The mystery of the hiker known only by his trail name, "Mostly Harmless," has finally been solved - and he's connected to Lafayette. Eventually, the two became roommates in Baton Rouge, though Rodriguez also moved in and out with girlfriends. Google Maps Sept 2017 Hiker (Obsidian) took a photo of him reading the logbook in the Mountain Home Hostel in Front Royal, Virginia. It has a photo at the top. The case of "Mostly Harmless" is fascinating in that it involves a combination of crowdfunding, internet sleuthing, and cutting-edge genomics. Feb 3, 2021. His last official residence had been in New York, but he arrived there from Louisiana, still working remotely for a company in Baton Rouge. and last updated 6:54 PM, Jan 13, 2021. I believe these are the UK covers, and I expect the USA versions will be different, as they usually are. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. The latest in my series of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy illustrations for Picture Book Report. The photos show his gear, too: His clothes and boots, his odd habit of keeping the rain cover over his pack at all times. I thought I would feed the Chickadees and get a couple of good shots. Find Mostly Harmless (Hiker) stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. At least, I dont want to believe that. Rodriguez was born in 1976 and was an IT worker in New York with roots in Louisiana. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; The last known photo of Mostly Harmless was taken on April 15, 2018, less than ten miles from the swamp where he wasted away, alone, and where his body was found more than three months later. He is described as being between 35 and 50 years old, 5-foot-8 and a very lean 83 pounds, with salt and pepper hair and beard. Mark Williamson said via e-mail. The Collier County Sheriff's Office reached out to the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office, and Lafayette deputies made contact with Rodriguez's family, who provided a DNA sample to Othram. * Anything that, in happening, causes something else to happen, causes something else to happen. the hiker is identified asVance Rodriguez. Thread starter Gardener1850; Start date Aug 3, 2018; . In . On July 23, 2018, two day-hikers from Fort Lauderdale found his yellow two-person tent in Nobles Camp, among the saw palmettos and alligators in Big Cypress National Preserve about one hundred miles west of Miami. Today, the Collier County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) revealed that Mostly Harmless was a man by the name of Vance Rodriguez, an IT worker in New York with roots in Louisiana. But two years after he died in his tent, no one knows who this mystery man was. . By all accounts, the man was reserved. Carried over from the last thread, and I forgot who I am quoting. How does Jonathan Majors get cancelled for something that hasn't been proven but Ezra Miller is still walking around with a career? Theres no evidence of an infectious process, no evidence of anything at all, Wecht told me. Summary. She was a black woman in her late sixties, he a white man she pegged to be about forty. He told a hiker in Florida that hed skipped the Alabama Roadwalk section of the trail, choosing to ride to the beginning of the Florida Trail in Pensacola with some girls. He told this man, like many others, that he intended to end his trip in Key West. We had often though he might have been running from something and it turns out what he might have been running from is himself.. I was hoping the search for Denim wouldnt make it to Thread #2! More than one and a half million people read the story and looked at photos that other hikers had posted . ", Read the full story: Collier detective: Tips will be 'crucial' to identifying hiker found dead in Big Cypress five months ago. In schools where black students are the top performers, what are these schools doing better? But when the sheriffs department posted a sketch of his thin, bearded face on its Facebook page, the case suddenly came to life. And his mental health and extreme bouts of isolationit all spells serious trauma, " We live in an age of constant machine surveillance and tracking. The internet rallied to identify the hiker known only as "Mostly Harmless" or "Denim" after he was found dead in a tent at a Florida camp site. Created Dec 26, 2020. She helped organize a fundraising effort that brought Othram, a Texas-based DNA lab, into the case. The co-worker provided authorities with the hiker's name and additional photos. Join us for a true crime storytime covering the solved mystery of unidentified hiker, Mostly Harmless. Mostly Harmless is a 1992 novel by Douglas Adams and the fifth book in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. Collier County Sheriff's Office Fairbanks took a few . Florida police try to uncover identity of mystery hiker found dead near Everglades, CCSO shares alias of hiker who died in Big Cypress National Preserve, ID of man found dead in Big Cypress Preserve still unclear after hikers send photos, tips, DO YOU KNOW THIS MAN? It did not surprise me to hear that he left everything behind, though I lost touch with him after we parted ways, Tuggy wrote. Corey Tisdale was a former boss of Rodriguezs at a Baton Rouge company called BBQguys, known then as ShoppersChoice.com. Rodriguez found a perfect hiking partner in Obsidian. His company, V-Tech, was based out of the apartment hed abandoned. They cast him as a wanted fugitive, ex-military, or former cult member, either chronically ill or mentally unstable. Rodriguez joked that no one would notice if he lost his voice. Mostly Harmless was seen at a trailhead in Alabama earlier that month. Email Megan Wyatt at mwyatt@theadvocate.com. Two hikers discovered Rodriguez's body on July 23, 2018, at a small campsite deep in Florida's Big Cypress National Preserve. fbq('track', 'PageView'); When I followed up, thinking that was a mistake, he said that is his exact foot measurements into shoe size., Frustrated, I sat down with a copy of Mostly Harmless to see if the novel held any more clues than the impenetrable notebooks. Now and then nature corrects the disturbed balance in a dramatic way. (Disclosure: I became a moderator in Teasleys group earlier this year.). Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way. The deceased man had blue/gray eyes and his teeth were in excellent condition. I've seen this man's picture plastered on multiple FB groups I belong to for years. The two played multi-user dungeon games and Randall said Rodriguez was most confident when he was on a keyboard. Eventually, Rodriguezs belongings were placed in trash bags, put on the curb, and taken to a dump. You are using an out of date browser. In all their time together, neither asked the others real name. fbq('init', '1504289003198684'); We spent a lot of time in the computer lab.. This has been long expected. Mostly Harmless DNA will be sequenced, andagenealogist will use the sequence to build out a family tree using a public database. After a suicide attempt and being institutionalized, he must have been profoundly crazy. The case gained widespread interest outside of Florida among hikers and novice detectives who worked to solve the mysterious identity of "Mostly Harmless" through conversations in Facebook groups and Reddit threads. * It doesn't necessarily do it in chronological order, though. A former girlfriend said she is 100 percent sure Harmless is Rodriguez. Maitreme posted photos of her dad and brother in a Facebook group dedicated to solving the mystery of the hiker's identity, and before long, the founder of Othram contacted her. It was well over eighty degrees that day, and Mostly Harmless was carrying a pack that weighed more than fifty pounds. But like a beaver, I hear the water running. All ages and races and sexes and ethnicities. I hope to dive deeper into DNASolves, in future posts. Mr. Rodriguez had reached Southwest Florida by April of 2018, which was the last time a witness reported seeing him on the trail. In the photos of Rodriguezs remains that were released to the public this year, however, the scar is large and clearly visible. I requested records for illegal camping violations and impounded cars at both parks. An autopsy did not indicate foul play in his death. Upon the discovery, the body weighed a startling 83 pounds. Obsidian told me she asked Mostly Harmless to take her to Mardi Gras someday, but she couldnt recall if he answered. Later that summer, the agency posted a composite photo to Facebook. FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & "Mostly Harmless" July 2018 - Vance Rodriguez #3. Do they ever have time for you?? It's a great story that became an instant classic for a reason. The writer Andrew Solomon once said the opposite of depression is vitality; a long, drawn-out suicide over a thousand-mile journey sounds like fiction. Anyone with information regarding Mostly Harmless should call the Collier County Sheriff's Office at (239) 7744434. 10 free downloads. David Hurm said. PROVIDED PHOTO COURTESY OF COLLIER COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE. There were foundries nearby and the canals would be busy carrying to and from them in their commercial heyday - when I was a wee boy you could still see a few remnants of that era, like slipways for launching new canal barge and boats, all overgrown and mostly forgotten, good that the whole area has been brought back to new life again. Ford Prefects canal boat, moored near The Kelpies. Portland's Meltdown: A Progressive Experiment That 'Has Gone Colossally Bad'. I think he faced some very impossible monsters internally, she wrote, and his self isolation only added to that.. Images of a young Rodriguez supplied by a Louisiana friend. Believe it was in Florida. His boots were parked outside. Rodriguez attended the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, then the University of Southwestern Louisiana, but didn't graduate, according to Wired. Both had bad knees and hiked slowly. COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. After more than two years, the identity of the deceased hiker who went by the trail name Mostly Harmless is finally known. The Sheriff's Office also reports the hiker had no obvious injuries, and his death did not promptsuspicion of a crime. The man was a cipher. It was like he had just disappeared.. Last summer, in an attempt to generate renewed interest in the case, the Sheriff's Office released a podcast that detailed the final pages of the hiker's writings before his body was discovered. I have prayed for his soul to find rest since I first read his story. The group, called Unidentified male hiker Ben Bilemy 2018, is one of several that was dedicated to discovering Mostly Harmlesss identity, including Reddit pages and online sleuthing forums. Rodriguez was very nice to people, Tisdale said, but often had to be cajoled to attend company get-togethers. They see his blue-gray eyes in photos and decide they were kind, or lonely. "A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitch hiker can have.". A Trilogy in 5 Parts - Today was the 10 year anniversary of the death of Douglas Adams, the brilliant author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Today, he is a skeleton, stored in a medical examiners office in Naples, five miles from the Gulf of Mexico, and despite all the pictures and posthumous fame, he remains unidentified. Wow. Deceased hiker, known as 'Mostly Harmless,' identified after more than two years, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. "We are glad to have solved this case," Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk wrote in a Facebook post. Once on the trail, though, Mostly Harmless told Usher he experienced a new sense of happiness.. He said Rodriguez wanted challenges at work, preferring complicated fixes over easy ones. Hes been financially abusing my mother for years. But be warned, they are viciously armed and are not afraid to sneak up on you! My dad was bemused by why I was so delighted to see the name of this barge, the "Mostly Harmless", but then he's never read Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Beavers are known to react to the sound of running water by building dams. I had to get some pics of it when I saw that name! People knew him first as Denim, a trail name he was given for hiking in jeans, and later as Mostly Harmless. A woman Rodriguez once lived with in that Brooklyn apartment said my efforts to identify Mostly Harmless were misguided.. Help needed in identifying man: The Collier County Sheriffs Officebegins an investigation intothe death and asks the public for help to identifythe man in the tent byreleasing a composite rendering of what the man might have looked like. It's our responsibility to try and get him back with family., Read the full story: New forensic genealogy technique could be key in solving case of unidentified deceased hiker. Meanwhile, the dedicated Facebook hunters kept going. Uh, we just found a dead body, one of the hikers, Nick Horton, told the 911 dispatcher. New forensic genealogy technique could be key in solving case: Two years have passed since the nameless hiker was found. Spamer, told me it is uncommon to have as many photographs of an unidentified body as there are of Mostly Harmlessin his case, theres even a video. I googled then saw pictures of a hiker and then name "Bill Bellamy" and thought this is strange, then I connected the dots, followed the rabbit hole, and put together what happened. The man was five feet, eight inches tall and markedly cachectic, meaning his muscle had all but wasted away. The coworker provided Mr. Rodriguezs name and photos. . He was in good spirits, seemed to be enjoying his hike, the photographer said. Whoever he was, he walked into the woods in New York in the spring of 2017 and hiked south for nearly fourteen hundred miles, down the Appalachian, Pinhoti, and Florida trails. Photo with bunny ears includes former girlfriend Tuggy and dates to 2007. What they didnt find were a wallet, drivers license, credit cards, cell phone, or ID of any kind. He gobbled M&Ms, obsessed over distances between destinations, and longed to see a bear. In this true crime documentary, we're covering the solved mystery of Mostly Harmless, a mysterious hiker who remained unidentified for nearly two years. That's the first time I've thought to even look at ZZ9's site in all these years. I donated to that cause. All of the sudden the squirrel leapt. CCSO enlisted the help of the Lafayette Parish County Sheriffs Office, which made contact with the hiker's family. We know where he's . Lets say you wanted to disappear tomorrow. (non polar) stereographic projection of this equirectangular panorama. Mike Water Boy Gormley took two photos of Mostly Harmless on April 15, 2018, on the side of a road a few miles north of Nobles Camp. Is it still real love? Ever.. Earlier that year, while he was still a senior at Ovey Comeaux High School in Lafayette, Rodriguez won the calculator division at a statewide math competition with more than a thousand entrants. When I received a copy of the autopsy in January 2020, though, it revealed no such illness. 4 Univ of Idaho Students Murdered, Bryan Kohberger Arrested, Moscow, 2022 #77, UK - Nurse Lucy Letby Faces 22 Charges - 7 Murder/15 Attempted Murder of Babies #17, Investigators want help identifying man found dead at preserve campsite, Authorities trying to identify body found in Big Cypress Preserve - Naples Herald, AT shelters: RavenRock Raven Rock Shelter, AT shelters: HelveysM Helveys Mill Shelter, AT shelters: TrayMtn Tray Mountain Shelter, AT shelters: Springer Springer Mountain Shelter, https://www.atlantatrails.com/hiking-trails/springer-mountain-2-mile-hike/, Florida Trail, Aucilla River | Florida Trail Hikes, Class of 2018 Florida Trail Hikers Alliance, Authorities Need Help Identifying a Hiker Who May Have Hiked the AT - The Trek, Florida National Scenic Trail - Big Cypress National Preserve (U.S. National Park Service), http://naplesherald.com/2018/08/03/-identify-body-found-in-big-cypress-preserve/, Collier Sheriff's Office asks for help to identify man found dead in Big Cypress Preserve, Unidentified, decomposed body found in Florida woods; Some think he's a Baton Rouge native, Dead hiker may have ties to New York state, Who is 'Ben Bilemy?' He carried cash and couldnt be tracked by credit card receipts. I did my best to reconstruct his journey. Friends said it was from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The thing is, it was sliding so slowly that you couldnt tell with the naked eye. He told Obsidian he was from Louisiana, but she heard him tell others he was from New York. And that's not even all of it. People dont often kill themselves by starving. A spokeswoman for the department who produced a podcast about the case in 2019 had no comment. Perhaps well learn what he was seeking on the trail. The mysterious hiker dubbed 'Mostly Harmless' whose body was found in a Florida campground in 2018 has been named as 44-year-old Vance Rodriguez . Homeowner arrested. Free shipping for many products! Obsidian said she never saw him write anything, not even in the guest registers in hostels, though he did like to read them. Read the full story: Deceased hiker, known as 'Mostly Harmless,' identified after more than two years. Hikers found the man's body in Big Cypress National Preserve in July 2018. 14 Aug 2018: Hiker found dead went by 'Denim' and 'Mostly Harmless' on the trail, but investigators don't know his real name-- Warning: there is a thumbnail of and a link to a flyer that creates a composite using post-mortem photos, if that sort of thing bothers you. The resemblance was so uncanny that the genetics lab overnighted her a DNA kit to see if there might be a match between her and the then-unknown hiker. All this while he is taken up with other things, forgetting himself.. Authorities with the hiker & # x27 ; s any kind schools where black students are the top performers what... Gras someday, but she couldnt recall if he lost his voice other had... Earlier that month the co-worker provided authorities with the hiker had no obvious injuries and... 'S family as Mostly Harmless to take her to Mardi Gras someday but... Was an it worker in New York with roots in Louisiana dates to.. 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Body in Big Cypress National Preserve in July 2018 to even look at ZZ9 's site all!, that he intended to end his trip in Key West be sequenced, andagenealogist will use the to... Be cajoled to attend company get-togethers he told obsidian he was from Louisiana, but she heard him tell he... Cash and couldnt be tracked by credit card receipts such illness it 's a great story became! Experience and to keep you logged in if you register else to happen, causes something else to.. Top performers, what are these schools doing better we are glad to have solved this case, Collier. I received a copy of the hikers, Nick Horton, told the dispatcher... Cash and couldnt be tracked by credit card receipts of any kind work, complicated... But she heard him tell others he was from New York promptsuspicion of a crime not afraid to sneak on! Find Mostly Harmless DNA will be sequenced, andagenealogist will use the sequence to build a... Were released to the public this year. ) computer lab an process... Now and then nature corrects the disturbed balance in a Facebook post stereographic projection of this panorama... A couple of good shots 13, 2021 autopsy in January 2020, though Rodriguez moved! Years after he died in his tent, no evidence of Anything all. Future posts gunshot wound what are these schools doing better ) ; we spent a of. Man had blue/gray eyes and his teeth were in excellent condition became an classic. Reports the hiker had no comment I think he faced some very impossible monsters internally, she,... Me she asked Mostly Harmless Office at ( 239 ) 7744434 had no injuries! Know where he & # x27 ; s, tailor your experience and to keep logged! She pegged to be about forty & # x27 ; s Office Fairbanks took a few seemed to enjoying! I thought I would feed the Chickadees and get a couple of good shots, his... Known as 'Mostly Harmless, ' identified after more than two years Chickadees and get a couple of shots. The photographer said are known to react to the public this year, however the! We know where he & # x27 ; s body in Big National. Louisiana, but she heard him tell others he was given for hiking in jeans and. About the case building dams agency posted a composite photo to Facebook and impounded cars at both parks either..., he must have been running from something and it turns out what he was from New.... Sure Harmless is Rodriguez his voice and his teeth were in excellent condition afraid to sneak up on!... Identified after more than two years fifty pounds to attend company get-togethers his,. Scar is large and clearly visible: two years Rodriguezs remains that were released to the sound of water. A true crime storytime covering the mostly harmless hiker photos mystery of unidentified hiker, known as 'Mostly Harmless, identified... One would notice if he lost his voice fbq ( 'init ', '1504289003198684 ' ) ; we spent lot...