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

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Maybe it was some misunderstanding? VR may have said it in a context that he is now free of work and may return to a job at some point and is hiking as long as he still can timewise?
He had a history of mental illness (i am wondering whether he was ever treated) that hit and debiliated him in waves and unfortunately very negatively affected his relationships and his behavior towards the people he loved, especially his partners. The article sums it up very well.

Physically, he was healthy.
 
Susikatze said:
Maybe it was some misunderstanding? VR may have said it in a context that he is now free of work and may return to a job at some point and is hiking as long as he still can timewise?
He had a history of mental illness (i am wondering whether he was ever treated) that hit and debiliated him in waves and unfortunately very negatively affected his relationships and his behavior towards the people he loved, especially his partners. The article sums it up very well.

Physically, he was healthy.
Click to expand...
It appears his family admitted him for treatment after the suicide attempt.
 
Nice that he has finally been identified. There are two questions I still have, but I think I can answer one of them:

1. What's the deal with the stories of abuse and bad relationships? This doesn't matchup with the stories we heard about him during his hike(s).
A. The descriptions of the episodes of abuse and bouts of depression & "outages" lead me to one conclusion: Bipolar Disorder. I live with a neurologic condition myself, (not Bipolar Disorder), and I have known people with Bipolar Disorder. It perfectly explains both ends of his spectrum of behaviour, and the fact that there are two extremes in the first place.

2. Preservation: What was he working on? As a coder myself, I very much want to see him get the credit he deserves for whatever he was working on, and bring any unfinished projects to completion on his behalf. We now have confirmation that one of sets of code in his notebooks was material for Screeps. I think the remainder of his code remains unidentified. However, now that he has been identified we may be able to access more of his work, (however much of it he posted online.) I think the first step is to see if he has an account on github.
 
When I first heard he was identified, and saw his younger photos I had nothing but happy tears. Reading how others describe him is sad but I really think he found peace on the trails. Seems he finally found a place he felt comfortable. Today I find myself wishing he knew how many people would come to care so much about him.
Rest peacefully Mostly Harmless.
 
YaYa_521 said:
Rest peacefully, Denim.

Mysterious "Mostly Harmless" hiker identity solved
The mystery of the hiker known only by his trail name, "Mostly Harmless," has finally been solved - and he's connected to Lafayette.

Snip

"But the case was ultimately solved this month when a former coworker of Mr. Rodriguez saw his photo online and reached out to us after seeing a 2019 bulletin our agency issued. The coworker provided us with Mr. Rodriguez’ name and photos." The sheriff then reached out to Louisiana law enforcement, who found his family, and the family provided a DNA sample for comparison.
#more at link
Click to expand...
Finally, Mostly Harmless /Denim has been reunited with his real name. I'm happy about that. Moo.
 
In general, I have found hikers friendly, they look out for each other and are chill folks to be around. I have ate a meal or two with a complete stranger on a trail and really enjoyed the experience. I will always remember the 80 + year old hiker who set me straight years ago on the proper way to tie my shoelaces.

I wonder if he was caught of guard by the kindness, lack of questions about his personal life and the nice company of fellow hikers?

I believe many of us assumed this was not going to be a perfect person and the statements from past girlfriends were heartbreaking and honestly made me angry.

I do hope he found some peace on the trails.

It’s been a pleasure following this case with you all over the last couple of years. Thank you!

IMO
 
I am so glad he was identified and I hope he is at peace. I can't help but wonder if he left all his stuff behind in NYC to see if anyone would come looking for him, but nobody did. Convinced that nobody cared, did he then choose to die? I hope it's nothing like that and it all unfolded exactly as he wanted, even if it meant he left the world.
 
I wanted to thank all the participants here and appreciate the opportunity to read and learn in this thread.

Ironies of ironies, if VR would have left his driver's license in his pants pocket VR would have have been nothing more than one of millions of anonymous data files at the bureau of vital statistics. In seeking an anonymous death he guaranteed notoriety.
 
Oh, Denim. How I wish you got to know the impact you had on people worldwide.

It's sad it appears so few people cared about you in life. That abrupt and bloodless comment from his sister gave a glimpse of the animus that must have been in the family.

He tried to commit suicide at the age of 15 and was sent to a psychiatric hospital against his will because he was a minor. He sounded like someone caught in a spiral of madness, penance and anger. You can't discipline someone out of a mental illness.

I feel so sorry for the women who loved him and ended up getting hurt, badly, by him. Especially, his last girlfriend who was the last to experience his cruelty. It must be so strange to try and understand how a person who hurt you so badly could end up being described as a wonderful human being by almost all that met him on the trail. Perhaps the fleeting friendships he made with people on the trail gave him the freedom to be himself because commitment was what he couldn't do.

I can't get over that statement a friend made who said he wore his sadness like an extra skin. Or the girl who said he just sat down and played a Metallica song on the piano. Or the girl who said everything he did was to the nth degree like asking Rembrandt to paint your bathroom.

I should feel anger for his behavior toward women and I don't excuse it but the repetition of his behavior like clockwork sounds like a cry for help.

He was a very flawed human being and I hope that regardless of how he died he got to experience the freedom of waking up each morning and being glad to be alive if only for a small period of time before the darkness he knew would come.

It's funny, we've tried for over two years to give him back his name but now that we know it, I'll always think of him as Mostly Harmless.
 
coffeeandacig said:
I feel a sadness with his identification. Almost as if he's just died, again. :(
RIP dear sweet man. Hope you know that thousands of strangers mourn your passing.
Click to expand...

I felt exactly the same. While I was very happy he had been identified, there was something about letting him go, something... I don't know exactly, just different and so sad.

Each of us has our flaws, some worse than others. Rarely will ours be displayed for others to review - such as in this case. Maybe he found himself by forgetting himself. And, for some of us, the search for self takes much longer.

This has been quite a case to follow, so many of us, so many words, so much trying. And, speaking of words... thank you for all the special ones @Narkj :)
 
So....the mystery within the mystery....."Ben Bilemy"

I noticed something after we learned his name; so is this coincidence or no?

R O D R I G U E Z
B E N B I L E M Y

Same amount of letters, and some of them seem to match up (big stretch, I know) The "I" is directly in the middle of both, and we now know he was extremely gifted in mathematics.

Also, there is a messaging platform (I will neglect to mention) that has the username "Bilemy" and the person using it has Rodriguez as the last name for their first and last name on display. Their information is not detailed after that, but was an astonishing coincidence to me.
 
Startropic1 said:
Nice that he has finally been identified. There are two questions I still have, but I think I can answer one of them:

1. What's the deal with the stories of abuse and bad relationships? This doesn't matchup with the stories we heard about him during his hike(s).


.
Click to expand...

Personally, I find this very subjective and can greatly vary from person to person.

For instance, many of the stories I have told people about my dad are hilarious to me, but some have told me how sorry they felt for me because it was abusive from their perspective.
 
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