I have to admit, the more I think about it and consider all of the evidence, the more it seems that BK's whole story is a fraud and that he does know his real identity. Many of you have come to this conclusion and don't want to see it any other way.
HOWEVER, I'd like to remind everyone that the only DIRECT evidence anyone has of a deception is the fact that he didn't have injuries consistent with being beaten according to the RHPD and paramedics. It is very easy to make inferences and assume that he must therefore be lying about the whole story, but I can't bring myself to believe that for certain. As I have said before in this thread, I cannot stress enough how important it is for us to be objective and not let our personal feelings about this case undermine the massive amounts of research done over the last few years. In my opinion, just because there are inconsistencies with BK's story does not mean that he is being completely dishonest about everything. It is still entirely plausible to me that he has amnesia or some type of memory problem.
I consider myself to be a fairly empathetic person. I always try to consider things from different perspectives and put myself in other's shoes. In this situation, it is hard to know what it would be like to have amnesia and remember so little about my life and identity. But, I would imagine the more time passed, the more hopeless it would seem that I would ever know anything. I would be scared, anxious, and uneasy about what truths might be uncovered about my former life. If I had strangers devoting their time and doing extensive research on me simply out of the kindness of their hearts, I can understand why the possibility of being homeless or a bum or vagrant might be utterly humiliating. I might rather not ever know my identity than to find out I was a nobody, or even worse, that I had a dark past full of mistakes and misfortunes.
Basically what I'm hoping you all realize is that there are still an endless number of possibilities in this case. Sure, it is possible that BK is a con-artist who managed to fool everyone for years... but it is also possible that he is a frightened amnesiac who made some false statements out of desperation. He could very well be telling the truth when he says that he remembers almost nothing about the day he was found near the dumpster, and he simply came up with something that made the most sense to him.
I haven't posted much, but I can assure you all that I am just as knowledgeable about the details of BK's case as anyone else here (with the possible exceptions of Kentjbkent and Tricia). Over the last 4 months, I have read literally every single post made in this forum, and basically everything that's been reported elsewhere on the internet. I cannot and will not consider this a closed case until more information is uncovered. Benjaman has a Facebook account, a Facebook group dedicated to him, a Wikipedia article, a section on the Dr. Phil website, a documentary in the making, and numerous other articles and postings all over the internet. Until we are able to get to the bottom of this and prove something definitively, thousands of people will continue to wonder and speculate about BK.
For those of you interested in continuing the search, I believe that the recent discovery of a close DNA match to Robert Holden Davidson is potentially the best lead we've had. I am not an expert in DNA analysis, but I am a very experienced amateur genealogist. It seems very likely to me that BK is either a descendant or cousin of RHD. With such a close match, it is almost certain that they share a fairly recent common male ancestor.
Here is what I have uncovered about RHD:
He was the son of John McNeil Davidson, and the grandson of Thomas Bell Davidson. Thomas immigrated from Fife, Scotland and was a pioneer who settled in Utah. This is a very large family, and there are a number of related adult male Davidsons who immigrated during the mid-1800's, several of whom settled in Utah. To make it even more complicated, many of these men were married more than once and had several sons. There are possibly dozens of male Davidsons alive today who descend from this family. Some branches of this family are Mormon and therefore have an interest in genealogy. I am in the process of finding descendants who I can contact and ask about BK, but it is a slow process. Anyone who would like to help or provide additional insight is welcome. There are public family trees and more information available on ancestry.com and other websites. A Google search on a few of these names would be a good place to start. I feel pretty confident that pursuing this path could lead us to finding BK's true identity. He is definitely related to this family in some way, it's just a matter of finding out how.
