FBI wants public help solving encrypted notes from murder mystery

[Joe Snodgrass]

On Apr 2, 10:45 am, David Bernier <david... at videotron.ca> wrote:
> Joe Snodgrass wrote:
> > On Apr 1, 10:54 am, David Bernier<david... at videotron.ca>  wrote:
> >> haha doh wrote:
> >>> On Mar 31, 3:15 pm, Joe Snodgrass<joe.s... at yahoo.com>    wrote:
>
> >> [...]
>
> >>>> As to which crime was being committed, I'm going with numbers running
> >>>> or loan sharking.  There's no reason for any crook to keep any record
> >>>> of any other crime, except prostitution, where phone books come in
> >>>> handy.
>
> >>>> Thievery is not an honest business, and records of what went down,
> >>>> where and with whom can only hurt you.  Unless of course, it's a grand
> >>>> list of felonies that he was using to blackmail the participants.
>
> >>>> But I can't see gathering that much info from blackmail.  I always
> >>>> thought it involved one guy blackmailing one victim.  This would imply
> >>>> a factory scale process, and he'd need some way to lure his prey into
> >>>> the trap.
>
> >>>> Of course, that WOULD be a good way to get murdered.
> >>> This is him
> >>>http://img851.imageshack.us/i/4d93ac54b10bcimage.jpg/
>
> >> True indeed! , according to a story posted on March 30 on the
> >> website of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
> >> <http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/ad567e00-5b13-11e0-8ed4-0012...>
> >> .
>
> >> That web page has a link to a 1999 article on the discovery of the body:
> >> <http://www.stltoday.com/news/article_bcc02074-5b1a-11e0-b199-0017a4a7...>  .
>
> >> An officer with the local Major Case Squad unit is quoted there. I quote
> >> from the 1999 story:
>
> >> <<  "We cannot find any motive for his death, " he said.
> >> "We're not absolutely sure that this is a homicide.">>  .
>
> > What's the cause of death?
>
>  From one of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch articles (presumably the orig. source),
> one learns that "Death appears to be caused by a blow to the head.",
> this via "Austinstar" at hubpages.com :
> <http://hubpages.com/hub/Cryptographic-clues> .
>
> - Body identified through fingerprints (St. Louis Post-Dispatch).
>
> - Ricky McCormick had a criminal conviction for statutory rape.
>    (via n01h3r3 at boards.straightdope.com) :
>    <http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13642308> .

And the sheriff doesn't think that's homicide?