He said that they were … “I don't think I was committed to Vance as a human. He had traveled without a phone or an ID. A few hours after the story went live, I got my first ID via DM. It brought some new attention to a cutting-edge type of genealogical analysis. One day he cut it all off and gave it to Locks of Love. He had never been bowling in Newport News. He told friends over the years that his father had deeply hurt him, but no one I spoke with seems to be clear exactly how. She still moved out that winter. His death … giardiasis? I detached myself as a person to Vance, in that I didn't want to get too attached to a dead stranger. We hear one part of a story and add another part that we hope might be true. In July 2020, it was announced that the Collier County Sheriff's Office was working with Othram Inc. to identify the decedent through forensic genealogy. As their relationship evolved, they decided to both move to New York City and live together. I never found him.”. “I became immediately engaged in the case and started to get a feeling that Mostly Harmless was a kind person, probably otherwise lonely as everyone else assumed. The puzzle was formally solved today, when Othram confirmed that the DNA of the hiker matched that of Rodriguez’s mother. There was no cellphone, ID, credit cards and apart from his hiking gear, just two notebooks (with coding notes) and critically $3,640 in cash. Maybe Rodriguez’s story is similar to Cody’s. He left no trace. The mysterious disappearance and death of Zigmund Adamski - murder or Alien abduction? Someone else met Mostly Harmless on the FT, near Paisley, Florida. Vance John Rodriguez was a man who was found deceased in Florida in 2018. When this man asked someone else “Who’s that guy?”, the reply was “He’s mostly harmless” or along those lines, so Mostly Harmless kept the trail name. I and others worked to confirm his identity, with the first press story about Rodriguez appearing in late December in Adventure Journal. Launched in 2018, Othram is a relatively new lab whose goal has been to partner with law enforcement agencies to solve cold case crimes and unidentified persons cases. SCBI plays a leading role in the Smithsonian’s global efforts to save wildlife species from extinction and train future generations of conservationists. To revist this article, visit My Profile, then View saved stories. “Outside was between the car and the building.”, According to Godso, Rodriguez didn’t graduate. His identity—and troubled past—were discovered by the internet. Marie, who lived with him as a friend for several years in his twenties, says he was angry that his parents had institutionalized him after the near suicide. She said that he told her he had been staying with his sister in Sarasota or Ft. Meyers FL area before starting the FT. She said he told her about working in the tech field. … Another hiker met Mostly Harmless, who he knew as Denim, at a shelter at Springer Mountain. The autopsy indicated that there were no signs of cardiac, liver or kidney damage nor drug issues. He checked out the next days since the hostel was closed for Thanksgiving on the 23rd. CCSO reached an agreement with Othram to potentially discover a relative for the hiker and close the case following widespread public interest. All attempts to identify the man came to nothing. Fairbanks took a few pictures of him. He had treated women poorly. Many small details seem to paint a larger picture showing Mostly Harmless Hikers retreat from society & death was premeditated, atleast as much as you can plan "the end" out in nature without firearms or chemical assistants. Occasionally they would go out and party; one friend of Rodriguez’s wrote that she remembers him coming to her dorm and playing “Nothing Else Matters” by Metallica on the piano. 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