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

[moodleman]

I’ve always wondered about diabetes. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a year ago and didn’t realize how much weight I had lost despite consuming 3000+ calories per day. I went from 6’0 170 pounds to 146 pounds at the time of diagnosis. I was scary thin, and I really didn’t think anything was wrong. I noticed my pants didn’t didn’t quite fit right, so (funny enough), I started supplementing my diet with Cliff Bars (which in hind sight was a horrible decision due to its high carb count.) I was consuming 2000 calories a day in Cliff Bars and the weight kept tumbling.

Point being, if MH developed late onset diabetes, he could’ve been devouring cliff bars and still losing weight. Late onset can happen to anyone who has the genetic predisposition to it. I caught a virus a couple months prior to diagnosis which is what probably triggered this gene to attack my insulin producing cells.

I can’t imagine how scary that must’ve been for MH if that’s what happened. Prior to diagnoses, I was tired, groggy, and couldn’t think straight and I had no idea something was wrong.

Maybe a medical expert could chime in if signs of diabetes is visible in an autopsy.

 

[moodleman]

deleted

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Via Postmortem diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and its complications Postmortem diagnosis of diabetes mellitus and its complications:

"The identification of acute complications of diabetes mellitus as causes of death may be extremely challenging in forensic pathology routine due to the absence of specific signs at autopsy and histology. It has been repeatedly emphasized that biochemical analyses, especially vitreous glucose determination, should systematically complement postmortem investigations in all unexplained deaths. What has been shown in recent years is that biochemical analyses can be performed after death even in corpses with advanced decompositional changes, using alternative specimens. Results obtained from these analyses can still provide useful data for determining the cause of death."

So it seems unlikely that they would find it if they weren't looking for it.

 

[gfinale]

Yes I know this. That does not mean that was his only map. That is just what he showed her.

Well, he could have been concealing a smartphone with the best hiking apps but I tend to believe he had what he showed. That he got the trail drawn on the generic Florida map probably means that's all he had and what he used.

 

[gfinale]

I don't think he was homeless. At least not in the sense he had no income source or home for years on end. He said he lived in the park in New York State for a couple of weeks before he decided to do the AT through-hike.

Was that because he was jaded and quit his job, sold
his belongings to focus on an idea he'd been toying with for months? Or was he living in the park because he lost his job and subsequently lost his condo or apartment and was mulling over plans for the future for a couple of weeks. He had money, obviously, so he chose to camp in a park rather than stay in a modest hotel. It may have been he was testing his mettle, to see whether his plan of hiking to create a realistic aspect for his proposed video game was viable.

The second scenario of losing his job could mean there's a bank that foreclosed on a condo if he didn't own it outright or a landlord that had to evict a tenant.

Based on all the impressions people have given of MH is that he was a grounded individual, not given to flights of fancy, intelligent and funny, no axe to grind with a former employer, girlfriend or family, other than stating he was estranged from family which sounded like choice to me.

I'd agree that he probably didn't have a home by the time he seemed to have said he was living in the park. If I go camping, I don't tell people I lived in the campground because I have a home. He was therefore homeless. If they have facilities, he can brush his teeth like he did at home though. All he needs is toothbrush, toothpaste and water. I have not heard that he was found with those btw. Somewhere I read that he told one or more people that his friends stored his belongings. To me, that sounds like what a homeless person says about what happened to their things at some point in the past. He could have been uncomfortable accepting his situation or wanted to make it sound better to whoever he was telling. Maybe his friends did store his stuff but 2 years later they're still storing it without wondering about him!

 

[wardo27]

I’ve always wondered about diabetes. I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a year ago and didn’t realize how much weight I had lost despite consuming 3000+ calories per day. I went from 6’0 170 pounds to 146 pounds at the time of diagnosis. I was scary thin, and I really didn’t think anything was wrong. I noticed my pants didn’t didn’t quite fit right, so (funny enough), I started supplementing my diet with Cliff Bars (which in hind sight was a horrible decision due to its high carb count.) I was consuming 2000 calories a day in Cliff Bars and the weight kept tumbling.

Point being, if MH developed late onset diabetes, he could’ve been devouring cliff bars and still losing weight. Late onset can happen to anyone who has the genetic predisposition to it. I caught a virus a couple months prior to diagnosis which is what probably triggered this gene to attack my insulin producing cells.

I can’t imagine how scary that must’ve been for MH if that’s what happened. Prior to diagnoses, I was tired, groggy, and couldn’t think straight and I had no idea something was wrong.

Maybe a medical expert could chime in if signs of diabetes is visible in an autopsy.

I'm also a late-onset T1D case, and had a similar experience when I was diagnosed. However, as we both know, the changes to your body take time. They don't happen overnight - you do FEEL crappy and ketoacidosis really starts to kick in. And once the weight loss is apparent, and you notice it, you are still able to function. It would be a slow, painful death if, say, you were stranded down at the bottom of a ravine with no chance to reach out to civilization. But...if he were T1D this still would mean, to me, that he had time to deal with it, to reach out for help, to do something - but chose to do nothing about this situation.

 

[moodleman]

I'm also a late-onset T1D case, and had a similar experience when I was diagnosed. However, as we both know, the changes to your body take time. They don't happen overnight - you do FEEL crappy and ketoacidosis really starts to kick in. And once the weight loss is apparent, and you notice it, you are still able to function. It would be a slow, painful death if, say, you were stranded down at the bottom of a ravine with no chance to reach out to civilization. But...if he were T1D this still would mean, to me, that he had time to deal with it, to reach out for help, to do something - but chose to do nothing about this situation.

You raise some good points, it is definitely a gradual progression of weight loss and it doesn’t happen overnight. However I think you might be able to see the beginning of this decline in some of his last photos where he begins to look even more skinny. In the beginning of onset, it really wouldn’t have bothered him that much. He would’ve felt tired, he would’ve felt thirsty, but as long as he kept drinking fluids, his body would expel the excess glucose and he would gradually self consume fat/muscle for fuel. He could’ve kept this going for a while. But I think he might’ve gotten into trouble and not realized it until too late.

From what I understand, he turned down help and assistance (in the form of facilities usage and access to cell phones/GPS) several times during his trek. He seemed to be overly self reliant and I’m not sure he would’ve immediately thought to seek help. I speculate that once he felt the prominent effects of hyperglycemia and, not knowing the severity of what is going on, he decided to just camp in Big Cyprus for a few days/weeks to take some time off and recuperate. But unfortunately this isn’t something you can just rest and recuperate from. By the time he really realized he was in deep trouble, he might not have had the energy to hike for help.

I think it’s plausible, and the above reference to post mortem in diabetics gives the theory some weight. (No pun intended)

 

[branmuffin]

I'd agree that he probably didn't have a home by the time he seemed to have said he was living in the park. If I go camping, I don't tell people I lived in the campground because I have a home. He was therefore homeless. If they have facilities, he can brush his teeth like he did at home though. All he needs is toothbrush, toothpaste and water. I have not heard that he was found with those btw. Somewhere I read that he told one or more people that his friends stored his belongings. To me, that sounds like what a homeless person says about what happened to their things at some point in the past. He could have been uncomfortable accepting his situation or wanted to make it sound better to whoever he was telling. Maybe his friends did store his stuff but 2 years later they're still storing it

Well, just saying it's a very long stretch with no sightings of him whereas everywhere else there are sightings until the last 2-3 months. Could have gone off trail, sister or not.

I dont think it's a stretch at all. Most of your thoughts regarding MH's travel plans are based on information given to LE by other hikers. You are only accepting certain narratives because of when they contacted LE. For some reason you've chosen to disregard one account of him visiting his sister. Based on how far he traveled and the lack of supporting verification for each leg how can you accept all legs of his journey without verification yet have a stumbling block with the one person who says he visited a sister?

As for the information regarding storing his belongings you may be mixing it up with trail angel that offered to mail his belongings back home which he declined.

 

[wardo27]

You raise some good points, it is definitely a gradual progression of weight loss and it doesn’t happen overnight. However I think you might be able to see the beginning of this decline in some of his last photos where he begins to look even more skinny. In the beginning of onset, it really wouldn’t have bothered him that much. He would’ve felt tired, he would’ve felt thirsty, but as long as he kept drinking fluids, his body would expel the excess glucose and he would gradually self consume fat/muscle for fuel. He could’ve kept this going for a while. But I think he might’ve gotten into trouble and not realized it until too late.

From what I understand, he turned down help and assistance (in the form of facilities usage and access to cell phones/GPS) several times during his trek. He seemed to be overly self reliant and I’m not sure he would’ve immediately thought to seek help. I speculate that once he felt the prominent effects of hyperglycemia and, not knowing the severity of what is going on, he decided to just camp in Big Cyprus for a few days/weeks to take some time off and recuperate. But unfortunately this isn’t something you can just rest and recuperate from. By the time he really realized he was in deep trouble, he might not have had the energy to hike for help.

I think it’s plausible, and the above reference to post mortem in diabetics gives the theory some weight. (No pun intended)

Yeah....it's absolutely possible, but I think, for one, long-distance hikers naturally lose lots of weight on the trek and other hikers here have attested to that. I actually think he looks pretty good in his last photo, considering how long he'd been hiking. He could have lost 40 pounds, easy, hiking from NY to FL. But if he was suffering from hyperglycemia, it also means that he did not reach out for help for 2-3 months as his weight. He had a water supply, he had food supply of some kind, rationed or not. If he was eating or drinking, he could have reached out to someone, as people do hike that trail regularly. 83 pounds is skeletal. No way you could ignore it. That said, if it did turn out to be T1D, I'd be weirdly glad that at least something was "knowable" here. It was certainly one of the first things that crossed my mind, for obvious reasons.

 

[branmuffin]

There is a lot of study on organ size out there. All of his organs, and I mean all of them, were small. Roughly 50% of regular size. You can look at the weight in grams of each organ on the autopsy. If only one were small, let's say a small kidney that was diseased, that would be an indication of why a particular organ was small. But when they are all half sized you have to consider the malnutrition as the cause. And remember the ME found no obvious diseases during the internal exam.

Yeah I am 5'10" 215. I work out 3x per week. Getting a little belly but not too bad for my age. If I lived somewhere else I would start running but it's too hot down here.

Where does it state all his organs were half normal size?

 

[GatorFL]

Where does it state all his organs were half normal size?

I did the math from the autopsy report.

 

[branmuffin]

Yeah....it's absolutely possible, but I think, for one, long-distance hikers naturally lose lots of weight on the trek and other hikers here have attested to that. I actually think he looks pretty good in his last photo, considering how long he'd been hiking. He could have lost 40 pounds, easy, hiking from NY to FL. But if he was suffering from hyperglycemia, it also means that he did not reach out for help for 2-3 months as his weight. He had a water supply, he had food supply of some kind, rationed or not. If he was eating or drinking, he could have reached out to someone, as people do hike that trail regularly. 83 pounds is skeletal. No way you could ignore it. That said, if it did turn out to be T1D, I'd be weirdly glad that at least something was "knowable" here. It was certainly one of the first things that crossed my mind, for obvious reasons.

His body is still in the morgue. I wonder if its possible to do another PM?

 

[branmuffin]

I did the math from the autopsy report.

Using what as your baseline?

 

[GatorFL]

Using what as your baseline?

Not the Zambian table that you posted. They're too small (Zambians) the mean weight was 128#. MH is a US male, he looked to be about 5'8" 150# in the Pennsylvania church basement picture. I used a different table, see source below. Every organ was about 50% of expected size based on what I used.

This may have a paywall/firewall for some people:

2001 Jun 15;119(2):149-54. doi: 10.1016/s0379-0738(00)00401-1.
Organ weight in 684 adult autopsies: new tables for a Caucasoid population
G L de la Grandmaison 1, I Clairand, M Durigon
Affiliations

• PMID: 11376980
  
• DOI: 10.1016/s0379-0738(00)00401-1

 

[GatorFL]

His body is still in the morgue. I wonder if its possible to do another PM?

It would be a simple blood test to see if he had diabetes.

 

[annemc2]

It would be a simple blood test to see if he had diabetes.

I looked at that article awhile back and seem to recall that it would have been very difficult to detect in remains as decayed/dessicated as his were. Bummer that "in the realm of forensic pathology, postmortem blood glucose concentration is unreliable and of no diagnostic value in estimating antemortem blood glucose levels due to substantial fluctuations in glucose concentrations after death." From what I recall (it's been awhile since I read the entire thing) it is possible to diagnose in those who are recently deceased but the chances plummet when remains are already decomposing.

Thanks for those who shared their experiences with developing T1D as an adult. Very interesting perspective.

 

[GatorFL]

I looked at that article awhile back and seem to recall that it would have been very difficult to detect in remains as decayed/dessicated as his were. Bummer that "in the realm of forensic pathology, postmortem blood glucose concentration is unreliable and of no diagnostic value in estimating antemortem blood glucose levels due to substantial fluctuations in glucose concentrations after death." From what I recall (it's been awhile since I read the entire thing) it is possible to diagnose in those who are recently deceased but the chances plummet when remains are already decomposing.

Thanks for those who shared their experiences with developing T1D as an adult. Very interesting perspective.

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

 

[GatorFL]

So what about what the detective on the case said from a prior post of yours. His giving an alias doesn't necessarily mean he was deliberately trying to hide his identity. Right now in Ontario, if you go to a restaurant they want to record your phone number for contact tracing. I know for a fact that some people have given fake names and numbers to some 19 year old server who isn't going to question the veracity of their answer. It's not illegal but isn't exactly community minded either.

Edit to add: @gfinale has admitted to giving bogus names in certain circumstances but it doesn't mean his reason was nefarious.

I just saw this one.

Here's the deal. If you're on a trail or in a campground without the proper tag/paperwork, and you're trying to be anonymous, you're risking being outed. Why? If the ranger discovers you don't have the proper documentation then you're in trouble. You're at least getting a ticket/summons and a fine. Somehow, it did not happen to MH. But if this had happened, we would know his name now.

 

[EricaJ4u2]

CCSO has just confirmed there is no solve in this case as of now.

 

[moonriverfarm]

Agree. I was sent what is supposedly a high school pic of MH which they feel is a match, but I do not see it.