Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” July 2018 - Vance Rodriguez #2

[pillywiggin]

I've scanned 1,000+ pages of yearbooks on Classmates, and have a list of 70+ firm (alive and well) exclusions from the Baton Rouge area. A handful of maybes, but only one I'm thinking of passing on to LE. I've started a list of Brooklyn companies with a tech focus to send the flyer to. Other than that.. I'm really stumped!

I've been pondering the use of the alias Ben Bilemy, and I have a lot of questions.

• Why choose a last name that is uncommon? In fact, a handy website Forebears.com lists only one instance of the last name recorded, in 2014.. in Cameroon. This website also has a neat feature that shows you phonetically similar last names and their prevalence. I'll paste that below.
• Is it a code? I know this has been mentioned and delved into before, so I'm not passing it off as my original idea, but it's a great theory. Given that bilemy doesn't appear to be a word, acronym, or even a real/common last name.
• SSN? Again, this was looked into and found to be a legitimate SSN.
• What if it is a code, but the numbers are by the number of the letter in the alphabet? Then we have:
  • 2 5 14 2 9 12 5 13 25 or
  • 2 5 1 4 2 9 1 2 5 1 3 2 5
• IP address?

I feel like the apparent randomness of the last name precludes it from being a situation where he got to the hostel, realized he had to give a first and last name, glanced around the room and saw an object that brought him to Bilemy. Like a product with a brand name, or an item that could be used. Such as Ben (oh! aspirin..) Bayer. Or Ben (oh! a picture..) Frame.

Something tells me there is more information to be gleaned from the use of this alias.

Bilemy last name info from Forebears.
Similarity: % to which it's similar to Bilemy
Incidence: # people who bear the surname worldwide (assuming not comprehensive BUT representative of trends)
Prevalency: Nation with highest incidence/Nation with the most dense occurrence
View attachment 178074

Wow! Thank you for all of this hard work. It is fascinating research.

 

[Narkj]

Forgive me if this has been said already, but does anyone know if he had any type of accent?

 

[Sweetsbeach]

We can definitively rule out Michael Austin Davis. Kim Cherney emailed me back and said they did fingerprint comparison and it was not a match.

 

[Gardener1850]

Forgive me if this has been said already, but does anyone know if he had any type of accent?

He had no accent (other than American).

 

[amytothekate]

We can definitively rule out Michael Austin Davis. Kim Cherney emailed me back and said they did fingerprint comparison and it was not a match.

Thank you so much, Sweetsbeach!

 

[Narkj]

Hmm, ok. Thanks Gardener. I saw mentions of Baton Rouge and Brooklyn and people from those areas, at least born and raised, would have profoundly different dialects. I'd been wondering if he were from a different country, possibly Canada, but based on what I've read it seems unlikely.

 

[Bit of hope]

Hmm, ok. Thanks Gardener. I saw mentions of Baton Rouge and Brooklyn and people from those areas, at least born and raised, would have profoundly different dialects. I'd been wondering if he were from a different country, possibly Canada, but based on what I've read it seems unlikely.

Welcome Narkj. Good to have more eyes on this case.

 

[newyooper]

I'm new to this case - have read as much of the archives as possible - but am wondering if there are any annual conferences for programmer-types - either regional or national - and if perhaps flyers could be distributed at those?

 

[amytothekate]

I'm new to this case - have read as much of the archives as possible - but am wondering if there are any annual conferences for programmer-types - either regional or national - and if perhaps flyers could be distributed at those?

Welcome @newyooper and great idea!

There are definitely many conferences for programmers. There are also many different types of programmers and programming languages - most conferences would be targeted toward a specific type.

It would be so helpful to know what language he coded in, as it would help us narrow down a field/job type. Since the podcast mentioned he was designing an app to help hikers find water sources, and also contained commands commonly found in game design, I'd hazard a guess that he was most likely a software engineer/programmer. Of course, it's entirely possible he was actually a software developer, web developer, database administrator, or network administrator that dabbled in software engineering for fun.

 

[Narkj]

For what it's worth, the word "bilemy" means "billy goat" in Hindi.

 

[Arrives]

I often use a standard fake name when meeting some people. I wonder if BB was just a name he made up?

 

[amytothekate]

For what it's worth, the word "bilemy" means "billy goat" in Hindi.

Oh, awesome! Do you have a link/source to share?

ETA: I found this, but it's the only source I could find with that translation and it's apparently not a direct translation and doesn't sound like bilemy, but is pronounced "bakara".

Bilemy meaning in Hindi - Meaning of Bilemy in Hindi - Translation

Dictionary Bilemy Meaning
Bilemy MEANING IN HINDI
Meaning for word (Bilemy) is not available. Know correct spelling of Bilemy
इस शब्द को हिंखोज कम्युनिटी में पूछने के लिए - यहाँ क्लिक करें
Meaning of near by word : BILLY GOAT is shown below :
BILEMY MEANING - NEAR BY WORDS
Bilemy
BILLY GOAT= बकरा (pr. {bakara} )(Noun)

 

[newyooper]

I often use a standard fake name when meeting some people. I wonder if BB was just a name he made up?

I've often wondered the same thing, especially when you pronounce it phonetically: "Bill Billy-me" - I do wonder if his real name is Bill.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

I often use a standard fake name when meeting some people. I wonder if BB was just a name he made up?

I think this is pretty common for women but not so common for men.

Maybe if this whole hike was about reinventing himself and becoming who he wanted to be, the name was too?

"Ben" also means "son of" FWIW. Maybe his parents were Bill and Amy/Emmy/similar variant

 

[ilovepierre]

I've often wondered the same thing, especially when you pronounce it phonetically: "Bill Billy-me" - I do wonder if his real name is Bill.

Or possibly William.
Bill is a shorthand form of the name William.

IMO

 

[Owutatangledweb]

I still think the name means nothing more than "been billin' me" or "Ben, bill-a-me". Tired of spending money at hostels, signing into yet another hostel and makes up a name for it. I can't recall the first hostel he used that name at, but I think a closer look should be taken at name lists in hostels prior to the first use of that name. JMO.

 

[Trudie]

17-foot python with 73 developing eggs found in Florida nature preserve

This would be a deterrent for me hiking or searching the area.

 

[ilovepierre]

17-foot python with 73 developing eggs found in Florida nature preserve

This would be a deterrent for me hiking or searching the area.

Yikes!
I hate snakes.

 

[janewall]

I'm stuck on the oddness – and statistical uncommonness – of the surname Bilemy in the US, and the possibility that he intentionally used a Turkish phrase for "I don't know" as an alias. I wonder if he has some Turkish ancestry, or another reason (family or relationship ties to Turkey, or military service, prior travel, a past job assignment or studies in the country, etc?) for knowing a bit of the language.

 

[EllieGato]

Can't afford the funeral expenses, or is afraid they'll be responsible for the person's debts if they claim him.

This is one I have looked into a little bit. I think parents would not assume that these financial responsibilities would ultimately be left to them. A spouse may be more concerned about the debt their partner has accrued or the costs associated with death. In New York, if that is where you were married and resided with your spouse, you can get a divorce by publication after a year of legal separation when the spouse is in hiding or attempts to locate them have failed. It appears divorce by publication is one of the lower cost types of divorce you can obtain in New York.

It makes me wonder if there could be a spouse in New York waiting the full year since last contact to obtain a divorce by publication, which they feel would relieve them of the financial responsibilities associated with death or debt accrued prior to separation. If so, it could have been as late as Thanksgiving or Christmas time (2017) that they last spoke. It could have even been as late as July 2018... which would put the publication notices at August or Sept 2019, another 90 days for the divorce and then maybe they would claim or simply identify the deceased after that... which would ultimately mean 2020.

One MOO of many.