“They were doing a day hike, found the camp site, and wanted to take a rest,” Fairbanks said of the hikers who allegedly discovered Mostly Harmless’s body. “They kept hollering out, but nobody answered, and there were shoes outside, so they assumed he was there. Then one of them peeked in the tent, and that’s how they found him.”
Local investigators believe Mostly Harmless had ties to both Louisiana and New York State, and
police with the Florida sheriff’s office in August disseminated posters to New York City media outlets hoping to find anyone who knew the hiker.
Sunshine State investigators are still waiting for the local medical examiner to determine the hiker’s cause of death, but detectives believe he may have died of starvation, or succumbed to a pre-existing, fatal condition that compelled him to embark on the interstate trek, according to a podcast the Collier County Sheriff’s Office released earlier this month.
But there are mitigating facts that undermine those theories, including an abundance of food sources near Mostly Harmless’s place of death, and the testimony of fellow hikers he met on his journey, including Fairbanks, who said the deceased spoke optimistically of his plans for the future, such as his intention to settle in Key West.
“He sounded like he had plans,” she said.
Anyone with information regarding Mostly Harmless should call the Collier County Sheriff’s Office at (239) 774—4434.
Reach reporter Colin Mixson at cmixson@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4505.