Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” Jul'18 - Vance Rodriguez #5

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I feel like being freed from stress, being out in the woods, and the casual friendships really bolstered Vance. Allowing his happy, friendly self to come out. Once he was further along in his hike, without as many hikers to bond with his depression took over again. The thought that he was in that tent, not far from civilization, wasting away but may have been too frozen by depression to save himself is beyond sad.
I’m glad he got out there and apparently enjoyed his happy friendly self, at least for a while.
 
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
 
Vern said:
He has. And now that it's official I believe his original Trail Name was also a giant clue that was mis-interpreted by us / attributed to other hikers as a nickname due to him possibly wearing "blue jeans" (did he actually do that? Is that factual?).

Denham Springs, Louisianna.

"Denham" --- pronounced or misheard as "Denim".

So thankful that those who love him have him back and that his identity is known.
Click to expand...
Nah. He was wearing denim shorts.
 
GatorFL said:
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
Click to expand...

I suppose it depends on whether they’re more focusing on the true crime community response and the forensic identification of him or who was he was as a person. If it’s the former, I would not be opposed to it. If it’s the latter, I guess it would depend on who they interviewed but I am not sure that is really needed. We don’t need to know everything about his life just because he was an unidentified doe.
 
GatorFL said:
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
Click to expand...

Interesting. When I think of a documentary, I think of interviews with people that knew the subject. IMO, I don't think his family would want to participate, his past girlfriends didn't want their names used for a recent article released about him, which I totally understand. Unless they are going to interview people that were on the trail with him and worked with him?

I can see someone creating a short film, with someone playing him and taking liberty with how they want to portray his life, his journey on the trail, then his time at the final campsite. I'm not saying that would interest me or that I would support it. IMO
 
I can see now why Vance went to the lengths he did to leave his identify, among other things, behind when he set out on his hike. I think in a way he may have been trying to leave behind the self he’d become because even he didn’t like that self. I’m sure he knew that with or without his physical ID, no one was going to be missing him for awhile. I suppose that’s a bed he made for himself, but it’s still a heartbreaking truth.

Maybe he thought a thru hike, something way out of his comfort zone, would cure his hopelessness and helplessness. What he had been doing wasn’t working. Or maybe he knew that’d never happen and he just left. He may have known the day he left that he’d never be returning or he may not have had a clue what would happen. Just that he couldn’t be where he was in that moment in his life. I’ve been there.

There’s something deeply saddening about knowing now how he certainly was suffering in his final days. And I don’t mean physically. Physical pain is often times easier to live with than psychological pain. And it sounds like he had been fighting a great battle within himself for quite sometime. I can only begin to imagine how he felt.

I think those who say he looked happier on the trail are probably right. And due in part to the short term nature of the relationships he formed. We didn’t know him personally, but a picture is worth a thousand words. In hindsight you can see the pain in his eyes still, but there is an almost childlike smile on his face in most of his trail photos. Like he’d barely began living. I’d like to believe that he was experiencing a type of joy and carefreeness that he hadn’t felt in awhile, if ever at all. I don’t doubt that he felt remorse, for lack of a better word, for the bad things he’d done to others.

That year of happiness is a long time for someone who suffers greatly from mental illness. Again, I’m speaking from experience.

Vance’s story will stick with me for a very long time. It didn’t turn out to be the romantic love story we’d conjured up, but it is a compelling one nonetheless. I think it’s a story we all can relate to in one way or another. It’s complex, it’s mysterious, it’s good, it’s evil...it’s life. However flawed it was. We all have one. We all have stories to tell.

We were lucky enough to know the good side of Vance. The mostly harmless side. I’m eternally grateful for that. I hope those who knew the other side of him find some solace in all this. I think maybe there are some people who feel a sense of freedom now. Including Vance. I hope he’s resting peacefully.

(These are simply my own thoughts and opinions)
 
But why? He was quite an ordinary Joe, sadly a very sick man, but nothing uncommon or trailblazing.
I feel deeply for him but making a film about him is disgusting, tasteless and not respectful.

I mean, playing devils advocate, nobody makes movies about other Does? What about Marcia King or Mary Silvani? Mary had a very hard life, too. Or Wanda Kirkum...
 
GatorFL said:
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
Click to expand...

After seeing the behavior of people on other sites, and the shady things done by journalists, all in the name of self-promotion, I am really opposed to any kind of documentary or film. I was quite torn between whether identification should have been pursued, or if he should have been allowed to retain the anonymity he obviously worked towards, and I finally settled on believing that the well-intentioned attempts at identification were the right thing to do. The info that's now out in the public kind of makes me feel that I was wrong in that mindset, as he made conscious decisions in his life to withdraw from people, and regardless of whether I feel that was a healthy decision, it wasn't mine to make. Any film made about him will include all of the salacious details about his life, designed to suck in viewers and garner ratings, and I don't feel anyone has a right to sensationalize his life just to satisfy public curiosity or boost their own career. I'm glad he has his name back, I'm glad his family is no longer left wondering about him, but I feel at this point they need to be given the privacy they've all indicated by one way or another that they desire.

I don't know how anything could be shocking after what we've endured in this country over the last several years, but I was blown away at how MH was treated like a piece of meat being fought over by jackals, and how people feel such a strong entitlement to not only be told the details of MH's life and demise, but to also be justified in spreading that info all over the internet as juicy gossip. It's horrifying to think that if something happened to me and my body was found at a later date, people would feel that it's not only okay but required that they share photos of my genitals and have frank conversations about this or that anatomical oddity.

If anything, a documentary should focus on how we as a society have come to view this type of scavenging as acceptable behavior, and what makes us feel that we have ownership over someone who doesn't have the ability to advocate for themselves.
 
MadMcGoo said:
We were lucky enough to know the good side of Vance. The mostly harmless side. I’m eternally grateful for that. I hope those who knew the other side of him find some solace in all this. I think maybe there are some people who feel a sense of freedom now. Including Vance. I hope he’s resting peacefully.
Click to expand...

RSBM -- your entire post was wonderful, but this paragraph literally brought me to tears.
 
Normally I'd support a well- done and thoughtful documentary but not on this case.
And I believe a documentary about a private person shouldn't be made without the support of their family. He isn't a public figure.
It feels like someone is trying to profit off tragedy.
IMO.
 
GatorFL said:
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
Click to expand...

I can't imagine a documentary on Vance. :( I agree with you... this would be a huge mistake.
 
Also, fresh air and physical activity can do wonders to boost your serotonine which in turn may have an effect on your mental health (I know that very well personally!). And he seemed to be the typical techie guy who did not eat healthily and spent lots of time indoors. After his second relationship failed, I think he just needed to invent himself new and i can see he had a deep craving for serenity and nature. You can see how his body changed during the hike,he turned from couch potato techie (i dont mean it in a bad way, i am married to someone like that) to an athletic man. You can see a lingering melancholy in his eyes, but his smile is kind and soft. He must have been a very ambivalent type, with a soft, vulnerable and kind side and a genius brain but the same time controlling in relationships and being controlled by his demons.

Hikers actually are friendly and casual people, helpful and easy to talk to. I think he enjoyed that. He could talk to people when he felt like but he also had the choice to be alone when darkness hit. Ultimately i agree, he probably had another severe episode at the end of the hike, maybe triggered by the fact there were less hikers and the weather turned bad. But we will never know for sure. It is sad he did not get help at the right time.

I think we should leave him alone now. We all remember him and that is the most important. More speculations about who and what will not help.

MadMcGoo said:
I can see now why Vance went to the lengths he did to leave his identify, among other things, behind when he set out on his hike. I think in a way he may have been trying to leave behind the self he’d become because even he didn’t like that self. I’m sure he knew that with or without his physical ID, no one was going to be missing him for awhile. I suppose that’s a bed he made for himself, but it’s still a heartbreaking truth.

Maybe he thought a thru hike, something way out of his comfort zone, would cure his hopelessness and helplessness. What he had been doing wasn’t working. Or maybe he knew that’d never happen and he just left. He may have known the day he left that he’d never be returning or he may not have had a clue what would happen. Just that he couldn’t be where he was in that moment in his life. I’ve been there.

There’s something deeply saddening about knowing now how he certainly was suffering in his final days. And I don’t mean physically. Physical pain is often times easier to live with than psychological pain. And it sounds like he had been fighting a great battle within himself for quite sometime. I can only begin to imagine how he felt.

I think those who say he looked happier on the trail are probably right. And due in part to the short term nature of the relationships he formed. We didn’t know him personally, but a picture is worth a thousand words. In hindsight you can see the pain in his eyes still, but there is an almost childlike smile on his face in most of his trail photos. Like he’d barely began living. I’d like to believe that he was experiencing a type of joy and carefreeness that he hadn’t felt in awhile, if ever at all. I don’t doubt that he felt remorse, for lack of a better word, for the bad things he’d done to others.

That year of happiness is a long time for someone who suffers greatly from mental illness. Again, I’m speaking from experience.

Vance’s story will stick with me for a very long time. It didn’t turn out to be the romantic love story we’d conjured up, but it is a compelling one nonetheless. I think it’s a story we all can relate to in one way or another. It’s complex, it’s mysterious, it’s good, it’s evil...it’s life. However flawed it was. We all have one. We all have stories to tell.

We were lucky enough to know the good side of Vance. The mostly harmless side. I’m eternally grateful for that. I hope those who knew the other side of him find some solace in all this. I think maybe there are some people who feel a sense of freedom now. Including Vance. I hope he’s resting peacefully.

(These are simply my own thoughts and opinions)
Click to expand...
 
GatorFL said:
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
Click to expand...

If it is about his last journey on this dimension, great! But only for the fact that he was able to bring people from all over the world together. Now, on the other hand, if it is their intention to include family, ex-GFs, friends, co-workers and everyone else who interacted with him before his last journey, then, i totally disagree with a documentary on VJR.

We don’t know what caused his mental issues, we don’t know what is true and what is not… But one thing we know, VJR is no longer here to defend himself. Let's respect that! We will never hear his side of the story.

MOO JMO
 
GatorFL said:
Nah. He was wearing denim shorts.
Click to expand...
That's the first time I've heard of him wearing shorts, especially considering he started his hike in New York state. Also it sounds like his preferred mode of dress according to his friends was a bit Goth.
 
GatorFL said:
A company called Sandpiper Films is shopping a documentary on Vance. What do you guys think? I think it is a huge mistake. How can they accurately portray anything when even now, after we know his identity, so much of it is a mystery? He was alone so much, particularly that last 3 months of his life
Click to expand...

Totally agree, it'll just be a cash grab. They'll churn it out quickly to ride the wave of the story and probably hurt the surviving people who knew him.
 
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