Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” July 2018 - Vance Rodriguez#4

[branmuffin]

Do we know if there has been any credible updates on the genetic genealogy? Something that can be shared here?

Nothing yet. It's just recently that they are doing that. Only DNA matching they've done are ones submitted from other LE agencies regarding missing persons. AFAIK

 

[gfinale]

View attachment 258254

Here is a picture, the camp itself is 100' off the trail. Mike said MH's tent would have been just to the left of the red marker. The other hikers were in the open area beyond that, somewhere.

I can't be sure but I think the 100' came from the hikers who discovered MH dead. Some of that 911 phone call was in the podcast I'll have to listen again.

I plan on hiking out there this Saturday, weather permitting.

If I have it straight, MH was tucked into the trees, probably for multiple day shade whereas they didn't care about shade because they were leaving in the morning so they were out in the open. By this map, it doesn't seem like they would have been very far apart. Looking forward to hearing how your trip out there goes!

 

[gfinale]

As far as I'm concerned, I'm more likely to believe the report from LE that the tent was 100 feet from the main trail. Those pics the two men took of their campsite was right out in the open. How did they know it was there considering the grass was waist high. His tent was under trees from what I can make out from images I have seen of the tent. If MH was closer to the open trail I think many more people would have seen his tent earlier when the grass wasn't so high.

I doubt there were any people except the ones on July 3 between sometime June and July 23. Nobody goes there at that time. As far as thru-hikers who would camp there, Kelly the trail angel was saying they only get about 43 of them a year to begin with. Maybe his tent was as close to the pond as possible on that trees edge and that's why they saw it. There could even be a path to the pond that was close to his tent.

 

[gfinale]

Deleted

 

[gfinale]

The 100 feet distance is from the police report. Those who came to the scene. The written report also says the UID was about 100 feet from Nobel camp site.

LE wasn't relying on heresay. They were there.

Wait a minute, 100 ft from Noble's or 100 ft from the main trail?! 100 ft from Noble's would be in the middle of the woods.

 

[gfinale]

It's about an hour and a half drive for me. It should be about a 4-5 hour hike. I'll try and document with pictures and will post them here so we can have better evidence of the campsite. It looks like a small ficus tree in the tent photos, that's not the most common plant in a campsite so I hope I can pinpoint where his tent was.

Maybe there are GPS coordinates available for where he was and where those two guys were.

 

[branmuffin]

Wait a minute, 100 ft from Noble's or 100 ft from the main trail?! 100 ft gtom Noble's would be in the middle of the woods.

I got the impression it was 100 feet from the main Noble camp. I was talking to someone who knows one of the hikers who called LE and they said it was very hot and terribly wet where he was.

I haven't seen anything like that mentioned on any reports but I do remember thinking his feet, especially one of them looked like it had been submerged in water, you know, like how your fingers get all shriveled up when you stay in the water too long.

 

[Curious1954]

Actually think you hit on something new!

Mom, sister, someone -- Emily B. or Emily Bea.

Sister, lover -- Ben (and B)Emily?

Glad the genetic genealogy is under way.

JMHO YMMV LRR

Actually think you hit on something new!

Mom, sister, someone -- Emily B. or Emily Bea.

Sister, lover -- Ben (and B)Emily?

Glad the genetic genealogy is under way.

JMHO YMMV LRR

My first post so please forgive the sloppiness. I've been thinking the anagram angle for awhile now but not bright enough to actually deconstruct/reconstruct the names. Good work.

 

[gfinale]

Here is another reason I don't believe he premeditated killing himself, at least not at that point. MH was nearing the end of the AT when he talked to Bob who sold him the tent. MH had heard there was a way to continue hiking trails to get to the FT. This means he thought it was cool to just be able to keep going on hiking instead of breaking and getting a ride somehow to the start of another trail, the FT many hours away. He expressed his desire to hike all the way to the Keys. This guy wanted to continuously hike from NY to the Keys. He didn't plan to finish at Noble's Camp and he sure doesn't seem like someone who gave up easy considering he hiked all the way from NY to there.

 

[branmuffin]

Maybe there are GPS coordinates available for where he was and where those two guys were.[/QUOTE'


I've seen GPS coordinates. I'll check to see where I found them.

 

[kenjak]

Hi, just popping in to add that the GPS coordinates are in the evidence photos. Whoever posted the google maps picture of Nobles is correct, it’s just to the left of the red marker in that picture.

 

[Blueberry2720]

While it may be that MH did have some health issues, I don't think he intended or expected to die when and where he did. I can't imagine someone seemingly as bright and educated as he was, would spend countless hours coding IT games and devising recipes for trail bars he wanted to produce, knowing he wouldn't survive his hiking journey. Additionally, he kept his notebooks in plastic bags, such as Ziplocs, to keep them clean, dry, and from getting banged up. They were clearly an integral part of him that he cherished, guarded, and cared for. Why would he go to such lengths to write the codes and protect the notebooks if he knew he would die and the games and recipes would never come to fruition?
JMO

 

[scandinavian girl]

I can see that Bilemy just came up again, I have been waiting for that so, the other night I was saying bilemy very fast and it sounds like blame me....just a thought

 

[GatorFL]

I doubt there were any people except the ones on July 3 between sometime June and July 23. Nobody goes there at that time. As far as thru-hikers who would camp there, Kelly the trail angel was saying they only get about 43 of them a year to begin with. Maybe his tent was as close to the pond as possible on that trees edge and that's why they saw it. There could even be a path to the pond that was close to his tent.

A thru hiker is one that is doing the entire trail, the FT from beginning to end. Not too many of those. But hundreds who section hike, all the time. I am a FTA member and pre COVID our groups had 25+ people hikes almost constantly. They recently reopened and now our group size is limited to 10 people. These hikes can be anything from a 2 or 3 mile stroll through a park to a multi-day hike through a section of the FT with overnights and supply drops.

 

[GatorFL]

One thing I realized after reading accounts of other hikers, is that some seasoned hikers, Chris Fowler included, leave the trail for awhile, stay with friends or just chill in an area that interests them then pick up the trail after hitching a ride to pick it up again. It's not as if it's the Boston marathon where taking the subway or having someone drop you two miles from the finish line disqualifies you.

I would say all thru hikers leave the trail. It's called taking a zero. You leave the trail, hit a town and resupply, take a shower, do laundry, maybe a haircut and stay in a hotel, hostel or even AirB&B.

My friend who did the AT arranged a resupply at a hotel in Georgia, he ended up staying a couple of days because the lodge was nice and he could Uber into town.

 

[gfinale]

My first post so please forgive the sloppiness. I've been thinking the anagram angle for awhile now but not bright enough to actually deconstruct/reconstruct the names. Good work.

Yes, I've kept note of the emily thing too since I read it. MH was probably in IT and he would have had more experience with passwords than most people, as I do. One of the techniques is scrambling the letter of a "word" so it isn't easily recognized from your life or brute force (try dictionary against it for match). Using words that aren't in typical dictionaries is better too, such as a name or trade word. At the same time, we must remember all these passwords way beyond most people so they usually mean something to us. This could be what he's doing with Ben Bilemy. Also, lots of people will use their real first name so they act accordingly if people use it but they change the last name. If he's Ben but he put John Bilemy and someone calls out John, he doesn't look. Since there is very little you can make from those letters and due to having experience with password stuff, I think the chances are even higher that emily is within it, especially when he mentions his sister and ex-girlfriend.

 

[gfinale]

A thru hiker is one that is doing the entire trail, the FT from beginning to end. Not too many of those. But hundreds who section hike, all the time. I am a FTA member and pre COVID our groups had 25+ people hikes almost constantly. They recently reopened and now our group size is limited to 10 people. These hikes can be anything from a 2 or 3 mile stroll through a park to a multi-day hike through a section of the FT with overnights and supply drops.

Oh, OK, you seem to be saying there would have been more traffic at Noble's Camp than I'm thinking, even thought it was June and July.

 

[branmuffin]

I would say all thru hikers leave the trail. It's called taking a zero. You leave the trail, hit a town and resupply, take a shower, do laundry, maybe a haircut and stay in a hotel, hostel or even AirB&B.

My friend who did the AT arranged a resupply at a hotel in Georgia, he ended up staying a couple of days because the lodge was nice and he could Uber into town.

Are you still a through hiker if you miss parts of the trail?

 

[GatorFL]

Are you still a through hiker if you miss parts of the trail?

No, a thru hiker does it all. Otherwise you're a day hiker or section hiker.

Not a lot of people are thru hikers. You need a lot of time, even for a short trail like the Pinhoti or Benton McKaye. You need weeks away from all responsibilities.

Regarding MH, I've never heard of a thru hiker that did not have help. A family member shipping food or different gear out to hiker friendly locations. We know he made his way by the 88 Store, this is an example of a hiker friendly business. You can ship a care package to the 88 and they will hold it for you. They also offer a restaurant, supplies, parking and have a campground and showers. He seemed to be pretty unique in that he apparently did not have outside help. Otherwise someone would be looking for him.

 

[Bellaplutt]

Do we know if there has been any credible updates on the genetic genealogy? Something that can be shared here?

I read that it would take 12 weeks to get results from the DNA testing, so it might be another 10-ish weeks or so