Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” July 2018 - Vance Rodriguez#4

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Something is either wrong on the photo map or suspicious. Last sighting on Pinhoti or whatever (before FT) is Brent, AL, Jan 14, 2018. First sighting on FT is Crestview, FL, Jan 24, 2018. They are about 160 mi apart direct, let alone swerving around and the big curve in those trails. That's only 10 days to do probably at least 20 days worth of MH hiking...and there were no sightings of him in between. Can anyone absolutely confirm these places on these dates? That happens to be his closest hiking to Baton Rouge btw.
 
gfinale said:
Something is either wrong on the photo map or suspicious. Last sighting on Pinhoti or whatever (before FT) is Brent, AL, Jan 14, 2018. First sighting on FT is Crestview, FL, Jan 24, 2018. They are about 160 mi apart direct, let alone swerving around and the big curve in those trails. That's only 10 days to do probably at least 20 days worth of MH hiking...and there were no sightings of him in between. Can anyone absolutely confirm these places on these dates? That happens to be his closest hiking to Baton Rouge btw.
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Pretty sure he told somebody he skipped some of the Pinhoti, he "got a ride with some girls" look into that. It's on the comments somewhere.
 
gfinale said:
Something is either wrong on the photo map or suspicious. Last sighting on Pinhoti or whatever (before FT) is Brent, AL, Jan 14, 2018. First sighting on FT is Crestview, FL, Jan 24, 2018. They are about 160 mi apart direct, let alone swerving around and the big curve in those trails. That's only 10 days to do probably at least 20 days worth of MH hiking...and there were no sightings of him in between. Can anyone absolutely confirm these places on these dates? That happens to be his closest hiking to Baton Rouge btw.
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Confirmed. The person who saw him on the 14th remembers him having a wallet, btw.
 
wardo27 said:
Yeah....it's absolutely possible, but I think, for one, long-distance hikers naturally lose lots of weight on the trek and other hikers here have attested to that. I actually think he looks pretty good in his last photo, considering how long he'd been hiking. He could have lost 40 pounds, easy, hiking from NY to FL. But if he was suffering from hyperglycemia, it also means that he did not reach out for help for 2-3 months as his weight. He had a water supply, he had food supply of some kind, rationed or not. If he was eating or drinking, he could have reached out to someone, as people do hike that trail regularly. 83 pounds is skeletal. No way you could ignore it. That said, if it did turn out to be T1D, I'd be weirdly glad that at least something was "knowable" here. It was certainly one of the first things that crossed my mind, for obvious reasons.
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I am still confused about how many people would have run into him at Nobles Camp in July. What about June? Apparently it's pretty hot and wet there in the summer.
 
GatorFL said:
I just saw this one.

Here's the deal. If you're on a trail or in a campground without the proper tag/paperwork, and you're trying to be anonymous, you're risking being outed. Why? If the ranger discovers you don't have the proper documentation then you're in trouble. You're at least getting a ticket/summons and a fine. Somehow, it did not happen to MH. But if this had happened, we would know his name now.
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Since he appears to have used the same alias all the way through, I would argue that he could always prove he did that to authorities and use the excuses that he didn't know it was not proper or that he didn't want people around him to realize who he was. He could even use that in court. He could even reproduce the signature. Personally, I'm guessing he's used that signature other places before he hit the trails.
 
GatorFL said:
Me too. I think a lot of people would have run into him.
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If he was at Nobles Camp from Apr 13, 2018 until he was found, how could it possibly be that nobody saw him the entire time when you're saying lots of people would have been there?! I'm not questioning what you're saying, I'm questioning whether he really did stay there long.
 
gfinale said:
Since he appears to have used the same alias all the way through, I would argue that he could always prove he did that to authorities and use the excuses that he didn't know it was not proper or that he didn't want people around him to realize who he was. He could even use that in court. He could even reproduce the signature. Personally, I'm guessing he's used that signature other places before he hit the trails.
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It's not in any way illegal to use a different name in the US as long as you aren't using it to defraud people--pretending to be a Rockefeller or a long-lost cousin or something along those lines. Campground and national forest rangers generally wouldn't care about the name he registered under, only whether he paid the permit or campground fee. Stores might care if the name didn't match the name on his credit card, if he used one.

I think you're right about the signature. I think he'd been using that name for quite some time.
 
gfinale said:
Since he appears to have used the same alias all the way through, I would argue that he could always prove he did that to authorities and use the excuses that he didn't know it was not proper or that he didn't want people around him to realize who he was. He could even use that in court. He could even reproduce the signature. Personally, I'm guessing he's used that signature other places before he hit the trails.
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Rangers aren't ticketing an alias. They would ask questions that would identify him: name, DOB, SSN, address, etc. They would know who they are writing a ticket or summons to, before they write it.
 
gfinale said:
If he was at Nobles Camp from Apr 13, 2018 until he was found, how could it possibly be that nobody saw him the entire time when you're saying lots of people would have been there?! I'm not questioning what you're saying, I'm questioning whether he really did stay there long.
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Yes. I think others would have encountered him there at the camp other than the hikers who made the video and those who found him dead. It's a neat trail, easily accessible from SE FL and SW FL. In 3 months more than those people would have come across his camp.

He may have been avoiding contact from others and fled when he heard or saw others coming. Or sat there silently for hours like when Armando camped there. Alternatively those that might have happened upon him may not have come forward or may not even know there is a mystery surrounding him.

But yeah, if he was there 3 months, more than those 2 groups came across him.
 
GatorFL said:
Rangers aren't ticketing an alias. They would ask questions that would identify him: name, DOB, SSN, address, etc. They would know who they are writing a ticket or summons to, before they write it.
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My point is I doubt they'd bother writing him a ticket or caring.
 
GatorFL said:
Yes. I think others would have encountered him there at the camp other than the hikers who made the video and those who found him dead. It's a neat trail, easily accessible from SE FL and SW FL. In 3 months more than those people would have come across his camp.

He may have been avoiding contact from others and fled when he heard or saw others coming. Or sat there silently for hours like when Armando camped there. Alternatively those that might have happened upon him may not have come forward or may not even know there is a mystery surrounding him.

But yeah, if he was there 3 months, more than those 2 groups came across him.
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And we're not talking 2 more people in a few months, we're talking many more, right?
 
What if he didn't even spend that much time at Nobles Camp and he got lost sometime after Apr 13, 2018 for a considerable time then crawled himself to Nobles Camp eventually near the end? Guess I'm saying I think there are still plausible reasons why everything happened without assuming he meant to kill himself in the most painful slow death way.
 
gfinale said:
And we're not talking 2 more people in a few months, we're talking many more, right?
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It's all speculation on my part. I would guess several small groups (2-4 people each group) and a couple large groups (10+ people) would have made their way through Nobles in addition to the 4 people we know went through there over those months. So instead of 4 people, maybe 30-35 people over those months.

I'm not a ticket taker at the Exit 63 Big Cypress gate but I am convinced a lot of foot traffic goes through there.
 
gfinale said:
What if he didn't even spend that much time at Nobles Camp and he got lost sometime after Apr 13, 2018 for a considerable time then crawled himself to Nobles Camp eventually near the end? Guess I'm saying I think there are still plausible reasons why everything happened without assuming he meant to kill himself in the most painful slow death way.
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Could be. Completely plausible. But I would think if he was in trouble he would have asked Armando Ruiz for help on July 3. He didn't, for whatever reason.
 
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