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

[branmuffin]

Oops, don't know what happened to my comment; it ended up in the text from Gardner. I've recreated it here:


It's unfortunate that the autopsy results haven't been made public in this situation. It's not like LE are trying to hold back essential information in the case of a homicide. It's appears the man died of natural causes. You would think releasing the results would only flesh out the profile of the individual so that family members of missing person may recognize them.

It's possible this individual knew he was dying or at the very least knew some serious physical ailment was affecting him through his extreme weight loss. Most people who experience that type of accelerated weight loss without any form of diet and exercise would go to the doctor to see what was happening. Cancer does that, especially bone marrow cancer. According to some of the people he spoke to, he had mentioned he'd undergone some radical weight loss. Heavy people who start losing weight for no apparent reason are initially ecstatic about the loss without realizing there may be some underlying reason and it takes a while before they decide to check it out. If he'd been given a serious diagnosis he may have been doing his bucket list. This is all supposition.

If it has been established he died of natural causes and not by misadventure (accidental poisoning, etc) I wonder why his autopsy results haven't been released?

 

[Alethea]

Oops, don't know what happened to my comment; it ended up in the text from Gardner. I've recreated it here:


It's unfortunate that the autopsy results haven't been made public in this situation. It's not like LE are trying to hold back essential information in the case of a homicide. It's appears the man died of natural causes. You would think releasing the results would only flesh out the profile of the individual so that family members of missing person may recognize them.

It's possible this individual knew he was dying or at the very least knew some serious physical ailment was affecting him through his extreme weight loss. Most people who experience that type of accelerated weight loss without any form of diet and exercise would go to the doctor to see what was happening. Cancer does that, especially bone marrow cancer. According to some of the people he spoke to, he had mentioned he'd undergone some radical weight loss. Heavy people who start losing weight for no apparent reason are initially ecstatic about the loss without realizing there may be some underlying reason and it takes a while before they decide to check it out. If he'd been given a serious diagnosis he may have been doing his bucket list. This is all supposition.

If it has been established he died of natural causes and not by misadventure (accidental poisoning, etc) I wonder why his autopsy results haven't been released?

That confuses me too. If they release that he appears to have had a certain medical condition they may get certain medical professionals to confidentially contact LE with suggested matches.

 

[Gardener1850]

Oops, don't know what happened to my comment; it ended up in the text from Gardner. I've recreated it here:


It's unfortunate that the autopsy results haven't been made public in this situation. It's not like LE are trying to hold back essential information in the case of a homicide. It's appears the man died of natural causes. You would think releasing the results would only flesh out the profile of the individual so that family members of missing person may recognize them.

It's possible this individual knew he was dying or at the very least knew some serious physical ailment was affecting him through his extreme weight loss. Most people who experience that type of accelerated weight loss without any form of diet and exercise would go to the doctor to see what was happening. Cancer does that, especially bone marrow cancer. According to some of the people he spoke to, he had mentioned he'd undergone some radical weight loss. Heavy people who start losing weight for no apparent reason are initially ecstatic about the loss without realizing there may be some underlying reason and it takes a while before they decide to check it out. If he'd been given a serious diagnosis he may have been doing his bucket list. This is all supposition.

If it has been established he died of natural causes and not by misadventure (accidental poisoning, etc) I wonder why his autopsy results haven't been released?

The thing is, people who go from working a desk job to hiking the AT for a year often go through a radical body transformation and drop weight rapidly as they hike. Do a google search and you will find lots of stories out there with before and after photos of AT hikers who lost weight. So the weight loss alone isn't necessarily a sign of a serious illness. We don't know if he had other symptoms. We don't know if he had an illness and knew about it or if maybe the drastic change in diet and exercise triggered an illness he was already predisposed to have. If he was unaware of a chronic condition he may have thought the weight loss was from hiking (he was said to be an inexperienced hiker at the start). Or he may have known something was wrong but perhaps he wanted to complete his hike before going to a dr to find out what it was. Of course, it's possible that completing his hike was a dream he wanted to complete before he got too sick to do it. Many AT hikers have some health condition and give that as their reason for hiking.

As for the autopsy results- I think they might not have been released because of medical privacy laws. If he had been murdered, it would be different. They told us it was a natural death from malnutrition so we wouldn't think this was a possible homicide case. IMO, they released just enough about COD so there would not be any public doubt it was natual. If he had something like HIV and LE released that sensitive medical information, then the police agency could face a lawsuit from his family when he is identified. And knowing he had something serious like HIV or cancer may not help identify him, IMHO.

It's just so sad no matter how we look at it. The fact that he lost his life while doing something he seemed to love doesn't really give me comfort as long as he doesn't have his name. I want to know his name. But I would settle for his family knowing his name and his loved ones knowing he died doing something he loved-- that may comfort them a little if we ever find them. He deserves to have his name and for his name to be associated with the triumph of how far he hiked and what he accomplished no matter if he did it with an illness or not. Sorry to ramble on...

MOO.

 

[branmuffin]

The thing is, people who go from working a desk job to hiking the AT for a year often go through a radical body transformation and drop weight rapidly as they hike. Do a google search and you will find lots of stories out there with before and after photos of AT hikers who lost weight. So the weight loss alone isn't necessarily a sign of a serious illness. We don't know if he had other symptoms. We don't know if he had an illness and knew about it or if maybe the drastic change in diet and exercise triggered an illness he was already predisposed to have. If he was unaware of a chronic condition he may have thought the weight loss was from hiking (he was said to be an inexperienced hiker at the start). Or he may have known something was wrong but perhaps he wanted to complete his hike before going to a dr to find out what it was. Of course, it's possible that completing his hike was a dream he wanted to complete before he got too sick to do it. Many AT hikers have some health condition and give that as their reason for hiking.

As for the autopsy results- I think they might not have been released because of medical privacy laws. If he had been murdered, it would be different. They told us it was a natural death from malnutrition so we wouldn't think this was a possible homicide case. IMO, they released just enough about COD so there would not be any public doubt it was natual. If he had something like HIV and LE released that sensitive medical information, then the police agency could face a lawsuit from his family when he is identified. And knowing he had something serious like HIV or cancer may not help identify him, IMHO.

It's just so sad no matter how we look at it. The fact that he lost his life while doing something he seemed to love doesn't really give me comfort as long as he doesn't have his name. I want to know his name. But I would settle for his family knowing his name and his loved ones knowing he died doing something he loved-- that may comfort them a little if we ever find them. He deserves to have his name and for his name to be associated with the triumph of how far he hiked and what he accomplished no matter if he did it with an illness or not. Sorry to ramble on...

MOO.

I agree with much of what you said. I do believe, however, that there was some underlying cause for him to lose weight so rapidly besides the exertion. Snakebite is out of the question since it would have shown up at autopsy.

I wonder if a lot of his story was truth mixed with a few lies. It's quite possible that he isn't missed at all, from a family perspective, if he did come from an abusive background. If he'd worked for ten years in an environment with the same coworkers they may only know that he either left voluntarily or was fired. I hope if he was very ill, he didn't have to leave work because his company benefits wouldn't cover his treatment.

 

[Narkj]

I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm looking for. Which man is supposed to be him? The one at the bottom left wearing a hat?

<modsnip: referenced image was removed due to no link to source>

The man in the gray baseball hat on the left is MH. You can’t see his face but that’s him, and his beard. Look down. That’s his beer.

 

[RichardRyder]

Also, FWIW, a photo of MH feet. I’ve said this before, but I’m still surprised at how thin his upper legs are, nearly the same diameter as his lower leg.

Somehow his nose looks slightly different in every picture of him.

 

[SugarQueen]

For what it’s worth, MH drank an Angry Orchard.(bottom left)

Do you know where/ when this picture was taken? Notice the pen with what looks like a receipt? I know our guy didn’t have any cards when found but that makes me think someone paid with a card.

 

[Narkj]

I’m fairly certain the man across from him signed the receipt but I’m tracking that down. The photos were taken in early October of 2017.

 

[MichelleBlue]

Forgive me for bringing this up, but pretty much all of the photos (except one or two) show MH in the same clothing. And from the description, it appears he was found wearing the same clothes as well. Over a period of a year, how was he bathing and washing his clothes? Wouldn't he have been carrying quite an odor to be wearing the same tshirt and shorts for so long?

 

[Gardener1850]

For what it’s worth, MH drank an Angry Orchard.(bottom left)

Is that from when he was in Damascus, VA during the hurricane (Oct 2017)? Where are you finding all these photos, BTW? We need source links on the thread or else the mods may remove the photos. Thanks for finding these though.

A preference for Angry Orchard could point to a NY connection, as it's a hard cider made in Walden, NY: Age Gate

I wonder now if that was also the reason he bought the brand of coat and brand of tent that he got in GA. The GA hostel owner said he had difficulty selling that tent and he was surprised Denim chose it because it was a 2-person tent. But maybe Denim chose it because it was a brand he was familiar with from living in upstate New York? These are little things but they could be clues.
MOO.

 

[carbuff]

Somehow his nose looks slightly different in every picture of him.

Yeah. When somebody says "Denim's nose doesn't match that missing person's," my first thought is usually "in which picture?"

 

[MichelleBlue]

Are True Crime Society blogposts allowed here? There is a very helpful, thorough timeline for MH.

 

[Sillybilly]

Hey everyone,

Do NOT post images without links to the source. ALL images require a link. We can't just snag stuff off the internet. It is a violation of copyright to not give credit to the original source.

A lot of this discussion relates to images that have been posted without links. Unfortunately those images have to be removed, so the convo may seem a bit disjointed as a result.

No link, no post !!

ALSO, as far as we know, "Steve" is not a missing person so please stop posting comparisons.

 

[carbuff]

Sorry, I thought we knew Steve was missing. My bad.

 

[Sillybilly]

Please use the Reply feature provided instead of tagging people. The Reply button is there for a reason.

Other members (and certainly Mods) have no clue what comment you are replying to, so comments like "@so-and-so that's amazing" or "@so-and-so where did you get that info?" are meaningless when they are dropped into the discussion with nothing to relate them to.

Thank you.

 

[Sillybilly]

Are True Crime Society blogposts allowed here? There is a very helpful, thorough timeline for MH.

Thanks for asking MichelleBlue.

Blogs are generally not allowed unless approved by Tricia. It may appear to be a good timeline but we don't know how accurate it is and if all the info is sourced/substantiated via MSM or LE.

WSers can develop their own timeline or stick to one that may be available on MSM or another WS approved site (i.e. Heavy or Crimeonline)

 

[branmuffin]

Has anyone ever seen a photo of MH without his hat or toque?
Narkj, have any of your sources who have interacted with MH ever provided details about that?

 

[Gardener1850]

Forgive me for bringing this up, but pretty much all of the photos (except one or two) show MH in the same clothing. And from the description, it appears he was found wearing the same clothes as well. Over a period of a year, how was he bathing and washing his clothes? Wouldn't he have been carrying quite an odor to be wearing the same tshirt and shorts for so long?

He was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Many AT hikers do not carry a change of clothes due to the extra weight that would add-- they wash their only set when they stop at hiker hostels along the way. Hostels usually have loaner clothing for hikers to wear while their hiking clothes are being washed.

 

[MichelleBlue]

He was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Many AT hikers do not carry a change of clothes due to the extra weight that would add-- they wash their only set when they stop at hiker hostels along the way. Hostels usually have loaner clothing for hikers to wear while their hiking clothes are being washed.

Thanks for explaining!

 

[Victoria Chambers]

Ok. I sent it in to the CCSO

Just a hunch, but I still think this is our guy! You heard nothing back yet? X