Disappeared person publishes encrypted (?) message
A controversial internet star from Chile has been missing since 2017. A crime is now considered likely. In the meantime, a possibly encrypted message was published on the SoundCloud account of the missing person.
Ciphers that have something to do with a criminal case are traditionally one of the most popular topics on this blog. The case of the Zodiac killer alone has generated high traffic on several occasions. The Somerton man, murder victim Ricky McCormick, and wife killer Henry Debosnys also continue to generate a lot of interest. A more recent “discovery” is the case of journalist Ray Rivera, who was found dead and left some strange notes.
Elonka Dunin, co-author of my current book, Codebreaking: A Practival Guide, recently brought another crypto-crime case to my attention. It involves the 1999 murder of a woman named Margaret Bodfish. As you can read here, Bodfish left behind a diary of “strange hieroglyphic writings” about which one investigator said, “We’re still trying to decode it. It’s non-alphabetic and it seems to be their own secret language.” That’s all I know. If any reader knows anything about this case and this encrypted diary, I would be very interested.
The Sebastián Álvarez case.
Via Google, I recently came across another case that could fit into the “unsolved crime, unsolved encryption” category. It centers on the Chilean Internet star Sebastián Álvarez. The latter became known in his home country primarily for misogynistic, racist and other insulting blog posts. He was called “mente inferma” (“sick brain”).
Álvarez disappeared without a trace on September 27, 2017. He was last seen in Curiñanco, a village on the Pacific coast that belongs to the city of Valdivia, known as a tourist destination. He lived in this area with his partner.
Quelle/Source: Policía De Investigaciones De Chile
Now, with such a contemporary, one could assume that he disappeared voluntarily in order to reappear at some point with media attention. It would also be conceivable that Álvarez wanted to withdraw from the public eye for a while. But the matter is probably not quite that simple. Álvarez has been missing for four years now, even by his relatives. A PR stunt can now be ruled out. That’s why the police are looking for Álvarez – without success so far.
Álvarez had drug problems, and his relationship with his partner is said to have been in crisis. He expressed suicidal intentions. It is entirely possible that he took his own life. Prior to his disappearance, he was working on an alternate reality game (ARG) titled “The Treasure of Curiñanco.”
There is a good overview of this case on Reddit.
After Álvarez’s disappearance, there was still sporadic activity on his social media accounts. However, as things stand, the disappeared man was not behind it himself, but someone else who had the access data. His significant other is an obvious suspect. Of course, this person has also been discussed as a possible murderer of Álvarez, but there is no evidence for that.
The coded message
Among the social media activity that was registred a few weeks after Álvarez’s disappearance was a post on SoundCloud. In it, there was a Morse message with the following content:
LRSQPX3WN – GLGEXUWDRYDPS2WKB4ZDK5G66JR64YRJEZ3FZY7BRGRMLAD
There is a video on Youtube that contains the Morse message and some more information:
Of course, this cryptogram may be meaningless nonsense published by Álvarez’s significant other or someone else.
But it is also possible that the sequence of letters has some meaning. It would be particularly exciting if someone with inside information – perhaps even the murderer – left a message in this way. The case of the Zodiac killer shows that such a thing occurs. On the other hand, Álvarez could have posted the message himself before any suicide and configured the release date to a few weeks later.
I will gladly accept any relevant information about this case and the cryptogram. The police in Chile is certainly also interested in it.
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Further reading: An unsolved encrypted message from a recent murder case
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