help in understanding how Ricky's cipher worked. The release of these notes sparked an overwhelming public response. In just two years, over 7,000 analysis and comments flooded in, prompting the FBI to set up a dedicated web page to field all the responses. Even the American Cryptogram Association, a group of amateur code breakers,

[00:31:09] they were approached for help. In 2009, the puzzle was presented at the group's annual convention in Niagara Falls, Ontario, to a room full of members eager to tackle the mystery. But despite their best efforts, they were just as baffled as the FBI. By 2012, Ricky's family had grown frustrated with the investigation and the claims that Ricky had been writing code messages his whole life. They publicly refuted the idea, explaining that,

[00:31:38] while Ricky sometimes jotted down nonsense that he called writing, they had never described him as a code breaker. They denied that Ricky had left coded messages, casting even more doubt on the nature of the notes found in his pockets. Despite the family's claims, the FBI remained steadfast in their belief that the notes were indeed written by Ricky McCormick. Because of the structure of the notes, how some segments of the code were marked with circles,

[00:32:06] resembling a to-do list where items were ticked off once completed, it looked like the notes were something Ricky had written to himself rather than a letter intended for someone else. The FBI's website, which houses the photos of the notes, it remains active to this day. Since 2011, thousands of people have tried to crack the code, leading to a flood of theories. Some suggest the notes contain hidden information about everything from vehicle identification numbers

[00:32:36] to gambling records and drug transactions. Others believe that they might contain addresses, directions, or even a map. Yet, more than two decades after Ricky McCormick's body was found, the puzzle remains unsolved. The notes and the mystery surrounding them continue to haunt investigators and the public alike with no clear answer in sight. The mystery of Ricky McCormick's death, coupled with the

[00:33:05] perplexing cipher found in his pockets, it remains one of the most chilling unsolved cases in recent history. Despite years of investigation and thousands of attempts to crack the code, the truth behind his death and the meaning of the notes, continues to elude us. But the case isn't closed. If you have an eye for codes and puzzles, you can examine the ciphers yourself on the FBI's website, where the notes are available for anyone willing

[00:33:35] to take a closer look. Perhaps you'll be the one to break the code and uncover the truth behind Ricky McCormick's cryptic and tragic death. The case may be cold, but the puzzle remains, and it's out there waiting for the right person to solve it. That's it for me tonight. If you want to reach out, you can find me on Facebook at Serial Napper. You can find my audio on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. I post all of my

[00:34:04] episodes in video format over on YouTube, so go check it out. And if you're watching on YouTube, I'd love if you can give me a thumbs up and subscribe. I'm also on Patreon if you'd like to get your Serial Napper episodes early and ad-free, hop on over and check out all the details at patreon.com slash Serial Napper. Until next time, sweet dreams, stay kind, especially in the comments. Bye.