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

[LadyBadWolf]

I have paid $50 twice to promote a tweet about the case. The tweet's gotten about 300 RT.

I think this method is really the way to go from here.

Targeted Facebook posts, particularly in FL to gain his sister's attention ( if she exists) or in NYC to target potential former co-workers or acquaintances may get some momentum going.

 

[Ursamajr]

The two men that found MH stated that he was twisted like a pretzel when they found him and he was looking directly at them. The opening of this tent is on the end where your head would go. The body contorts during rigor mortis but according to the information in the Sworn Statement podcast about MH, I got the impression that he was twisted in an exaggerated way. I wonder if he had tried to turn to crawl out of the tent. I also wonder if he was curled up in pain before right before he died. It really hurts to know he was in a desolate and uncared for campsite. They are lonely places.

He took out the insoles of his shoes as if to air them out or dry them before he was to use them again. He also placed them neatly and only about 3 inches from the door of the tent (you can see the very edge of the fly) and facing away from the fly flap as you would when you intended to get out of the tent in the next morning. I wonder how sick he could have felt if he prepared to easily get out of the tent in the morning. It's an easy tent to set up and I think he would have been able to set it up while he was fairly weak and/or slightly delirious from malnutrition. I spent 2 months setting up a tent around the US and it becomes muscle memory and only takes a few minutes.

I don't think any of this adds much but I just wanted to put some of my thoughts down.

 

[Tabirey]

Just my two cents about his weight loss:
Two years ago, I was hospitalized because of rapid weight loss, caused by what is called Malabsorption Syndrome. I literally lost 70lbs in just under 2mos. My potassium, magnesium, calcium and vitamin D were deathly low. I was literally on the edge of going into cardiac arrest. My only symptoms were the weight loss and just feeling overall weak/fatigued. The doctor figured out that it all started from me getting DEHYDRATED while working out and caused a vicious cycle of diarrhea that caused me not to absorb any nutrients.

He was found in July in Florida, was actively walking the trail. Exercise plus sweating could easily cause dehydration and in turn, diarrhea, a horrible cycle without getting medical treatment.
I wonder if what happened to me, happened to him? If so, the hasty campsite in an inhospitable area, would make sense if he was too fatigued to find something better.
I really wish we had a COD.

 

[neesaki]

Just my two cents about his weight loss:
Two years ago, I was hospitalized because of rapid weight loss, caused by what is called Malabsorption Syndrome. I literally lost 70lbs in just under 2mos. My potassium, magnesium, calcium and vitamin D were deathly low. I was literally on the edge of going into cardiac arrest. My only symptoms were the weight loss and just feeling overall weak/fatigued. The doctor figured out that it all started from me getting DEHYDRATED while working out and caused a vicious cycle of diarrhea that caused me not to absorb any nutrients.

He was found in July in Florida, was actively walking the trail. Exercise plus sweating could easily cause dehydration and in turn, diarrhea, a horrible cycle without getting medical treatment.
I wonder if what happened to me, happened to him? If so, the hasty campsite in an inhospitable area, would make sense if he was too fatigued to find something better.
I really wish we had a COD.

Thank you for your informative post. I’m sorry you went through that and so glad you recovered.

So if something like that... then add in a strong possibility of giardiasis which would significantly complicate things, and it becomes life threatening very quickly. Unable to keep anything down, then diarrhea making it even worse.

Maybe that’s why he had his shoes at the ready per @Ursamajr because he was so sick he needed to get out of the tent quickly. Poor guy, it’s too sad.

I would like to see COD as well.

 

[Owutatangledweb]

Using the search mechanism I cant find a listing for Todd Jay Hanson. I have never started a thread here but I am thinking this guy should have one. I do think there are some similarities to Mostly Harmless but it is hard to imagine someone being on the lam for close to 30 years.

Todd Jay Hanson – The Charley Project

I cant find him on Name Us either.

His teeth sure look good.

There's another picture there where he looks older and I don't see the similarity in that one.

 

[Ursamajr]

Snipped by me:

Just my two cents about his weight loss:
Two years ago, I was hospitalized because of rapid weight loss, caused by what is called Malabsorption Syndrome.

Thank you for sharing this and yikes this must have been terrifying and painful.

Other thoughts I have been having;

If MH had friends put his things in storage - where are these friends? Did they know he was going to be gone for a while? Since they put his stuff in storage, did they pay? Was it monthly? Did MH leave money behind to pay for this? Did he pay for months in one chunk? All of this implies he had friends that knew he was going somewhere. Even if he told them he would be traveling or camping for a while, I would be worried if I had done that for a friend and never heard from him again. Did he burn those bridges on purpose?

If he had perfect teeth and no physical issues or scars, it seems like he took good care of himself. He had regular doctors visits (at least the dentist) so why didn't he want to go to a doctor on the trail? He could have stopped into a walk in clinic where you don't have to have insurance and you could give an alias and pay in cash. @Tabirey - you said it took you two months to lose all of that weight. It seems like he was only traveling about 10 miles a day. Even with a slightly heavier pack, he wasn't getting the same amount of exercise most other hikers get. The weight loss wasn't overnight. For his height, 164.4 would be a "normal BMI weight". Under 121.7 lbs is underweight and 82 is severely underweight. He must have noticed something was wrong.

10 miles a day: he wasn't in a rush to get wherever he was going. Was his sister waiting? Did she know he was coming? Had he been in contact with her or had he been "no contact" as he was with the rest of his family. Maybe he was planning to reconcile with her and maybe thats why she hasn't been looking for him.

Back to the storage unit. Have Florida police been in contact with storage facilities in NY or NJ? Have there been any that have been abandoned in the time between April 2017 and July 2018? Would they keep records of abandoned storage unit auctions? Do they catalogue items (for tax reasons?) that are in the units when they are auctioned. One with 3 hard drives would be interesting to look into. I assume warrants would be needed to start down this road.

MH seemed a little paranoid (more like cautious) since he mentioned hackers to a fellow traveler. I'm surprised that, if true, he actually left those hard drives behind.

Everything makes me think he had plans to resurface at some point.

 

[buruczka]

@Ursamajr - if I remember right, he said he was "only able to hike about 10 miles per day", so I wouldn't interprete it in the way that he wasn't in a rush to get to his supposed destination, 10 miles was just the most he could do in one day and "about 10 miles" could mean 8-9 miles one day, 10 miles the next day and 10-11 miles the next. maybe he had some issues with his legs, knees (in one photo he was wearing these support bands around his knees, i have no idea how it's called in english)

because of the hackers thing, I agree that MH was a little paranoid. maybe he even had some mental issues, who knows.

also, do we know how long he might have been in his tent in the place that he was eventually found dead? did he set up the tent the night before and just didn't make it through this night or was he in that spot for a few days, unable to get out of the tent because he was too weak, dehydrated, hungry and weak?

 

[EllieGato]

There's another picture there where he looks older and I don't see the similarity in that one.

Just so there is no confusion, the second picture is of an entirely different person who also went missing and was later found dead, not Todd Hanson.

I think Todd Hanson is likely deceased, but I do see similarities in the looks, myself. Particularly the eyes and nose.

The picture of Todd Hanson is pretty close to how I imagine Ben Bilemy to look, say around age 20, about 25-30 years ago. His picture is circa 1989 so there is definitely an 80's vibe to it as well.

I passed my year book around to 6 coworkers last night opened to the page where you can see my senior picture. 36 pictures total to view and about half were guys' pics. I have the same bob haircut, the same color hair, and the same teeth as I did then. Only one person correctly identified me. And when I run into people from high school they always say I haven' t changed a bit. So its hard for me to put a lot of stock in what other people think about appearances... which only complicates things.

Also, when I show these 2 pictures to people, I always get, "they are not the same people" which is funny because we know they are the same guy.

 

[EllieGato]

Just for fun, here is another picture, only for comparison. I do not think he is Ben Bilemy.

This is Sven Petersson, who is wanted in Sweden for financial crimes. This guy would be close to 70 years old so it can not be a match. But when I imagine Ben Bilemy 5 years ago with more body mass and no facial hair, this is also how I imagine him. The nose and mouth appear smaller than Ben's but the shapes are all similar.

Efterlysta svenskar som söks i Spanien

 

[carbuff]

Heh, that is the closest facial match I've seen.

 

[EllieGato]

Heh, that is the closest facial match I've seen.

I know right!?! But what is even more funny is that Betaface facial recognition rates Todd Hanson pretty high as a possible match and rates Ol' Sven here as not a match at all. Which is opposite of the feedback I have gotten here. Also a portrait artist agreed with Betaface before I showed them the results.

I doubt he's either but comparisons add perspective.

 

[carbuff]

I know right!?! But what is even more funny is that Betaface facial recognition rates Todd Hanson pretty high as a possible match and rates Ol' Sven here as not a match at all. Which is opposite of the feedback I have gotten here. Also a portrait artist agreed with Betaface before I showed them the results.

I doubt he's either but comparisons add perspective.

That is interesting.

I think it's partly because the Swedish guy has such a lively face and that makes him look more similar to Denim's sparkly smile than TH's sober expression. I've read that people rely heavily on expression and context to identify other people, but the software isn't fooled by emotions.

 

[Pseudonymph]

The Swedish guy’s nose isn’t wide enough at the bottom.

 

[Pseudonymph]

Regarding the extreme weight loss, even though the body was not too decomposed, I still doubt that he was really 83 pounds at death. Postmortem weights can be completely wrong.

 

[kysunrise74]

I did an overlay with these and everything lined up perfectly on the faces. The eyes , the eyebrows, the mouth, nose, and chin. This is Jordan William Hall. Missing since 2001 from Buffalo New York. He would be 39 years old now. He was 20 yrs old when he went missing. There is also a thread on here about him in missing persons. What do you guys think? Could it be a possible match? The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Catmommy]

Just a thought; "Mostly Harmless" doesn't imply safe or harmless just "mostly". I wonder why he chose this handle. I wonder what it conveyed about his self image and what he might have done or been capable of. Just a thought.

 

[Suglo]

Just a thought; "Mostly Harmless" doesn't imply safe or harmless just "mostly". I wonder why he chose this handle. I wonder what it conveyed about his self image and what he might have done or been capable of. Just a thought.

One doesn’t normally choose their own handle while hiking a trail. It’s given to you by other hikers on the trail. It sounds like others named him Denim originally because he was hiking in jeans which isn’t typical these days. I wonder if someone else also gave him the Mostly Harmless handle and why they would do so?

 

[carbuff]

"Mostly harmless" is a tag line from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a book that is very popular among computer nerds of the previous generation. It's also the title of the fifth volume of the trilogy. I don't know whether the younger crowd is into it though. In the 80s and 90s, many computer geeks I knew could quote large portions from it.

 

[Pseudonymph]

I did an overlay with these and everything lined up perfectly on the faces. The eyes , the eyebrows, the mouth, nose, and chin. This is Jordan William Hall. Missing since 2001 from Buffalo New York. He would be 39 years old now. He was 20 yrs old when he went missing. There is also a thread on here about him in missing persons. What do you guys think? Could it be a possible match? The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

He is four inches taller and that third nipple is a very important distinguishing mark. I suppose he could have had it removed. I definitely see the resemblance but his eyes aren’t as close together.

 

[Onaliv]

I did an overlay with these and everything lined up perfectly on the faces. The eyes , the eyebrows, the mouth, nose, and chin. This is Jordan William Hall. Missing since 2001 from Buffalo New York. He would be 39 years old now. He was 20 yrs old when he went missing. There is also a thread on here about him in missing persons. What do you guys think? Could it be a possible match? The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Not sure I see a strong resemblance, but you never know and kudos for finding a possible. Still hard to believe this UID is still unknown!