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

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fred&edna said:
Too many questionable actions or inactions when considering mental illness. Jmo
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THAT is mega true. It has always been my philosophy - and experience as a critical care nurse who took care of veterans among private sector others - that you cannot reason or expect reason with/from someone who has NONE. Mental illness has no REASON.
 
Some people go it alone in this world. No living family members, no close ties. Maybe it's the case here. There could still be people who cared about him... Even if they didn't tell him so.

All just guessing.

ETA:
Not at all the same but this story came to mind:

https://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/m_episodes/looking-for-mike
 
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Gardener1850 said:
Welcome to Websleuths, Recovery! Your English is very good. That is an interesting find. It seems that word only appears once in the story. I wonder if perhaps the author meant to used the word "Blimey" but instead wrote "Bilemy"?

Definition of Blimey:

blimey
[ˈblīmē]
EXCLAMATION
BRITISH
informal
  1. used to express one's surprise, excitement, or alarm.
ORIGIN
late 19th century: altered form of (God) blind (or blame) me!
[ˈblīmē]

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Is anyone here a fan of Dr Who? Do they say "blimey" a lot in Dr Who? If an author of fan fiction about the show could make that kind of spelling mistake perhaps Denim/Mostly Harmless also misspelled his alias name?
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Thank you for this explanation. I did not know the word “Blimey“.
I also thought that maybe “Bilemy“ is a well known term in Doctor Who and a fan could tell more about this.
 
Recovery said:
Thank you for this explanation. I did not know the word “Blimey“.
I also thought that maybe “Bilemy“ is a well known term in Doctor Who and a fan could tell more about this.
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Pretty big Doctor Who fan here. "Blimey" has definitely been used a good few times in the program, for it's a common expression in England, but I wouldn't say that it's said a lot. As for "Bilemy", I don't think it's a DW thing.
 
PropaneYeeter said:
Pretty big Doctor Who fan here. "Blimey" has definitely been used a good few times in the program, for it's a common expression in England, but I wouldn't say that it's said a lot. As for "Bilemy", I don't think it's a DW thing.
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Thank you. I know there are many American fans of Doctor Who. The British expression of "Blimey" is not really used in American everyday language in my experience. Since I believe that Denim was American I think it's possible he was a fan of Doctor Who and other British TV shows where the word Blimey might get used from time to time; Perhaps being an American he didn't know the correct spelling. When I hear the word spoken in British my American ears hear a short vowel sound before the l-- Phonetically I hear the word Blimey as: Bah-lime-me OR Beh-lie-me.
If he knew the word but didn't use it in writing before he might have been spelling it how he thought it sounded. He was out on the trail without any phone to look it up on the internet. And he might not have cared about spelling it correctly anyway since he was using this as an alias. All that mattered was that he spelled it consistently as "Bilemy" at more than one place.
MOO.
 
Catmammy said:
Always a possibility. Lack of carbohydrate to feed the brain? Still, isn't that a choice?
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No, it's not always a choice when someone starves to death. There are several medical conditions, infections or parasites that he could have unknowingly had that could lead to starvation despite him having food available. Look up Beriberi or Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. He had food at the campsite but that doesn't mean he starved because he chose not to eat it-- his body may not have been properly absorbing what he ate, he may have suffered some disease in which he lost his appetite or he may have not been able to keep food down. Cholera from contaminated water can also kill a person in a mater of days. We don't have enough info to say that he chose to die of starvation. MOO.
 
carbuff said:
That's an interesting thought about Bilemy and makes more sense than any other theory I've seen.
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It seems to fit with his sense of humor too-- to choose an expression of surprise as his alias' last name. One of the hikers who met him said he had a very good sense of humor and entertained everyone with jokes. I go back and forth between thinking he used a misspelling of Blimey and thinking perhaps he misspelled the surname Bellamy which is the name of a comedy actor he somewhat resembles (looks like a younger version of Denim IMO). Whether he knew he was not spelling the name properly or not is not so important-- I can see Denim thinking it was a great inside joke only he would understand, to use "Bilemy" as a last name. MOO.
 
Gardener1850 said:
No, it's not always a choice when someone starves to death. There are several medical conditions, infections or parasites that he could have unknowingly had that could lead to starvation despite him having food available. Look up Beriberi or Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. He had food at the campsite but that doesn't mean he starved because he chose not to eat it-- his body may not have been properly absorbing what he ate, he may have suffered some disease in which he lost his appetite or he may have not been able to keep food down. Cholera from contaminated water can also kill a person in a mater of days. We don't have enough info to say that he chose to die of starvation. MOO.
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Wouldn't one of those medical conditions have been discernible during autopsy? Quite certain they would have and been alluded to as the cause of death especially since W-K syndrome is related to extreme alcoholism which would demonstrate on other organs of the body such as the liver.
 
Gardener1850 said:
It seems to fit with his sense of humor too-- to choose an expression of surprise as his alias' last name. One of the hikers who met him said he had a very good sense of humor and entertained everyone with jokes. I go back and forth between thinking he used a misspelling of Blimey and thinking perhaps he misspelled the surname Bellamy which is the name of a comedy actor he somewhat resembles (looks like a younger version of Denim IMO). Whether he knew he was not spelling the name properly or not is not so important-- I can see Denim thinking it was a great inside joke only he would understand, to use "Bilemy" as a last name. MOO.
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I just noticed that there is a younger actor named Ben Bellamy. I know they aren't in any way associated, but I just read this post and did a quick search for an actor with that surname and stumbled on to him.
 
Catmammy said:
Wouldn't one of those medical conditions have been discernible during autopsy? Quite certain they would have and been alluded to as the cause of death especially since W-K syndrome is related to extreme alcoholism which would demonstrate on other organs of the body such as the liver.
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I'm not sure as I am not a medical examiner. But something else may have shown up on the autopsy and perhaps we (the public) have not been told more details due to medical privacy laws. We don't have the full ME report. Since he did not die from a crime I don't think we have a right to know his exact cause of death nor his medical background. If he had something serious like Aids or was a former alcoholic then the ME might choose not to release that info because to reveal it could bring lawsuits from his family later when he is identified. Knowing what exactly he died from really doesn't help identify him anyway. They may have only revealed that he died from starvation/malnutrition in order to make it clear to the public that this was not a homicide. MOO.
 
CaseyLPC said:
I just noticed that there is a younger actor named Ben Bellamy. I know they aren't in any way associated, but I just read this post and did a quick search for an actor with that surname and stumbled on to him.
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Yes, we have discussed the actor in the threads here before. I even had a crazy idea that Denim's real name might be the same name as a character that the actor plays. But that's probably too far-fetched. The simpler explanation is that someone might have told Denim at some point in his life that he looked like the actor. He might not even have been very familiar with the actor's work but perhaps he adopted a version of the actor's name as a nod to being told that-- not spelling the name correctly wouldn't matter because the joke was something for Denim himself to laugh about later in private. It's sort of the equivalent of message board users choosing their names like we did here on websleuths-- some of us might have chosen a famous person's name instead of revealing our real name. There's usually nothing nefarious about message board posters using fictitious screen names. So I'm choosing to see Denim's use of the Ben Bilemy alias at the hostels in much the same way. It may have had some meaning to him but it doesn't reveal to us his real life name. MOO.
 
Would evidence of a long-term illness or disease be evident in his dental health? I realize LE's description of "perfect teeth" just tells us he had no dental work but... Even this would give clues of alcohol/substance abuse, maybe? Maybe I'm just thinking too much ;)
 
Is Couchsurfing still a thing? Evidently, there are photos posted of many members. Anyone here have access?
 
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