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

[Gardener1850]

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

Wow, your map timeline sounds much more in depth than mine. At one point I had tried to figure out which AT shelters he may have reached and when based on his statement to several others that he was averaging 10 mile days. We know he left Damascus, VA Oct 9th, 2017 but it bothers me there there were no sighting of him in TN/NC after that. Then I realized there were trail shelters roughly every 7 to 16 miles there. He might have just kept to himself and stayed in the shelters...Plus it seems like not as many people hike the AT after October...I was hoping to pinpoint which shelters he was likely to have stopped at and when he would have reached the next major cities with hostels/stores available.

But all I was trying to do for my photo timeline is show a general where he was on the map and put the pictures in the order they were taken. Unfortunately, I had some major technical issues this weekend and lost what I was working on. I'm not sure my graphic would upload here anyway as it was starting to get really big. I might just make a series of posts with the photos in order.

 

[moonriverfarm]

The lady with dreads has a trail name - Obsidian.
I hope the Sarasota - Ft Myers newspapers are publishing his photo. So many people do not have Facebook or are not online surfers.

 

[Laughing]

-Ben Bilemy => Things I have tried: Anagrams, spoonerisms, truncations, abbreviations and acronyms...even sloppy handwriting imitations!

Hiker knew he was ill, told others he was ill. So far, COD is not public information.

Did he pick Bilemy as a twist on Bile? Did he have a terminal condition of the gall bladder, bile ducts? IDK what else is involved in bile production or storage.

Did anyone hear him say it, or was this only on hostel registers that required a surname? BILL-uh mee, bi lee MI, even more Bellamy like The Bellamy Brothers?

Guessing, of course. Any gastroenterologists on here???

sloppy handwriting department, how about Dilema? de la mi?

YMMV LRR JMHO

 

[coffeeandacig]

The lady with dreads has a trail name - Obsidian.
I hope the Sarasota - Ft Myers newspapers are publishing his photo. So many people do not have Facebook or are not online surfers.

Ft Myers news has been following from the start. Sarasota news has been informed...but it's up to them whether they consider it newsworthy.

 

[Classito]

I am going with the theory that he was hiking prior to the AT trail coming in at New York. Everyone that has spoke of him and all photos show him slimmer than his alleged statement of being heavier when he started. No one seems to have met him prior to NY (June 2017). At that time he was already slimmed down, well packed, and had a trail name.

I believe he took time and planned his vanishing. Slowly distance himself from family/friends, slowly stock up money, gear. Using cash instead of credit or debit maybe even paying bills a month ahead. By the time people noticed he was gone the trail would be cold and they would be looking for him in the town/state he disappeared in. Travel across states or even countries by hiking or bus where no one would know him and no ID required and appear one day on a trail with a whole new identity

 

[Classito]

I found the name Bilemy in searches at the following links (youtube and peekyou.)

BILEMY - YouTube

Free People Search | PeekYou | People Directory
Free People Search | PeekYou | People Directory
Aug 19, 2018 - Strasnann · 779-240-7686 · Crystal Toon · Brenda Benoit · Jason Kicker ..... Fred Hootch · Benjamin Bilemy ·

When I click on the PeekYou link-Benjamin Bilemy is not listed, however, when I chose to see the cached page his name shows up with a phone number below it. Not sure if the number goes with the name but it is a cell number out of Dallas TX

Cached
https://webcache.googleusercontent....tory/2018-08-19/19+&cd=14&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

• Benjamin Bilemy
• 469-435-3812

There is also a 40 yr old male from Turkey with the name Bilemy on a webcam site--I did not copy nor open that link

 

[moonriverfarm]

Wow!

 

[Nancy Drew RN]

If he only used the name at hostels, maybe a play on "bill me"?

 

[moonriverfarm]

I think the Ben Bilemy name is just a made up name, a red herring. The key to identifying this man will be media exposure.

 

[eucalyptuz]

I think he was ill and but also wanting to be free and unencumbered from the load that can come with dealing with a terminal condition. Recently I had a friend who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and he told no-one Eventually after a string of phone calls and messages he revealed to me that he was having tests at a hospital. I said I’d come visit, but it wasn’t until I arrived needing directions from front desk staff, that I found out the bigger truth...he was in the Palliative care ward already with only weeks to live ....only 3 friends and a handful of family members knew and his last 30 days were a heavy emotional hodge-podge of denial, guilt, regret, anger and still some hope thrown in there too. On top of this : he was in intense pain and dealling with many no-so-pretty side-effects of his condition.

Our Big Cypress guy did not look so great in the last video we have seen and I wonder if one of the things we might be able to trace is pain medication. When you have a terminal diagnosis, one of the cornerstones of treatment is pain management...I wonder whether he could have access to pain medication and stashed it to use when the end grew near? I hope the post mortem may bring us some more answers....

 

[Classito]

Scott Hadath

Missing since June 2017
39 yrs old
5'10
Hazel eyes
From Winnipeg Canada

Not many details on Scott. There is a facebook page but doesn't look like it has been active since July 2017. Doesn't appear that anyone is really looking for him. His car was found but no information was shared that I could find.
Find Scott Hadath

I attached the same photo of Scott lightened up so I could see his eyes and possibly his teeth. I can see his eyes and they appear to be shaped like Harmless and has the lines underneath as well.

The face shape looks different but I am not sure how losing weight would affect the rounded look Scott has. Same with the mole on his right cheek (Harmless has one as well but lower on the cheek line)

Not many details on Scott

 

[Bit of hope]

Thanks for keep on searching Classito. That's actually great. But, I don't think this is our UID. Besides his hazel eyes, it seems to me his beard has a different growth pattern, especially on his chin, under his mouth.

 

[moonriverfarm]

Bumping for this man. Surely someone who loves him would like to know what happened to him.

 

[Coffee56]

Bumping for this man. Surely someone who loves him would like to know what happened to him.[/QUOTE

I feel the seem. That sparkle he has when he smiles couldn’t have gone unnoticed. I just don’t believe the right person has seen it. I believed at first that he either wasn’t due to check in or was very random when he did. I only know 1 thru hiker personally and he posted his travels on FB pretty frequently. And though Denim had no social media that we know of I think he was checking in with someone.
And how many have now added the AT to their Bucket list? Denim brought me to a whole group of some pretty cool people I think. They love what they.

 

[Coffee56]

Think I hit quote instead of reply. It’s been a long day and I need coffee!

 

[RickshawFan]

Nicely done Gardener! He is looking already very fragile there...not fit...or is this just me?

He does look very thin, especially compared with other photos. It's fairly typical for male thru hikers (not female, incidentally, who sometimes gain weight!!!!) to lose a fair amount of weight. However, here he has black rings around his eyes, and his hair looks thin. I agree he does not look well.

 

[RickshawFan]

I found this visual reference interesting. Comparing the Appalachian Trail to hiking Mt. Everest put the difficulty of this journey into perspective for me.

That would be a lousy comparison. Many thru hikers focus on the ups and downs of the AT and like to gauge elevation gain (and loss). This reflects pride of accompishment, but not the relative ease of the AT as compared with other long trails in the US, (or even short mountaineering expeditions). Many thru hikers don't have experience on other trails or if they do, they're almost only east coast trails. And there is no altitude stress on the AT, like at all.
I found the emphasis on elevation change on the AT as a criterion for difficulty VERY misleading.
Comparison with Everest, for gosh sake? The highest mountain, lowest oxygen, hellish long approach, no privies, death-dealing ridges, ummmm, right....

 

[RickshawFan]

I think those 4 are the only photos I don't know locations and approx dates. I'm also really trying to figure out where he was in November, 2017. He should have passed through TN and NC, however no one has said they saw him in those states (that I have seen). And a lot of the hostels/camping places I found online either close down for the winter in Nov/Dec or have so few hikers they don't have anything posted during the winter months on their social media pages.

The person who would know is Miss Janet in Erwin TN. She knows everyone.

 

[RickshawFan]

I think I found the church where he stayed in Duncannon, PA:
Duncannon churches reach out to AT hikers
Trail Angels

He would have been there in either June or July based on the timeline.

I was hoping maybe someone took a photo of him there but I have not found one of him yet online. Would anyone like to post the Sheriff Office post on the church's social media pages?
Maybe he told someone at the church his real name?

An obvious place to see if he signed in is the Appalachian Trail Conservancy in Harper's Ferry West Virginia. Most thru hikers check in there, since it is AT headquarters.

If the guy didn't have a lot of money, he probably didn't stay at hostels.

Everyone stops at Damascus Virginia. There used to be a large free hostel there run by the church.

 

[RickshawFan]

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

NOBO is northbound. I thought he was southbound?