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

[Bit of hope]

I'm not entirely convinced that his story was fabricated. Hopefully it's okay if I get a little personal here.

I'm an only child, I started losing family relatively young since the generation gaps are pretty big in my family. I only have 4 cousins and only two of them I really chat with regularly - regularly for me is about twice a year. I never had children. I moved out of my home state for a little and when I returned "home", I didn't keep in contact with the friends I had out of state other than liking pictures on social media and stuff like that. There was a lot of turnover in the job I had out-of-state so there wouldn't be a group of people that had a collective big red flag raise if more than one of them tried to contact me and failed. They probably wouldn't know if I went missing. My family probably wouldn't know either unless one of them was seeking me out. Combine all of this and the fact I live in the biggest city in the states (just like MH claimed he did) where you can get lost in a crowd if you wanted to.

I can totally see this being the situation that MH was in. I think MHs parents are both diseased and/or there was a major break in those relationships. I don't think MH was ever married. I don't think MH worked for a company in NYC as much as he worked as a consultant for a company in NYC. He could have worked freelance and if a company sought him out for services he just wasn't there and they contacted someone else. No red flags raised. If he was only working in short bursts at companies, and possibly doing some IT work remotely, he may not have formed friendships and acquaintances with people at those jobs. Heck, if shown a picture, they might not even recognize him.

At least IMO all of this makes finding his footprints so difficult. He's out there though.

Thanks for sharing. Personally I like it very much you get more personal. I have a better view now on how things can go in somebody's live. I think at least parts, if not all, of your story are applicable to MH's story.

 

[Victoria Chambers]

I'm not entirely convinced that his story was fabricated. Hopefully it's okay if I get a little personal here.

I'm an only child, I started losing family relatively young since the generation gaps are pretty big in my family. I only have 4 cousins and only two of them I really chat with regularly - regularly for me is about twice a year. I never had children. I moved out of my home state for a little and when I returned "home", I didn't keep in contact with the friends I had out of state other than liking pictures on social media and stuff like that. There was a lot of turnover in the job I had out-of-state so there wouldn't be a group of people that had a collective big red flag raise if more than one of them tried to contact me and failed. They probably wouldn't know if I went missing. My family probably wouldn't know either unless one of them was seeking me out. Combine all of this and the fact I live in the biggest city in the states (just like MH claimed he did) where you can get lost in a crowd if you wanted to.

I can totally see this being the situation that MH was in. I think MHs parents are both diseased and/or there was a major break in those relationships. I don't think MH was ever married. I don't think MH worked for a company in NYC as much as he worked as a consultant for a company in NYC. He could have worked freelance and if a company sought him out for services he just wasn't there and they contacted someone else. No red flags raised. If he was only working in short bursts at companies, and possibly doing some IT work remotely, he may not have formed friendships and acquaintances with people at those jobs. Heck, if shown a picture, they might not even recognize him.

At least IMO all of this makes finding his footprints so difficult. He's out there though.

I really hope that if you ever get lost, somebody does notice. And hopefully recognise your picture if they saw it X

 

[jbennett]

What about this one. Not a great photo but it could work and the rest of the details would match.
Daniel Keith Smith Jr
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Bit of hope]

What about this one. Not a great photo but it could work and the rest of the details would match.
Daniel Keith Smith Jr
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

This is another picture of him, from the CP file. Daniel Keith Smith – The Charley Project

I don't think he looks like MH, seeing this picture.

 

[amytothekate]

I took so long to put together a post I was logged out and lost the entire thing. OOF.

Anyhow, I'm back with some (most likely unimportant) thoughts, as I still can't get MH off my mind.

• 1/14/2018
  • Trammel Trailhead, Pinhoti Trail, Brent, AL
• 1/24/2018
  • Florida Trail, Crestview, FL

On 1/14/2018, MH had an interaction at the Trammel Trailhead on the Pinhoti Trail. This is ~20 miles from the southern terminus of the Pinhoti. Another hiker who met MH on the Pinhoti reported MH told him he was only hiking ~10 miles/day. This would place MH at the southern terminus on 1/16/2018.

Between the Pinhoti and FT is the Alabama Road Walk. This is an approximately 226 mile hike. I found this hiker's blog, and it took him 11 days to complete, so he averaged 20 miles/day. Although I am certain the road walk passes more quickly due to the majority of it taking place on roads vs. undulating rocky/wooded terrain, I am dubious as to MH's ability to outpace an able-bodied hiker, given his apparent knee issues.

How could MH have possibly traversed the 20 miles to the Pinhoti's southern terminus, completed the Alabama Road Walk, and walked nearly 60 miles of the FT in just 10 days? It seems impossible. What seems more likely to me is MH kept on his 10 miles/day, reached the southern terminus of the Pinhoti on 1/16/2018, somehow got a ride to the beginning of the FT, and hiked the 60 miles to where he met the trail angel in Crestview on 1/24/2018.

No matter the method of travel (hitchhiking, bus, rental car, etc.), he almost certainly would have had an interaction during those 10 days, but none have been reported (to my knowledge). I don't have a point to make, just sharing my musings.

ETA: I know we touched on this at some point in either this or the earlier thread, but I finally decided to do a little more digging into the logistics involved over my lunch break today.

 

[janewall]

I took so long to put together a post I was logged out and lost the entire thing. OOF.

Anyhow, I'm back with some (most likely unimportant) thoughts, as I still can't get MH off my mind.

• 1/14/2018
  • Trammel Trailhead, Pinhoti Trail, Brent, AL
• 1/24/2018
  • Florida Trail, Crestview, FL

On 1/14/2018, MH had an interaction at the Trammel Trailhead on the Pinhoti Trail. This is ~20 miles from the southern terminus of the Pinhoti. Another hiker who met MH on the Pinhoti reported MH told him he was only hiking ~10 miles/day. This would place MH at the southern terminus on 1/16/2018.

Between the Pinhoti and FT is the Alabama Road Walk. This is an approximately 226 mile hike. I found this hiker's blog, and it took him 11 days to complete, so he averaged 20 miles/day. Although I am certain the road walk passes more quickly due to the majority of it taking place on roads vs. undulating rocky/wooded terrain, I am dubious as to MH's ability to outpace an able-bodied hiker, given his apparent knee issues.

How could MH have possibly traversed the 20 miles to the Pinhoti's southern terminus, completed the Alabama Road Walk, and walked nearly 60 miles of the FT in just 10 days? It seems impossible. What seems more likely to me is MH kept on his 10 miles/day, reached the southern terminus of the Pinhoti on 1/16/2018, somehow got a ride to the beginning of the FT, and hiked the 60 miles to where he met the trail angel in Crestview on 1/24/2018.

No matter the method of travel (hitchhiking, bus, rental car, etc.), he almost certainly would have had an interaction during those 10 days, but none have been reported (to my knowledge). I don't have a point to make, just sharing my musings.

ETA: I know we touched on this at some point in either this or the earlier thread, but I finally decided to do a little more digging into the logistics involved over my lunch break today.

Regarding the Alabama Road Walk, what are the chances MH caught rides for a good chunk of it? Pounding 226 miles of road on bad knees would be far more brutal than an equal amount of woodland trail – and it would explain how he covered atypical distances during the time he was on it.

I believe it was said upthread or in the first thread that he accepted rides during other segments of his journey, when weather was bad or for other reasons. For some reason western NC sticks out in my mind as one of those locations, but it could have become a habit when he wanted to make time, avoid walking on pavement, sucking vehicle exhaust etc. MOO

 

[amytothekate]

Some more thoughts from the peanut gallery.

I tried searching, but couldn't find an answer. Did CCSO provide an explanation as to why they haven't shared the contents of his notebook that contained code? Or did they, and I missed it? I'm one of five millennials not on Facebook (), so it's difficult to keep up with posts on that platform. The only information provided about the contents were some specific words: "spawn", "creep", and "algae pond." He told others he was working on an app/game for hikers, and these terms would make sense in the context of game development.

• Spawn: In video and computer games spawn is the reforming or appearance of a player somewhere in the game level. In first-person shooter (FPS) games, when a character is fragged (killed), the game is not over, but rather the character spawns in one of several set locations in the map and continues playing. (source: webopedia)
• Creep: Term that typically describes a class of non-player characters (NPC) in a video game.
  • Ex. 1 - Defense of the Ancients 2 (2010): Creeps are basic units in Dota 2. Every unit which is not a hero, building, ward or courier is considered a creep. Creeps can belong to either faction, be neutral, or be player-controlled units. Unlike heroes, creeps do not gain experience and cannot level up. All of their stats are set values (though can still be altered by modifiers). Most creeps grant a set gold and experience bounty to heroes when killed. There are two types of creeps: lane creeps and neutral creeps. Both types of creeps can be killed by players for gold and experience.
  • Ex. 2 - League of Legends (2009): Minions, also known as creeps, are expendable allied units that are generated automatically to charge into battle with the purpose of attacking enemy units in the lanes they are assigned.
• Algae Pond: Most likely specific to whatever he was developing.

Sharing the contents with the public could have a number of potential benefits. Examining function names, naming of variables, syntax, and even spacing would help identify the programming language he was using. Knowing the programming language would allow for an assessment of his proficiency and could help to confirm whether or not he actually worked in the industry, based on if he was using advanced structures and algorithms, or was more basic and had errors typical of a hobbyist with a career in a different field. The way somebody codes is truly as unique as a fingerprint.

You could then utilize sites like GitHub, OpenHub, StackOverflow and other common programming/development sites to identify posts and/or projects that match his coding patterns. It's pretty much a given that developers employ the use of these sites, since a lot of game development is done via frameworks that other people have developed and share on them - it is far more common for a developer to utilize, at the very least, chunks of pre-existing code than write their own entirely from scratch. These sites serve as code repositories to facilitate software development version control, since code is constantly being edited and rewritten. They allow for collaboration among amateur and professional developers alike.

Even if MH scrubbed his online presence, I believe very strongly that the developer community remains untapped in this case and could provide additional insights.

 

[Coffee56]

Some more thoughts from the peanut gallery.

I tried searching, but couldn't find an answer. Did CCSO provide an explanation as to why they haven't shared the contents of his notebook that contained code? Or did they, and I missed it? I'm one of five millennials not on Facebook (), so it's difficult to keep up with posts on that platform. The only information provided about the contents were some specific words: "spawn", "creep", and "algae pond." He told others he was working on an app/game for hikers, and these terms would make sense in the context of game development.

• Spawn: In video and computer games spawn is the reforming or appearance of a player somewhere in the game level. In first-person shooter (FPS) games, when a character is fragged (killed), the game is not over, but rather the character spawns in one of several set locations in the map and continues playing. (source: webopedia)
• Creep: Term that typically describes a class of non-player characters (NPC) in a video game.
  • Ex. 1 - Defense of the Ancients 2 (2010): Creeps are basic units in Dota 2. Every unit which is not a hero, building, ward or courier is considered a creep. Creeps can belong to either faction, be neutral, or be player-controlled units. Unlike heroes, creeps do not gain experience and cannot level up. All of their stats are set values (though can still be altered by modifiers). Most creeps grant a set gold and experience bounty to heroes when killed. There are two types of creeps: lane creeps and neutral creeps. Both types of creeps can be killed by players for gold and experience.
  • Ex. 2 - League of Legends (2009): Minions, also known as creeps, are expendable allied units that are generated automatically to charge into battle with the purpose of attacking enemy units in the lanes they are assigned.
• Algae Pond: Most likely specific to whatever he was developing.

Sharing the contents with the public could have a number of potential benefits. Examining function names, naming of variables, syntax, and even spacing would help identify the programming language he was using. Knowing the programming language would allow for an assessment of his proficiency and could help to confirm whether or not he actually worked in the industry, based on if he was using advanced structures and algorithms, or was more basic and had errors typical of a hobbyist with a career in a different field. The way somebody codes is truly as unique as a fingerprint.

You could then utilize sites like GitHub, OpenHub, StackOverflow and other common programming/development sites to identify posts and/or projects that match his coding patterns. It's pretty much a given that developers employ the use of these sites, since a lot of game development is done via frameworks that other people have developed and share on them - it is far more common for a developer to utilize, at the very least, chunks of pre-existing code than write their own entirely from scratch. These sites serve as code repositories to facilitate software development version control, since code is constantly being edited and rewritten. They allow for collaboration among amateur and professional developers alike.

Even if MH scrubbed his online presence, I believe very strongly that the developer community remains untapped in this case and could provide additional insights.

Coding is definitely like a fingerprint. I can read code, write a little. Know just enough to be a little dangerous. I used to be much more involved in coding at a previous job and could usually tell you who coded something just by looking at the code. And I know people could read mine and know I had coded it. I believe seeing his code could aid in identifying him or at least get him in the correct circles to be identified.

 

[v0x]

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FL - FL - Big Cypress National Preserve, Male hiker, "Denim" and "Mostly Harmless", 23 July 2018 #3