Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” July 2018 - Vance Rodriguez #3

[Narkj]

I know it’s been said that he made money by working along the trail. Assuming he told people that. But has there ever been an reports of him actually working? Has anyone who paid him stepped up? Obsidian hiked 100 miles with him and didn’t see him work.

 

[lonewanderer]

I know it’s been said that he made money by working along the trail. Assuming he told people that. But has there ever been an reports of him actually working? Has anyone who paid him stepped up? Obsidian hiked 100 miles with him and didn’t see him work.

Take this with a grain of salt, because I cannot remember where I read this.

I remember reading before that he did work along the trail, and that the work he did was with very high amounts of effort. I remember the person who said that he performed work remembered him distinctively because of the amount of pride he seemed to take in doing a good job, and that many hikers would barely try at all and just want money.

 

[Coffee56]

I’m wondering if his bulk of cash came from cashing out a retirement plan offered through his employment. If he knew he was sick and wanted to start his bucket list I wouldn’t think there’d be much use for money for retirement. Cashing out can be done fairly quickly and depending on the requirements of how long he needed to be putting into it he could have had a good chunk after only 5 yrs.

 

[neesaki]

There’s this one too, also been posted here before. It was two days earlier so he obviously shaved his beard.
GI Joe's 2017 Appalachian Trail Journal : Tupe, Denim, Puffy Muffin and Superman at Calf Mountain Shelter SNP VA : Trail Journals, Backpacking and Hiking Journals

 

[neesaki]

DBM double post.

 

[deadfoot13]

I’m wondering if his bulk of cash came from cashing out a retirement plan offered through his employment. If he knew he was sick and wanted to start his bucket list I wouldn’t think there’d be much use for money for retirement. Cashing out can be done fairly quickly and depending on the requirements of how long he needed to be putting into it he could have had a good chunk after only 5 yrs.

This was one of my thoughts as well. If he was indeed from the Lake George area in NY, he could very well have worked for NYS -- their IT hub is in Albany, which is just down the Northway from Lake George. An employee doesn't become vested in the retirement system until 10 years of employment; if you leave before reaching 10 years, then the amount accrued is distributed to you as a lump sum. And a person doesn't have to be in a state retirement system, you can certainly cash out a 401(k) or an IRA, as well -- I just did some reaching to connect dots using the Lake George/IT/bankroll info. All MOO.

 

[lonewanderer]

This was one of my thoughts as well. If he was indeed from the Lake George area in NY, he could very well have worked for NYS -- their IT hub is in Albany, which is just down the Northway from Lake George. An employee doesn't become vested in the retirement system until 10 years of employment; if you leave before reaching 10 years, then the amount accrued is distributed to you as a lump sum. And a person doesn't have to be in a state retirement system, you can certainly cash out a 401(k) or an IRA, as well -- I just did some reaching to connect dots using the Lake George/IT/bankroll info. All MOO.

In an earlier post, I posted a link about a NJ man who quit his job to hike, very similarly to what we theorize about MH. The way the man in this particular story received his money was in the form of a severance, with the opportunity to apply again for the same position with the company that bought out the company he was working for. In the article, he states that the severance was equal to about 5 months worth of pay.

 

[carbuff]

I know it’s been said that he made money by working along the trail. Assuming he told people that. But has there ever been an reports of him actually working? Has anyone who paid him stepped up? Obsidian hiked 100 miles with him and didn’t see him work.

Some of the work mentioned was at the shelters. At many shelters, a hiker can basically trade work for accommodations--so you can like wash dishes or haul firewood or something and they give you a meal and a bunk. It's not a formal arrangement and isn't exactly "getting paid." Usually only enough work for two or three people, though some shelters try to find something for everybody to do.

 

[Narkj]

I just don’t recall anyone saying “yes, he did work for me” or even “yes, I saw him work”

 

[carbuff]

I just don’t recall anyone saying “yes, he did work for me” or even “yes, I saw him work”

I think the info is in one of the CCSO informational videos.

 

[MichelleBlue]

I know it’s been said that he made money by working along the trail. Assuming he told people that. But has there ever been an reports of him actually working? Has anyone who paid him stepped up? Obsidian hiked 100 miles with him and didn’t see him work.

Narkj, no leads with the Screeps & STEAM accounts?

 

[Narkj]

No, unfortunately. The contents of the notebooks, that coding, even the game screeps, is really outside of my wheelhouse. The experts I spoke to, who I let read the notebook, said he was obviously smart, probably commanded decent money in his field, and had a four-year education, possibly more in computers. Most importantly, they said the notebook was rational. Even the sentence "trust no one," which an investigator appeared to underline, was a gaming/computers reference. I also leaned he played the game Eve Online. A hiker remembered that. What the notebook left me with, most of all, as a layman, is that MH was thinking of a future, a life off the trail, and that got derailed somehow.

I'm still baffled by all of it.

 

[supertaxonomy]

No, unfortunately. The contents of the notebooks, that coding, even the game screeps, is really outside of my wheelhouse. The experts I spoke to, who I let read the notebook, said he was obviously smart, probably commanded decent money in his field, and had a four-year education, possibly more in computers. Most importantly, they said the notebook was rational. Even the sentence "trust no one," which an investigator appeared to underline, was a gaming/computers reference. I also leaned he played the game Eve Online. A hiker remembered that. What the notebook left me with, most of all, as a layman, is that MH was thinking of a future, a life off the trail, and that got derailed somehow.

I'm still baffled by all of it.

From my conversations with the devs and other players of Screeps, they hypothesized he had a good grasp on the theory of the game but not as much practical experience. The underlining of the "trust no one" was amusing, since it was directly referring to the stability of host servers.

 

[neesaki]

Other than them stating his case of death was starvation, has the autopsy report not been released or made available per request? I guess I was thinking that was public information, but apparently not.

 

[branmuffin]

Other than them stating his case of death was starvation, has the autopsy report not been released or made available per request? I guess I was thinking that was public information, but apparently not.

Apparently the state of Florida does not release autopsy results publicly. However, I was on a thread about a woman visiting out of state, who drowned in the water around the hotel she was staying at. One of the posters made a request, I guess through FOI and did get the results. I wonder if we could do it for Denim?

 

[fred&edna]

Quite sure I’ve seen these but never hurts.

View attachment 250801

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GI Joe's 2017 Appalachian Trail Journal : Photos : Trail Journals, Backpacking and Hiking Journals

These are the only photos I've seen of the UID without his beard.

 

[bears10]

Other than them stating his case of death was starvation, has the autopsy report not been released or made available per request? I guess I was thinking that was public information, but apparently not.

From previous comments, I am under the impression @Narkj has the autopsy report
Or has at least seen it so it’s probably accessible through a FOIL request.

 

[lonewanderer]

These are the only photos I've seen of the UID without his beard.

You have never seen this one?

https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/ShowPublishedImage/22745/636854995880300000

 

[fred&edna]

You have never seen this one?

https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/ShowPublishedImage/22745/636854995880300000

Not that one either! Thank you!

 

[dotr]

You have never seen this one?

https://www.colliersheriff.org/Home/ShowPublishedImage/22745/636854995880300000

Thanks, cannot recall this one- it seems that in each pic including pm, i get a different sense of how he looked and who he might be, imo.