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

[eucalyptuz]

I found an earlier INSTAGRAM reference to a hiker called "Denim" who helped out a fellow hiker by giving them a replacement piece for a backpack buckle.

Same brand backpack as our Doe's. If it is him, that would place him in Massachusetts as a NOBO AT hiker in Dec of 2016...
Do you think it's worth reaching out to this person?

Edited to add: location on trail
Google Maps

I heard back from the IG poster and she thinks the "Denim" she met going NOBO on the AT in Dec of 2016 is NOT our UID. She thinks the person she met was older and the photos she has seen do not bear resemblance to her memories of the guy.

So, yes, it seems there's more than one "Denim" out there...

 

[eucalyptuz]

Duplicate post...deleted.

 

[booghawk]

I just realized why I've felt he looks so familiar? Has anyone seen the movie Buster's Mal Heart?

The description says. "Loving father. Eccentric fugitive. Man adrift at sea. The fragments of his life are bound together by a surreal mystery."

He reminds me SO much of Rami Malek in this movie, but more gentle.

 

[coffeeandacig]

People are sharing Mostly Harmless'

Yes, this is why I wonder if there are any active Facebook pages in your area to post his story to. Not to look for active missing persons cases, but to see if his sister is in the area and if anyone met him.

Good call.
SM in the Sarasota/Ft Myers area is being spammed with his information now. Someone posted on the Sarasota County Sheriff's FB page, and local chat rooms.

 

[Yokota-Red]

I came across this individual in NAMUS missing persons, case#MP34156 missing since 9/22/2015 Kevin L. Mitchell from Anchorage, AK 38 yrs. old, he is n0w 41 height 5' 6" brown hair, blue eyes. The vehicle he was driving was found parked off of Seward Hwy. @ a lake. A case was created on 6/23/2016...

 

[Classito]

Updated photo of Kevin Mitchell from Seeking Alaska Missing FB page

 

[Yokota-Red]

Updated photo of Kevin Mitchell from Seeking Alaska Missing FB page

Classito, thank you for finding this photo, I didn't even give it a thought to check for a Facebook page on Kevin...

 

[Yokota-Red]

Just received a reply from Collier County, Kevin Mitchell is not our John Doe!

 

[Gardener1850]

Updated Rule Out List:

Sheriff fb has directly responded on several suggestions on their page saying -- " That is not the decedent".
Most of these responses are found here: Collier County Sheriff's Office

Ruled out:
Glen Oldfield (ruled out on UID's NAMUS page)
Paul Glova (Ruled out on UID's NAMUS page)
Kyle Leigh Art
Robert Wayne Roush
Jeffrey Alan Boughton
Michael Robinson
Joel Matthew Thompson
Kris Fowler
Trevor Nichols
Kevin Mitchell

Other MP's suggested on fb page (but Sheriff has not replied yet):
David William Blake
Joshua Wellman (a family member did reply that this is not him)
Joshua Scott
Eric Daniel Prueitt
Christopher King
Bradley Allen (a family member replied it is not him)
Shane Michael Fell
Patrick Lee Ghering
Derek Lueking (his mother replied it is not him)

 

[Gardener1850]

Just received a reply from Collier County, Kevin Mitchell is not our John Doe!

Thanks Yokota-Red, I have added him to the rule-out list above.

 

[fred&edna]

Updated Rule Out List:

Sheriff fb has directly responded on several suggestions on their page saying -- " That is not the decedent".
Most of these responses are found here: Collier County Sheriff's Office


Other MP's suggested on fb page (but Sheriff has not replied yet):
David William Blake
Joshua Wellman (a family member did reply that this is not him)
Joshua Scott
Eric Daniel Prueitt
Christopher King
Bradley Allen (a family member replied it is not him)
Shane Michael Fell
Patrick Lee Ghering
Derek Lueking (his mother replied it is not him)

RSBM

I must admit I've been side-eyeing C King as a slight possibility... but finding it difficult because he's not listed in NAMUS.

 

[Coffee56]

I can find nothing on the 3 photos other than the original posting on Pinholti FB page. It’s mentioned the poster’s GF was talking with people on Instagram so they may have originated there. Not enough info to know whether or not they met him in possible travels or found the pics elsewhere

I did find a post from a fellow hiker that he had no accent. Northern nor southern.

Also read that he hiked with the same person from early Aug 17 to late Sept 17. It was mentioned by more than one that they crossed paths with that they were hiking together for awhile. General description and trail name available so hope it was followed up on.

 

[Gardener1850]

I can find nothing on the 3 photos other than the original posting on Pinholti FB page. It’s mentioned the poster’s GF was talking with people on Instagram so they may have originated there. Not enough info to know whether or not they met him in possible travels or found the pics elsewhere

I did find a post from a fellow hiker that he had no accent. Northern nor southern.

Also read that he hiked with the same person from early Aug 17 to late Sept 17. It was mentioned by more than one that they crossed paths with that they were hiking together for awhile. General description and trail name available so hope it was followed up on.

Thanks for trying to find it Coffee. That is exactly what I found. I think some comments might be in private groups or something that I can't access. I have been working on a photo timeline superimposed on a map of his route and I think I will just put the photos on there without the dates/locations. It's not going to be anything really fancy as I'm not a graphic designer, but I think having the photos in a rough order of when they were taken will help.

I think the hiker that traveled with him from Aug to Sept contacted police but doesn't know his real name either. JMO from comments I read. I'm aware of her name and trail name.

 

[eucalyptuz]

Chiming in to bump this case but also to vent my frustrations with sleuthing this guy! I wish we had a few more clues. I don't think I have ever spent so much time digging around with so little to go on.
My biggest frustrations:
-A job in tech/IT => So many IT/Tech companies and most other companies bigger than 25 people have an IT/Tech person...
-Non-unique trail names => There's at least another Denim out there on the AT...maybe 2. And "Mostly Harmless" pops ups often too! As a user name but also as a common phase and literary reference.
-Ben Bilemy => Things I have tried: Anagrams, spoonerisms, truncations, abbreviations and acronyms...even sloppy handwriting imitations!

I need a kernel of something else to try...

At Gardener1850: I have also been working on a map with timeline tags but it is really a mammoth task with the sheer distances/time periods/possible trajectories/possible points of merging with other hikers etc

 

[dianelynn]

I read on yahoo that Ben Bilemy is an English slang for Ben Blimey or translated "God has blinded me."

 

[eucalyptuz]

I read on yahoo that Ben Bilemy is an English slang for Ben Blimey or translated "God has blinded me."

I read that too but I can not find any reference that states this that is unrelated to this case. I grew up with English slang, rhyming slang, Cockney etc and I have never heard of this. ‘Blimey’ is a thing but I can’t even find a spelling error where ‘Blimey’ (God blind me) may have been the writer’s intent and it came out as ‘Bilemy”
...Can anybody point to a link that pre-dates this case with “Bilemy used in context? Cheers x

 

[Cinnalauda]

Deleted

 

[Cinnalauda]

I read on yahoo that Ben Bilemy is an English slang for Ben Blimey or translated "God has blinded me."

Brit chiming in here. The expression you're talking about is Cor Blimey. It's just an expression of seeing or hearing something surprising. I don't think anyone takes it literally as 'God blind me!' as it's usually used in exaggeration, in jest

 

[LeenC]

Yes, I believe she is the one who took the photos of him in Virginia and is pictured with the UID in the hostel photo I linked several pages back (I didn't copy and paste the photo here or use her real name in order to protect her privacy/try to follow the rules). If my estimations are correct on the timeline she hiked with him for close to two months (Early Aug to Late Sept 2017).

“Early Aug 2017 –Hiker (SMJ) claims to have seen him hiking somewhere near Shenandoah, VA with an older woman with grey dreads. Google Maps”

Maybe I’m just stating the obvious here, but just to be clear: we are talking about the same woman right? The woman in the picture with him in the hostel in Virginia and “the older woman with dreads” he was seen hiking with?

I would love to talk to her. It looks like she may have spend some considerable amount of time with him.

PS: finally done with exams so I’m free to focus again on what really matters ^_^

 

[Gardener1850]

“Early Aug 2017 –Hiker (SMJ) claims to have seen him hiking somewhere near Shenandoah, VA with an older woman with grey dreads. Google Maps”

Maybe I’m just stating the obvious here, but just to be clear: we are talking about the same woman right? The woman in the picture with him in the hostel in Virginia and “the older woman with dreads” he was seen hiking with?

I would love to talk to her. It looks like she may have spend some considerable amount of time with him.

PS: finally done with exams so I’m free to focus again on what really matters ^_^

Yes, it seems likely that was her but I left it as a separate item because the early Aug sighting is another witness who saw him. I'm pretty sure she has spoken to the police. There were others who spent quite a bit of time with him as well. I agree it would be interesting if anyone who met him were to stop by here to talk to us but I'm pretty sure it is against the Websleuths rules to sleuth the people who met him/contact them. They are not speaking to the press and they have already given their info to the police. IMO they deserve their privacy just like friends of a missing person would.

I am curious about things such as what did he like to eat-- did he have any dietary restrictions? Did he have any clear religious background or beliefs? Did he ever speak about other vacations he took? Did he ever mention anyplace specific besides the general locations we know about? Etc, etc, but those questions will probably not answer who he is. I'm at the point where I think he most likely has not been missed by his family yet. His family may assume he is still off hiking. They would know he is hiking without a cell phone so they would not be concerned when he doesn't call for a month or two (I'm assuming he has kept in touch borrowing stranger's phones or sending his family letters occasionally). I wonder if his family will become concerned when winter comes around and holidays arrive and they still have not heard from him?
I hope someone who knew him in real life sees the photos soon.