But I was committed to solving the case with others because it would be a great way to prove that people can do great things together.. She went through public records, including a government website called NamUs, a clearinghouse for missing and unidentified persons cases across the country. I don't think it changes the value of what we did as a community, you know, like we came together out of human kindness.". To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. The sheriffs office had received hundreds of bad tips. A man was convinced the hiker had played in a hardcore punk rock band in New Orleans. Everyone had a story they wanted to be true: He was trying to escape modern society. Collier County Sheriffs Office Fairbanks was sure it was Mostly Harmless. They then issued a bulletin seeking information from the public, including a composite sketch and said that the man had been between 35 and 50 years old, was 58, had salt and pepper hair and beard, and his teeth were in excellent condition. When he was about 15, according to friends, Rodriguez headed off into a field with a gun, intending to kill himself. As soon as I seen it, I knew who it was. There is a simple, if reductive, answer that might apply to anyone whose mind is going sideways. After the case was solved, and after some of the dark things about Rodriguez had come to light, I corresponded with Sahar Bigdeli, the woman whod tried to get his teeth analyzed. Still, why had it taken so long to identify him? Im not sure when. COLLIER COUNTY, Fla. The mystery began in Collier County back in 2018. At 17, with the consent of his parents, Rodriguez was emancipated by a Lafayette, Louisiana, court. I know a lot of us are always trying to figure out how to best get info about unidentified people out to the public and hopefully to someone who will recognize them. Testing there would cost $5,000, money not in the Collier County Sheriff's Office budget. But it ended quite badly. Typed out and pictures of each page in his notebook, I did just a bit of searching after seeing the transcriptions of the notebooks. Self inflicted gunshot doesnt sound happy. "I saw a man walking on the side of the road," said Kelly Fairbanks, a so-called "trail angel" offering help to weary hikers. Mostly Harmless knew he was dying, but knowing what illness he had might help identify him. Vance John Rodriguez, a k a Vaejor, was born in February 1976 near Baton Rouge. No real cause of death but it seems like he had died from malnutrition as he was only 83 lbs when he was found. But people with computer skills usually dont have a hard time finding a job. It will take about 12 weeks to sequence Mostly Harmless DNA a process much different than that done by the University of North Texas before a genealogist will use the sequence to build out a family tree using a public database. But soon he started to clam up and shut her out. He may have been born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana but no one mentioned a strong accent. Especially, that you had to learn about it this way. He had perfect teeth, which suggested good dental care as a child. "And there are a lot of them. The man called himself Mostly Harmless because it was said he enjoyed the work of Sci-Fi Writer Douglas Adams and the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series. The city was filled with constant motion, but that seemed to render him catatonic. When this man asked someone else Whos that guy?, the reply was Hes mostly harmless or along those lines, so Mostly Harmless kept the trail name. On the trail, Mostly Harmless had carried a notebook full of ideas for Screeps, an online strategy game for programmers. Which can be lonely when you share a 500-square-foot apartment, she says. There is a Scott Shafer that was missing but hes been found is that the one youre referring to? Around this time, according to K, Rodriguez also made a threat that was both terrifying because of his skills and ironic because of the anonymity he was about to seek: He threatened to dox K if she ever left him. Marie recognized the face and she knew all about the scar. The companys codebase is still filled with notations of VR, for code that Rodriguez wrote. Search for Albert Rodriguez in Pellerinfh. Hed destroyed his relationships. Mostly Harmless was found deceased in his tent by Nichalaus Horton and Logan Buehl, at Nobles Camp in Big Cypress National Preserve. Appalachian Trail (AT)Florida Trail (FT)Tru-HikerTrail nameTrail angel, NamusCollier County Sheriffs Office Facebook Video of Mostly HarmlessWho is Mostly Harmless?Help Identify This AT Hiker Found Deceased On Florida Trail!Officials are still trying to identify hiker known as Mostly HarmlessSworn Statement PodcastMysterious Hiker Found Dead On Florida Trail May Be From BrooklynNaple News search with keywords, Can anyone work this out? His name shouldnt even be on this page. 7-16-20: Photos have been released of the scene: In July 2020, it was announced that detectives have partnered with a private DNA laboratory in Texas to identify Mostly Harmless using a new technique in forensic genealogy and handles the process in-house. It is the essential source of information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation. I immediately messaged Collier County Sheriff with a picture. There is some speculation that his knees may have given out on him effectively trapping him and causing him to starve, He was known to wear braces on both knees and carry an excessively heavy pack. The group grew to more than 6,000 members. He carried cash and couldnt be tracked by credit card receipts. Vance and this grandfather have the same eyes! Maybe he worked for them. A man took a picture of Mostly Harmless when they met at Salem Church Road, which is the first road crossing on the Pinhoti south of the AL/GA state line. They are here on TCS. He was staying at Woodchucks Hostel, and was stuck there for two days because a hurricane was making its way to the trail. He was very friendly. They also talked about Sci-Fi, specifically Doctor Who. But he would go to holiday parties and not look miserable., He ate once a day, often pizza from Walmart or lasagna from Pasta Kitchen. I asked K this question. A camper at Pine Log State Forest said she met Mostly Harmless at the Sand Pond Campground. At first, he was romantic and sweet. Officials are still trying to identify hiker known as Mostly Harmless, Mysterious Hiker Found Dead On Florida Trail May Be From Brooklyn, https://imgur.com/a/eTphrRF?fbclid=IwAR0Ng8nt6WyOkEZw9iYCDfRmFbQ5YbLxfsnTWNdPtzMgjJM7aeyR0s1iP7E, https://imgur.com/a/b5Ny98l?fbclid=IwAR02hs0APr3VDyzhOt7YyjSg2jgZ8AT3VwASZNFvjwMs_PJHbmQtr4i5Ba4, CCSO and DNA Lab Partner In Attempt To ID Hiker Mostly Harmless, https://www.adventure-journal.com/2020/12/the-mystery-of-deceased-hiker-mostly-harmless-is-at-long-last-solved/, FOUND SAFE- Laura Lacie Read- missing from Midtown, Houston, after her child is found alone, https://screeps.com/forum/topic/2937/a-strange-request-for-help, https://dnasolves.com/articles/big_cypress_remains, The disturbing death of the unknown hiker, Mostly Harmless, in Cypress National Preserve SkieWebs, True Crime Society - Protected: 2020- Jane & John Does that got their names back, Gannon Stauch Murder Trial - Daily Updates, Murder by Neglect - the deaths of Lacey Fletcher and Valerie Wallach, The Missing, Murdered and Reunited of Runaway Train, UPDATE: 11 year old Gannon Stauch missing from Colorado Springs - remains have been found in Florida. I began searching for details to validate the tale. Records indicate that Mostly Harmless , the unidentified persons trail name, stayed at hotels between the Im trying to look at them, but it seems as though theyre based out of Vancouver which isnt close to New York, where its rumored he was from and they dont appear to have any US offices. He appeared to have been kind. OpenAIs CEO Says the Age of Giant AI Models Is Already Over, The US Wants to Close an SUV Loophole That Supersized Cars, The Hunt for the Dark Webs Biggest Kingpin, Part 1: The Shadow. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. While in Damascus, he went out to eat at Damascus Pizza Co Bar & Grill on the 7th with several other hikers. You know, you don't leave someone behind," said Natasha Teasley, who manages a canoe and kayak company in North Carolina. WebI first learned of the man called Mostly Harmless this past August. WebMostly Harmless reportedly told other hikers that he had previously worked in the tech industry and was trying to detox from his digital lifestyle. He was handsome in a general, familiar kind of way. He was depressed and moody his whole life, Godso recalls. He seems to have left in a hurry. A picture is taken of Mostly Harmless, known at this time as Denim, at Mountain Crossings which they post to their Facebook page. He had money, though, and he was just a few miles from a major highway. The results showed that Mostly Harmless was probably from Assumption Parish in Louisiana. A police sketch of the unidentified hiker. I never found him.. She knew him as Mostly Harmless, his trail name. He was personable when you first met him, but after spending more time with him in an intimate way his personality completely changed. When she asked him if he was using the Florida Trail (FT) Guide app, he said no because he didnt have a phone since he was wanting to disconnect. He had treated women poorly. A kind of astral Tocqueville taking a long, long trip to get a sense of the people and the planet, and when he was done, he wasted away and went back to Alpha Centauri. Rodriguez, according to his roommate, had cut off all contact with his family. Please look into a game called Dont Starve, developed by a company called Klei Entertainment. Had he become a different person? Karen . The boy who raised his hand to get help from a passing truckand whose body still bore the scar of that Louisiana fieldhad grown into the man who didnt seek help as he died in a Florida swamp. Two hikers found a man dead inside that tent. WebOver the following weeks and months, tons of fellow hikers and trail angels came forward with pictures and stories about the kind, quiet man they knew as Mostly Harmless, who It was interesting to note that he discolouration and abrasion of the shaft and glans of the penis in addition to wasting (cachexia). He again mentioned that he was from, or at least started in, New York. The idea is to harness the online energy that helped identify Vance Rodriguez, and to use it to identify the thousands of others who remain missing and unidentified. Get a grip. Is it to do with the game No Mans Sky, I know that sounds random but it has been suggested to us. But then I thought back to my phone call to the friend of Daryl McKenzie. Ill talk to the detective again tomorrow and ask. And did the coroner ever update the case of death? He would not talk about his parents except to say fuck them, Marie recalls. Someone else met Mostly Harmless on the FT, near Paisley, Florida. According to former girlfriends and coworkers, Vance Rodriguez was estranged from his family and suffered from severe bouts of depression. "As soon as I saw the pictures I knew immediately it's like, 'Oh, that's Vance!'" Google Maps Sept 2017 Hiker (Obsidian) took a photo of him reading the logbook in the Mountain Home Hostel in Front Royal, Virginia. Kelly gave a sticker, which said FT thru-HIKE, to Mostly Harmless and took a picture of him with it. He self-medicated with drinking and chocolate, she says. > Had a notebook of code in his possession. Two-and-a-half years after his body was found, the hiker had a name: Vance Rodriguez. The partnership comes after detectives determined that they had exhausted DNA searches through national missing persons databases in March of this year and following national developments in DNA privacy. There was no cellphone, ID, credit cards and apart from his hiking gear, just two notebooks (with coding notes) and critically $3,640 in cash. But I hadnt focused on all the pain that could bring. Dr James Craig poisoned his wife Angela to death with cyanide (allegedly), Reagan Hancock (22) has died after her friend Taylor Morton cut her baby from her womb, The unsolved murder of 'Crimewatch' host Jill Dando. The mystery of the identity of Mostly Harmless was finally solved in January 2021, thanks to a combination of DNA testing, crowdfunding, and public outreach. February 24, 2018 Pine Log State Forest, FL. He was quiet but not, to his coworkers, perversely so. The partnership comes after detectives determined that they had exhausted DNA searches through national missing persons databases in March 2020 and following national developments in DNA privacy. David Hurm, a detective with the Collier County Sheriff's Office in Naples, Florida, said. If youre asking me if he is the guy who shows up at the party in a clown suit blasting things out of a cannon, thats not him, says a former colleague named Corey Tisdale. I published an article about Mostly Harmless the day before the presidential election. almost all gastric bypasses are done laparoscopically. We know where hes been. Lucy Letby- Killer Nurse? Yet its hard not to look at this story with anything but sadness. WebWhen the department posted a composite photo to Facebook, fellow hikers sent in dozens of photos and reported meeting him. I detached myself as a person to Vance, in that I didn't want to get too attached to a dead stranger. This summer, with help from online crowdfunding, investigators were able to hire an outside DNA analysis company who determined that Mostly Harmless had Creole ancestry. ", Nicholas Thompson, of the Atlantic Magazine, asked, "Why did he make an impression on you? At one point he locked me out of our apartment after I got out of the shower without clothing because we started arguing about something I can't even remember. He also told her that he had some health issues and needed/wanted to do the trip while he still could. That search didn't pan out. As their relationship evolved, they decided to both move to New York City and live together. I found it through a FB group dedicated to finding his identity a few days ago. The thing about mysteries is that they are most exciting when youre still trying to solve them, when you can write in your own theories, fantasies, or fears. He would go through huge bouts of depression. I feel like that's what happened. His identityand troubled pastwere discovered by the internet. The surgeries that followed were the cause of the scar that had so intrigued the Facebook group. His bowels were unremarkable, as were his kidneys. They then looked through missing persons cases in the area, and when no one matching his description was found then they widened their search to surrounding areas. "We had a white male, we had no electronics, no identification, no wallet, no personal information. One Louisiana woman sent me a photograph of her brother, who bore an uncanny resemblance to the missing man, and told me she suspected Mostly Harmless was the illegitimate son of her drug-dealing uncle. They also included what he was wearing, a beige shirt with green shorts and black Salomon hiking boots, and the type of tent he was found in, a yellow Brooke-Range 2-person tent. Constant transformation of code in his tent by Nichalaus Horton and Logan,! With drinking and chocolate, she says he make an impression on you Forest, FL scar. Missing but hes been found is that the one youre referring to self-medicated with drinking chocolate! Gun, intending to kill himself visit My Profile, then View saved stories webwhen the posted... Them, marie recalls he would not talk about his parents, Rodriguez was from... 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