Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” July 2018 - Vance Rodriguez #2

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Narkj said:
FYI:

I have been posting a ton of queries to FB groups, at least 100 in Baton Rouge and NY, along with tech groups, gaming groups, even Dr. Who groups. Nothing. The gaming and Dr. Who folks have not been very kind about posting in there since it's tangentially related and perhaps not at all. They have often deleted my posts.

Someone above mentioned the futility of posting in these groups. Indeed, I've found nothing.

Posting in these groups has produced two other people who hiked with "Denim" in Pa. Not too much to add. One spent a rainy day with him a shelter near Stroudsburg, Pa. She said he had a very soft voice.

Another hiker, however, said he hiked with him for a while, and said Denim had told him he had come to Harriman/Bear Mountain planning to die and that he had been very depressed. He told that hiker that being out in the woods made him reconsider and that's how wound up on the AT. He left a recent comment about it on the CCSO FB page after we made contact.

Another update: I spoke to a hiker who had supplied a few pictures of Denim to the CCSO. She says she though he said he was from the Bronx, not Brooklyn and she also thought she might have been the source of the whole Brooklyn connection when it was reporter. Not sure how she could mix the two up but she seems (IMO) a little flaky.
Click to expand...
Thank you for all your work and for posting that anecdote about him setting off with the intention of dying. That could be a big clue as to why nobody is looking for him. I wonder if it was a suicide after all. Maybe he reached the end of the trail and wasn't able to consider what could come after :(
 
I can't help myself but think about that book or whatever it was that was later made into a movie and aired on Canal + (at least where I live in Europe) about 2006 or something like that, maybe a little bit later because I remember it quite vividly. Basically it's about a guy who decides do die of starvation, goes into the woods, sets up a camp and stays drinking only water until he died of starvation after around like 40 days of something like that. I don't remember it it was true or made up or what, the title was "The Sound of Insects" and I can't help but think about that movie when I think about Denim. Who knows, maybe he even saw it at some point and decided to do the same. It's a very, let me say, "specific" way to commit suicide.
 
Sadly, I know suicide well. Suicidal people just want to die, not have some last hurrah, at least IMO and in my experience. That being said, it's somewhat uplifting to think he could have been suicidal and became enamored with nature instead and lived for a few more years.
 
It’s physically and emotionally painful for me to think of Denim wanting to commit and following through with suicide. It took me awhile to even Google “is suicide-by-starvation painful?”, I was so sure it must be an excruciating process.

This may be the one and only instance I respectfully ask that no one correct me if I’m wrong, but I wanted to post this for anyone else struggling with what may have been Denim’s final decision in life.
———————————————————————​
Ceasing Food and Fluid Can Be Painless

“Instead of feeling pain, the patient experienced the sense of euphoria that accompanies a complete lack of food and water. <snip>

But doctors say that going without food and water in the last weeks of life is not traumatic, and that the body is equipped to adjust to such conditions.

In fact, eating and drinking during severe illness can be painful because of the demands it places on weakened organs.

“What my patients have told me over the last 25 years is that when they stop eating and drinking, there’s nothing unpleasant about it -- in fact, it can be quite blissful and euphoric...”
 
@MadMcGoo I've been reading a lot lately about fasting for health and people say that around the 24+ hour mark the feeling of clarity and euphoria often set in. I've only fasted for 24+ hours during bouts with the stomach flu so I've never experienced it firsthand!
 
MadMcGoo said:
It’s physically and emotionally painful for me to think of Denim wanting to commit and following through with suicide. It took me awhile to even Google “is suicide-by-starvation painful?”, I was so sure it must be an excruciating process.

This may be the one and only instance I respectfully ask that no one correct me if I’m wrong, but I wanted to post this for anyone else struggling with what may have been Denim’s final decision in life.
———————————————————————​
Ceasing Food and Fluid Can Be Painless

“Instead of feeling pain, the patient experienced the sense of euphoria that accompanies a complete lack of food and water. <snip>

But doctors say that going without food and water in the last weeks of life is not traumatic, and that the body is equipped to adjust to such conditions.

In fact, eating and drinking during severe illness can be painful because of the demands it places on weakened organs.

“What my patients have told me over the last 25 years is that when they stop eating and drinking, there’s nothing unpleasant about it -- in fact, it can be quite blissful and euphoric...”
Click to expand...

This is true of patients with terminal illnesses, who usually stop voluntarily taking fluids and nourishment several days or even a week or more prior to death. I've witnessed it several times with family members. It's one of the reasons feeding tubes are so controversial for patients in the later stages of progressive illnesses. People often fear that their loved ones will suffer without drinking or eating, but at that stage the body knows what it wants or doesn't want, and the patient does not experience hunger or thirst.

For healthy people who fast, and likely for MH if this was his chosen method of dying and not the end stage of a long illness, the more challenging and uncomfortable part of their food withdrawal is in the first few days, because a body that is not in an end-stage illness will still signal that it needs fuel, through the sensation of hunger. Once their body is past that initial adjustment period, and stops protesting the lack of food (and drink, if they are limiting that as well), they can continue the fast far more easily and comfortably – sometimes to the detriment of their health.

I hope MH did experience this level of comfort, and did not suffer in his last days in his tent, whether he died of illness or a slow suicide. I hope he was where he wanted to be, and that his end did not feel nearly as sad and lonely to him as it does to many of those trying to identify him.
 
I finally listened to the “Sworn Statement” podcast concerning Mostly Harmless. It was very informational!

I really hope that they will post an update to season one soon, since the last episode concerning Mostly Harmless was posted in February 2019.

As far as my thoughts on the case, I tend to lean towards the theory that Mostly Harmless was on this journey out of necessity (e.g. in hiding) rather than out of personal fulfillment (e.g. bucket list accomplishment before succumbing to illness). Otherwise, why have such an excessive amount of cash on hand (and only pay in cash), why use an alias at hostels, why not have a cell phone, and why start out on the trail so ill-prepared?

The conspiracy side of me wonders if he was a loner that ran into trouble with nefarious sorts online (e.g. cryptocurrency fraud, online gambling debts, etc.) that required him to go off-the-grid quickly.

MOO.

Edited for clarity.
 
Last edited:
Hi everyone,
I'm relatively new to the story (and to the forum) and I'm only going through all the links and sources provided in the first post now.

It says that MH is listed as part of the ECT class of 2018. However, when I check the list now, he isn't on it anymore. Was just wondering whether they just removed him from the list, or what happened?
 
rinnai said:
Hi everyone,
I'm relatively new to the story (and to the forum) and I'm only going through all the links and sources provided in the first post now.

It says that MH is listed as part of the ECT class of 2018. However, when I check the list now, he isn't on it anymore. Was just wondering whether they just removed him from the list, or what happened?
Click to expand...

Welcome Rinnai. Wow, you are right. He is not on the list anymore. It used to say "Mostly Harmless" with a note that he was hiking the ETC on the list here:
Class of 2018 – Florida Trail Hikers Alliance
I suppose he was removed because he didn't register anywhere with a real name or because he didn't complete his hike? :(
I recall that list being much longer before with others hikers that were only listed by their trail names. Now every name has a real name along with the trail names. The list also didn't have links to some of the hiker's blogs the last time I looked at it. Interesting.
 
That is curious!!! I remember the list vividly and think by the time I went to the actual website (I first saw it via screenshot), I too could not find his name!!! And this was pretty early on. Who would make such changes, I wonder?! And why?

eta: and like Gardener said, there definitely weren’t real names or links associated with each hiker!! o_O:confused:
 
Been looking into this case and so far I have not seen this missing man be ruled out as "Mostly Harmless."
What do you guys think? I'm sure someone has already brought up the possibility... however, "Mostly Harmless" told fellow hikers he didn't have family and this missing man has a sister whom he was in contact with. So idk...

Similar circumstances. Hiking the Appalachian trail. When I put Mostly Harmless' picture into google face recognition, it did match with this missing man. If this isn't a match, it would be helpful to be able to add this man to the rule out list.

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/43090/details?nav

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we can link NAMUS, right?
 
Golden_Age said:
Been looking into this case and so far I have not seen this missing man be ruled out as "Mostly Harmless."
What do you guys think? I'm sure someone has already brought up the possibility... however, "Mostly Harmless" told fellow hikers he didn't have family and this missing man has a sister whom he was in contact with. So idk...

Similar circumstances. Hiking the Appalachian trail. When I put Mostly Harmless' picture into google face recognition, it did match with this missing man. If this isn't a match, it would be helpful to be able to add this man to the rule out list.

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/43090/details?nav

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we can link NAMUS, right?
Click to expand...
In short, yes he’s been mentioned and IIRC, ruled out. And yes we can link NamUs ;)

eta: I thought he was ruled out, but you’re right, he’s not on the NamUs list :confused: interesting, since it hasn’t taken CCSO long at all to update the list once an exclusion has been established
 
Golden_Age said:
Been looking into this case and so far I have not seen this missing man be ruled out as "Mostly Harmless."
What do you guys think? I'm sure someone has already brought up the possibility... however, "Mostly Harmless" told fellow hikers he didn't have family and this missing man has a sister whom he was in contact with. So idk...

Similar circumstances. Hiking the Appalachian trail. When I put Mostly Harmless' picture into google face recognition, it did match with this missing man. If this isn't a match, it would be helpful to be able to add this man to the rule out list.

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/43090/details?nav

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we can link NAMUS, right?
Click to expand...
Since RR's picture has been posted multiple times by people talking about this case, Google thinks it's linked. Google's program is not facial recognition. Just FYI :)

As far as being ruled out, not officially, but on the main CCSO Facebook thread, RR's daughter said it's not him.
 
RR’s photos never gave me pause. In fact, I just looked at all the ones attached to his NamUs. I just don’t see it. Call it naivety or just inexperience, but the most recent suggestion is the only one to make me stop searching for Denim’s true identity.

JMO FWIW
 
MadMcGoo said:
RR’s photos never gave me pause. In fact, I just looked at all the ones attached to his NamUs. I just don’t see it. Call it naivety or just inexperience, but the most recent suggestion is the only one to make me stop searching for Denim’s true identity.

JMO FWIW
Click to expand...

I don’t think it’s naivety or inexperience at all. I never saw any resemblance either. They look like 2 completely different people to me.

JMO

I really hope 2020 will be the year he gets his name back. I wish LE would find a way to work together with the DNA Doe project or a similar project. I really think it’s the only way he could get his name back. That, or his picture coincidentally being shown to the right person/people (but that could take years, if ever).
 
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