A Websleuths member once mentioned (possibly in one of the Rodney Alcala threads) that she had hitchhiked often as a teenager and would write her SSN on her foot in the hopes she would be identified just in case anything ever happened to her.
That has little to do with this case except maybe our John Doe did think the writing on his foot would help identify him. The question is, why didn't he just write his real name instead of something so cryptic?
If he was an online gamer, he might have posted a "goodbye" message that was misinterpreted as a notice he was leaving the game forever, not planning to harm himself. I'm a member of an amateur art site and members there, especially younger ones, will often post dramatic "I'm fed up and I'm leaving this site forever" messages, with the punchline being they often reactivate their account within days after receiving dramatic pleas to stick around. John Doe might have mistakenly assumed his farewell message would be linked to the reports of an unidentified decedent with his username/handle written on a foot, but he may have also overestimated his importance in the game and the gaming community didn't rally to find out where one of its missing team members went.
Rickyv, if you do stop by the building to talk to the doorman, you might want to keep an eye out for the type of railing seen in the NamUs photo with the beanie. It's a wrought-iron railing sunk into what appears to be a curb, and finding it might give a good idea of where he could have exited the building. Does the wall of the building directly above the railing contain what appear to be hallway windows or apartment windows? Depending on the architecture of the building, is there a chance his shoes could still be tucked behind a ledge or a drainpipe? Would the doorman have even agreed to call the resident of the apartment John Doe had asked for if Doe was wearing only socks at the time, assuming he noticed this fact?
I doubt he would have asked to visit Lida Arakelyan by name. The doorman would have no doubt recognized her name as the suicide victim and immediately become suspicious.
I feel bad for the doorman as well as John Doe. He was no doubt mostly concerned with keeping out unwanted solicitors and protecting the residents of the building, and he had no idea someone would run past him intent on harming himself.
