Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male hiker, "Denim" & "Mostly Harmless", Jul 2018 - Vance Rodriguez

[Bellaplutt]

Yes. We have several reports that his diet was horrible. And he obviously got to a concentration camp weight somehow. I zoomed in on the trash bag a few days ago and lo and behold there was an empty bag of Starkist tuna in there. Even if he was eating protein, I have been wondering if the issue was not protein deficiency, but fat deficiency.

Have you ever heard of rabbit starvation? You can consume plenty of protein but without enough fat you can poison your body. Protein poisoning - Wikipedia

If he didn’t eat anything but protein bars and the odd bag of tuna it seems very possible he didn’t eat enough calories to sustain himself through heavy exertion. And a lot of people trying to ”eat healthy” eat tuna as a low-calorie/low-fat protein source so you might be on to something there. That he was eating protein but scared of fats.

To elmomom: wouldn’t say veganism is a fad though and if the protein bars were vegan it’s very likely they contained a combination of protein sources to make up all the amino acids that form a complete protein.

 

[elmomom]

If he didn’t eat anything but protein bars and the odd bag of tuna it seems very possible he didn’t eat enough calories to sustain himself through heavy exertion. And a lot of people trying to ”eat healthy” eat tuna as a low-calorie/low-fat protein source so you might be on to something there. That he was eating protein but scared of fats.

To elmomom: wouldn’t say veganism is a fad though and if the protein bars were vegan it’s very likely they contained a combination of protein sources to make up all the amino acids that form a complete protein.

first, my apologies for the use of the word “fad”. I couldn’t think of any other way to describe the fact that veganism is quite suddenly becoming very popular, and attracting much attention and fanfare. It was not meant as a detrimental judgement at all.
And as far as protein bars, like all other sources of nutritional supplements, this is a category of substances that is wholly unregulated, not by the FDA, nor any other regulatory agency. What they contain, and what they say they contain is not proven to match to anyone. So before anyone relies on anything in the nutritional supplement domain as a sole source of any nutrient, I would advise great caution.
But, we now know he was eating other protein sources. The idea of starvation by fat deficiency is even less common than protein deficiency. And in fact, it is not entirely medically accepted to be a real thing at all.
I am back to being completely at a loss as to how I would explain it.

eta: if it is strictly a case of caloric starvation, it would almost have to be intentional, or anorexia. He had enough money to purchase food, he would have known he was not eating enough to survive. This is why I was trying to imagine a reason he could be starving unintentionally. It is just so hard to accept that this was somehow intentional.

 

[moonriverfarm]

Those of us who have seen the CCSO photos of his body have the images burned into our brains of a human skeleton with skin. He did not get that way overnight. I'm not even sure how he could get in that condition in three months unless he was literally fasting. Imagine a concentration camp survivor and that is what he looked like.

 

[GatorFL]

first, my apologies for the use of the word “fad”. I couldn’t think of any other way to describe the fact that veganism is quite suddenly becoming very popular, and attracting much attention and fanfare. It was not meant as a detrimental judgement at all.
And as far as protein bars, like all other sources of nutritional supplements, this is a category of substances that is wholly unregulated, not by the FDA, nor any other regulatory agency. What they contain, and what they say they contain is not proven to match to anyone. So before anyone relies on anything in the nutritional supplement domain as a sole source of any nutrient, I would advise great caution.
But, we now know he was eating other protein sources. The idea of starvation by fat deficiency is even less common than protein deficiency. And in fact, it is not entirely medically accepted to be a real thing at all.
I am back to being completely at a loss as to how I would explain it.

eta: if it is strictly a case of caloric starvation, it would almost have to be intentional, or anorexia. He had enough money to purchase food, he would have known he was not eating enough to survive. This is why I was trying to imagine a reason he could be starving unintentionally. It is just so hard to accept that this was somehow intentional.

Regarding the bolded, I disagree. It is common knowledge that rabbit starvation is quite real. There are also medical studies supporting that it is real, one is linked in the wiki page I posted earlier.

My opinion remains he was anorexic. That explains the poor diet, the pizza picture, the obsession with caloric density, having means to get food but not doing it, and the comments about once being much heavier. He could have easily died from refeeding disease after an extended period of weight loss, since we know he was eating shortly before death.

 

[GatorFL]

Othram linked this elsewhere, an article that mentions MH and the forensic DNA technology being used to ID him: Cold Cases Heat Up with New Forensic DNA Methods

 

[Cirxe]

My opinion remains he was anorexic. That explains the poor diet, the pizza picture, the obsession with caloric density, having means to get food but not doing it, and the comments about once being much heavier. He could have easily died from refeeding disease after an extended period of weight loss, since we know he was eating shortly before death.

I agree. Unfortunately, eating disorders in men are more common than people think. They definitely can struggle with body image. Excessive exercise often goes hand in hand with eating disorders which makes this whole thing all the more sad. Although, he wasn’t hiking at a particularly vigorous pace from what I’ve read.

 

[Laughing]

I agree. Unfortunately, eating disorders in men are more common than people think. They definitely can struggle with body image. Excessive exercise often goes hand in hand with eating disorders which makes this whole thing all the more sad. Although, he wasn’t hiking at a particularly vigorous pace from what I’ve read.

Eating disorders in men are often related to sports that emphasize weight -- wrestling, distance running, gymnastics, etc.

Our guy ever mention wrestling?

Might cause that knee/joint damage.

Certainly some parallels between distance running & distance hiking.

Now I'm a nutrition educator, not a psychologist, but -- possibly the generally-disapproving (IIRC one hiker relayed the term "abusive" ) father seemed happy that his son won races, our Denim is moving long distances in an attempt to work out those issues?

Waiting, impatiently, for the forensic genealogy.

 

[branmuffin]

first, my apologies for the use of the word “fad”. I couldn’t think of any other way to describe the fact that veganism is quite suddenly becoming very popular, and attracting much attention and fanfare. It was not meant as a detrimental judgement at all.
And as far as protein bars, like all other sources of nutritional supplements, this is a category of substances that is wholly unregulated, not by the FDA, nor any other regulatory agency. What they contain, and what they say they contain is not proven to match to anyone. So before anyone relies on anything in the nutritional supplement domain as a sole source of any nutrient, I would advise great caution.
But, we now know he was eating other protein sources. The idea of starvation by fat deficiency is even less common than protein deficiency. And in fact, it is not entirely medically accepted to be a real thing at all.
I am back to being completely at a loss as to how I would explain it.

eta: if it is strictly a case of caloric starvation, it would almost have to be intentional, or anorexia. He had enough money to purchase food, he would have known he was not eating enough to survive. This is why I was trying to imagine a reason he could be starving unintentionally. It is just so hard to accept that this was somehow intentional.

I'm still not on board with MH having an ED. Usually people with anorexia choose to eat the most low calorie foods. If anything, people he met on the trail mentioned his fondness for candy bars and that he ate lots of protein bars. Those may be empty calories from a nutritional standpoint but they don't make you lose weight they make you gain it. Several people who spent time with him in hostels and camps never mentioned an aversion to food. I feel it's us that have zeroed in on one image of him with an uneaten pizza with just bites of a crust and decided he was anorexic.

I still feel his death was through misadventure. I don't know what that misadventure was what with the autopsy being unconclusive, but it doesn't negate the fact he may have had an illness that would be difficult to identify on autopsy. He could have had rhabdo, he could have eaten way too much tuna and gotten mercury poison, he could have had a neurological ailment. He could have had an infection that beat him down which he survived but his environment got the better of him. There are a multitude of events that could have occurred but starving doesn't always mean he had anorexia, just like being overweight isn't always about overeating.

 

[AllisonS]

I looked through a lot of the posts, but not all due to the volume, so my apologies if this has been posted, but I did not see it.

This gives a drone view of Nobles campground and the area around it. I believe the area MH was camping in is shown around the 2:07 mark, but watching the whole thing gives you an idea of the vastness and isolation.

 

[JudgeJoe]

Othram linked this elsewhere, an article that mentions MH and the forensic DNA technology being used to ID him: Cold Cases Heat Up with New Forensic DNA Methods

This article also references the progression of a debilitating illness.
Consistent with something other than anorexia. MO

“He also shared that he was hiking the trail before he could be disabled by some unspecified illness.”

I'm still not on board with MH having an ED. Usually people with anorexia choose to eat the most low calorie foods. If anything, people he met on the trail mentioned his fondness for candy bars and that he ate lots of protein bars. Those may be empty calories from a nutritional standpoint but they don't make you lose weight they make you gain it. Several people who spent time with him in hostels and camps never mentioned an aversion to food. I feel it's us that have zeroed in on one image of him with an uneaten pizza with just bites of a crust and decided he was anorexic.

I still feel his death was through misadventure. I don't know what that misadventure was what with the autopsy being unconclusive, but it doesn't negate the fact he may have had an illness that would be difficult to identify on autopsy. He could have had rhabdo, he could have eaten way too much tuna and gotten mercury poison, he could have had a neurological ailment. He could have had an infection that beat him down which he survived but his environment got the better of him. There are a multitude of events that could have occurred but starving doesn't always mean he had anorexia, just like being overweight isn't always about overeating.

 

[lonewanderer]

An interesting read that reminded me a little of MH,

Summarized, an Army Green Beret had "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an extremely rare and fatal degenerative brain disorder similar to mad cow disease that causes rapid, progressive dementia."

He was starting to exhibit extremely strange behavior, and could not remember to feed or hydrate when his parents found him. When he was found, he was also 30 pounds lighter than normal.

I know there is no reported strange behavior from MH, but there is a few months that he is unaccounted for. I am also not a doctor and have no idea how quickly this could effect person to person, as it seems the Green Beret showed many warning signs before the three month period of total downward spiral.

I am also not trying to say that MH specifically had this disease, but the story is interesting because of how it deteriorated an outstanding young Green Beret into a skeleton of a man who may have lost his life if his parents had not intervened.

Ousted Green Beret Was Sick

 

[GatorFL]

An interesting read that reminded me a little of MH,

Summarized, an Army Green Beret had "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an extremely rare and fatal degenerative brain disorder similar to mad cow disease that causes rapid, progressive dementia."

He was starting to exhibit extremely strange behavior, and could not remember to feed or hydrate when his parents found him. When he was found, he was also 30 pounds lighter than normal.

I know there is no reported strange behavior from MH, but there is a few months that he is unaccounted for. I am also not a doctor and have no idea how quickly this could effect person to person, as it seems the Green Beret showed many warning signs before the three month period of total downward spiral.

I am also not trying to say that MH specifically had this disease, but the story is interesting because of how it deteriorated an outstanding young Green Beret into a skeleton of a man who may have lost his life if his parents had not intervened.

Ousted Green Beret Was Sick

I doubt we will ever know what caused him to waste away the way he did. I do think he was dealing with something for a long time, but whether he was cognizant of what it was or not is a whole other rabbit hole.

There are so many possibilities. It's easier to disqualify things than to say definitively why he died. For instance. Mad Cow and CJD leave lesions in the brain, I am sure the ME would have spotted them.

 

[branmuffin]

An interesting read that reminded me a little of MH,

Summarized, an Army Green Beret had "Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an extremely rare and fatal degenerative brain disorder similar to mad cow disease that causes rapid, progressive dementia."

He was starting to exhibit extremely strange behavior, and could not remember to feed or hydrate when his parents found him. When he was found, he was also 30 pounds lighter than normal.

I know there is no reported strange behavior from MH, but there is a few months that he is unaccounted for. I am also not a doctor and have no idea how quickly this could effect person to person, as it seems the Green Beret showed many warning signs before the three month period of total downward spiral.

I am also not trying to say that MH specifically had this disease, but the story is interesting because of how it deteriorated an outstanding young Green Beret into a skeleton of a man who may have lost his life if his parents had not intervened.

Ousted Green Beret Was Sick

C-J Disease is fatal, you don't survive it. It kind of reminds me of Baylisascaris, another disease cause by a parasite from raccoon scat. It's pretty rare. Very few incidences of fatalities and those are usually children because of their penchant for playing in dirt or sand where the eggs can be transferred orally. It can be undiagnosed for a while since it mimics illnesses like MS with lack of coordination, loss of muscle control if the parasite ends up in the brain. Once found and treated it can be stopped but neurological damage is permanent.

 

[IndieCindy]

It mentions talking about the fathers in our timeline but it doesn't mention them talking about the abuse. Can others confirm about the abuse. I've read it in a few places.

I believe the abuse was mentioned by the reporter doing the story and also CCSO. “Ben” said that when he was a teenager that his father took him out in the yard and tried to fight him. The link, to the story has been posted several times throughout the forum already.

 

[IndieCindy]

There isnt ONE Bilemy show up online let alone one BEN Bilemy.

I don’t think Ben or Bilemy is anywhere near his name, but just in case someone thinks there is something into it, there ARE instances I found that exact spelling in old newspaper articles throughout the US & Canada. And here is a link to a grave in Florida the most similar spelling I could find. There are more graves with that particular spelling in the US & Canada.
Gurthrude Belemy (Unknown-1912) - Find A Grave...

 

[IndieCindy]

What I looked at last night were pics of the original handwritten notes. I don't recall any of them being loose pages.

There were in fact loose pages. Looked like they had been ripped out of the little notebook. Looked like they had been trashed because they had some stains on them like someone spilled a drink or something on them.

 

[IndieCindy]

It's also a possibility that he had lyme disease. If untreated it will ravage the body.

Edited to add: good point @branmuffin

Wouldn’t that show up in the lab work they did? I believe if he had any disease, it would be listed as a “contributing” factor to the death. I still feel Rhabdomyolysis is a viable disease since it’s rare, and symptoms are in line with ME report, and can be missed as the underlying illness that causes the other symptoms. And I hope no one takes anything I say personally. I have a way of communication that sensitive people can become offended at easily, (ask my sister, lol).

 

[IndieCindy]

I’m just now catching back up after checking on my bison herd, no new babies yet! Ok so please no one become offended at my comments please, I do not mean them to be offensive or to attack anyone for anything. But can we recap?
1) he spent cash. Police checked For accounts. So ATM’s seem like a dead end. Police checked receipts, etc.
I have a degree in criminal justice and family in various LE agencies so I know they would have checked all these things out like receipts from stores, serial numbers off of his watch, poles, hiking equipment, notepads...
& they came up with nothing.
2) according to ME report he died of CACHEXIA AKA:”wasting disease.” This is a RESULT of an underlying illness. The illness could have been new or old... like just as an example only: diabetes. The man who discovered the treatment for diabetes ground up the pancreas of stray dogs and gave it to people dying of wasting disease. Before that time, people wanted away no matter how much they ate due to the illness. They died of CACHEXIA but the underlying illness was diabetes.
3) BB supposedly Started hiking (Southbound) in April 2017 in New York.
4) he told hikers he could only do about 10 miles a day, & he wanted to do the hike while he still could. I would say the exact same thing to someone.. “I’m only doing 10 miles a day while I still can..” but for me it would be due to my bad knees, plantar fasciitis & Sore back, plus age mixed in. I have osteoarthritis and it can get bad especially when it’s cold and rainy. So did he actually mention that he definitely had a specific serious medical “disease” he was possibly dying of? Or did he simply say “... l10 miles a day while I still can...” and someone just interpreted that to mean he had some serious medical condition? So many unknowns here.
5) His watch is brought up a lot, which is probably just the cheap a Skmei brand. Looks exactly like it. But that info doesn’t identify the hiker. Unless his watch was one that specific agencies use (like police) then maybe that info “might” be helpful. Or if it had an engraving on it... but other than those things I don’t see how knowing the where the watch went will help to actually identify this guy. It’s the identity of the guy not the watch that is the question. Here is a photo of BB wearing watch & a link to the exact watch I believe he was wearing in case someone believes that might help anyway:
SKMEI Sport Watch Digital Watch Quartz Fashion Water Resistant / Waterproof Quilted PU Leather Black Analog - Digital - Black Yellow Red Two Years Battery Life / Alarm / Calendar / date / day 2020 - US $14.29

6) we know police have pretty much exhausted all identifying factors such as fingerprints and names in national databases etc. So this is why I personally believe BB is not his real name & probably not even close to his real name.
7) based on what I have personally read/ seen... if he was truly in IT or the Tech industry, he would know exactly how to avoid digital footprints. I believe he probably worked in some type of security IT & knew how to go off the grid “like a Boss”!
8) was he ever reported missing? Probably not, but there are people missing that do not make it into the “public” missing persons database. The police have access to the other databases so apparently, after checking them all, it has come down to DNA for an answer.
9) It’s the DNA that will identify him at this point. As a person who has helped LE and the media find answers this way... I can tell you once the DNA is in, it will take a little time. You basically have to find the common DNA link to others in the database, THEN find the common ancestor, THEN start working the genealogy backwards to narrow it down. I’ve done some genealogy work that took less than 10 minutes to solve (For media) and some that I’m still working on after a few years. So let’s all hope that there is a close enough family member to BB that will help identify him! I think there will be, especially since it has gotten cheaper to do the testing now.

 

[JudgeJoe]

Dup

 

[IndieCindy]

Sorry my posts are soo freakin long. Geez did you read all that above until your eyes crossed? OK- so Here some things I checked out and it didn’t involve water bottle brands, watches, tents etc... if that sounded sarcastic it’s not meant to be only trying to steer the conversation to a more logical direction.
1) Screeps (Screeps.com is one game he had been working on in his notepad) if you go to their user forum... they have people posting things about the game. There are a couple of them from the US that were posting pretty regular until about the time BB went off the grid. One of those guys posting issues, addressed specifically some of the things BB had written in his notebooks like rooms/towers/spawning creeps... I think that is possibly a good place to look.
2) I don’t believe the code he was actually working on in his notes would have ever been a code in use though, since he was still writing the code! So I don’t believe that particular code would help identify him. But I do believe “IF” he was even a member of that forum, someone may recognize his “style” as someone that used the game & then stopped around that time. You can go to Screeps.com & research for yourself. This game is basically for helping to teach people how to improve their code writing. But it doesn’t mean they are new to code, just this particular code program as one guy stated he had been doing code for years and had trouble in that game.
yeah... I creeped on a lot of their conversations in the forum, lol.
3) I researched on linkedIn a guy that developed the AI code for Screeps that is used in the game. He is out of Brooklyn, NY. I’m not posting his linkedIn page because he is not affiliated at this time with BB that anyone knows of, & is just a person like us who may not want any of their personal & work info linked to this case out in the interwebs ether for all eternity when they may not know anything about BB.
4) a TECH company hiring in The upper New York/Canada area put out a notice in 2016/ 2017 that they Wanted job applicants to use Screeps As part of their hiring process. They wanted to see the applicants ability to write code in the game and present it to them as a qualification for their company.
Can any of these type things help identify this guy? Even if he lied about everything else he said (from Brooklyn, sister in Florida) the only thing that appears to be a Potential lead is the contents of the notepad. And that’s only if he is one of the couple of guys who was posting in the Screeps forum $ then quit about the same time BB goes on the AT.
5) these things above are what I looked into... I thought they might be more productive than tent brands or watches but at this point who knows? It ALL may be irrelevant but at least I feel like I am making an effort into finding out something about a missing person, as I am sure each and everyone of us all trying to do.
I can do mind blowing theories too though: although not likely... what if BB was brought up from a young age by an abductor... & he didn’t know he was abducted... would he have been a case just like the child abducted “Steven Stayner” who knew he had been abducted but was told by the abductor he had gotten custody & parents didn’t want him anymore... got Steven a new identity & although Steven could have escaped several times... he never knew how to do it. What if this guy is a case like that who was someone who went missing decades ago, then either did leave or escaped or the abductor died? He may not know who he is... he may have had ID on him but it was falsified... he may not have known any of that... and if he said he had a sister... it could be that she could have been a victim too and neither of them knew anything? Except now BB is deceased. And no one can find a TRUE identity him from the things he left behind.
it really looks to me though that he KNEW what he was doing by living the way he did though, for whatever reason. He was probably just harmless but wanting to escape from some horrible event. Whether that is stress, PSTD, depression, etc. I said it a few times but will say it again... Who Knows? WHAT will help actually IDENTIFY him?