WEBVTT - Thinking Sideways: The McCormick Cypher

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<v Speaker 1>Hey guys, Steve, here, you are listening to one of

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<v Speaker 1>our original twenty six episodes. If you listen to any

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<v Speaker 1>of our new episodes, you're gonna notice that we're sounding

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<v Speaker 1>a little different in these ones. Yeah, there's a reason

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<v Speaker 1>for that. There is they've been remastered. They have been

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<v Speaker 1>remastered because they had a really annoying hum. Yeah, I

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<v Speaker 1>mean a huge thanks to listener James for doing almost

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<v Speaker 1>all of the legwork on this thing. They'll also notice

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<v Speaker 1>if you had listened to what we're calling the last

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<v Speaker 1>twenty six episodes before and you're re listening now, the

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<v Speaker 1>music and sound effects are gone. Yes, we've we've gone

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<v Speaker 1>back to straight audio, so be warned. We sound a

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<v Speaker 1>little different today than we do in what you're about

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<v Speaker 1>to listen to. Yeah, bye bye, thinking sideways. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>understand you never know stories of things. We simply don't

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<v Speaker 1>know the answer too. Thanks for coming back, Steve, and

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<v Speaker 1>we're going to give you a new story today, the

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<v Speaker 1>story about a murder most foul. Our story begins or ends,

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<v Speaker 1>if you want to look at it that way. On

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<v Speaker 1>June three, the body of Ricky McCormick was found face

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<v Speaker 1>down in a cornfield about twenty miles from his home

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<v Speaker 1>in St. Louis, Missouri. Ricky had officially been missing for

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<v Speaker 1>three days, though his family said they hadn't seen him

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<v Speaker 1>in five. But when his body was found, it was

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<v Speaker 1>in a pretty extreme state of decomposition, to the point

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<v Speaker 1>that the fingers out his hands were falling off. That's

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<v Speaker 1>more than five days worth, I think. Well, yeah, where

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<v Speaker 1>it was St. Louis, Missouri. It was in the summer.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe that's pretty human back there. But how old was Rickie?

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<v Speaker 1>By the way, Ricky was forty one, Okay, okay, and

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<v Speaker 1>he wasn't in the primest of health. Wasn't a healthy guy.

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<v Speaker 1>But obviously they find him and he's pretty well decomposing,

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<v Speaker 1>which made it very difficult for an autopsy. The county

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<v Speaker 1>corner or pathologist, whichever it is, decided that they would

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<v Speaker 1>go ahead and do and do their best on his

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<v Speaker 1>seventy two pound body or seventy pounds that remained and

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<v Speaker 1>see what they could find. In the report, the pathologist

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<v Speaker 1>eventually said that the cause of death was undetermined. They

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<v Speaker 1>couldn't figure out why he died, so it wasn't anything

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<v Speaker 1>obvious like a giant bullet hole or something correct. No

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<v Speaker 1>obvious sign of death or cause of death. Excuse. Maybe

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<v Speaker 1>he just ate a little too much corn. He might

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<v Speaker 1>have sat in the sod and popped in his stomach.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeahst So that is the beginning, and then the mysteries begin.

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<v Speaker 1>The first of which is nobody knows how Ricky got there.

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<v Speaker 1>He didn't own a car. He's twenty miles away from

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<v Speaker 1>where he lived, in a corn field, basically in a

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<v Speaker 1>rural area, it sounds like, so we don't know how

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<v Speaker 1>he got there. Though the police investigated, no killer was

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<v Speaker 1>ever identified because there was never any solid leads in

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<v Speaker 1>the case. There just weren't any clues and the trail

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<v Speaker 1>went completely cold. So the cornfield was it like a

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<v Speaker 1>fully like a really developed cornfield with like six foot

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<v Speaker 1>high cornstocks and all that, or that kind of cornfield,

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<v Speaker 1>or I think it was next to a cornfield or

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<v Speaker 1>just on the edge of because right off the road. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>So so there wasn't the farmer that found him. It

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<v Speaker 1>was just that somebody like just drove by and through

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<v Speaker 1>the body out that kind of thing. Well, yeah, we're

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<v Speaker 1>guessing that's what happened with the body. And we don't

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<v Speaker 1>know if I remember the details correct, and motorists found him.

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<v Speaker 1>But that's all that I can glean from exactly how

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<v Speaker 1>he was found. The other details in this story take

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<v Speaker 1>us an instance, So those little details seemed to get

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<v Speaker 1>left behind. And does anybody have any idea what we're

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<v Speaker 1>talking about this? It's got corn in it, that is

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<v Speaker 1>not it. The reason that we're talking about this is

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<v Speaker 1>that twelve years after he was murdered, the FBI began

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<v Speaker 1>to release information about the case and turned to the

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<v Speaker 1>public to ask for help. The FBI, the knower's evolved

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<v Speaker 1>plausible deniability. Don't know the answer to this case. Here's

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<v Speaker 1>what the problem is. When they found his body and

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<v Speaker 1>they searched his pockets and they went through all of

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<v Speaker 1>his belongings, the only thing they found on him were

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<v Speaker 1>two notes in his pockets that contained over thirty lines

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<v Speaker 1>of ciphered text encoded text. They've been working on it

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<v Speaker 1>for twelve years. This is considered one of their top

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<v Speaker 1>cases because it's so MYSTERI is for them that they

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<v Speaker 1>eventually turned around and they asked public for help. The

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<v Speaker 1>FBI actually went ahead and set up a page on

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<v Speaker 1>their website initially asking for information, but it got so

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<v Speaker 1>much traffic. Now they actually have a dedicated site or

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<v Speaker 1>dedicated page on their site where it has the copies

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<v Speaker 1>of the notes, and you can go ahead and download

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<v Speaker 1>them and read them and try to figure it out yourself.

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<v Speaker 1>But let's we're getting we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's

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<v Speaker 1>step back a little and let's talk about Ricky, because

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<v Speaker 1>he wasn't the best guy in the world. And I'd

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<v Speaker 1>like to to give a little bit of history on

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<v Speaker 1>him because that might help shed some light on this

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<v Speaker 1>these weird notes, which then we'll go into. He had

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<v Speaker 1>spent some time in prison, Louis didn't He he did.

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<v Speaker 1>He'd spent some time in prison for sex abuse. Evidently

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<v Speaker 1>he'd fathered four children with three or four different women,

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<v Speaker 1>though he never really was evident involved with their lives,

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<v Speaker 1>the children's or the women's after impregnation. One of those

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<v Speaker 1>ladies was actually fourteen when the child was conceived. He

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<v Speaker 1>was an adult. What a classic. Yeah, he went from

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<v Speaker 1>being homeless to living at his mom's. He could barely

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<v Speaker 1>hold out a job. He wasn't the highest all of

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<v Speaker 1>the social ladder and ladies and gentlemen. I preface this

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<v Speaker 1>with this is a quote. This is directly what was said,

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<v Speaker 1>is that his mother referred to him as retarded, not

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<v Speaker 1>the sharpest stick of a dead His family, however, did

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<v Speaker 1>like to say that he was street smart, but they

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<v Speaker 1>agreed that he was troubled. So not a not a

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<v Speaker 1>guy that's really going to be able to compose an

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<v Speaker 1>unbreakable cipher, you would think. I feel like that's exactly

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<v Speaker 1>the kind of person he might have been a savant

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<v Speaker 1>if it's possible. Yeah, Well, people who aren't thinking totally

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<v Speaker 1>clearly often make mistakes and their ciphers making making them

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<v Speaker 1>really undecipherable. Right, and that's the that's true. That is

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<v Speaker 1>a problem. Well, and it can it can also be

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<v Speaker 1>to what the cipher was at letters numbers combination, both

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<v Speaker 1>both letters and numbers. It was both. It could have

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<v Speaker 1>you know, it's it's entirely possible it's not even a

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<v Speaker 1>cipher message at all. Well, we'll get into that, because

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<v Speaker 1>there is that possibility. And you, Devin bring up a

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<v Speaker 1>good point is maybe it's he makes it harder because

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<v Speaker 1>of his mental state. Uh, he could barely read or write,

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<v Speaker 1>or he was very poor at it his handwriting, which

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<v Speaker 1>I'll bring up the notes here in a minute, and

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<v Speaker 1>you guys can take a look at him, but his

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<v Speaker 1>handwriting is very, very poor. It's very difficult to read.

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<v Speaker 1>But he supposedly, and there's some conjecture on this, supposedly,

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<v Speaker 1>ever since he was a small child, had been making

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<v Speaker 1>up codes of his own all the time, So he

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<v Speaker 1>might have been doing this since he was a kid,

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<v Speaker 1>so he had some crazy key built into his head,

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<v Speaker 1>just a repetition, which make it even harder to crack,

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<v Speaker 1>because well, the only person who knows the answer is

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<v Speaker 1>now dead. It is believed that they figured out the

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<v Speaker 1>order of the notes because one of them does have

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<v Speaker 1>P one in the upper right hand corner, which for

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<v Speaker 1>you and I would indicate page one. It might not

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<v Speaker 1>be that. It might be something other in another piece

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<v Speaker 1>of code that we don't realize, but people have been

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<v Speaker 1>using that as the basis of This is page one,

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<v Speaker 1>and this is how we're going to go ahead and

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<v Speaker 1>try and figure out the cipher. And there were two pages,

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<v Speaker 1>two pages. That is correct. Like I said, the FBI

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<v Speaker 1>had been trying to crack this for a long time

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<v Speaker 1>and gave up. And I've got some quotes directly from them.

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<v Speaker 1>This is actually from Dan Olson. He's the chief of

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<v Speaker 1>the FBI's cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit. Yeah really but

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<v Speaker 1>hard to get on a name tag. But you know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's it's kind of weird they lunged them together. Crypt

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<v Speaker 1>analysis and racketeering one. Well, you know the mob he's

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<v Speaker 1>ciphers all the time, they use codes. Well yeah, but

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, yeah, you know, I know, but still racking. Mean,

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<v Speaker 1>cryptanalysis is kind of a thing, and the FBI does

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of counter spi and so you know, you

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<v Speaker 1>would think that they would be using cryptanalysis even more

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<v Speaker 1>heavily for that kind of thing. Anyway, that's that's that's

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<v Speaker 1>an aside. But yeah, anyway, who cares anyway, But here's

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<v Speaker 1>what Dan Olsen says. He says, and I quote, we're

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<v Speaker 1>really good at what we do, but we could use

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<v Speaker 1>some help on this one. Breaking this code could reveal

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<v Speaker 1>the victims whereabouts before his death and could lead to

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<v Speaker 1>the solution of a homicide. Not every cipher we get

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<v Speaker 1>arrives at our door under these circumstances. Even if we

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<v Speaker 1>found out that he was writing a grocery list or

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<v Speaker 1>a love letter, we would still want to see how

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<v Speaker 1>the code is solved. This is a cipher system we

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<v Speaker 1>know nothing about. Maybe someone with a fresh set of

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<v Speaker 1>eyes might come up with a brilliant new idea and

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<v Speaker 1>let me repeat that line. This is a cipher system

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<v Speaker 1>we know nothing about. Essentially, it's a brand new cipher

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<v Speaker 1>to the FBI. Based on the way it's organized and

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<v Speaker 1>put together. It could be as what if you had

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<v Speaker 1>said he could be a bit of a savant when

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<v Speaker 1>it came to coast, slow and everything else, but super

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<v Speaker 1>great at puzzles, he said. I was hearing the other

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<v Speaker 1>day that people with as Berger's and autism are typically

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<v Speaker 1>the ones that are savants with math. They're really good

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<v Speaker 1>with those. So there are relations in the brain of

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<v Speaker 1>chemistry and function. So it could be right along the

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<v Speaker 1>same line. So, um, I take it the FBI must

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<v Speaker 1>have turned this stuff over to the n s A.

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<v Speaker 1>I would imagine that a lot of inter inter governmental

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<v Speaker 1>support that they would take it to the n s

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<v Speaker 1>A before they would put it on the internet, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>in years. I imagine that they went ahead and they

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<v Speaker 1>pursued every avenue that is available to them. I don't

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<v Speaker 1>imagine that they said, oh no, we're not talking to

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<v Speaker 1>those guys. We don't like those high you know, you

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<v Speaker 1>never know about the gun man. You know, sometimes they

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<v Speaker 1>don't like. They don't like each other. I feel like

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<v Speaker 1>they like each other more than they like the public. Though.

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<v Speaker 1>That's a good points, that's a good point. But yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean if if, if the if they sticked a

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<v Speaker 1>bunch of craze supercomputers on that thing, and they weren't

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<v Speaker 1>able to break it, then I don't know, man, it's

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<v Speaker 1>hard to say. But then again, a supercomputer only knows

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<v Speaker 1>how to follow a formulas, whereas you and I can

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<v Speaker 1>look at something and make that leap of not a

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<v Speaker 1>leap of faith, but that leads to and suddenly it

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<v Speaker 1>all falls into place, which computers aren't able to do.

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<v Speaker 1>With this, I I have a strong feeling we gotta

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<v Speaker 1>break it tonight. Actually, from what I've gleaned from reading

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<v Speaker 1>stuff from the FBI all these other news reports, it

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<v Speaker 1>appears to be what's known as a simple substitution cipher, which,

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<v Speaker 1>for those of you who don't know, is A is

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<v Speaker 1>replaced with the letter B and B is replacedable the

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<v Speaker 1>letter C or variant of that. It seems relatively basic

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<v Speaker 1>from the outside, but there is some information, based on

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<v Speaker 1>posts that I've read of people who are trying to

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<v Speaker 1>crack it, that it could be a polygraphic substitution cipher.

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<v Speaker 1>And for what I can understand, a polygraphic substitution cipher

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<v Speaker 1>is where it is actually letter pairs are taken and

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<v Speaker 1>they replace other letter pairs. So th H now becomes

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<v Speaker 1>b D, but t R would become c Q. If

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<v Speaker 1>you know where I'm going with this, it's in total

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<v Speaker 1>sequence two by two and that adds uh so much

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<v Speaker 1>more variability because it's not twenty six letters, it's all

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<v Speaker 1>these letter pairings. Plus you can from numbers in the mix,

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<v Speaker 1>which Ricky did, So there's this huge number of possibilities.

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<v Speaker 1>Or again, as we said, it could be just something

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<v Speaker 1>unique to him that only he understood. Then it could

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<v Speaker 1>also be that it's just gibberish. Absolutely could and that's

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<v Speaker 1>where the speculation comes in, Joe, and that's that's good

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<v Speaker 1>timing on your part, is that the speculation is it's gibberish.

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<v Speaker 1>It's this guy who was mentally unstable just writing garbage.

0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.080
<v Speaker 1>It doesn't make sense to anybody because it didn't make

0:13:26.160 --> 0:13:28.120
<v Speaker 1>sense to him in the state that he was when

0:13:28.160 --> 0:13:33.720
<v Speaker 1>he wrote it. There is also speculation that it could

0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:37.440
<v Speaker 1>be a note sent of notes that he wrote at

0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:40.880
<v Speaker 1>the time that he was with whoever killed him. So

0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:45.400
<v Speaker 1>there's the possibility that cracking this code would shed light

0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:48.720
<v Speaker 1>on how he died, or why he died, or who

0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:54.360
<v Speaker 1>killed him, basically helping solve the murder. It seems unlikely because, frankly,

0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.360
<v Speaker 1>I mean, if you've got to write a note knowing

0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:57.880
<v Speaker 1>that you're probably about to die, an you want to

0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:00.240
<v Speaker 1>write a note incriminating Mr X over here air to

0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.240
<v Speaker 1>your left, you got to really put it in an

0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:04.920
<v Speaker 1>unbreakable code. Are you just gonna write and play in English? Well,

0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.319
<v Speaker 1>if he'd been doing codes his whole life and this

0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:11.800
<v Speaker 1>was his code, it likely seemed incredibly simple to him

0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:13.800
<v Speaker 1>that he would think, well, anybody could break this if

0:14:13.840 --> 0:14:16.400
<v Speaker 1>they took the time, because I'm an idiot and I

0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.760
<v Speaker 1>know how to do it. Absolutely not. But again it's like,

0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:21.400
<v Speaker 1>why do you put it in code at all? Because

0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:25.440
<v Speaker 1>either guys watching or he just did that all the time.

0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:29.440
<v Speaker 1>That may have been his automatic way to write. He

0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:33.040
<v Speaker 1>may have just written down his grocery list. He wrote

0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.440
<v Speaker 1>his grocery list out and somebody said, what the heck is,

0:14:35.520 --> 0:14:37.520
<v Speaker 1>what's my grocery list? What do you mean can't you

0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.880
<v Speaker 1>read that? It just may have been second nature to him.

0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.880
<v Speaker 1>I said his English was bad, right then, maybe that

0:14:44.000 --> 0:14:47.000
<v Speaker 1>was that was the way he compensated. It might have

0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:51.520
<v Speaker 1>been some crazy phonetic in his brain, like a phonetic system.

0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:55.240
<v Speaker 1>I can if I piece these things together. We don't

0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:57.960
<v Speaker 1>know if maybe he was dyslexic, so maybe that's how

0:14:58.000 --> 0:15:00.520
<v Speaker 1>he wrote things, but then he broke it into a code.

0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:06.400
<v Speaker 1>There's all these variables that simply not a clue exists too,

0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.840
<v Speaker 1>not a single answer so far. Let me go ahead

0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:13.280
<v Speaker 1>and pull up the note for you or Balta notes

0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:14.760
<v Speaker 1>for you guys, so you can take a look at

0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.640
<v Speaker 1>him right. So obviously as you can tell when you're

0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:20.640
<v Speaker 1>looking at him, it's it's very scribbled, and it's it

0:15:20.760 --> 0:15:25.120
<v Speaker 1>is difficult to tell what's going on in there. It is, Yeah,

0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:27.840
<v Speaker 1>did you as you look at it? And I can

0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:29.320
<v Speaker 1>pull up if we want, but I don't know if

0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:31.040
<v Speaker 1>it'll help. I do have a version that has it

0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:35.080
<v Speaker 1>typed out in the actual text is type rather than handwritten.

0:15:35.120 --> 0:15:38.000
<v Speaker 1>But it seems like and I said this before, it

0:15:38.040 --> 0:15:40.320
<v Speaker 1>seems almost fonetic as you read it, it does a

0:15:40.400 --> 0:15:42.320
<v Speaker 1>little bit like I can kind of like my brain

0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:45.480
<v Speaker 1>can make sense of little snippets of it. Yeah, but

0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.480
<v Speaker 1>two three letter at a time. But the context, you

0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.920
<v Speaker 1>can't put the whole thing together, and like there's an

0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.600
<v Speaker 1>if there what appears to be a lose and also

0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:58.360
<v Speaker 1>so it starts with an R. Yeah, it's interesting, it's

0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.960
<v Speaker 1>very it seems so simple. But at the same when

0:16:02.000 --> 0:16:04.680
<v Speaker 1>you look at it, and I think the handwriting is

0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:08.120
<v Speaker 1>what makes it deceptive that way. Is it seems like

0:16:08.160 --> 0:16:10.920
<v Speaker 1>it's written in a child's handwriting. Should be easy to

0:16:10.960 --> 0:16:13.960
<v Speaker 1>figure out until it hits you in the head with

0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:17.120
<v Speaker 1>rock and stumps you, which is exactly what it did

0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.880
<v Speaker 1>to everybody. Yeah, but it's it's like down here it

0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:26.280
<v Speaker 1>says like half something please p L s E. Oh

0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:29.760
<v Speaker 1>it looks like a P to me exactly. This is

0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.960
<v Speaker 1>what makes this so difficult. And I mean, if we

0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:35.480
<v Speaker 1>are staring at it and already beginning to argue after

0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:38.640
<v Speaker 1>thirty seconds, imagine what these poor fools if the FBI

0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:45.040
<v Speaker 1>were doing M for XDU. Yeah, maybe this piped out

0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:47.680
<v Speaker 1>version would be more helpful. But I don't think there's

0:16:47.680 --> 0:16:51.800
<v Speaker 1>any chance of cracking us. I think it might. I

0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:55.160
<v Speaker 1>think that it is going to be uncrackable because obviously

0:16:55.240 --> 0:17:00.280
<v Speaker 1>the key went to went with Ricky two. His gray Uh.

0:17:00.560 --> 0:17:04.080
<v Speaker 1>As of today, the murder is still unsolved. We still

0:17:04.240 --> 0:17:07.240
<v Speaker 1>don't know exactly what happened. Yeah, it would be interesting,

0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:11.080
<v Speaker 1>So I take it the FBI probably did other investigations

0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:12.800
<v Speaker 1>beyond this. He must have talked to his family and

0:17:12.840 --> 0:17:15.960
<v Speaker 1>friends and found out who he was associating with. Yes,

0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:21.120
<v Speaker 1>and and he did not associate with the best folks. Again,

0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:24.840
<v Speaker 1>if he had a handicap of some kind, there's some

0:17:24.920 --> 0:17:28.160
<v Speaker 1>kind of mental issue. He may have just not thought

0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:31.000
<v Speaker 1>about it and didn't realize that he was getting himself

0:17:31.000 --> 0:17:33.640
<v Speaker 1>into a bad situation, and somebody might have taken advantage

0:17:33.640 --> 0:17:36.840
<v Speaker 1>of it. It's it's difficult to say. So my twist

0:17:36.840 --> 0:17:39.199
<v Speaker 1>on this is that his murderer was like, yeah, you

0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:40.720
<v Speaker 1>can write all the notes you want if you write

0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:45.080
<v Speaker 1>in the handwrite knees because he knew that that would

0:17:45.080 --> 0:17:48.120
<v Speaker 1>be the only person that Yeah, because I'm gonna write

0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.480
<v Speaker 1>a lot of her help And he's like, yeah, fine,

0:17:50.840 --> 0:17:54.400
<v Speaker 1>go for do whatever you want. Man. Yeah, very well

0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.000
<v Speaker 1>could have been it. I don't know. Well, right there

0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.439
<v Speaker 1>is that he had all this encrypted stuff round. You know,

0:18:00.560 --> 0:18:02.520
<v Speaker 1>some of the some of his scumeback friends saw this

0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.320
<v Speaker 1>names and said, what you know, they're like, you know,

0:18:05.359 --> 0:18:07.600
<v Speaker 1>why are you encrypting this stuff while you know it's

0:18:07.640 --> 0:18:10.639
<v Speaker 1>like this is like, you know, directions on how to

0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.479
<v Speaker 1>find this buried treasure. You know, that's like you know,

0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:16.080
<v Speaker 1>billions of dollars with a gold bullion, you know, and

0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:17.919
<v Speaker 1>everything like that. So they tortured him and tell you

0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:19.800
<v Speaker 1>until you finally just you know, even though it was

0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.120
<v Speaker 1>GIBBERISHU but I finally said, okay, you know you drive

0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:25.560
<v Speaker 1>out here here here, twenty pass this with dirty paces

0:18:25.640 --> 0:18:27.600
<v Speaker 1>this way. I was there, and they'd be like great,

0:18:27.640 --> 0:18:29.240
<v Speaker 1>and they kill him and they'd up the body in

0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.800
<v Speaker 1>the cornfield, and of course said when they when they

0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.200
<v Speaker 1>get to the where the buried treasure is, well, jokes

0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.200
<v Speaker 1>on them, and who knows that there's no answers. There is, however,

0:18:38.920 --> 0:18:41.600
<v Speaker 1>a bit of follow up mystery. Oh yeah, cool to

0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:45.159
<v Speaker 1>this whole thing. And we've en countered this on stories before.

0:18:45.720 --> 0:18:47.439
<v Speaker 1>And let me give you some of this follow up

0:18:47.480 --> 0:18:52.119
<v Speaker 1>mystery or twists. Four years before Ricky died, so this

0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:58.040
<v Speaker 1>is the police found the body of an alleged prostitute

0:18:58.119 --> 0:19:02.880
<v Speaker 1>who was shot to death in a house near where

0:19:02.960 --> 0:19:05.119
<v Speaker 1>Ricky was found, on the same stretch of road not

0:19:05.240 --> 0:19:10.280
<v Speaker 1>too far away. In two thousand and one, road crews

0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:15.040
<v Speaker 1>found the bodies of two nearly or two naked women

0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.800
<v Speaker 1>three hundred yards from where Ricky's body was found. It

0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:25.400
<v Speaker 1>could be that there potentially could be some psychopath that's

0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:27.639
<v Speaker 1>out there that's using that stretch of road to do

0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.560
<v Speaker 1>their business and dump their their evidence or their bodies

0:19:31.640 --> 0:19:35.160
<v Speaker 1>off of and Ricky might this. This may not have

0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:39.040
<v Speaker 1>anything to do again, it might be just incidents that

0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.240
<v Speaker 1>this happener. Might be a coincidence that he had these

0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:43.600
<v Speaker 1>notes in his pocket and he just got caught up

0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:47.120
<v Speaker 1>in something that somebody was doing that they had their

0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.640
<v Speaker 1>own compulsion for. But it could also mean that he

0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.720
<v Speaker 1>was identifying who's who the killer was. He might have

0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.040
<v Speaker 1>found out about it and they came after him and

0:19:57.080 --> 0:19:59.200
<v Speaker 1>he wrote it down and they couldn't figure that wasn't

0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:01.840
<v Speaker 1>they would have been. Yeah, to get back to what

0:20:01.880 --> 0:20:04.760
<v Speaker 1>I was saying, it's like, you know, everybody, including the FBI,

0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:07.000
<v Speaker 1>thinks that what is in this message is something of

0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:10.520
<v Speaker 1>supreme value, which is why they're devoting huge resources to it.

0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:13.919
<v Speaker 1>So if you want to Ricky scumbag friends and and

0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.600
<v Speaker 1>you find this coded message, you're gonna draw the same

0:20:16.600 --> 0:20:19.040
<v Speaker 1>conclusion as the FBI, you're gonna think there's something of

0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.720
<v Speaker 1>supreme value in here, and you're gonna torture Ricky until

0:20:21.720 --> 0:20:23.919
<v Speaker 1>he tells you what is in the message. Now, if

0:20:23.920 --> 0:20:29.960
<v Speaker 1>it's just gibberish, she'll just make something up. That's speculation.

0:20:30.400 --> 0:20:33.520
<v Speaker 1>And he could have been tortured. Ye, he could have

0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.320
<v Speaker 1>been suffocated. There's no there's no way to know because

0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:39.600
<v Speaker 1>of how the state of the body was very difficult

0:20:39.600 --> 0:20:42.520
<v Speaker 1>to know. Yeah, that's where it is. Yeah, that's where

0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:47.000
<v Speaker 1>the whole thing is. So there have been no good attempts.

0:20:48.000 --> 0:20:51.800
<v Speaker 1>There is. There are all kinds of sights and again

0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:54.359
<v Speaker 1>I've got the links to them and we'll be putting

0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:57.240
<v Speaker 1>those up on the page. There are links to people

0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.160
<v Speaker 1>who are trying to figure it out and there giveing

0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.879
<v Speaker 1>their theories and they're working it back and forth. But

0:21:03.000 --> 0:21:06.399
<v Speaker 1>as of yet, nothing that is even close to being

0:21:06.600 --> 0:21:11.040
<v Speaker 1>possibly viable. And so another story that I don't have

0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:13.639
<v Speaker 1>an answer to, another unsolved mystery. Yeah, that's that's the

0:21:13.640 --> 0:21:15.760
<v Speaker 1>thing about it is like you know, it's like you

0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:19.360
<v Speaker 1>don't really know that there is an answer to it

0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:21.840
<v Speaker 1>really may never be Well, if you folks want to

0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:23.960
<v Speaker 1>go ahead and you want to check out the links

0:21:24.040 --> 0:21:26.359
<v Speaker 1>you want to find these discussion boards in these places,

0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:28.840
<v Speaker 1>or just take a look at the notes themselves. You're

0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:31.720
<v Speaker 1>more than welcome to do that. All of those will

0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:36.040
<v Speaker 1>be available on the website. That website is thinking Sideways

0:21:36.040 --> 0:21:39.280
<v Speaker 1>podcast dot com. If you think that you have an

0:21:39.320 --> 0:21:41.440
<v Speaker 1>idea of how to break the cipher and you feel

0:21:41.440 --> 0:21:43.600
<v Speaker 1>like telling us instead of the FBI, well you're more

0:21:43.640 --> 0:21:45.639
<v Speaker 1>than welcome to do that. We promised to take credit

0:21:45.680 --> 0:21:48.560
<v Speaker 1>for it. You can send us an email at Thinking

0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:52.600
<v Speaker 1>Sideways podcast at gmail dot com and with that, we're

0:21:52.600 --> 0:21:55.000
<v Speaker 1>going to get out of here and we look forward

0:21:55.000 --> 0:21:58.879
<v Speaker 1>to talk to you next week. Yeah yeah, By everybody,

0:21:58.880 --> 0:21:59.960
<v Speaker 1>By