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

[MadMcGoo]

His nose looks different in this video than it does in the face-on photos. Very distinctive.

Agreed! His profile is different...

That just reminded me, I was going over some of the old Facebook posts and other places where he’s been discussed and I noticed a comment that was unusual. I’ll have to go back and find it, but under one of his photos (IIRC it was the one initially released, the artists’ rendering) someone wrote “he sure did like his button up shirts”, something to that effect. And if you notice in that photo the Sheriffs Office released in the beginning, he is wearing a white button up shirt! I don’t know what to make of that... I’m going to see if I can find that comment

 

[carbuff]

Agreed! His profile is different...

That just reminded me, I was going over some of the old Facebook posts and other places where he’s been discussed and I noticed a comment that was unusual. I’ll have to go back and find it, but under one of his photos (IIRC it was the one initially released, the artists’ rendering) someone wrote “he sure did like his button up shirts”, something to that effect. And if you notice in that photo the Sheriffs Office released in the beginning, he is wearing a white button up shirt! I don’t know what to make of that... I’m going to see if I can find that comment

Possibly they just meant that it's unusual for a hiker to be wearing a button-down shirt. Though that is an odd comment.

 

[Laughing]

Agreed! His profile is different...

That just reminded me, I was going over some of the old Facebook posts and other places where he’s been discussed and I noticed a comment that was unusual. I’ll have to go back and find it, but under one of his photos (IIRC it was the one initially released, the artists’ rendering) someone wrote “he sure did like his button up shirts”, something to that effect. And if you notice in that photo the Sheriffs Office released in the beginning, he is wearing a white button up shirt! I don’t know what to make of that... I’m going to see if I can find that comment

Polo shirt and denim -- unusual attire for a thru-hiker, so where is this usual?

Okay, college campuses in the 1980's yep been there worn that you betcha:

Learn the Difference Between Business Casual and Business Attire

 

[carbuff]

Also very common for nearly anybody (all sexes) in the computer industry from the 1980s onward. Back in our working days, I wouldn't have recognized Mr. Carbuff if he had worn anything else

 

[Laughing]

Also very common for nearly anybody (all sexes) in the computer industry from the 1980s onward. Back in our working days, I wouldn't have recognized Mr. Carbuff if he had worn anything else

indeeeeeed

 

[Bit of hope]

Just a snapshot from the video posted above. It looks like he has a little overbite...and maybe even a small gap between his teeth in the back. Or am I the only one seeing that.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Just a snapshot from the video posted above. It looks like he has a little overbite...and maybe even a small gap between his teeth in the back. Or am I the only one seeing that.

View attachment 219588

Perfect capture! That’s what I was referring to upthread when I mentioned him chewing tobacco... I couldn’t describe the “lip bulge”, but you captured it!

 

[Mouth]

Brendan Ryder Gill

 

[PatLaurel]

The video was captured by another hiker’s GoPro camera... Collier County Sheriff’s Office released it on their Facebook page -

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=245369582985667

Where and when was this video taken? BB is already a lot thinner in this video... and there's another photo of him where he looks very ill. I wonder if taken around same time? Or close to the day his body was found?

Edit: grammar

 

[Bit of hope]

Brendan Ryder Gill

Unless he plugged his eyebrows during the trail I don't think it's him. JMO

 

[Bit of hope]

Unless he plugged his eyebrows during the trail I don't think it's him. JMO

BTW @Mouth Don't get me wrong. I appreciate your posts.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

Perfect capture! That’s what I was referring to upthread when I mentioned him chewing tobacco... I couldn’t describe the “lip bulge”, but you captured it!

Someone in the FB comments mentioned he could be chewing and spitting out seeds. I do think this is more plausible given his perfect teeth.

 

[Bit of hope]

Someone in the FB comments mentioned he could be chewing and spitting out seeds. I do think this is more plausible given his perfect teeth.

Could be....the country I know eating seeds (sunflower) is Turkey.....but there are probably people who have seen more....I think shewing tobacco would have stained his teeth and yellowed his beard.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

Could be....the country I know eating seeds (sunflower) is Turkey.....but there are probably people who have seen more....I think shewing tobacco would have stained his teeth and yellowed his beard.

Sunflower seeds are a very popular snack here in the US. We had to ban them from my office because my coworkers were spitting into cups all day

 

[Bit of hope]

Sunflower seeds are a very popular snack here in the US. We had to ban them from my office because my coworkers were spitting into cups all day

Hahahaha...oké! I like sunflower and other seeds...but no way this would be allowed at my work and we kind of free....in Dutch we would say "Gatver"....people spitting all day in cups....

 

[Gardener1850]

Where and when was this video taken? BB is already a lot thinner in this video... and there's another photo of him where he looks very ill. I wonder if taken around same time? Or close to the day his body was found?

Edit: grammar

The GoPro video was taken in early Dec 2017 on Springer Mountain, in Georgia. It is close to the end of his hike on the Appalachian Trail but many months before his death. He was very skinny in all of his photos IMO.

ETA: this photo was taken within days of the Go Pro video:

https://nypost.com/2018/08/14/cops-struggling-to-identify-dead-hiker-with-perfect-teeth/

The puffy coat and beard and no other person in the photo make him look bigger than he was IMO.

 

[CCJD]

Brendan Ryder Gill

Links:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Ramsey County Sheriff's Office Warrant Details

 

[K9Enzo]

Someone in the FB comments mentioned he could be chewing and spitting out seeds. I do think this is more plausible given his perfect teeth.

Agreed. My guess would be sunflower seeds, as an example. Common with some hikers, it gives you something to focus on when your feet are screaming

 

[Gardener1850]

The photo of him holding maps up (center photo below) which is one of the most circulated photos in MSM was taken at Mountain Crossings, a hiker store/hostel in GA, on Dec 2nd, 2017. The photo in the bottom row, center column where he has his treking poles out is on Springer Mountain on Dec 4th, 2017. It's basically the end of his hike on the AT. He was planning to hike the Pinhoti Trail in Georgia and Alabama and then on to the Florida Trail next. I believe that the GoPro video was taken some time between those two photos as it was labeled as being on or near Springer Mountain. MOO.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[carbuff]

What is the earliest confirmed date for when he's known to be on the AT? May 2017?