Identified! FL - Big Cypress Natl Preserve, Male Hiker, Denim & “Mostly Harmless” July 2018 - Vance Rodriguez#4

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His autopsy was sent to Dr Cyril Wecht, a well known and well respected forensic pathologist. His assessment was that MH died of starvation and suffered. The question remains as to why. I believe he was anorexic because Obsidian said he was obsessed with counting caloric intake and miles traveled. I think he got to that camp weak, and hoped someone might stumble upon him, because he didn't have the reserves to hike any further. MOO
I think it is obvious he starved to death. But we know he made it to Nobles in mid April and was found in July. No way he had enough food with him to go for 3 months. We know he was eating, just not enough. Maybe he was hitting the rest area for snacks occasionally?

I also find it hard to believe nobody went through the camp between his arrival until he was found. A lot of people get off on Alligator Alley to look at wildlife.
 
He was NOT diagnosed with an obstruction.



He was NOT diagnosed with an obstruction or an impaction. He had a full bladder and full bowel. So he was eating and drinking. But not eating enough to survive.

We don't really know what the full bowel was comprised of. It could have been a combination of normal stool and hardened stool. It wasn't expanded on, in the AR.

The problem with cachexia, it is not a reversable state. When you see images of starving children in Ethiopia with distended bowels and wasted bodies they will not survive. Malnourishment is one thing, cachexia is completely different. In the body's attempt to maintain survival by consuming body mass, it's started an irreversible path to death. Even if someone had found Denim while still alive, even a week before, he would not have survived.

When the body consumes its own mass it hampers the ability for the body to perform voluntary and involuntary acts. One of which is voiding the bowel.
When you look at the shocking pictures of Denim's body, especially those where he has been turned on his front you see his full and complete wasting of his glutes. He would not have been able to stand without the muscles in his buttocks. His ribs, clavicle, pelvic area, knees, are completely devoid of muscle; even his temples have lost their temporalis muscles which would aid in chewing food.

Here are some links regarding cachexia:
What Happens When We Starve? Phases of Starvation

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/coping/physically/diet-
problems/types/cachexia
 
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We don't really know what the full bowel was comprised of. It could have been a combination of normal stool and hardened stool. It wasn't expanded on, in the AR.

The problem is with cachexia is it is not a reversable state. When you see images of starving children in Ethiopia with distended bowels and wasted bodies they will not survive. Malnourishment is one thing, cachexia is completely different. In the body's attempt to maintain survival by consuming body mass, it's started an irreversible path to death. Even if someone had found Denim while still alive, even a week before, he would not have survived.

When the body consumes its own mass it hampers the ability for the body to perform voluntary and involuntary acts. One of which is voiding the bowel.
When you look at the shocking pictures of Denim's body, especially those where he has been turned on his front you see his full and complete wasting of his glutes. He would not have been able to stand without the muscles in his buttocks. His ribs, clavicle, pelvic area, knees, are completely devoid of muscle; even his temples have lost their temporalis muscles which would aid in chewing food.

Here are some links regarding cachexia:
What Happens When We Starve? Phases of Starvation

https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/coping/physically/diet-
problems/types/cachexia
Yeah he was really thin. I wonder how long before he died would a refeeding program been successful? At some point, the body consumes its own tissue, including heart muscle.

I am of the opinion that if he would have had an impaction, the ME would have diagnosed it.
 
I have the photos. I see what you are referring to. To me, it looks like a scar. :(

*ETA: I can't look at these again. It is visible in photo 0074

They are hard to look, I agree. When I look at the images I acknowledge that these images were taken late at night in a dense forest canopy. It would have been very dark and I presume LE and medical staff would have used strong lighting to aid in documenting the scene. It does have a tendency to cause shadowing which could appear as scarring. When I reviewed the images I could only find one real laceration on Denim's body and that was on the right leg above the knee.
 
Yeah he was really thin. I wonder how long before he died would a refeeding program been successful? At some point, the body consumes its own tissue, including heart muscle.

I am of the opinion that if he would have had an impaction, the ME would have diagnosed it.

Based on the level of decomp (found fairly recent after death) and the extreme level of cachexia, I believe a feeding program would have been unsuccessful.

About the full bowel, you have already stated that the AR was lacking so I think this may have been one of those skimmed over details. Plus I think that initially this UID was considered a transient, someone much older than he was, and the ME did not anticipate the intense interest in the case.
 
It's a little heartbreaking that MH focused so much of his time and knowledge trying to create a way to keep future hikers healthy and fed and then ends up starved and malnourished himself. I'm so glad there is so much new interest in this case and so many new names on his thread - it looks like we may get an ID soon. That said, I'm now preparing to never get the answer I've been asking for for so long - "why?".
 
Based on the level of decomp (found fairly recent after death) and the extreme level of cachexia, I believe a feeding program would have been unsuccessful.

About the full bowel, you have already stated that the AR was lacking so I think this may have been one of those skimmed over details. Plus I think that initially this UID was considered a transient, someone much older than he was, and the ME did not anticipate the intense interest in the case.

He looked like an Auschwitz survivor and most of those emaciated survivors were able to re-feed and develop relatively normal bodies after that trauma. I've seen anorexic people in his exact condition come back from it. People's bodies can get better after incredible, seemingly insurmountable deprivation. That said, yes, it's definitely possible a refeeding program wouldn't have worked, but it might have.
 
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He looked like an Auschwitz survivor and most of those emaciated survivors were able to re-feed and develop relatively normal bodies after that trauma. I've seen anorexic people in his exact condition come back from it. People's bodies can get better after incredible, seemingly insurmountable deprivation. That said, yes, it's definitely possible a refeeding program wouldn't have worked, but it might have.
I did a little reading on starvation and refeeding disease over my lunch break. Ironic.

A lot of the research came from WWII, not Auschwitz victims but instead Japanese soldiers who surrendered and were in a state of starvation. I think he could have been saved. The first week is critical for survival and with some basic blood tests the docs know what to feed and when.

Reading about the psychological issues from starvation was more impactful to me than seeing his pictures. Dr. Wecht was right, he went through some pain and at the end, a lot of delirium. I think the penile abrasions could be attributed to self mutilation which is one of the psychological issues that accompanies late stage starvation.
 
He looked like an Auschwitz survivor and most of those emaciated survivors were able to re-feed and develop relatively normal bodies after that trauma. I've seen anorexic people in his exact condition come back from it. People's bodies can get better after incredible, seemingly insurmountable deprivation. That said, yes, it's definitely possible a refeeding program wouldn't have worked, but it might have.

I would hope against hope I was wrong. I like the idea he could have been recovered if found before he died. I think about this man all the time. He is such an enigma.
 
As of 5 hours ago, according to Othram’s comment in the Facebook group (Unidentified male hiker Ben Bilemy 2018), they’ve raised a total of $1,451.00 towards testing in this case. Here’s a little explanation behind the crowdfunding taken from that update:
upload_2020-7-17_15-14-44.jpeg
ETA: When asked about the total goal: $5,000 is the amount we are raising. This covers all aspects from extraction thru genealogy.
 
I did a little reading on starvation and refeeding disease over my lunch break. Ironic.

A lot of the research came from WWII, not Auschwitz victims but instead Japanese soldiers who surrendered and were in a state of starvation. I think he could have been saved. The first week is critical for survival and with some basic blood tests the docs know what to feed and when.

Reading about the psychological issues from starvation was more impactful to me than seeing his pictures. Dr. Wecht was right, he went through some pain and at the end, a lot of delirium. I think the penile abrasions could be attributed to self mutilation which is one of the psychological issues that accompanies late stage starvation.

I was reading about the survivors in concentration camps that were liberated by the Russians and other allies. According to the Holocaust Museum, many of those liberated died within a week. Here's an excerpt from the link.

"British, Canadian, American and French troops also freed prisoners from the camps. The Americans were responsible for liberating Buchenwald and Dachau, while British forces entered Bergen-Belsen. Although the Germans had attempted to empty the camps of surviving prisoners and hide all evidence of their crimes, the Allied soldiers came upon thousands of dead bodies "stacked up like cordwood," according to one American soldier. The prisoners who were still alive were living skeletons.

Bill Barrett, an American army journalist, described what he saw at Dachau: "There were about a dozen bodies in the dirty boxcar, men and women alike. They had gone without food so long that their dead wrists were broomsticks tipped with claws. These were the victims of a deliberate starvation diet..."

Allied troops, physicians, and relief workers tried to provide nourishment for the surviving prisoners, but many of them were too weak to digest food and could not be saved. In spite of the liberators' efforts, many camp survivors died. Half of the prisoners discovered alive in Auschwitz died within a few days of being freed."

Liberation
 
I was reading about the survivors in concentration camps that were liberated by the Russians and other allies. According to the Holocaust Museum, many of those liberated died within a week. Here's an excerpt from the link.

"British, Canadian, American and French troops also freed prisoners from the camps. The Americans were responsible for liberating Buchenwald and Dachau, while British forces entered Bergen-Belsen. Although the Germans had attempted to empty the camps of surviving prisoners and hide all evidence of their crimes, the Allied soldiers came upon thousands of dead bodies "stacked up like cordwood," according to one American soldier. The prisoners who were still alive were living skeletons.

Bill Barrett, an American army journalist, described what he saw at Dachau: "There were about a dozen bodies in the dirty boxcar, men and women alike. They had gone without food so long that their dead wrists were broomsticks tipped with claws. These were the victims of a deliberate starvation diet..."

Allied troops, physicians, and relief workers tried to provide nourishment for the surviving prisoners, but many of them were too weak to digest food and could not be saved. In spite of the liberators' efforts, many camp survivors died. Half of the prisoners discovered alive in Auschwitz died within a few days of being freed."

Liberation
Yeah, that's a terrible account. And I know it is true. But, that was a report from the battlefield, in horrendous conditions. We have learned a lot since WWII, specifically how to avoid refeeding syndrome. I am guessing MH, had he been found alive, would have been transported to Ryder Trauma Center at Miami Jackson, a level 1 center a little over an hour away (by car) from where he was found. If anybody could have fixed him up they could. They see patients from all over Florida and the Caribbean and I am told they've dealt with starvation before after the Haiti earthquakes.

Like you said above, he's such an enigma.

I need to make it out to Noble Camp, I want to see it for myself. I can't get out there before next weekend. I am so curious how he could be out there for months and not encounter one person who realized he needed some help.
 
Yeah, that's a terrible account. And I know it is true. But, that was a report from the battlefield, in horrendous conditions. We have learned a lot since WWII, specifically how to avoid refeeding syndrome. I am guessing MH, had he been found alive, would have been transported to Ryder Trauma Center at Miami Jackson, a level 1 center a little over an hour away (by car) from where he was found. If anybody could have fixed him up they could. They see patients from all over Florida and the Caribbean and I am told they've dealt with starvation before after the Haiti earthquakes.

Like you said above, he's such an enigma.

I need to make it out to Noble Camp, I want to see it for myself. I can't get out there before next weekend. I am so curious how he could be out there for months and not encounter one person who realized he needed some help.

I find it even more awful that he could have been just days away from being found alive. How terrible. One thing that really hit me when looking at the mess in his tent, was after all he was going through he still put his garbage up in a tree to avoid littering.
 
I find it even more awful that he could have been just days away from being found alive. How terrible. One thing that really hit me when looking at the mess in his tent, was after all he was going through he still put his garbage up in a tree to avoid littering.
I know, right? One more aspect of him "leaving no trace."
 
Random thoughts:

1. He was visiting a deceased sister in Florida. Her grave maybe.

2. His family knows this is him. Maybe he was sick or maybe this was an accidental/unexpected death, but his family knew there was a chance they’d never see him again and everyone was “okay” with that. He could have left his life behind and not told anyone his plans but, for reasons we aren’t aware of, there was an agreement for his family not to claim him if ever he were found like this.

3. Unlikely, but could we be looking for a long missing child? DNA probably wouldn’t be available and of course visual comparison would be difficult, but it’s something I’ve not entirely ruled out. Again, unlikely.

4. I think he was on the lower end of the estimated age range.

5. I think his online presence was just that, online only. Take this forum for example. Many of us “know” one another and would very easily notice if one of us seemingly disappeared from the site, but would we necessarily be able to identify that person based off of a post mortem reconstruction and a few vague details? No, not in most instances. I think the extent of Denim’s online presence will prove to be similar.

6. I’ve tried reading back through to when it was first discussed and couldn’t find anything, but was anyone able to extract anything of value from the Go Pro footage?

My 2 cents FWIW. Coming up on two years unidentified, I feel like we could have answers soon. Thanks to everyone working tirelessly to try to identify our handsome hiker!
 
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