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

[Gardener1850]

I'm working on a spreadsheet that captures the following regarding statements made about MH:

• User ID/Initials
• Source (e.g., Blog, podcast, Instagram, reddit, Facebook, etc.)
• Comment
• Comment Date
• Parent Comment/Thread (if applicable)
• Interaction Date
• Interaction Location
• Associated Photos

When I've finished compiling this information and anything additional I can find, largely using the timeline by @Gardener1850 , I'm planning on quantifying the "facts". For example:

• Worked in tech/IT: # source(s)
• Had a sister in Sarasota/Ft. Myers: # source(s)
• Born in Baton Rouge: # source(s)
• Etc.

Once I have a rough working copy of the spreadsheet, I'd like to plot a mapped timeline with corresponding photos.

This is a very ambitious work you are taking on! Before you get too far into it, may I suggest you send a private message to a moderator asking for guidance on the board rules? I would hate for you to do all that work and then find out something was not allowed to be posted here. For example, as a general rule we are not supposed to mention reddit here. And we are not supposed to discuss facebook comments. But if something from reddit or a facebook comment gets reported by a mainstream news source or on the Collier County Sheriff's Office official posts (or their official podcast), then we can discuss it. At least that is my understanding (I'm not a mod). This is an unusual case in that a lot of what we know about the deceased came from people on social media who claim to have met him. Many of those comments later got reported in the news or by the sheriff's office. Then the lines started to blur on what we were allowed to discuss here-- IMOO.

But I'm not a mod, so please don't take this as my discouraging you from making a spreadsheet. It would be really helpful to know exactly where a piece of info came from with a quick glance. I think there is a way to do it without violating the rules. I just don't want you to go through the trouble of creating it and then get upset if the mods decide to take it down. The mods here are usually super friendly and will help you, just please ask before posting.

I think Moderator @sillybilly has posted on this thread before and would be an excellent one to message with questions. @Tricia is the board owner and she has the final say on what is allowed.

MOO.

 

[EllieGato]

I'm not questioning the photographer's accuracy. But a New Englander would only need a jacket during the day, if that, and I wouldn't expect somebody who had been hiking in the southern Appalachians through November and December to feel that cold even if temps were in the 40's that day.

Things I can think of:

it's the only coat he had with him so even if it was warmer than he needed, that's what he put on.

he's ill and felt cold all the time--he kind of looks ill in that photo, like it's taking all his energy just to smile.

he's from a warmer climate and feels cold at temps I would consider fairly warm

Or most likely some combination of the three.

It's probably not significant. It just struck me as odd.

As for the distance, yeah, kind of a long drive, but if my brother called me from 500 miles away and said he needed a place to stay for a couple of weeks while he recovered from the flu/a bout of giardisia/whatever, I'd go get him, and then take him back to his trail. I'd probably complain loudly, but I'd do it.

Checking Crestview Florida weather:
January 2nd, 5th, 18th, 19th The lows for these days were below 20*F.
January 17th the low was 21*F and the high for that day was 34*F

The jacket would be needed these days.
Weather in January 2018 in Crestview, Florida, USA

MOO

 

[EllieGato]

All of the comments have been removed from the WhiteBlaze Forum.

That is where I found some of the original comments. A few were cross posted to fb. I am afraid the other comments there are lost.

 

[amytothekate]

Thanks so much for the warning, @Gardener1850 ! I certainly appreciate it, and you would have to try a lot harder to make me feel that you are attempting to discourage me.

I certainly do not want to violate any WS rules, so before I post anything pertaining to those findings, I will reach out to a Mod.

All of the comments have been removed from the WhiteBlaze Forum.

That is where I found some of the original comments. A few were cross posted to fb. I am afraid the other comments there are lost.

What a shame!

 

[Gardener1850]

I'm not questioning the photographer's accuracy. But a New Englander would only need a jacket during the day, if that, and I wouldn't expect somebody who had been hiking in the southern Appalachians through November and December to feel that cold even if temps were in the 40's that day.

Things I can think of:

it's the only coat he had with him so even if it was warmer than he needed, that's what he put on.

he's ill and felt cold all the time--he kind of looks ill in that photo, like it's taking all his energy just to smile.

he's from a warmer climate and feels cold at temps I would consider fairly warm

Or most likely some combination of the three.

It's probably not significant. It just struck me as odd.

As for the distance, yeah, kind of a long drive, but if my brother called me from 500 miles away and said he needed a place to stay for a couple of weeks while he recovered from the flu/a bout of giardisia/whatever, I'd go get him, and then take him back to his trail. I'd probably complain loudly, but I'd do it.

I get what you are saying about the coat--I'm from the snowy Midwest and living in the South for over a decade I still I wear short sleeves at times when locals are cold and staying bundled up. But I have also been really cold in Florida in January before. The cold in Florida is different feeling than the cold of the Northeast or the Midwestern winters--especially at night. Maybe the fact that he had his coat on is an indication that is was early morning or one of those days in the 20's? As another poster said up above, that winter was especially cold for the Southeast. IIRC, even parts of Florida saw snow that year.

As far as looking ill, I don't really read to much into his smile not being big. He is smiling for a stranger who gave him a bag of goodies and then after finding out a little bit about how far he had hiked asked him to pose with her "Thru Hike" sticker as a sort of advertisement for her webpage/hiking group. This is not someone he knows and it seems he was guarded about sharing personal info with even people he spent weeks with. He was also not very enthusiastic to have his photo taken for the Georgia hiking store on the AT where he got the maps of the Pinhoti trail. It may be that he was in hiding or simply a private person and perhaps wasn't too keen on being put on the internet. What an irony it is that the very thing he avoided for the last year of his life (social media/facebook) has become the place where he is being discussed and his pictures passed around. I hope he doesn't mind it since most everyone's intentions are good.

I hope he gets identified soon.

MOO.

 

[EllieGato]

Comments from White Blaze that have disappeared (from notes)

-Burner phone and trail Angels made calls
-Had been living with friends in New Jersey, then was camping at a park near NY/NJ and commuting to work for a while.
-Friends put his stuff in storage
-Was kicked out of a campground in NY after being there over 2 weeks.

To name a few.

I'll try reaching out to an admin there. Maybe they archived them.

 

[carbuff]

Yeah, if that's what the weather was like then maybe there isn't anything odd about the coat. I've been in Florida in January a number of times and though we had one below-freezing night, overall it wasn't anything like what those temperature records show. That must have done a heck of a lot of damage to the local agriculture.

 

[Gardener1850]

@EllieGato
I don't think I ever read any of those comments elsewhere (with the exception of the hiking in Bear Mountain park for 2 weeks-- but it was never the story that he was "kicked out" when posted elsewhere-- just that he hiked 2 weeks in the park before deciding to take on the AT). Perhaps they were removed because someone turned out to be posting false info or exaggerating their claims? Unfortunately, once a case gets big, people come out of the woodwork on social media and forums and some make up info for attention. With someone like Denim/Mostly Harmless it is easy for anyone on the internet to claim they met him. It's also possible someone was mistaken and later realized they met someone else.

MOO.

 

[EllieGato]

I agree. I think there are a number of "sightings" that were attributed to the wrong person. I also felt some of the comments didnt really carry any weight. While I did take some notes on them, I was reluctant to post them here but remember others mentioning the comments, maybe here, maybe different sites.

 

[Tssiemer]

I wonder if Facebook’s facial recognition could be used to find photos of MH that may not have been publicly posted yet and which may provide further clues as to his identity. I’m not sure what the precedent is for it, but this seems an unusual case since it has an unidentified deceased person in that there are so many fairly recent pictures of him alive.

Piggy backing that I reverse image searched some pics and only those posted by people who had met him and reported it came up. Womp womp.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Believe it was in January 2018 the south had an unusual record breaking deep freeze that lasted several days. I want to say their was a few single days of hard freezes that occurred in March as well. If anyone visited the gulf coast last summer and noticed a lot of nub palm tree's they were down due the hard freezes in the early part of the year.. it was severe We had to replace nearly every floral and fruit tree we had along with various plants it was a nasty hard freeze.

Y'all are doing a great job in this thread .. it's a solvable case his photo needs to reach the right person. No doubt he had family and friends that will recognize him.

 

[SugarQueen]

This article has quotes from the last known person to see MH alive. It’s the same person that offered to mail his winter coat home. I think someone was looking for it yesterday?
Mysterious Hiker Found Dead On Florida Trail May Be From Brooklyn

 

[SugarQueen]

Ya’ know, this is the first UID case I’ve really followed closely. It’s intriguing and incredibly frustrating at the same time.

 

[amytothekate]

Ya’ know, this is the first UID case I’ve really followed closely. It’s intriguing and incredibly frustrating at the same time.

It really is so frustrating to have so many quality photos of this man, documented encounters, and some great engagement thanks to the media and SM, and yet.. still no ID. I think one of the trail angels who was on the podcast and has clearly been instrumental thus far, KF, may have hit the nail on the head when she mentioned that the hiking community may be tapped out, and the break will come from someone outside of that community recognizing this man. Which completely aligns with him having been new to hiking.

I asked on Collier County Sheriff's FB page (on the last update they made, which was regarding the podcast) if they would be able to share the programming language from his notebooks, but have not gotten a response.

An updated flyer that includes current information and the more reliable tips (e.g., multiple hikers report him saying he worked in IT in NYC, etc.), as well as more of the actual photos (there's such a great array of fully bearded to nearly clean-shaven) would be tremendously helpful to be able to share.

Lastly, my spreadsheet endeavor has logged over 40 tips with 19 locations. I've plotted those locations on a custom map with the AT overlaid, but I'm double-checking my information on it and seeing if I can find a mainstream media source for each entry before sending it to a Mod for review (to see if it would be okay to share the map here).

 

[SugarQueen]

@amytothekate .... since you are currently working on it and I am feeling a bit lazy..... when and where is the first time we know another hiker had contact with denim/ MH??

 

[amytothekate]

@SugarQueen Appears to be when two hikers met him in Unionville, NY in June 2017.

 

[SugarQueen]

@SugarQueen Appears to be when two hikers met him in Unionville, NY in June 2017.

That’s what I thought but wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing anything. Thanks.
So, we have him hiking at Bear Mtn in April or May, then Unionville in June. I’m going to guess he hiked from the Bear Mtn area to the Unionville area.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

This article has quotes from the last known person to see MH alive. It’s the same person that offered to mail his winter coat home. I think someone was looking for it yesterday?
Mysterious Hiker Found Dead On Florida Trail May Be From Brooklyn

Okay since my post got removed and @amytothekate is looking for info from hikers who have encountered MH. There is a trail angel with the initials KF who has posted about MH on Facebook. She was quoted in the above article. If you click on the " shares" on Facebook posts you can see all of the other people who have shared it and what their posts say. Hopefully the mods keep this post up as Facebook is a valuable source for first-hand accounts in this case

 

[MaryFromFla]

I have been searching, My local (Polk County Fl) Sheriffs office posted a trail cam video some time back. It was a short video clip of a man walking in the forest..The man looked like MH...I can not find the video. They (LE) were also trying to identify whom was in the video...I believe they were sharing for a Neighboring county, but not sure...

 

[Gardener1850]

That’s what I thought but wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing anything. Thanks.
So, we have him hiking at Bear Mtn in April or May, then Unionville in June. I’m going to guess he hiked from the Bear Mtn area to the Unionville area.

I think so too. If anyone is close to Bear Mtn State Park I think it would be worth while to get some flyers posted there. If he really was in the park for 2 weeks in the summer of 2017 then someone must have interacted with him. Now we know that he did not have his yellow Brooks Range tent yet. Did he have a different tent? Did he sleep outside without a tent? Are there cabin rentals or rustic shelters in Bear Mountain Park? Maybe he rented a campsite there for two weeks? IF he stayed in the park for two weeks where did he get food and supplies? I can't imagine he stayed there for 2 weeks without being seen by a park ranger or other campers/hikers. MOO.