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

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Bit of hope said:
Marvelously thinking out of the box EllieGato. Did you check with Turkish native speaking friends? I could if you didn't. Do you consider the possibility or suggest he could be Turkish?
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The person who told me that speaks only English but had an older brother who spent time in the middle east while in the military. She can't ask him as he is no longer living. But she remembers him saying that phrase when people asked him what he was going to do next, and at some point he explained the meaning in an email to her.

I dont mean to imply that I believe he is Middle Eastern. But maybe his job or station included working with people who spoke Turkish... military or private contractor. Maybe it's a phrase he had heard many times, or had to say many times.

When will you be finished with...?
I dunno
Where will you go next?
I dunno

Who is your leader?
I dunno
What is the plan?
I dunno
 
EllieGato said:
The person who told me that speaks only English but had an older brother who spent time in the middle east while in the military. She can't ask him as he is no longer living. But she remembers him saying that phrase when people asked him what he was going to do next, and at some point he explained the meaning in an email to her.

I dont mean to imply that I believe he is Middle Eastern. But maybe his job or station included working with people who spoke Turkish... military or private contractor. Maybe it's a phrase he had heard many times, or had to say many times.

When will you be finished with...?
I dunno
Where will you go next?
I dunno

Who is your leader?
I dunno
What is the plan?
I dunno
Click to expand...

Again, very nice thinking....I know somebody who told me in the military (French Legion Army) sac à dos (meaning backpack) when it was an order it means 'put your backpack on your back'...you comments remind me of that...
 
EllieGato said:
Ben Bilemy, you are still heavy in my thoughts. I continue to share his picture and look for people who aren't formally missing but hope to be located by family or friends.

Someone told me yesterday that in the Turkish language specifically spoken in Iraq, the phrase, 'Ben bilemiy' (notice the extra i) is the equivalent of saying,
"I dunno" as in slang for I Don't Know. I thought this was worth sharing. I dont know anyone who speaks Turkish but maybe you do. I have often gravitated toward the idea that he may have been in the military and also the idea that he may have had a TBI or been in a fugue state, possibly not knowing rather than concealing his identity.
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Very interesting info! Thanks for sharing that. I had previously noted in this thread that his posture reminds me of someone who served in the military. I hope that LE would have run his fingerprints against military records, but I don't know if that is automatically done.

Another thought is that he might have been overseas as a civilian contractor job or traveled for an overseas exchange program in college. I just looked for study abroad programs really quick and found State University of New York offers one in Turkey:
Study Abroad in Turkey - SUNY
I'm sure other NY universities probably offered something as well, assuming he was from NY like he said and was an IT professional.

He could also simply have known someone who was Turkish and picked up a few words from them that way. Perhaps a close friend or a roommate in college or even a girlfriend could have been Turkish and taught him the words for "I don't know".

I don't think he had a TBI nor memory issues because he told a very consistent story to most the people he met about where he was from and why he was hiking the trail. But saying "I don't Know" in Turkish for his sign-in name at hostels might have been a fun insider joke to him. He had a good sense of humor according to the hikers who met him. He might have thought it would be funny if someone were to ask-- "Who is staying in room 1 tonight?" and the hostel owner said "Ben Bilemy," then the owner would basically be saying "I don't know" in Turkish without realizing it. And the reality was that they actually didn't know who was staying there! Oh the irony! :D
 
EllieGato said:
Ben Bilemy, you are still heavy in my thoughts. I continue to share his picture and look for people who aren't formally missing but hope to be located by family or friends.

Someone told me yesterday that in the Turkish language specifically spoken in Iraq, the phrase, 'Ben bilemiy' (notice the extra i) is the equivalent of saying,
"I dunno" as in slang for I Don't Know. I thought this was worth sharing. I dont know anyone who speaks Turkish but maybe you do. I have often gravitated toward the idea that he may have been in the military and also the idea that he may have had a TBI or been in a fugue state, possibly not knowing rather than concealing his identity.
Click to expand...
He seems to wear his hat military style...front and center
 
Gardener1850 said:
...But saying "I don't Know" in Turkish for his sign-in name at hostels might have been a fun insider joke to him. He had a good sense of humor according to the hikers who met him. He might have thought it would be funny if someone were to ask-- "Who is staying in room 1 tonight?" and the hostel owner said "Ben Bilemy," then the owner would basically be saying "I don't know" in Turkish without realizing it. And the reality was that they actually didn't know who was staying there! Oh the irony! :D
Click to expand...

I have to admit that I too have had a few chuckles (of the most endearing type) involving this possible theory, somewhat along the lines of yours as well as

Imagined a Commanding Officer or work boss in Iraq saying to him...
'...and if anyone starts asking questions just give them the ole BenBilemy!'

And I thought about the irony of taking a walk about to discover things you previously didn't know about yourself, or the world... one starts out not knowing whatever they end up learning for the first time. Again an endearing chuckle.

I wish I knew someone who knew the Iraqi form of Turkish well enough to know their slang and shortened phrases.
 
EllieGato said:
I have to admit that I too have had a few chuckles (of the most endearing type) involving this possible theory, somewhat along the lines of yours as well as

Imagined a Commanding Officer or work boss in Iraq saying to him...
'...and if anyone starts asking questions just give them the ole BenBilemy!'

And I thought about the irony of taking a walk about to discover things you previously didn't know about yourself, or the world... one starts out not knowing whatever they end up learning for the first time. Again an endearing chuckle.

I wish I knew someone who knew the Iraqi form of Turkish well enough to know their slang and shortened phrases.
Click to expand...

It might not be unique to the Iraq region's Turkish. Google Translate recognizes "Ben bilemiy" as Turkish and translates it as "I don't know":
https://translate.google.com/#view=home&op=translate&sl=auto&tl=en&text=Ben bilemiy
 
Silly question... but does anyone know if you need to show ID to stay at any of the hostels he used? I mean.. I've never stayed at a hostel but I know when I stay at a hotel I need to supply a form of ID/credit card. Wasn't sure if the same would be needed for a hostel.. obviously kind of silly because if he supplied ID we would probably know his name..
I'm just trying to figure out how he used "Ben Bilemy"
 
turanna25 said:
Silly question... but does anyone know if you need to show ID to stay at any of the hostels he used? I mean.. I've never stayed at a hostel but I know when I stay at a hotel I need to supply a form of ID/credit card. Wasn't sure if the same would be needed for a hostel.. obviously kind of silly because if he supplied ID we would probably know his name..
I'm just trying to figure out how he used "Ben Bilemy"
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I don't think this is a silly question at all. Do you need to identify yourself with an ID-card when you want to stay in a hostel or do the "look the other way"?
 
It would be so interesting to me, as a medical practitioner, to know the results of the autopsy, and why this relatively young man, died in such an emaciated state...whether he had a life limiting condition, such as cancer or liver disease, or whether he succumbed to infection or poisoning ( thinking Christopher McCandless). Or simply starved to death?

I appreciate that this information is actually none of my business....however I, like many others on this thread, have become intrigued by this seemingly personable gentleman.

I would like to see him laid to rest in the manner he deserves.....if only with the name he chose ‘Mostly Harmless’.

Edited to add:

If he has been ruled out as a wanted criminal, perhaps his obvious wish for anonymity should be respected...as an adult with no overt mental health disorder, he made that choice & presumably had his reasons.
 
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Mr. Carbuff says generally no, ID isn't required unless you're paying by credit card at most hostels he's been to. You hand them your $10 and they tell you where the bunk room and the shower room are and what time dinner is served (usually not restaurant-style food, either).

There are exceptions of course and he hasn't hiked in the area where Denim signed himself as BB, but generally the hiking community operates on lots of trust.
 
carbuff said:
Mr. Carbuff says generally no, ID isn't required unless you're paying by credit card at most hostels he's been to. You hand them your $10 and they tell you where the bunk room and the shower room are and what time dinner is served (usually not restaurant-style food, either).

There are exceptions of course and he hasn't hiked in the area where Denim signed himself as BB, but generally the hiking community operates on lots of trust.
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thank you for asking Mr. Carbuff and sharing his response. :)
 
UnlicensedPI said:
I'm not sure about that age range...I know it's an estimate but I don't think anyone would put MH into the 20-25 range
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If you read through the article you will see another witness described him as 25-35 age group. It's hard for me to put too much stock in age approximation from witnesses...

The sketch would be from descriptions of him before he took his journey, and the journey may have aged his look a bit.
 
EllieGato said:
I think this is worth looking at.

Input appreciated.
Remember it's a sketch... not a photo.

Link source:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/patch....53/police-have-you-seen-this-north-jersey-man
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Interesting.

1000 miles or so North of Big Cypress National Preserve.

Much as I would hate to think of ‘our man’ being a criminal, if you read details of the 3 robberies, a gun was shown in one of the 3 incidents & when challenged the suspect put away the weapon & walked away.

Needed money...didn’t want to hurt anyone.....’mostly harmless’.

Crimes committed over a few days in late February 2015.

I don’t remember when our hiker was first recognised to be on the trail....when he was wearing ‘inappropriately’ denim. Anyone got that information please?
 
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Any chance, after a weight loss?
ID - ID - Patrick Beavers, 24, Jerome, 3 April 1997
Patrick Jason Beavers – The Charley Project
Patrick Jason Beavers
  • patrick_jason_beavers_1.jpg
  • patrick_jason_beavers_2.jpg
Beavers, circa 1997
 
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