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Downloaded from
YTS.MX

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[keyboard keys clacking]

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Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

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[man] Sometimes,
what the internet does

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is it makes you think

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you can understand somebody

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or you know what
somebody's intentions were.

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But, you don't.

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[911 operator]
Collier County, 911.

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What is the address
of your emergency?

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[man] Um, I'm at Big Cypress
National Preserve.

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Uh, we just found
a dead body.

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[911 operator]
Are you on the trail?

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[man] Yeah. I'm on the trail

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and then the dead body

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is at the Camp Nobles site.

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It's in a tent, like,
I just... Like,

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and it's, kind of, curled up,

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like it's trying to get out.

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[911 operator]
And did you check on it

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to see if it was breathing
or anything?

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[man] Yeah. I mean,
I didn't touch it,

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I looked at it.

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We yelled, "Hello?"

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He looked really skinny

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and really, um...

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Like, I don't know,
it's like a weird color.

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[911 operator]
All right. Thank you.

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[David H]
This is Southwest Florida,

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well-known
for the wildness,

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the swamplands.

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July is a very wet,
extremely hot month.

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Not the time of year

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you typically
have people camping.

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It is out in the middle
of The Everglades.

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We responded out to the area.

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We approached the tent.

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When we discovered the scene,

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we observed
that he did appear

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to be very thin,

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thin to the point
that it's unnatural.

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But we found that
he did have food

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and we found a considerable
amount of cash.

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So it was not like this person
was indigent

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or had no resources available.

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[lizard croaking]

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[David H] There were notebooks

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that had several pages

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of what appeared to be codes.

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You don't know
if it's the ramblings
of a madman

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or if it's the writings
of a genius.

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We quickly found that
there was nothing there

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with a name on it.

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No wallet, no credit cards,

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no photo ID.

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There was no cell phone,
no tablet.

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We've got a guy out
in a campground,

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we don't really know
who he is,

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but, you know, you assume
that it's a local person.

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How difficult
is this gonna be?

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Two or three days,
we'll have this guy ID'd,

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we'll get him back home
where he belongs.

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And that certainly turned out
not to be the case.

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[man] The Puritan Cleaners
team has earned

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over 4,000 five-star reviews.

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They are the reason
we can say,

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"At Puritan, it's right,

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it's ready, or it's free."

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Need more time
getting laundry [indistinct]

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at Puritan Cleaners
[indistinct]

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[car engine starts]

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[voice prompt]
At the next light,

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turn right.

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[Christie] If it gets too hot
or too cold,

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say something.

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Because there's no
happy medium in here.

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This job is not
for the faint of heart.

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I've actually been
in three wrecks.

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I've been bitten by a dog.

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Basically, by day,
I'm a mild-mannered
delivery person

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who leaves clothes
at your door.

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And at night, I'm on a laptop
or on my iPhone...

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[car door closes]

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[Christie] ... trying to get

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unidentified people
identified.

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In this country,
there are anywhere

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from 30,000 to 80,000
unidentified people,

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most don't have anybody
fighting for them.

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They're forgotten about.

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Well, they have me.

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This is my first case.

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I went onto Facebook
and I remember seeing

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that there's a group
about him, and I was like,

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"Oh, cool." So I hit "add,"

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and I got in.

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I just felt like
maybe I could help.

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I never thought
it would get this far.

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[David H]
The medical examiner's office

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was unable to determine

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the cause of his death.

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He was at approximately
83 pounds total body weight.

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That is beyond
extremely thin.

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He was into
the malnourished territory.

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00:06:03,930 --> 00:06:06,830
There was no trauma,
no injuries,

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no noted diseases,

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no illicit drugs
in his system.

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The only thing that it did
come back to was Tylenol.

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That can stay in your system
from 24 to 72 hours.

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So we thought that
within the last day or two

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of his passing, he was still
fully functioning.

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There's a truck stop
that was probably within

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five or seven miles
from where he was located.

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He could have
walked out to I-75

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and he could have flagged
somebody down

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if he needed assistance
that badly.

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[David H] We ran fingerprints,

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DNA through local, national,

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and global databases.

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No DNA, no fingerprints,
no dental records.

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At this point,
it gets passed over

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to our criminal researchers.

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Hi.

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Uh, my name is Kristin Adams.

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I'm the...

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Do you want me to say
Criminal Research Investigator

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or Investigative Specialist,
which one?

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I'll restart, but which one
do you want me to use?

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When we have
an unidentified person,

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we do check our missing
persons reports first.

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When the traditional
ways of identification

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were exhausted,
a flyer was completed

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in an effort to obtain some
assistance from the community.

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We put characteristics,
height, weight.

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He did have a faint scar
on his abdomen

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but no tattoos.

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[David H] We tried to edit
the photographs

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that we had from the scene

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to have something
that wasn't graphic

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to the point
that would be disturbing.

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Well, it, kind of,
reminded me

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of the caveman
in the GEICO ad, basically,

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with his mouth
gaping wide open.

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It's not a glamor shot.

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We had to work
with what we had

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00:08:03,430 --> 00:08:05,570
so that if somebody
had saw him,

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even with a full head of hair

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looking like Grizzly Adams,

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they would recognize him.

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[Kristin] We released it
to the local media,

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and then we also released it
on our social media.

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[David H] We reached out
to the hiking community.

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They posted it
on their websites.

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We had a lot of people
start to reach out to us.

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[monitor beeps]

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That's when we found someone
that recognized him.

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-[producer] Hi.
-Hi.

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[laughs]

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I guess I never really paid
much attention

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to composites before,
but, um, August 2nd,

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I was at work, and I decided
to take a quick break

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and sat down
and opened up Facebook.

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And as soon
as I saw the composite,

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I knew who it was immediately.

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I met him six months
prior to him being found

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deceased on the trail.

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00:09:06,830 --> 00:09:08,970
At the time,
I was a trail angel.

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00:09:08,970 --> 00:09:12,800
A trail angel is just someone
who provides an unexpected act

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00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,870
of kindness to a hiker
on the trail,

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whether it be water
or a snack or, um,

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just something unexpected.

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That morning, I put together
a little baggie of things,

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crackers, Kool-Aid mixes.

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And I found a hiker.

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He was walking towards me.

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It looked like an older man.

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His eyes gave away that
he wasn't that old.

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He had younger-looking eyes,
very beautiful eyes.

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00:09:49,330 --> 00:09:51,570
Oh, yeah, he was cute.
[laughs]

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00:09:53,670 --> 00:09:56,030
I introduced myself
to him as Kelly,

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00:09:56,030 --> 00:09:58,070
and he said,
"Well, I'm Mostly Harmless."

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I just recognized
that it's a trail name,

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didn't think twice about it

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00:10:04,900 --> 00:10:07,330
because every hiker
has a trail name.

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It's usually given to them
by another hiker

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00:10:10,230 --> 00:10:12,130
based on something
that happens on the trail

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00:10:12,130 --> 00:10:13,530
or something they did
on trail.

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A name comes up and it sticks.

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I heard that he got
his trail name

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00:10:19,230 --> 00:10:22,070
when he was walking
into a campsite one evening,

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00:10:22,070 --> 00:10:24,830
and there were people
sitting around the campfire,

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and they invited him
to join them

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00:10:27,230 --> 00:10:28,830
as long as he didn't bite.

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00:10:28,830 --> 00:10:31,300
And he told them
that he was mostly harmless.

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00:10:33,830 --> 00:10:37,470
I asked him if he was using
the Florida trail app

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00:10:37,470 --> 00:10:39,900
and he said, "Well,
I'm not carrying a phone."

196
00:10:39,900 --> 00:10:42,370
And I said, "What do you mean
you're not carrying a phone?"

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00:10:42,370 --> 00:10:44,970
He's like,
"I just wanted to disconnect.

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00:10:44,970 --> 00:10:47,300
You know, sometimes
people wanna do that."

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00:10:47,300 --> 00:10:49,900
Uh, I thought it was kinda
reckless and dangerous.

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00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:52,600
[David H] People who wanna
get off the grid

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00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:54,230
typically still have
a cell phone.

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00:10:54,230 --> 00:10:56,530
The fact that he had no means

203
00:10:56,530 --> 00:10:59,270
whatsoever to gain assistance

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00:10:59,270 --> 00:11:03,500
was something that we thought
was intentional and unusual.

205
00:11:08,070 --> 00:11:11,100
I had a bunch of stickers
to promote Florida Trail,

206
00:11:11,100 --> 00:11:12,230
and I said,
"If you don't mind,

207
00:11:12,230 --> 00:11:13,870
can I take a picture of you
with the sticker?"

208
00:11:13,870 --> 00:11:16,270
And he's like, "Not at all,"
so he held it up, smiled,

209
00:11:16,270 --> 00:11:18,470
and I clicked his picture.

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00:11:29,400 --> 00:11:31,100
[David H] We had,
uh, a sense of hope.

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00:11:31,100 --> 00:11:33,270
"Oh. Somebody knows this guy."

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00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:40,170
[Kelly] I immediately went
to the Florida Trail group,

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00:11:40,170 --> 00:11:42,030
posted my pictures,

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00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,570
and start tagging names
in the comments.

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00:11:45,570 --> 00:11:46,970
It just... It just blew up.

216
00:11:50,070 --> 00:11:52,700
The trail community
is like family.

217
00:11:52,700 --> 00:11:55,700
So there was shock
that this was our hiker

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00:11:55,700 --> 00:11:57,370
and he was deceased.

219
00:11:58,830 --> 00:12:01,400
Other trail angels
were tagging people

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00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:04,100
that I hadn't tagged.
It moved fast.

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00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:05,500
You know, people were
throwing out ideas,

222
00:12:05,500 --> 00:12:06,930
"Check here, check there,"

223
00:12:06,930 --> 00:12:07,930
then it started branching out

224
00:12:07,930 --> 00:12:09,300
to the Appalachian Trail
groups.

225
00:12:09,300 --> 00:12:11,200
The hikers,
kind of, flooded in

226
00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:14,500
and they gave their pictures
and what they knew.

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00:12:16,030 --> 00:12:18,530
[Kelly] There was a GoPro
video that someone had shot.

228
00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:25,270
There had to have been
25, at least, people

229
00:12:25,270 --> 00:12:27,100
that definitely
crossed his path.

230
00:12:27,100 --> 00:12:28,370
He was seen in Georgia,

231
00:12:28,370 --> 00:12:29,570
he was seen in North Carolina.

232
00:12:30,470 --> 00:12:31,930
[Brandon] I was shocked

233
00:12:31,930 --> 00:12:33,600
because I thought,
"Holy shit.

234
00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:34,970
Like, look at this,
this is Denim,

235
00:12:34,970 --> 00:12:36,330
this is the guy
I camped with."

236
00:12:37,500 --> 00:12:39,630
He introduced himself to me
as Denim,

237
00:12:39,630 --> 00:12:41,270
and I never heard
Mostly Harmless

238
00:12:41,270 --> 00:12:43,530
until after everything
came out.

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00:12:44,570 --> 00:12:46,470
[MJ] He had a good feel
about him.

240
00:12:46,470 --> 00:12:48,170
He was quiet, though.

241
00:12:48,170 --> 00:12:50,800
[Mike] I remember thinking
he's friendly,

242
00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:52,570
easygoing.

243
00:12:52,570 --> 00:12:55,430
It came out that
he had worked in IT

244
00:12:55,430 --> 00:12:57,570
and that he was really great
with computers.

245
00:12:57,570 --> 00:13:00,070
[Mike] His backpack,
it was huge.

246
00:13:00,070 --> 00:13:02,230
That was, kind of, unusual.

247
00:13:03,770 --> 00:13:05,870
There was small bits

248
00:13:05,870 --> 00:13:08,070
of personal information
that he would reveal.

249
00:13:08,070 --> 00:13:10,800
[Brandon] We connected
every Doctor Who in sci-fi.

250
00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,530
They came up that
he probably was from Brooklyn.

251
00:13:13,530 --> 00:13:16,330
Somebody would say Brooklyn,
somebody would say The Bronx.

252
00:13:16,330 --> 00:13:18,070
He said that
he was from Louisiana.

253
00:13:18,070 --> 00:13:20,100
I would get Sarasota
and Saratoga.

254
00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:27,330
Each contact, each bit
of information that we had

255
00:13:27,330 --> 00:13:29,230
was very repetitious.

256
00:13:29,230 --> 00:13:31,170
"Yeah, I met him.
Yeah, here's a picture.

257
00:13:31,170 --> 00:13:34,400
Yeah." But no,
I didn't get a name.

258
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:37,630
"What's his name?"
And I'm like, "I don't know."

259
00:13:37,630 --> 00:13:39,230
I think we figured
at some point,

260
00:13:39,230 --> 00:13:40,730
someone's going to say,

261
00:13:40,730 --> 00:13:42,670
"Oh, sure, that's so and so."

262
00:13:42,670 --> 00:13:44,570
"No, we didn't get a name.
No, we didn't get a name.

263
00:13:44,570 --> 00:13:45,670
No, we didn't get a name."

264
00:13:45,670 --> 00:13:48,170
He never seemed
to give that information.

265
00:13:48,170 --> 00:13:50,700
[Kelly] I was, like,
"Hopefully,
somebody has something

266
00:13:50,700 --> 00:13:52,330
so we can identify this guy."

267
00:13:52,330 --> 00:13:54,500
"Oh, my gosh.
This is so easy.
What's his name?

268
00:13:54,500 --> 00:13:55,800
Somebody had to get his name."

269
00:14:09,470 --> 00:14:11,900
[David H] The hiking community
helped us

270
00:14:11,900 --> 00:14:15,470
develop a history
from where he was first seen

271
00:14:15,470 --> 00:14:16,970
to where he wound up.

272
00:14:19,370 --> 00:14:22,630
We began to realize
that he had been traveling

273
00:14:22,630 --> 00:14:24,770
the Appalachian Trail

274
00:14:24,770 --> 00:14:28,070
from the north area
towards Florida.

275
00:14:28,930 --> 00:14:31,500
This wasn't just
a Florida hiker.

276
00:14:31,500 --> 00:14:34,300
He traveled over
thousands of miles.

277
00:14:34,300 --> 00:14:35,870
[David H]
This is pretty unusual.

278
00:14:37,030 --> 00:14:38,930
We started researching
the trail,

279
00:14:38,930 --> 00:14:40,700
the AT, as they call it.

280
00:14:41,630 --> 00:14:44,430
I believe over 3,000 attempt

281
00:14:44,430 --> 00:14:46,400
the Appalachian Trail
alone itself every year.

282
00:14:47,870 --> 00:14:50,100
[Kristin]
There are portions of it
that are heavily traveled,

283
00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:53,000
and then there are portions
where it's very desolate.

284
00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:54,870
You have to have a certain
level of fitness,

285
00:14:54,870 --> 00:14:57,070
a certain level
of determination

286
00:14:57,070 --> 00:14:59,200
that you wanna do this,
that you're gonna
reach this goal

287
00:14:59,200 --> 00:15:01,730
regardless of what
is standing in your way.

288
00:15:02,700 --> 00:15:05,300
[David H] It's a very
close-knit community.

289
00:15:05,300 --> 00:15:09,370
[MJ] The trail is full
of people who have made time

290
00:15:09,370 --> 00:15:12,070
in their lives
to be introspective.

291
00:15:12,870 --> 00:15:14,270
[Kelly]
People do come to the trail

292
00:15:14,270 --> 00:15:15,800
as a way to escape.

293
00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:17,530
A lot of hikers
come from all over

294
00:15:17,530 --> 00:15:19,530
and they end up
in what they call bubbles,

295
00:15:19,530 --> 00:15:21,330
and they end up
hiking together

296
00:15:21,330 --> 00:15:23,970
for short term or long term.

297
00:15:23,970 --> 00:15:26,830
[Christie] He crossed paths
with a lot of people.

298
00:15:26,830 --> 00:15:30,330
We figured out
who he was as a person

299
00:15:30,330 --> 00:15:34,300
could give ideas
of how he got to where he was

300
00:15:34,300 --> 00:15:35,800
and where
we could possibly look.

301
00:15:37,870 --> 00:15:39,630
I noticed that
there was a hiker

302
00:15:39,630 --> 00:15:42,770
in the Facebook group,
Magpie.

303
00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:49,030
He kept coming
in contact with her,

304
00:15:49,030 --> 00:15:53,130
and I got the impression
that they bonded.

305
00:15:53,130 --> 00:15:54,970
-[dog barking]
-[MJ] I love it, you know,
I wanna make...

306
00:15:54,970 --> 00:15:57,070
[dogs barking]

307
00:15:59,500 --> 00:16:01,500
[MJ] I think all the times
I met him

308
00:16:01,500 --> 00:16:04,970
were in October of 2017.

309
00:16:04,970 --> 00:16:08,030
[dogs barking]

310
00:16:10,230 --> 00:16:12,530
[indistinct chatter]

311
00:16:16,170 --> 00:16:17,600
[woman] Come on.

312
00:16:18,730 --> 00:16:20,700
[MJ] CJ. He won't come.

313
00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:21,730
Kitty, kitty.

314
00:16:21,730 --> 00:16:23,470
Well, I talk a lot.

315
00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:31,030
Most people hiking
are in a big hurry,

316
00:16:31,030 --> 00:16:33,030
especially the young men.

317
00:16:33,030 --> 00:16:36,300
I am never surprised
that an old lady like myself

318
00:16:36,300 --> 00:16:39,470
is easily dismissed
as irrelevant.

319
00:16:40,870 --> 00:16:44,300
So, yes, I was, um,
pleasantly surprised

320
00:16:44,300 --> 00:16:45,800
that this young man
would talk to me.

321
00:16:49,070 --> 00:16:51,370
I was 68 when I said,

322
00:16:51,370 --> 00:16:53,830
"Oh, I'm gonna do about half
the Appalachian Trail."

323
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,400
And I had friends
who, kind of, laughed

324
00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:00,730
and acted like,
"That's just really hard."

325
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:06,430
I wanted to see
if I could still do it.

326
00:17:10,430 --> 00:17:12,230
And that's when I met him.

327
00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:15,530
I was just walking up
the trail

328
00:17:15,530 --> 00:17:19,800
and this guy was coming down
and he stopped.

329
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:22,100
I noticed his pack
was abnormally large and...

330
00:17:22,100 --> 00:17:24,170
Which is a little bit
unusual for a hiker...

331
00:17:24,170 --> 00:17:25,730
A thru-hiker, especially.

332
00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:30,070
He asked me why my name
was Magpie, and I said,

333
00:17:30,070 --> 00:17:31,900
"Oh, because it's a big
noisy bird,

334
00:17:31,900 --> 00:17:34,100
but I don't like
shiny objects."

335
00:17:35,800 --> 00:17:37,700
He said, "That sounds like

336
00:17:37,700 --> 00:17:39,830
something a magpie
would say."

337
00:17:39,830 --> 00:17:42,730
So he immediately reached
into his trash bag

338
00:17:42,730 --> 00:17:44,000
and he handed me

339
00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:45,770
a shiny gum wrapper.

340
00:17:49,030 --> 00:17:50,500
I wish I'd saved it.

341
00:17:53,830 --> 00:17:56,100
I live for the connection
with people

342
00:17:56,100 --> 00:17:58,100
and I don't always have it.

343
00:17:59,170 --> 00:18:01,500
Oh, I just felt like
I knew him,

344
00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:04,330
knew him from the inside,
his soul, if you will.

345
00:18:04,330 --> 00:18:06,500
I felt that in my spirit,

346
00:18:06,500 --> 00:18:08,100
it's like in my heart.

347
00:18:12,030 --> 00:18:14,170
He was kind to me.
What can I say?

348
00:18:14,170 --> 00:18:16,330
I cannot say that any better.
He was kind.

349
00:18:20,400 --> 00:18:23,700
I did not know him
as Mostly Harmless.

350
00:18:23,700 --> 00:18:25,900
Uh, I knew him only as Denim.

351
00:18:26,930 --> 00:18:28,600
That was his early trail name.

352
00:18:30,900 --> 00:18:34,070
I said, "Was that because
you were hiking in blue jeans

353
00:18:34,070 --> 00:18:35,370
when you first started?"

354
00:18:35,370 --> 00:18:38,130
And he readily, uh, said yes.

355
00:18:41,870 --> 00:18:45,300
Later on, I met him again
at this little cafe.

356
00:18:45,300 --> 00:18:47,570
I saw him sitting there
with a young woman.

357
00:18:48,930 --> 00:18:50,600
I didn't expect to see him.

358
00:18:51,500 --> 00:18:54,300
But he did,
kind of, call me over.

359
00:18:54,300 --> 00:18:56,330
After we had chatted
for a while,

360
00:18:56,330 --> 00:18:57,870
I came up with the idea of,

361
00:18:57,870 --> 00:19:00,130
"Well, what's your real name,
Denim?"

362
00:19:00,130 --> 00:19:03,900
And he acted like
he didn't wanna say.

363
00:19:03,900 --> 00:19:06,970
And so I said,
"Well, if we guess it,

364
00:19:06,970 --> 00:19:08,030
will you tell us?"

365
00:19:09,270 --> 00:19:10,830
Oh, yeah, he'd do that.

366
00:19:10,830 --> 00:19:12,830
So I just went down
the alphabet.

367
00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:16,530
It was just for fun.

368
00:19:16,530 --> 00:19:20,330
But I think he did
tell me his name.

369
00:19:23,500 --> 00:19:25,500
But I could not remember.

370
00:19:29,030 --> 00:19:31,470
[Kelly] He started the trail
wearing jeans.

371
00:19:31,470 --> 00:19:33,300
That's a no-no.

372
00:19:33,300 --> 00:19:35,700
You want the thinner cloths,

373
00:19:35,700 --> 00:19:38,670
the wick-away moisture,
that kind of thing.

374
00:19:38,670 --> 00:19:42,070
For experienced hikers,
they would know
not to wear jeans.

375
00:19:42,070 --> 00:19:44,430
They would know not to carry
a very heavy backpack.

376
00:19:44,430 --> 00:19:47,270
This is somebody who,
for whatever reason,

377
00:19:47,270 --> 00:19:50,770
decided to start hiking
in the recent past.

378
00:19:50,770 --> 00:19:52,930
[birds chirping]

379
00:19:52,930 --> 00:19:55,270
[Christie]
Doing the Appalachian Trail
on the fly

380
00:19:55,270 --> 00:19:57,930
is like going
from walking around

381
00:19:57,930 --> 00:20:00,300
the block to running
the Boston Marathon.

382
00:20:00,300 --> 00:20:02,770
You just don't do it.

383
00:20:02,770 --> 00:20:04,430
[David H] And when you take
into consideration

384
00:20:04,430 --> 00:20:07,430
that he had
fairly expensive gear

385
00:20:07,430 --> 00:20:09,830
and that the gear
seemed fairly new,

386
00:20:09,830 --> 00:20:11,800
you think, "Oh, wait a minute.

387
00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:13,970
There's something here
that we can look into."

388
00:20:13,970 --> 00:20:17,770
We released another bulletin,
additional photos of him,

389
00:20:17,770 --> 00:20:19,400
including one of his tent.

390
00:20:21,100 --> 00:20:22,730
We were always hopeful

391
00:20:22,730 --> 00:20:24,430
that one more person
would contact us.

392
00:20:24,430 --> 00:20:26,200
I just needed that one tip.

393
00:20:28,270 --> 00:20:30,170
And then a gentleman
called and said

394
00:20:30,170 --> 00:20:32,370
that he recognized his tent

395
00:20:32,370 --> 00:20:34,000
from this flyer on Facebook

396
00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:37,230
and said that he had sold that
to our decedent.

397
00:20:39,130 --> 00:20:42,300
So we looked through receipts
to see if anything

398
00:20:42,300 --> 00:20:44,200
could give us a clue
to his identity.

399
00:20:46,170 --> 00:20:48,070
We determined he used cash,

400
00:20:48,070 --> 00:20:50,130
but the business owner
realized that he must have

401
00:20:50,130 --> 00:20:51,630
stayed at the hostel
next door.

402
00:20:52,700 --> 00:20:55,430
And that hostel would
not allow the hikers

403
00:20:55,430 --> 00:20:58,170
to sign in
under a trail name.

404
00:20:58,170 --> 00:21:00,630
They required an actual name.

405
00:21:04,700 --> 00:21:06,730
We looked through the logbook

406
00:21:06,730 --> 00:21:08,430
of everyone that stayed there

407
00:21:10,100 --> 00:21:13,900
and found that
he had signed in

408
00:21:13,900 --> 00:21:15,070
under a name.

409
00:21:21,470 --> 00:21:23,430
[David H]
And we thought, "Okay.

410
00:21:23,430 --> 00:21:25,100
We have something
to work with."

411
00:21:26,200 --> 00:21:28,330
We located
several Ben Bilemys.

412
00:21:28,330 --> 00:21:29,970
We reached out
and made contact.

413
00:21:29,970 --> 00:21:31,600
Obviously, they were alive

414
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,500
and they were not
my deceased hiker.

415
00:21:34,500 --> 00:21:36,370
We came up empty-handed.

416
00:21:36,370 --> 00:21:39,370
And we knew at that point
that he had just chosen

417
00:21:39,370 --> 00:21:41,300
to use an alias
for signing in.

418
00:21:45,330 --> 00:21:47,670
[David H] He was definitely

419
00:21:47,670 --> 00:21:49,930
trying to stay anonymous.

420
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:55,200
A fake name and a trail name,
and that's all we had.

421
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:57,200
If he's going to this extent,

422
00:21:57,200 --> 00:21:59,200
putting this much effort

423
00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:00,930
into leaving no footprint,

424
00:22:00,930 --> 00:22:05,000
maybe there's a reason for him
not wanting to be identified.

425
00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:12,400
This person may have
been a suspect

426
00:22:12,400 --> 00:22:14,430
in a crime that occurred
somewhere else.

427
00:22:14,430 --> 00:22:16,430
[crows cawing]

428
00:22:16,430 --> 00:22:18,470
[eerie music playing]

429
00:22:19,930 --> 00:22:21,600
[MJ] Anytime somebody said
he was a criminal,

430
00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:23,070
I thought, "I don't think so.

431
00:22:23,070 --> 00:22:25,030
I don't think so."

432
00:22:25,030 --> 00:22:27,970
Just didn't fit anything
I knew about him.

433
00:22:30,600 --> 00:22:32,870
He let people take
pictures of him.

434
00:22:32,870 --> 00:22:35,370
How can this guy stay hidden?

435
00:22:35,370 --> 00:22:39,430
We began to realize
that any possibility

436
00:22:39,430 --> 00:22:41,300
was in play for this case.

437
00:22:45,230 --> 00:22:47,930
Initially, we attempted
all traditional methods

438
00:22:47,930 --> 00:22:50,800
of identifying our decedent.

439
00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,530
We were grasping at anything
we could at that point.

440
00:22:54,530 --> 00:22:58,030
The notebook
which had computer code,

441
00:22:58,030 --> 00:22:59,970
it was mathematical
equations,

442
00:22:59,970 --> 00:23:02,330
things that frankly
we looked at

443
00:23:02,330 --> 00:23:04,900
and didn't understand.

444
00:23:04,900 --> 00:23:07,600
We knew it was a long shot,
but at that point,

445
00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:11,530
we wanted to exhaust
every possible resource.

446
00:23:14,100 --> 00:23:15,830
All right,
let's release the notebooks.

447
00:23:15,830 --> 00:23:17,530
Let's see if anybody
can recognize it.

448
00:23:23,170 --> 00:23:24,730
[Nicholas]
My name is Nicholas Thompson.

449
00:23:24,730 --> 00:23:26,400
I'm the CEO of The Atlantic.

450
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:28,670
And I was formerly
the Editor-in-Chief of WIRED.

451
00:23:28,670 --> 00:23:31,570
I was checking my email

452
00:23:31,570 --> 00:23:35,830
and I got a note
in the secret tip jar I keep

453
00:23:35,830 --> 00:23:38,270
for story ideas,

454
00:23:38,270 --> 00:23:40,870
saying, "Hey, there's
an interesting case

455
00:23:40,870 --> 00:23:43,470
about a hiker
who disappeared."

456
00:23:43,470 --> 00:23:47,400
It was the sort of
this incredible tale.

457
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:49,600
WIRED is a magazine about
the big issues in tech.

458
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,230
For example, privacy.

459
00:23:53,000 --> 00:23:55,400
Recognizing just
how hard it is

460
00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,770
to disappear in 2020

461
00:23:57,770 --> 00:24:00,270
that I thought,
this is really interesting.

462
00:24:02,370 --> 00:24:05,570
So I said, "You know what?
I can make this a story."

463
00:24:05,570 --> 00:24:07,100
As I started investigating,

464
00:24:07,100 --> 00:24:09,970
the authorities had released
the notebooks publicly,

465
00:24:09,970 --> 00:24:11,670
and no one knew what it was.

466
00:24:13,530 --> 00:24:15,100
Could he be mining Bitcoin?

467
00:24:15,100 --> 00:24:17,600
Could he be writing
JavaScript?

468
00:24:17,600 --> 00:24:20,600
And then the notes
were posted online,

469
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:23,670
and it turned out, these were
instructions in code

470
00:24:23,670 --> 00:24:25,400
for a game called Screeps.

471
00:24:27,230 --> 00:24:29,700
It's a programming game
for programmers

472
00:24:29,700 --> 00:24:33,630
where you basically create
worlds and fortresses.

473
00:24:33,630 --> 00:24:35,870
But it was not like a game
where you go in

474
00:24:35,870 --> 00:24:37,830
and you try to shoot
the robots.

475
00:24:37,830 --> 00:24:39,730
You write code,

476
00:24:39,730 --> 00:24:42,100
which will both protect
your fortress

477
00:24:42,100 --> 00:24:44,900
and attack other people's
fortresses or raid them.

478
00:24:44,900 --> 00:24:46,830
And even when you're not
playing the game,

479
00:24:46,830 --> 00:24:47,830
your code is running.

480
00:24:49,170 --> 00:24:53,230
So this hiker had built
a world and a game

481
00:24:53,230 --> 00:24:55,600
that was still playing
even while he was gone.

482
00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,630
There was this sense that
you could reverse engineer,

483
00:24:59,630 --> 00:25:02,430
that you could figure out,
"Oh, this is the code,

484
00:25:02,430 --> 00:25:05,400
so we must find a character
who plays like that code."

485
00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:07,400
And so people went
into Screeps

486
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:09,600
and they tried to find
the identity

487
00:25:09,600 --> 00:25:11,300
of Mostly Harmless.

488
00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:16,970
But they weren't
able to get anywhere.

489
00:25:18,070 --> 00:25:20,470
And then people in
the Facebook group

490
00:25:20,470 --> 00:25:22,230
contacted Screeps
administrators,

491
00:25:23,930 --> 00:25:25,600
but people who invented it
are programmers

492
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:27,270
making a game
for programmers.

493
00:25:27,270 --> 00:25:30,570
Programmers tend to care
a lot about privacy.

494
00:25:30,570 --> 00:25:32,870
So yeah,
they protected his privacy,

495
00:25:34,730 --> 00:25:36,670
and it ended up
being a dead end.

496
00:25:38,770 --> 00:25:41,430
I have no doubt
that part of the reason

497
00:25:41,430 --> 00:25:42,970
it was so hard to find
Mostly Harmless

498
00:25:42,970 --> 00:25:45,200
was because he was
very good at tech

499
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,100
and worked very hard
to not create a digital trail,

500
00:25:48,100 --> 00:25:50,630
and to erase
whatever he had left.

501
00:25:52,870 --> 00:25:55,570
Someone somewhere
was missing him,

502
00:25:55,570 --> 00:25:58,200
but they didn't know
he was gone.

503
00:26:02,830 --> 00:26:06,030
He had to have
a family somewhere.

504
00:26:06,030 --> 00:26:07,870
The longer it got,
the less likely it was

505
00:26:07,870 --> 00:26:09,200
he was gonna be named.

506
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,230
So I had to do something.

507
00:26:13,170 --> 00:26:14,770
Basically, I clock out

508
00:26:14,770 --> 00:26:16,230
and I'll sit down
at a computer.

509
00:26:22,370 --> 00:26:24,470
I come here because
the internet's better.

510
00:26:26,170 --> 00:26:28,600
I spend most of my life here.

511
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:31,630
I myself read pretty much
physically everything

512
00:26:31,630 --> 00:26:33,530
on the internet
that I can find about him

513
00:26:33,530 --> 00:26:34,870
and then I memorized it.

514
00:26:35,870 --> 00:26:39,170
And then the person
that owned the group,

515
00:26:39,170 --> 00:26:42,070
she came to me and said,
"You know the case very well."

516
00:26:42,070 --> 00:26:43,470
I go, "Thank you. Yes."

517
00:26:43,470 --> 00:26:46,030
And she goes, "Would you like
to be a moderator?"

518
00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:49,530
And I'm like, "Yes."

519
00:26:53,300 --> 00:26:55,630
When I was younger,
I wanted to join the FBI

520
00:26:55,630 --> 00:26:58,200
and I wanted to be
a profiler.

521
00:26:58,200 --> 00:26:59,970
And then my family,

522
00:26:59,970 --> 00:27:02,600
the house burned
to the ground.

523
00:27:04,630 --> 00:27:07,300
We lost everything we had.

524
00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:10,700
My dreams had to be
put on hold.

525
00:27:11,670 --> 00:27:14,630
I couldn't afford to go
get a college degree.

526
00:27:19,230 --> 00:27:22,370
I just channeled
all that energy

527
00:27:22,370 --> 00:27:25,970
into the finding a name,

528
00:27:26,870 --> 00:27:28,900
finding a loved one,

529
00:27:28,900 --> 00:27:30,800
finding that person.

530
00:27:32,230 --> 00:27:33,670
He was not getting
internet famous

531
00:27:33,670 --> 00:27:36,070
fast enough for my taste.

532
00:27:36,070 --> 00:27:41,470
And I figured
I had to start somewhere.

533
00:27:41,470 --> 00:27:46,270
We went literally
from Maine to Florida,

534
00:27:46,270 --> 00:27:48,030
county by county,

535
00:27:48,030 --> 00:27:51,400
calling and emailing
every police agency,

536
00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:53,100
every media outlet,

537
00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:55,370
trying to get some attention.

538
00:27:57,130 --> 00:27:58,330
I'm here to do a job,

539
00:27:58,330 --> 00:28:00,300
and that's to get him
his name back,

540
00:28:00,300 --> 00:28:01,730
no matter what.

541
00:28:13,130 --> 00:28:16,030
[David H] The first
six months were busy,

542
00:28:16,030 --> 00:28:18,600
a lot of activity,
a lot of information.

543
00:28:20,000 --> 00:28:22,000
By this point in
the investigation,

544
00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:24,470
we've had hundreds of tips.

545
00:28:24,470 --> 00:28:29,570
The vast majority were...
not helpful.

546
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,200
The frustration
just started to set in.

547
00:28:40,670 --> 00:28:42,970
We had exhausted

548
00:28:42,970 --> 00:28:45,400
all of our traditional tools
in our toolbox.

549
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:47,530
We didn't have any
new doors to open.

550
00:28:49,800 --> 00:28:51,270
Shit. What else can we do?

551
00:28:57,270 --> 00:28:58,830
At a certain point,

552
00:28:58,830 --> 00:29:00,570
you have to look
outside the box.

553
00:29:03,030 --> 00:29:04,400
The Collier County
Sheriff's Office,

554
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:06,600
under the direction
of Sheriff Kevin Rambosk,

555
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:08,430
presents Sworn Statement,

556
00:29:08,430 --> 00:29:11,800
a podcast covering local cases
and public safety issues,

557
00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:14,500
all unfolding right here
in Southwest Florida.

558
00:29:14,500 --> 00:29:17,470
And then the great idea
for the podcast came up.

559
00:29:17,470 --> 00:29:19,000
It's not something
that I'm aware

560
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:20,330
that we have done before.

561
00:29:20,330 --> 00:29:21,770
[Kristine]
Let's say you wanted

562
00:29:21,770 --> 00:29:23,370
to disappear tomorrow.

563
00:29:23,370 --> 00:29:24,830
What would you do?

564
00:29:24,830 --> 00:29:27,430
Well, for starters,
you'd ditch your cell phone.

565
00:29:27,430 --> 00:29:29,530
Everything from your name
to your location

566
00:29:29,530 --> 00:29:31,600
and bank accounts
are tied to it,

567
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:34,570
and you'd want to get rid
of your social media
accounts too.

568
00:29:34,570 --> 00:29:36,870
I know that true crime
is a huge genre.

569
00:29:36,870 --> 00:29:38,670
Let's try to reach out
to that community

570
00:29:38,670 --> 00:29:41,300
to try to, kind of,
put the pieces together.

571
00:29:41,300 --> 00:29:43,530
[Kristine] The first three
episodes of this podcast

572
00:29:43,530 --> 00:29:46,300
will focus on the mystery
of the deceased hiker,

573
00:29:46,300 --> 00:29:48,170
known as Mostly Harmless.

574
00:29:48,170 --> 00:29:50,100
If I wanted
to disappear tomorrow,

575
00:29:50,100 --> 00:29:51,230
it would be impossible.

576
00:29:51,230 --> 00:29:55,100
I cannot scrub the internet
of my likeness.

577
00:29:55,930 --> 00:29:57,470
He was such a mystery,

578
00:29:57,470 --> 00:29:59,830
and I think
that that was something

579
00:29:59,830 --> 00:30:01,730
that, kind of, piqued
everyone's interest.

580
00:30:03,570 --> 00:30:05,330
[Christie] The group grew

581
00:30:05,330 --> 00:30:07,170
because the word
was getting out.

582
00:30:08,700 --> 00:30:11,070
[Kristine] We got 10,000
or 12,000 listens

583
00:30:11,070 --> 00:30:13,370
that first couple months.

584
00:30:13,370 --> 00:30:15,070
When we hear stories
like this

585
00:30:15,070 --> 00:30:16,430
of a man who died alone,

586
00:30:16,430 --> 00:30:18,370
not having breathed
his real name

587
00:30:18,370 --> 00:30:21,670
to a single soul for the last
year of his life,

588
00:30:21,670 --> 00:30:23,300
we wanna know why.

589
00:30:27,430 --> 00:30:29,630
[Natasha]
I do not identify as a member

590
00:30:29,630 --> 00:30:31,070
of the true crime community.

591
00:30:32,970 --> 00:30:36,030
The outdoor world, like,
is just to me, it's,

592
00:30:36,030 --> 00:30:39,100
like, it's home, you know.

593
00:30:43,000 --> 00:30:45,100
There is a commitment
to the outdoor world,

594
00:30:45,100 --> 00:30:47,070
like, we take care
of each other.

595
00:30:47,070 --> 00:30:48,700
We're not gonna leave
each other behind.

596
00:30:48,700 --> 00:30:51,600
If someone gets hurt,
you get them out.

597
00:30:52,700 --> 00:30:55,330
And I think
that played a big factor

598
00:30:55,330 --> 00:30:58,400
in how I felt
about this case.

599
00:30:58,400 --> 00:31:00,100
This was a member
of my community.

600
00:31:00,100 --> 00:31:01,900
This was an outdoor person

601
00:31:01,900 --> 00:31:03,170
and I had to take care of him.

602
00:31:05,130 --> 00:31:07,370
I don't know anything
about sleeping cases.

603
00:31:07,370 --> 00:31:10,770
I didn't think I was a person
who could do that.

604
00:31:10,770 --> 00:31:13,370
But I had been home
with COVID

605
00:31:13,370 --> 00:31:15,600
and I'm not sure
what to do with myself.

606
00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,570
And I started digging
further on Google

607
00:31:18,570 --> 00:31:21,500
and that's how I ended up
finding the Facebook group.

608
00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:28,170
So I joined the group,
and it was chaos.

609
00:31:31,700 --> 00:31:34,600
Christie Harris was the sole
moderator for the group

610
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:36,670
and everyone was just,
kind of, coming in,

611
00:31:36,670 --> 00:31:39,200
doing these weird
random posts.

612
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:41,470
[Christie]
His case brought the crazies

613
00:31:41,470 --> 00:31:43,270
out of the woodwork.

614
00:31:43,270 --> 00:31:44,970
There were theories

615
00:31:44,970 --> 00:31:47,470
that he could have been
an international spy.

616
00:31:47,470 --> 00:31:49,770
Oh, yeah. The time traveler.

617
00:31:49,770 --> 00:31:51,530
Someone thought
he may have been an alien.

618
00:31:51,530 --> 00:31:54,400
Okay. Let's just work
with what we have.

619
00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:56,630
I don't wanna dissuade
people from calling.

620
00:31:56,630 --> 00:31:58,570
We want any and
all information.

621
00:31:58,570 --> 00:32:00,170
We hope for good information.

622
00:32:00,170 --> 00:32:03,930
Another person thought
he may have been a ghost,

623
00:32:03,930 --> 00:32:07,030
like, an actual
reincarnated ghost

624
00:32:07,030 --> 00:32:09,330
that was walking the earth.

625
00:32:09,330 --> 00:32:11,230
Whenever one woman
saw a picture

626
00:32:11,230 --> 00:32:13,170
of him standing in front
of those billboards,

627
00:32:13,170 --> 00:32:14,830
he's standing too close to it,

628
00:32:14,830 --> 00:32:16,970
so she decided
he couldn't see,

629
00:32:16,970 --> 00:32:20,030
and he couldn't find
the food in his tent.

630
00:32:20,030 --> 00:32:22,630
Yeah. This is, kind of, dumb.

631
00:32:22,630 --> 00:32:25,330
[Kristin] Sometimes the leads
weren't actionable and...

632
00:32:25,330 --> 00:32:28,970
Though they believed in them
very strongly.

633
00:32:28,970 --> 00:32:31,270
[Natasha] A lot of the stuff,
it was just distractions

634
00:32:31,270 --> 00:32:33,430
from accomplishing the task,

635
00:32:34,430 --> 00:32:36,300
figuring out
who the hell this guy is.

636
00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:39,770
I think we really, really
thought we were gonna get

637
00:32:39,770 --> 00:32:43,100
the solution from something
that he told a hiker.

638
00:32:43,100 --> 00:32:44,570
So I read the account

639
00:32:44,570 --> 00:32:46,600
by a hiker named
Brandon Dowell

640
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,230
who met Mostly Harmless
in Georgia.

641
00:32:57,330 --> 00:32:58,700
[Brandon] I think
there's a lot of hurt people

642
00:32:58,700 --> 00:32:59,730
on the trail.

643
00:33:02,200 --> 00:33:04,700
There is an interesting
dichotomy of people having

644
00:33:04,700 --> 00:33:08,030
the time of their lives
and people also

645
00:33:08,030 --> 00:33:11,070
having this time
of growth and healing.

646
00:33:11,070 --> 00:33:14,100
And, you know,
if you're looking

647
00:33:14,100 --> 00:33:15,630
for that kind of
companionship,

648
00:33:15,630 --> 00:33:16,700
I think you'll find it.

649
00:33:16,700 --> 00:33:17,730
And I think that's
what happened

650
00:33:17,730 --> 00:33:18,730
with me and Denim.

651
00:33:18,730 --> 00:33:21,000
[woman laughs]

652
00:33:23,700 --> 00:33:25,870
Don't rush me.

653
00:33:25,870 --> 00:33:27,800
[Brandon] Everybody's Russian.

654
00:33:27,800 --> 00:33:31,400
I first started going
to the trail

655
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:33,630
when I was 17.

656
00:33:33,630 --> 00:33:37,870
I was just dealing
with so much, like, anger

657
00:33:37,870 --> 00:33:39,870
and I felt it would
solve my problems

658
00:33:39,870 --> 00:33:42,130
to, kind of, pack up and go

659
00:33:42,130 --> 00:33:44,100
and just go hike and restart

660
00:33:44,100 --> 00:33:46,970
and maybe not come back.

661
00:33:53,370 --> 00:33:55,330
The trip where I met Denim,

662
00:33:55,330 --> 00:33:57,970
I wanted to go out
for a couple days.

663
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:04,700
I got to Amicalola.

664
00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:09,730
I hiked out that morning

665
00:34:09,730 --> 00:34:12,430
and ended up at Springer
Mountain Shelter.

666
00:34:13,830 --> 00:34:16,430
Maybe an hour or two
after I got there,

667
00:34:16,430 --> 00:34:18,600
I see this scraggly man
walking up

668
00:34:18,600 --> 00:34:20,270
and I'm like, "Oh, gosh.

669
00:34:20,270 --> 00:34:23,430
He looks like he's been out
for a long time."

670
00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:30,070
I was glad to see him
because, you know,

671
00:34:30,070 --> 00:34:32,270
you just want someone
to talk to, hang out,

672
00:34:34,230 --> 00:34:37,070
have some friends around
the fire with you,

673
00:34:37,070 --> 00:34:39,370
because I didn't have a lot
of friends in school.

674
00:34:43,330 --> 00:34:45,900
And we talked about a lot
of things over dinner.

675
00:34:47,600 --> 00:34:51,400
It was a lot of sci-fi girls
and childhood.

676
00:34:54,230 --> 00:34:55,930
He told me, you know,
"I just went

677
00:34:55,930 --> 00:34:59,200
through a breakup
not too long ago."

678
00:34:59,200 --> 00:35:01,670
It seemed like it was fresh
in his mind, you know,

679
00:35:01,670 --> 00:35:04,330
to mention one
specific breakup.

680
00:35:06,000 --> 00:35:07,530
As the night continued,
you know,

681
00:35:07,530 --> 00:35:09,170
things did get deeper.

682
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:13,470
You know, we talked
more about childhood.

683
00:35:16,230 --> 00:35:19,630
The only story in particular
that I remember is

684
00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:22,400
his dad took him out
into the yard one day

685
00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:23,730
and tried to fight him.

686
00:35:25,700 --> 00:35:28,630
I remember him telling me
that he just walked away.

687
00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:33,300
It seems like
he wanted to get away
from them, you know.

688
00:35:34,530 --> 00:35:36,070
I understood.

689
00:35:36,670 --> 00:35:40,000
When I was three,

690
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:42,670
my stepdad, Rob,
came into the picture.

691
00:35:42,670 --> 00:35:44,430
I don't know if I'm allowed
to say his name but,

692
00:35:44,430 --> 00:35:46,270
fuck that guy, so whatever.

693
00:35:48,030 --> 00:35:52,530
He immediately just began
this campaign of terror

694
00:35:52,530 --> 00:35:54,070
in the household.

695
00:35:55,200 --> 00:36:00,700
Denim, he had been there,
same place.

696
00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:05,430
To connect with somebody
on that level

697
00:36:05,430 --> 00:36:07,470
was really special.

698
00:36:09,800 --> 00:36:14,200
And we had breakfast together
the next morning.

699
00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,230
I just remember he ate a lot.

700
00:36:16,230 --> 00:36:18,970
He ate and ate and ate.

701
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:24,930
We packed up
and we walked to the junction

702
00:36:24,930 --> 00:36:28,470
of the Appalachian Trail
and the Benton MacKaye Trail.

703
00:36:31,030 --> 00:36:33,070
And I asked him
if he was sure that,

704
00:36:33,070 --> 00:36:35,800
you know,
he didn't wanna keep in touch.

705
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:39,000
And he just kind of
looked at me real sad

706
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:40,400
and shook his head no,

707
00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:44,130
and we shook hands
and that was it.

708
00:36:44,130 --> 00:36:45,470
We parted ways.

709
00:36:56,630 --> 00:37:00,130
You always think
that somebody is going to say,

710
00:37:00,130 --> 00:37:01,500
"Hey, you know,
I had a friend,

711
00:37:01,500 --> 00:37:03,930
I had a brother, I had a son,

712
00:37:03,930 --> 00:37:07,030
and I can't find him,
can't get in touch with him."

713
00:37:08,030 --> 00:37:10,530
And it was about maybe a year

714
00:37:10,530 --> 00:37:12,870
and no one had come forward.

715
00:37:12,870 --> 00:37:14,800
[Natasha] He's broken up
with his girlfriend

716
00:37:14,800 --> 00:37:17,630
and he was abused
by his father.

717
00:37:17,630 --> 00:37:20,000
A lot of people started
speculating then

718
00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:21,330
because of the history
of abuse

719
00:37:21,330 --> 00:37:24,630
that he may not have family
looking for him.

720
00:37:24,630 --> 00:37:27,870
So if no one is looking
for Mostly Harmless,

721
00:37:27,870 --> 00:37:29,530
the hikers were
the only people we knew

722
00:37:29,530 --> 00:37:32,430
that actually had talked
to this person.

723
00:37:32,430 --> 00:37:34,970
And I became obsessed with,
like, finding new hikers

724
00:37:34,970 --> 00:37:36,930
and talking to new hikers.

725
00:37:36,930 --> 00:37:39,600
But I was immediately told
by Christie Harris

726
00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,030
that that was not
something I could do.

727
00:37:42,030 --> 00:37:44,870
I had decided that the hikers

728
00:37:44,870 --> 00:37:48,330
were pretty much useless.

729
00:37:48,330 --> 00:37:50,330
[Natasha] Everything had to be
done through Christie.

730
00:37:50,330 --> 00:37:52,000
Posts had to be
Christie-approved.

731
00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,400
Searches had to be
Christie-approved.

732
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:54,870
If you wanna submit something

733
00:37:54,870 --> 00:37:56,100
to call your county
sheriff's office,

734
00:37:56,100 --> 00:37:57,800
guess who you had to tell
you're gonna do that?

735
00:37:57,800 --> 00:37:59,870
Sometimes,
you have to be the hammer

736
00:37:59,870 --> 00:38:03,470
and, frankly, not be nice
to get stuff done.

737
00:38:03,470 --> 00:38:05,370
She sent me a message
and said,

738
00:38:05,370 --> 00:38:06,600
"You should go fuck yourself.

739
00:38:06,600 --> 00:38:08,730
I've already heard from people
that say they don't like you."

740
00:38:08,730 --> 00:38:12,230
I was trying, in my opinion,
to keep order.

741
00:38:12,230 --> 00:38:15,970
I can't get the job done
of what I want to do

742
00:38:15,970 --> 00:38:17,570
if I've got,

743
00:38:17,570 --> 00:38:19,570
"Blah, blah, blah,
Natasha's doing this.

744
00:38:19,570 --> 00:38:21,400
Blah, blah, blah,
September is doing this."

745
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:23,070
The atmosphere was hostile.

746
00:38:23,070 --> 00:38:25,400
[Christie] I felt like
I was a babysitter,

747
00:38:25,400 --> 00:38:27,300
a referee,

748
00:38:27,300 --> 00:38:29,870
and in some cases,
a punching bag.

749
00:38:29,870 --> 00:38:31,800
I was told I was stupid.

750
00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:34,330
I was told I was an idiot.

751
00:38:34,330 --> 00:38:36,200
That's the red line for me.

752
00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:39,900
I hated being treated
like I was nothing.

753
00:38:39,900 --> 00:38:43,030
And I just said
I've had enough of this.

754
00:38:43,030 --> 00:38:44,500
Fuck you.

755
00:38:47,670 --> 00:38:50,100
I cruised through those
groups occasionally

756
00:38:50,100 --> 00:38:51,870
to see if there's
any new threads

757
00:38:51,870 --> 00:38:53,730
or any new information
or whatnot.

758
00:38:53,730 --> 00:38:55,730
When it starts to get,
you know,

759
00:38:55,730 --> 00:38:57,970
Days of Our Lives
like that, I just...

760
00:38:57,970 --> 00:38:59,930
I move on.

761
00:38:59,930 --> 00:39:01,300
Christie quits

762
00:39:01,300 --> 00:39:03,630
and the group is a burning

763
00:39:03,630 --> 00:39:05,300
dumpster fire at this point.

764
00:39:05,300 --> 00:39:08,400
So I message the woman
who had started the group

765
00:39:08,400 --> 00:39:10,930
and said, you know,
"Your group doesn't
have a moderator.

766
00:39:10,930 --> 00:39:13,030
You might wanna get one
so that it can, like,

767
00:39:13,030 --> 00:39:14,570
actually function."

768
00:39:14,570 --> 00:39:16,400
And she responded back
that the group

769
00:39:16,400 --> 00:39:18,670
could then pick who was gonna
be the next moderator.

770
00:39:19,670 --> 00:39:21,670
Within two days,
I was the moderator

771
00:39:21,670 --> 00:39:24,070
because the group had selected
me to be the moderator.

772
00:39:30,130 --> 00:39:32,500
For 17 years,
I was the operations manager

773
00:39:32,500 --> 00:39:34,530
of a canoe and kayak company.

774
00:39:35,630 --> 00:39:37,630
A lot of people often
would think

775
00:39:37,630 --> 00:39:39,200
I was the owner
of the company

776
00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,870
just because of the amount
of leadership I would take.

777
00:39:44,130 --> 00:39:47,130
But I wasn't listening
to as much.

778
00:39:47,130 --> 00:39:50,430
My ideas were passed
over where...

779
00:39:50,430 --> 00:39:53,130
And I came to found out
that all women's pay

780
00:39:53,130 --> 00:39:54,830
at that company
was suppressed.

781
00:39:54,830 --> 00:39:57,430
Men were making $5 more
an hour.

782
00:39:59,830 --> 00:40:03,770
So I had been feeling greatly
underappreciated.

783
00:40:05,500 --> 00:40:07,900
So when I first
joined the group,

784
00:40:07,900 --> 00:40:09,600
I felt like this was
the opportunity

785
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:10,600
to try something new.

786
00:40:11,900 --> 00:40:14,600
I wanted to approach this
from a standpoint of, like,

787
00:40:14,600 --> 00:40:16,300
this is my person
I care about.

788
00:40:16,300 --> 00:40:18,330
How would I want
that case treated?

789
00:40:18,330 --> 00:40:19,630
Let's get organized.

790
00:40:19,630 --> 00:40:21,830
What's been done,
what hasn't been done,

791
00:40:21,830 --> 00:40:24,230
let's create an album,

792
00:40:24,230 --> 00:40:26,370
not just a scattering
of photos throughout
the group,

793
00:40:26,370 --> 00:40:29,530
that is all of our people
who we still need to talk to.

794
00:40:31,000 --> 00:40:33,230
That was the moment
that I realized

795
00:40:33,230 --> 00:40:35,400
no one has talked
to Mike Gormley.

796
00:40:37,830 --> 00:40:40,030
He was the last person
that we know of

797
00:40:40,030 --> 00:40:42,000
that saw
Mostly Harmless alive.

798
00:40:44,170 --> 00:40:45,900
[bell ringing]

799
00:40:47,170 --> 00:40:50,430
[country music playing]

800
00:40:55,030 --> 00:40:57,700
[Mike] ♪ Bow to the partner
And the corners too ♪

801
00:40:57,700 --> 00:41:00,130
♪ All four ladies,
Chain across ♪

802
00:41:04,070 --> 00:41:05,970
My name is Mike Gormley.

803
00:41:06,970 --> 00:41:08,900
♪ Sides, face your partner ♪

804
00:41:08,900 --> 00:41:11,970
My trail name is Water Boy.

805
00:41:11,970 --> 00:41:14,600
♪ Grand square,
One, two, three, turn ♪

806
00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:16,400
♪ And a one, two, three ♪

807
00:41:16,400 --> 00:41:18,530
Back in 2015 and 2016,

808
00:41:18,530 --> 00:41:21,200
I attempted to hike
the Appalachian Trail.

809
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:23,670
♪ Ladies, center
The men, sashay ♪

810
00:41:23,670 --> 00:41:25,230
That's where
I first experienced

811
00:41:25,230 --> 00:41:27,330
what trail magic was.

812
00:41:27,330 --> 00:41:28,570
♪ Wheel around ♪

813
00:41:28,570 --> 00:41:31,400
♪ Lines forward, up
And you come on back ♪

814
00:41:31,400 --> 00:41:32,430
♪ Join your... ♪

815
00:41:32,430 --> 00:41:35,030
Supposedly,
I was the last hiker

816
00:41:35,030 --> 00:41:38,800
to see Mostly Harmless
before he was found.

817
00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:41,070
♪ Promenade right there,
Promenade ♪

818
00:41:41,070 --> 00:41:43,800
♪ Go walking around
The square ♪

819
00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:45,900
♪ When you get back home ♪

820
00:41:45,900 --> 00:41:48,170
♪ Bow to the partner,
Corner by the hall ♪

821
00:41:48,170 --> 00:41:50,170
♪ That's it, that's all
All right ♪

822
00:41:50,170 --> 00:41:52,600
Thank everybody in your square
and we'll take a break.

823
00:41:52,600 --> 00:41:54,500
[all] Thank you.

824
00:41:54,500 --> 00:41:57,000
Thank you, thank you,
thank you, thank you.

825
00:41:57,000 --> 00:41:59,070
[creatures chittering]

826
00:42:03,030 --> 00:42:06,830
[Mike] Around April 13th or so
is the day I ran into him.

827
00:42:07,700 --> 00:42:10,370
It was like 85 degrees
out that day.

828
00:42:11,470 --> 00:42:13,800
I just decided
that it was best

829
00:42:13,800 --> 00:42:15,300
that I get off the trail.

830
00:42:18,100 --> 00:42:21,400
I got to the roadway,
took the chance,

831
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:23,430
and stuck out my thumb
and tried to...

832
00:42:23,430 --> 00:42:25,570
Tried to hitch a ride
and this guy stopped

833
00:42:25,570 --> 00:42:26,670
in a pickup truck.

834
00:42:29,030 --> 00:42:32,230
We were driving along
and, all of a sudden,

835
00:42:32,230 --> 00:42:35,070
he saw someone
along the roadside.

836
00:42:35,070 --> 00:42:36,630
He says, "Well, there's
a hiker right there.

837
00:42:36,630 --> 00:42:38,270
You wanna go back
and talk to him,

838
00:42:38,270 --> 00:42:39,800
chat a little?"
And I said, "Sure."

839
00:42:40,930 --> 00:42:44,570
And here's my first picture
that I took

840
00:42:44,570 --> 00:42:46,530
when I met Mostly Harmless.

841
00:42:47,630 --> 00:42:52,570
I noticed his cheeks
are, um, quite pudgy,

842
00:42:52,570 --> 00:42:54,670
you know, like he's well-fed.

843
00:42:57,070 --> 00:42:59,830
When I observed that his pack
was awful large, and I say,

844
00:42:59,830 --> 00:43:02,170
"So what do you got in there
that weighs so much?"

845
00:43:02,170 --> 00:43:03,670
He goes, "Well, I got...

846
00:43:03,670 --> 00:43:05,430
I got winter clothes
in there."

847
00:43:05,430 --> 00:43:08,670
And I'm thinking,
mid-April in Florida,

848
00:43:08,670 --> 00:43:11,130
you're not gonna need
winter clothes anymore.

849
00:43:13,970 --> 00:43:15,870
And I said, "Just give me
your winter clothes.

850
00:43:15,870 --> 00:43:19,030
I can send them back for you."
And he declined.

851
00:43:19,030 --> 00:43:22,170
He says, "Oh, I'll just keep
them a little bit longer,"

852
00:43:22,170 --> 00:43:25,470
which seemed a little bit
strange to me.

853
00:43:25,470 --> 00:43:27,230
When we were talking, he's...
He wanted to know

854
00:43:27,230 --> 00:43:29,800
if there was any campsites
up ahead.

855
00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:32,630
And this is the view
at Nobles campsite.

856
00:43:32,630 --> 00:43:35,130
The campsite that
I mentioned to him

857
00:43:35,130 --> 00:43:36,970
is where they found him,

858
00:43:36,970 --> 00:43:38,800
some two and a half
months later.

859
00:43:42,600 --> 00:43:47,670
The last picture known of him
before he was found.

860
00:43:47,670 --> 00:43:49,670
When I realized
that maybe he had

861
00:43:49,670 --> 00:43:52,400
just only hiked
five miles further

862
00:43:52,400 --> 00:43:54,100
and that was the end
of his hike

863
00:43:54,100 --> 00:43:56,500
for two and a half months,

864
00:43:56,500 --> 00:43:59,670
it made me a little
curious as to,

865
00:43:59,670 --> 00:44:01,170
"Oh, gee.
What's going on here?"

866
00:44:04,370 --> 00:44:07,870
Was it foul play or just
what was it, you know?

867
00:44:11,900 --> 00:44:13,300
[Natasha] People,
like, started to wonder,

868
00:44:13,300 --> 00:44:15,530
"How could you go
from being this person

869
00:44:15,530 --> 00:44:20,170
to the person in the tent
who is completely skeletal?"

870
00:44:20,170 --> 00:44:22,570
[David H]
He had food with him.

871
00:44:22,570 --> 00:44:24,370
We were unable to determine

872
00:44:24,370 --> 00:44:26,630
if it was an intentional act
on his part not to eat.

873
00:44:27,670 --> 00:44:29,330
I would say
if he was planning

874
00:44:29,330 --> 00:44:30,900
on keeping his winter clothes

875
00:44:30,900 --> 00:44:34,170
that he was not planning
on dying.

876
00:44:34,170 --> 00:44:36,900
[MJ] I didn't think he was
the type that would just

877
00:44:36,900 --> 00:44:39,400
commit suicide
or starve himself to death.

878
00:44:39,400 --> 00:44:41,570
I just thought
something went wrong.

879
00:44:41,570 --> 00:44:44,530
Maybe he got sick or maybe,
you know, he caught some bug.

880
00:44:46,330 --> 00:44:49,000
[Natasha] Maybe a snake bite.
Did somebody harm him?

881
00:44:49,570 --> 00:44:50,630
I didn't know.

882
00:44:50,630 --> 00:44:52,700
I didn't have a theory
that made sense.

883
00:44:52,700 --> 00:44:54,230
[MJ] But the sheriff's
office said,

884
00:44:54,230 --> 00:44:56,830
"We don't suspect foul play."

885
00:44:56,830 --> 00:45:00,100
My little brain went,
"Are you sure?"

886
00:45:00,100 --> 00:45:01,970
All this leads back
to the idea of, like,

887
00:45:01,970 --> 00:45:04,170
"Oh, how did he die?"
We still don't know.

888
00:45:05,970 --> 00:45:08,730
Most people don't just
lay down in a tent

889
00:45:08,730 --> 00:45:11,070
and die, you know?

890
00:45:16,970 --> 00:45:19,300
He left this world
utterly alone.

891
00:45:19,300 --> 00:45:21,270
No one should ever be alone.

892
00:45:25,730 --> 00:45:28,930
[Christie] For me,
with Jane and John Does,

893
00:45:28,930 --> 00:45:31,270
it's the story.

894
00:45:31,270 --> 00:45:33,900
It's about the story
of the person.

895
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,530
It's really the underdog.

896
00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:45,930
I've always felt
like an underdog.

897
00:45:45,930 --> 00:45:48,470
Everything I have in life,
I've fought,

898
00:45:48,470 --> 00:45:51,930
kicked, punched,
and scratched my way to.

899
00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:56,570
[Kelly] Up, up.

900
00:45:56,570 --> 00:45:57,900
[Christie]
I live with my sister

901
00:45:57,900 --> 00:46:00,370
in an extended stay hotel.

902
00:46:00,370 --> 00:46:02,130
Let's get your shoes off.

903
00:46:02,670 --> 00:46:03,730
There you go.

904
00:46:05,530 --> 00:46:08,130
And we've been there
for about nine years.

905
00:46:13,170 --> 00:46:14,270
Do you need a drink?

906
00:46:14,900 --> 00:46:15,970
[Kelly] No.

907
00:46:17,130 --> 00:46:19,330
Do you need me
to stand on my head?

908
00:46:19,330 --> 00:46:20,730
[Kelly] No.

909
00:46:20,730 --> 00:46:23,400
Do you say anything
besides no?

910
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:25,430
-[Kelly] No.
-[laughs]

911
00:46:27,370 --> 00:46:32,030
When I can, I jump into
the world of true crime...

912
00:46:32,030 --> 00:46:33,530
[woman] Somebody takes
your daughter.

913
00:46:33,530 --> 00:46:35,330
[Christie] ... to escape
from everything else.

914
00:46:35,330 --> 00:46:36,800
[woman] You'll do anything...

915
00:46:38,330 --> 00:46:39,400
to find your child.

916
00:46:39,400 --> 00:46:42,470
[somber music playing]

917
00:46:48,830 --> 00:46:51,600
[Christie] I couldn't deal
with the fact of him sitting
in a basement

918
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:55,400
waiting for someone
to identify him in some way.

919
00:46:56,730 --> 00:46:58,930
It didn't sit right with me.

920
00:47:02,600 --> 00:47:07,000
I decided that I'm just
gonna open my own group

921
00:47:07,500 --> 00:47:08,670
and go for it.

922
00:47:10,530 --> 00:47:14,200
A few people came with me
from Natasha's group.

923
00:47:14,200 --> 00:47:16,970
But with the new group,
I had more power,

924
00:47:16,970 --> 00:47:18,170
more control.

925
00:47:18,170 --> 00:47:20,600
The group was also smaller,

926
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:22,870
which made it a lot easier
to handle.

927
00:47:25,100 --> 00:47:28,070
And then,
we had someone in the group

928
00:47:28,070 --> 00:47:32,030
filed a FOIA request
to get the case file.

929
00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:37,330
I got it all at once.

930
00:47:37,330 --> 00:47:39,500
I got the case file
and the autopsy report

931
00:47:39,500 --> 00:47:40,870
and the autopsy photos.

932
00:47:44,100 --> 00:47:47,200
I was horrified
the first time I saw them.

933
00:47:50,100 --> 00:47:55,230
It looked like a bag of bones
with skin over it.

934
00:47:57,730 --> 00:47:59,200
On the first flyer that

935
00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:01,330
the Collier County Sheriff
put out,

936
00:48:01,330 --> 00:48:05,100
it included what they called
a small scar on his abdomen.

937
00:48:06,200 --> 00:48:11,430
But then I saw the picture
with the autopsy report

938
00:48:11,430 --> 00:48:14,430
and I'm going,
"What in the world?"

939
00:48:18,500 --> 00:48:20,900
That was the understatement
of the century.

940
00:48:24,470 --> 00:48:26,330
[Natasha]
Small abdominal scar?

941
00:48:26,330 --> 00:48:30,100
Yeah, it's not a small
abdominal scar at all.

942
00:48:30,100 --> 00:48:33,800
[Christie] I was utterly
outraged when I realized that

943
00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,970
his autopsy
was an afterthought.

944
00:48:36,970 --> 00:48:40,900
That if they miss this,
what else did they miss?

945
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:46,000
The scar really led
me down the road of, "Okay,

946
00:48:46,000 --> 00:48:47,200
what was wrong with him?

947
00:48:47,200 --> 00:48:49,300
What happened
to cause that scar?"

948
00:48:51,170 --> 00:48:52,600
[Natasha]
People started saying like,

949
00:48:52,600 --> 00:48:54,700
there had to have been
a significant surgery.

950
00:48:57,270 --> 00:49:01,270
And there was this belief
that he had cancer.

951
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:05,670
Cancer's never mentioned
in the autopsy,

952
00:49:05,670 --> 00:49:07,330
so that leaves it wide open.

953
00:49:08,700 --> 00:49:11,870
But you can't go calling
hospitals and say like,

954
00:49:11,870 --> 00:49:14,170
"Did you diagnose someone
with cancer? Who was it?

955
00:49:14,170 --> 00:49:15,770
You know, we're trying
to identify this guy."

956
00:49:17,300 --> 00:49:20,770
So people did searches
for Appalachian Trail
and cancer,

957
00:49:23,700 --> 00:49:26,100
and found this blog.

958
00:49:28,570 --> 00:49:32,370
This blog was about hiking
the Appalachian Trail

959
00:49:32,370 --> 00:49:35,070
because of a cancer
diagnosis.

960
00:49:35,070 --> 00:49:37,730
[Christie]
It was, okay, I'm sick.

961
00:49:37,730 --> 00:49:39,630
I'm taking control of my life

962
00:49:39,630 --> 00:49:41,500
and I'm going out
on my own terms.

963
00:49:43,770 --> 00:49:45,700
[Natasha]
The only picture on the blog

964
00:49:45,700 --> 00:49:47,570
is in the back of a body,

965
00:49:47,570 --> 00:49:50,500
and the blog does
just randomly end.

966
00:49:58,070 --> 00:50:00,700
[Natasha] People then circled
back around on the fact

967
00:50:00,700 --> 00:50:04,300
that Ben Bilemy was the name
used in the youth hostel.

968
00:50:04,300 --> 00:50:07,570
Everyone assumed this Ben
Bilemy could be Ben Reynolds

969
00:50:07,570 --> 00:50:10,000
using Ben Bilemy as an alias.

970
00:50:16,330 --> 00:50:19,330
[Christie] I saw that blog,
and I'm like, "That's him."

971
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:23,370
But there are a few rules
to sleuthing.

972
00:50:23,370 --> 00:50:26,030
You never, ever go real life,

973
00:50:26,030 --> 00:50:30,130
because it is not your job
to tell a family member

974
00:50:30,130 --> 00:50:32,930
that their loved one
may be deceased.

975
00:50:34,370 --> 00:50:36,130
With Ben Reynolds,

976
00:50:36,130 --> 00:50:39,630
other people really went
real life.

977
00:50:40,370 --> 00:50:43,000
-[dogs barking]
-[Bill] Shh.

978
00:50:46,870 --> 00:50:50,270
My name is Bill Powell,
aka Ben Reynolds.

979
00:50:50,270 --> 00:50:52,170
Uh, I am still alive.

980
00:50:55,330 --> 00:50:59,930
In 2012, I was diagnosed
with a brain tumor.

981
00:50:59,930 --> 00:51:01,670
It's why I hit the trail.

982
00:51:02,670 --> 00:51:04,630
That blog was mainly for me.

983
00:51:04,630 --> 00:51:06,670
It was really my little
therapy journal.

984
00:51:07,930 --> 00:51:09,170
To protect my identity,

985
00:51:09,170 --> 00:51:12,800
I hiked under the name,
"Ben Reynolds".

986
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:14,130
Ben Reynolds I pulled
out of a hat.

987
00:51:14,130 --> 00:51:16,330
I think I was listening
to a lot of Ben Folds Five
at the time.

988
00:51:17,100 --> 00:51:20,400
Got back
and then all of this starts.

989
00:51:22,400 --> 00:51:26,200
January of 2020,
a bunch of years later,

990
00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:29,100
I started getting messages,
"Do you know Mostly Harmless?

991
00:51:29,100 --> 00:51:30,670
Are you Mostly Harmless?

992
00:51:30,670 --> 00:51:31,830
Are you dead?"

993
00:51:33,930 --> 00:51:35,600
The inbox started filling up,

994
00:51:35,600 --> 00:51:38,470
the social profiles
started filling up.

995
00:51:38,470 --> 00:51:42,070
I was getting messages,
emails all week long,

996
00:51:42,070 --> 00:51:43,730
weekends, asking me,

997
00:51:43,730 --> 00:51:45,730
"How can you prove
you're not this dead guy?"

998
00:51:47,100 --> 00:51:48,430
There's no logic.

999
00:51:48,430 --> 00:51:50,030
It just became insane.

1000
00:51:51,230 --> 00:51:54,230
My father, who's getting
messages from my sister,

1001
00:51:54,230 --> 00:51:56,930
my friends, anyone
that liked any of my posts,

1002
00:51:57,730 --> 00:51:59,730
things get crazier
and crazier.

1003
00:51:59,730 --> 00:52:03,170
Right by June of 2020,
it was 887 people.

1004
00:52:03,170 --> 00:52:04,630
-Hold it up like this.
-No, no, no.

1005
00:52:04,630 --> 00:52:06,430
[Bill] No, you got it.
No, you did it on your mom.

1006
00:52:06,430 --> 00:52:08,130
You... There was definitely
a concern

1007
00:52:08,130 --> 00:52:10,430
that this could leak
over to my family.

1008
00:52:12,970 --> 00:52:15,470
And that's when I really
dove head first into it.

1009
00:52:15,470 --> 00:52:18,230
I'm gonna have to get
real deep and proactive

1010
00:52:18,230 --> 00:52:20,000
and take it to these groups

1011
00:52:20,000 --> 00:52:22,170
and say,
"Look, I'm Ben Reynolds.

1012
00:52:22,170 --> 00:52:24,170
This is my story. Stop it."

1013
00:52:26,530 --> 00:52:29,470
So I would join all
the Facebook groups I could.

1014
00:52:29,470 --> 00:52:31,870
That was super eye-opening,

1015
00:52:31,870 --> 00:52:33,830
eight to ten Facebook groups,

1016
00:52:33,830 --> 00:52:35,670
multiple Reddit, Subreddits,

1017
00:52:35,670 --> 00:52:38,200
websites dedicated
to this guy.

1018
00:52:38,200 --> 00:52:41,430
I went, wow, this is...
This is insane.

1019
00:52:42,630 --> 00:52:45,830
That I'd have to go in and,
you know, debunk it all,

1020
00:52:45,830 --> 00:52:48,170
admonish everyone
that tried to do this,

1021
00:52:48,170 --> 00:52:49,600
explain that I'm alive.

1022
00:52:49,600 --> 00:52:51,300
This admin says,

1023
00:52:51,300 --> 00:52:53,830
"How do I know
that you're Ben Reynolds?"

1024
00:52:53,830 --> 00:52:58,070
And my response is,
"Oh, for fuck's sake."

1025
00:52:59,030 --> 00:53:01,070
Despite me telling them
that I'm not dead,

1026
00:53:01,070 --> 00:53:05,430
they would tell me, "Well,
we can't rule you out."

1027
00:53:05,430 --> 00:53:06,770
Things get crazier
and crazier.

1028
00:53:06,770 --> 00:53:09,400
It was like, oh, here's
a picture from the blog

1029
00:53:09,400 --> 00:53:11,930
and deconstructing
my body language

1030
00:53:11,930 --> 00:53:15,270
and, you know, looking
for the types of cancer

1031
00:53:15,270 --> 00:53:18,800
and extrapolating that
to the body position

1032
00:53:18,800 --> 00:53:20,870
of Mostly Harmless
in the tent.

1033
00:53:22,430 --> 00:53:24,270
People wouldn't take my word
for it

1034
00:53:24,270 --> 00:53:25,970
because my name said
Bill Powell.

1035
00:53:25,970 --> 00:53:27,730
And so splinter groups formed

1036
00:53:27,730 --> 00:53:32,170
that dove
into the Ben Reynolds mythos

1037
00:53:32,170 --> 00:53:38,070
and they post this picture of
a Ben Reynolds in Australia.

1038
00:53:38,070 --> 00:53:40,230
And they started
going down the path

1039
00:53:40,230 --> 00:53:41,900
of harassing this guy.

1040
00:53:43,070 --> 00:53:46,370
Anything can happen
with the internet and sleuths,

1041
00:53:46,370 --> 00:53:48,030
anything, and they're crazy.

1042
00:53:48,030 --> 00:53:51,230
The consequences that were
playing through my mind,

1043
00:53:51,230 --> 00:53:53,200
someone will show up
at my daughter's school.

1044
00:53:53,200 --> 00:53:54,400
Who knows?

1045
00:53:55,600 --> 00:53:58,930
Finally, I posted
to Natasha's group

1046
00:53:58,930 --> 00:54:02,570
and said, "This is what I go
through on a daily basis."

1047
00:54:04,030 --> 00:54:05,500
[Natasha]
When I finally met Bill,

1048
00:54:05,500 --> 00:54:07,400
his life had been turned
upside down for a long time.

1049
00:54:07,400 --> 00:54:10,100
I would shut that shit down
so fast.

1050
00:54:11,100 --> 00:54:13,030
[Bill] There are people
on the other end

1051
00:54:13,030 --> 00:54:14,370
of these investigations.

1052
00:54:14,370 --> 00:54:16,130
This is not a competition.

1053
00:54:16,130 --> 00:54:18,070
It is not a reality show.

1054
00:54:22,800 --> 00:54:24,830
[David H]
The online sleuth groups,

1055
00:54:24,830 --> 00:54:27,170
they get caught up
in the romance of it,

1056
00:54:27,170 --> 00:54:28,970
the mystery of it.

1057
00:54:28,970 --> 00:54:32,100
They get very gunman
on the grassy knoll.

1058
00:54:33,930 --> 00:54:36,500
We didn't wanna open
more possibilities

1059
00:54:36,500 --> 00:54:39,670
on why he died or how he died.

1060
00:54:39,670 --> 00:54:41,970
We wanted to narrow our focus

1061
00:54:41,970 --> 00:54:44,100
to identify who he is.

1062
00:54:59,530 --> 00:55:03,770
[David M] I'm, uh, David
Mittelman, uh, CEO of Othram.

1063
00:55:03,770 --> 00:55:05,330
[Kristen]
I'm Kristen Mittelman.

1064
00:55:05,330 --> 00:55:08,330
I'm the Chief Business
Development Officer
at Othram.

1065
00:55:09,570 --> 00:55:11,830
[David M] DNA is pretty much
all we've ever done.

1066
00:55:11,830 --> 00:55:14,500
My wife is a biochemist
by training,

1067
00:55:14,500 --> 00:55:17,530
a little bit different
than the genetics background
I have.

1068
00:55:19,130 --> 00:55:23,530
Othram's a company
that supports law enforcement
investigations.

1069
00:55:23,530 --> 00:55:26,070
Basically, we focus
on human identification

1070
00:55:26,070 --> 00:55:27,830
from crime scenes.

1071
00:55:27,830 --> 00:55:29,400
[Kristen] Is there anything
else you know about it

1072
00:55:29,400 --> 00:55:31,170
that's strategizing
business-wise?

1073
00:55:31,170 --> 00:55:33,870
I thought we should take
some more notorious cases.

1074
00:55:33,870 --> 00:55:36,170
This case was really unique
and that there was a lot

1075
00:55:36,170 --> 00:55:38,230
of, uh, attention drawn
to the case.

1076
00:55:38,230 --> 00:55:40,170
There was an online
Facebook group

1077
00:55:40,170 --> 00:55:43,200
with thousands of folks
that were working on it.

1078
00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:45,170
[Kristen] Do you know
what evidence we got?

1079
00:55:45,170 --> 00:55:47,200
-The skeletal remains.
-[man] Yeah.

1080
00:55:49,530 --> 00:55:51,830
-[producer] Okay.
-Does it look awesome?

1081
00:55:51,830 --> 00:55:54,500
Can you see the little, uh,
DNA thing on my hat?

1082
00:55:54,500 --> 00:55:56,170
-It's very important to me.
-[producer] Yes, I can.

1083
00:55:56,170 --> 00:55:58,170
If you just wanted to look
at a bunch of DNA,

1084
00:55:58,170 --> 00:56:01,130
uh, it looks a lot like,
um, like this.

1085
00:56:01,130 --> 00:56:03,300
And these are basically
the positions along

1086
00:56:03,300 --> 00:56:05,600
what's called the human
reference sequence.

1087
00:56:05,600 --> 00:56:09,000
You can cluster them using
principle component analysis
and figure out--

1088
00:56:09,000 --> 00:56:11,070
[producer speaking]

1089
00:56:14,130 --> 00:56:15,500
All right, sure.

1090
00:56:18,630 --> 00:56:23,070
There's 3 billion positions
that describe your DNA.

1091
00:56:23,070 --> 00:56:26,230
Traditional forensic testing
right now that the police use

1092
00:56:26,230 --> 00:56:30,870
to identify people looks at
10 markers in someone's DNA.

1093
00:56:30,870 --> 00:56:33,200
The sequencing that we do
here at Othram looks at tens

1094
00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:36,430
of thousands to hundreds
of thousands of markers.

1095
00:56:36,430 --> 00:56:39,000
The technology that Othram
is using is new,

1096
00:56:39,000 --> 00:56:40,670
the ideas are new.

1097
00:56:40,670 --> 00:56:43,430
They look for similarities
between the DNA

1098
00:56:43,430 --> 00:56:45,500
you have stored
and the person you found.

1099
00:56:45,500 --> 00:56:47,230
And you can say, oh,

1100
00:56:47,230 --> 00:56:50,800
these DNA is pretty close
to people from this region

1101
00:56:50,800 --> 00:56:52,930
or it's pretty close
to this family.

1102
00:56:52,930 --> 00:56:56,770
So you don't get a precise
match, you get a clue.

1103
00:56:58,100 --> 00:57:00,770
[David M] When we got ahold
of law enforcement,

1104
00:57:00,770 --> 00:57:03,030
we offered to develop
a DNA profile

1105
00:57:03,030 --> 00:57:05,830
to get a few more clues
about who this person
might have been.

1106
00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:08,800
Othram is private.

1107
00:57:08,800 --> 00:57:12,500
My understanding, this
particular DNA profile testing

1108
00:57:12,500 --> 00:57:15,700
would cost $5,000.

1109
00:57:15,700 --> 00:57:17,530
The police department
doesn't have funding for this.

1110
00:57:17,530 --> 00:57:19,330
This is not something
that cities

1111
00:57:19,330 --> 00:57:20,700
and municipalities
have funding for.

1112
00:57:20,700 --> 00:57:22,530
You know, we thought it over
and we figured

1113
00:57:22,530 --> 00:57:24,700
there's enough people that are
really interested,

1114
00:57:24,700 --> 00:57:26,900
uh, in who this guy was
and then trying to help him

1115
00:57:26,900 --> 00:57:28,030
get back to family.

1116
00:57:28,030 --> 00:57:31,470
I think it's a little
unorthodox to recommend

1117
00:57:31,470 --> 00:57:35,030
crowdfunding a case, but, uh,
but we threw it out there.

1118
00:57:35,030 --> 00:57:36,870
And I gave an outstanding yes.

1119
00:57:36,870 --> 00:57:38,870
You want us to fundraise
for this? We can do that.

1120
00:57:38,870 --> 00:57:40,730
Like, that's something
tangible we can do.

1121
00:57:40,730 --> 00:57:43,470
It ain't my money
and it's a tool I can use

1122
00:57:43,470 --> 00:57:46,170
to solve a crime,
it's worth it.

1123
00:57:48,830 --> 00:57:50,430
[Natasha]
They quickly built a website

1124
00:57:50,430 --> 00:57:51,970
for people
to be able to donate.

1125
00:57:53,670 --> 00:57:55,270
This all happened so fast.

1126
00:57:55,270 --> 00:57:57,430
Everyone within the group
was really caught up

1127
00:57:57,430 --> 00:57:58,500
in this, like, energy.

1128
00:57:58,500 --> 00:57:59,900
We're really doing this.

1129
00:58:01,100 --> 00:58:03,370
And I believe
it was eight days later,

1130
00:58:03,370 --> 00:58:05,230
we had $5,000 raised.

1131
00:58:06,170 --> 00:58:08,730
And the energy
was out the roof,

1132
00:58:10,230 --> 00:58:12,830
like celebratory posts
and people popping champagne

1133
00:58:12,830 --> 00:58:15,030
and all this type of thing
on the group.

1134
00:58:16,370 --> 00:58:21,230
And so, they sent us
the skeletal remains
and we got started.

1135
00:58:23,530 --> 00:58:25,300
[Nick] I thought Othram
will solve it.

1136
00:58:25,300 --> 00:58:27,570
Finally, there's going
to be a solution.

1137
00:58:27,570 --> 00:58:31,270
At the same time, we were
getting outside negativity,

1138
00:58:31,270 --> 00:58:33,830
like there were haters who
were hating on the process.

1139
00:58:33,830 --> 00:58:36,800
No, I didn't care
what they did, honestly.

1140
00:58:36,800 --> 00:58:38,670
Um, yeah.

1141
00:58:40,230 --> 00:58:44,200
And then, we had to wait
for the DNA to run.

1142
00:58:45,570 --> 00:58:47,830
It takes Othram about six
to eight weeks

1143
00:58:47,830 --> 00:58:48,900
to create a profile.

1144
00:58:51,630 --> 00:58:54,130
[Natasha] It became this
intense waiting game.

1145
00:58:55,670 --> 00:58:58,230
That's when everyone got
really, really stir crazy.

1146
00:59:00,330 --> 00:59:03,970
Christie's group post
would be created saying like,

1147
00:59:03,970 --> 00:59:06,670
"Power-hungry Natasha
is doing this

1148
00:59:06,670 --> 00:59:09,370
or Natasha and all of her
minions are doing that.

1149
00:59:12,270 --> 00:59:15,100
She was feeding this, "You've
all been led into a trap.

1150
00:59:15,100 --> 00:59:17,370
They took your money and
they're not gonna deliver."

1151
00:59:18,500 --> 00:59:20,730
There was a public shaming
of me

1152
00:59:20,730 --> 00:59:23,630
where Christie tells people
publicly that I'm an idiot

1153
00:59:23,630 --> 00:59:25,070
and I don't know
what I'm doing.

1154
00:59:26,330 --> 00:59:28,900
People saying like,
"Oh, this cow who, like,

1155
00:59:28,900 --> 00:59:31,270
is trying to do this
so that she can be famous,"

1156
00:59:31,270 --> 00:59:34,400
or, you know, that I'm in
love with Mostly Harmless.

1157
00:59:36,330 --> 00:59:38,430
Then some horrible things
were said to me

1158
00:59:38,430 --> 00:59:39,930
through private message.

1159
00:59:46,770 --> 00:59:49,170
I got a message saying
that Christie Harris knew

1160
00:59:49,170 --> 00:59:51,700
what she was doing
and I didn't know anything

1161
00:59:51,700 --> 00:59:53,800
and, um,
that I should kill myself

1162
00:59:53,800 --> 00:59:55,530
so that the case
could get solved.

1163
00:59:57,800 --> 00:59:59,870
[sighs]

1164
01:00:01,500 --> 01:00:06,370
And that hurt really bad.

1165
01:00:08,430 --> 01:00:11,430
Okay. There you go.
There you go.

1166
01:00:11,430 --> 01:00:13,970
I've dealt with suicidal
ideation throughout my life,

1167
01:00:13,970 --> 01:00:15,870
actually since
I was a young child.

1168
01:00:17,430 --> 01:00:20,130
You wanna think you're doing
something good
for this person,

1169
01:00:20,130 --> 01:00:22,430
you wanna think
you're doing something great.

1170
01:00:24,170 --> 01:00:26,230
And I tried
to pull back actually

1171
01:00:26,230 --> 01:00:28,900
from the case a little bit,
but I'm too...

1172
01:00:28,900 --> 01:00:30,800
I'm too hardheaded
for my own good.

1173
01:00:31,970 --> 01:00:33,530
I wanted to see this through.

1174
01:00:34,200 --> 01:00:35,500
And then all of a sudden,

1175
01:00:35,500 --> 01:00:36,800
there's this message

1176
01:00:36,800 --> 01:00:38,930
of Christie Harris
has solved the case.

1177
01:00:38,930 --> 01:00:42,570
Christie Harris has figured
out who Mostly Harmless is.

1178
01:00:44,430 --> 01:00:47,530
[Christie] I was hoping that
I would beat the science.

1179
01:00:49,670 --> 01:00:53,770
I have thought posting him
in a lost loves forum

1180
01:00:53,770 --> 01:00:55,100
wasn't a bad idea.

1181
01:00:58,830 --> 01:01:01,830
And we happened to get
a nibble from someone.

1182
01:01:03,270 --> 01:01:06,570
She gave me the name
of Ronald Newman.

1183
01:01:06,570 --> 01:01:10,370
The story I was told
was that Ronald Newman

1184
01:01:10,370 --> 01:01:14,270
had been disowned by his
family because he was gay.

1185
01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:18,400
When I opened the email
with the picture in it,

1186
01:01:18,400 --> 01:01:21,100
I looked at it
and I stared at it.

1187
01:01:23,930 --> 01:01:25,300
It looked like him.

1188
01:01:25,300 --> 01:01:27,200
It looked like
Mostly Harmless.

1189
01:01:27,200 --> 01:01:31,870
Christie Harris called me
very convinced that
it was this particular person.

1190
01:01:31,870 --> 01:01:33,870
Like, almost like talking
in hushed tones.

1191
01:01:33,870 --> 01:01:35,030
She said, "I know who he is.

1192
01:01:35,030 --> 01:01:36,700
I know
who Mostly Harmless is."

1193
01:01:36,700 --> 01:01:38,030
I'm like, "Okay, great.

1194
01:01:38,030 --> 01:01:39,430
What can you tell me?"

1195
01:01:42,400 --> 01:01:46,400
So this is the picture that
Christie has sent to everyone

1196
01:01:46,400 --> 01:01:49,500
to prove that Ronald Newman
is Mostly Harmless.

1197
01:01:54,430 --> 01:01:56,000
This is the picture...

1198
01:01:58,870 --> 01:02:01,770
who draws a beard
on a yearbook photo

1199
01:02:01,770 --> 01:02:04,330
to prove someone is someone
that they're not.

1200
01:02:07,400 --> 01:02:11,200
It certainly was... It was
odd, I think, to see it.

1201
01:02:11,200 --> 01:02:13,100
But I said, "Okay.
All right. I will...

1202
01:02:13,100 --> 01:02:15,070
I will look into it
and I will call you back."

1203
01:02:15,070 --> 01:02:18,100
And Mr. Newman,
he ended up calling me.

1204
01:02:18,100 --> 01:02:20,730
So... And talking to me,
and he was very confused,

1205
01:02:20,730 --> 01:02:22,570
obviously, as to why
I was looking for him

1206
01:02:22,570 --> 01:02:24,000
and wondering
if he was missing.

1207
01:02:26,830 --> 01:02:28,000
[sighs]

1208
01:02:28,870 --> 01:02:29,900
Hang on.

1209
01:02:38,500 --> 01:02:41,730
It's that moment, oh, damn it.

1210
01:02:45,100 --> 01:02:47,100
I thought it was over.

1211
01:02:48,330 --> 01:02:50,030
I felt like a joke.

1212
01:02:50,030 --> 01:02:52,730
I was afraid I was gonna
look like an idiot.

1213
01:02:53,930 --> 01:02:56,730
Misidentifications
happen every day.

1214
01:02:56,730 --> 01:02:59,500
Law enforcement
misidentifies people.

1215
01:03:00,700 --> 01:03:02,330
But I was trashed.

1216
01:03:04,670 --> 01:03:06,600
Have you had someone go,

1217
01:03:06,600 --> 01:03:09,000
"You're a fucking
stupid idiot.

1218
01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:11,070
You've made yourself
look stupid,"

1219
01:03:11,070 --> 01:03:12,900
and "Go kill yourself."

1220
01:03:13,570 --> 01:03:16,300
I was so done.

1221
01:03:16,300 --> 01:03:19,000
I had been called
so many names.

1222
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:20,300
I couldn't see straight.

1223
01:03:22,570 --> 01:03:23,900
I was done.

1224
01:03:28,230 --> 01:03:30,630
[Nick] You get pulled in,
you get excited,

1225
01:03:30,630 --> 01:03:32,770
and you wanna solve it
so much,

1226
01:03:32,770 --> 01:03:35,070
you know, you can go
right through that stop sign.

1227
01:03:36,170 --> 01:03:37,430
People are drawn to this.

1228
01:03:37,430 --> 01:03:39,470
People want to read
this story.

1229
01:03:39,470 --> 01:03:41,200
So at some point I thought,
"You know what?

1230
01:03:41,200 --> 01:03:43,730
I'm just gonna write the story
and let's just run it."

1231
01:03:46,470 --> 01:03:48,830
The presidential election
was coming.

1232
01:03:48,830 --> 01:03:51,700
And I wanted a break
from the politics

1233
01:03:51,700 --> 01:03:54,330
for at least
a couple of hours.

1234
01:03:56,130 --> 01:03:58,000
It was wonderful to be able
to work on something

1235
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:00,270
where it wasn't team blue
and team red.

1236
01:04:00,270 --> 01:04:02,470
All of these
different Americans

1237
01:04:02,470 --> 01:04:03,970
from all of these
different states,

1238
01:04:03,970 --> 01:04:05,630
all of these
different backgrounds

1239
01:04:05,630 --> 01:04:08,470
were using the internet
and using technology

1240
01:04:08,470 --> 01:04:10,570
to do something good.

1241
01:04:11,870 --> 01:04:13,630
And then, you know,
the story goes live.

1242
01:04:14,300 --> 01:04:16,370
And then it went banana cakes.

1243
01:04:18,030 --> 01:04:20,170
And suddenly it was,
you know, massively

1244
01:04:20,170 --> 01:04:22,630
the most red thing
we'd had in a while.

1245
01:04:24,330 --> 01:04:26,730
[Kristen] Over a million
people viewed the article

1246
01:04:26,730 --> 01:04:28,500
and the group blew up.

1247
01:04:28,500 --> 01:04:31,200
Literally thousands of people
joined the group

1248
01:04:31,200 --> 01:04:33,530
in just a short period
of days.

1249
01:04:35,700 --> 01:04:38,700
The assumption was if
he really did work in tech,

1250
01:04:38,700 --> 01:04:41,400
someone who worked with him
or knew him will read WIRED

1251
01:04:41,400 --> 01:04:43,370
and we'll figure out
who he was.

1252
01:04:43,370 --> 01:04:44,870
After that story ran

1253
01:04:44,870 --> 01:04:47,870
and it became this
big viral hit,

1254
01:04:47,870 --> 01:04:49,130
and had more
than a million readers,

1255
01:04:49,130 --> 01:04:50,330
a million and a half readers,

1256
01:04:50,330 --> 01:04:51,770
then I was kind of stunned

1257
01:04:51,770 --> 01:04:53,300
that his identity
wasn't found.

1258
01:04:55,700 --> 01:04:57,870
It showed that his act
of disappearing

1259
01:04:57,870 --> 01:04:59,870
was even more deliberate,

1260
01:04:59,870 --> 01:05:03,430
carefully crafted, and
effective than I had thought.

1261
01:05:04,770 --> 01:05:07,970
It's hard to disappear
and create an identity

1262
01:05:07,970 --> 01:05:10,630
that 100 people who meet you
can't figure out, right?

1263
01:05:10,630 --> 01:05:12,970
It's somewhat harder
to create an identity

1264
01:05:12,970 --> 01:05:15,130
that 1,000 people hunting
on Facebook

1265
01:05:15,130 --> 01:05:16,400
can't figure out.

1266
01:05:17,170 --> 01:05:18,970
But how on earth

1267
01:05:18,970 --> 01:05:21,130
can a million people
read a story in WIRED

1268
01:05:21,130 --> 01:05:24,970
full of photographs
about a guy who's probably

1269
01:05:24,970 --> 01:05:26,300
in the WIRED community

1270
01:05:26,300 --> 01:05:27,870
fairly closely

1271
01:05:27,870 --> 01:05:30,370
and not find the guy?

1272
01:05:33,830 --> 01:05:35,430
[Kristen] I don't know what
you're capable of hiding

1273
01:05:35,430 --> 01:05:36,800
or not hiding
on the internet,

1274
01:05:36,800 --> 01:05:40,470
but I can tell you
that if there's DNA, um,

1275
01:05:40,470 --> 01:05:42,570
we can identify you.

1276
01:05:45,330 --> 01:05:48,000
[David M] When you have
a person that's unidentified

1277
01:05:48,000 --> 01:05:49,570
and you know
their DNA markers

1278
01:05:49,570 --> 01:05:52,600
and you can kind of cluster
them around known populations

1279
01:05:52,600 --> 01:05:55,300
of people that have
a similar set of markers,

1280
01:05:56,030 --> 01:05:57,670
that gives you a clue
as to where

1281
01:05:57,670 --> 01:05:59,530
this unidentified person
is from.

1282
01:06:00,370 --> 01:06:01,830
In this case,

1283
01:06:01,830 --> 01:06:03,700
we had run
the laboratory work,

1284
01:06:03,700 --> 01:06:05,430
did the DNA testing
and the research.

1285
01:06:05,430 --> 01:06:07,700
And, um, we had a update.

1286
01:06:09,670 --> 01:06:12,030
We have a couple
really good leads.

1287
01:06:12,030 --> 01:06:14,130
We were able to build
a really great profile.

1288
01:06:14,130 --> 01:06:15,600
And what I can tell you

1289
01:06:15,600 --> 01:06:17,770
is that there are
a good number of matches

1290
01:06:17,770 --> 01:06:19,970
that tie us back to Louisiana.

1291
01:06:27,270 --> 01:06:29,600
[Natasha] Six thousand people
watched the Facebook Live.

1292
01:06:29,600 --> 01:06:31,600
And people
are over the moon excited.

1293
01:06:36,030 --> 01:06:37,570
We now know

1294
01:06:37,570 --> 01:06:39,600
that he actually does have
family in South Louisiana.

1295
01:06:40,700 --> 01:06:42,100
The verification
was what we needed

1296
01:06:42,100 --> 01:06:44,270
to get people to take action.

1297
01:06:45,600 --> 01:06:48,170
[Christie] The DNA results
were released

1298
01:06:48,170 --> 01:06:50,930
in a Facebook Live
in Natasha's group,

1299
01:06:50,930 --> 01:06:53,030
which I had no access to.

1300
01:06:54,070 --> 01:06:57,200
I had a group member
who came and told me.

1301
01:06:58,570 --> 01:07:00,730
And then I go,
I can't let this go.

1302
01:07:00,730 --> 01:07:01,830
I can't.

1303
01:07:01,830 --> 01:07:03,400
I won't let this go.

1304
01:07:03,400 --> 01:07:04,900
I walked back
into my group and I go,

1305
01:07:04,900 --> 01:07:06,130
"Do you wanna pick up
the case

1306
01:07:06,130 --> 01:07:07,500
of Mostly Harmless again?"

1307
01:07:08,830 --> 01:07:10,170
All I got was yes.

1308
01:07:11,630 --> 01:07:14,170
And I was back in it again.

1309
01:07:15,600 --> 01:07:17,770
Anything related
to Louisiana,

1310
01:07:17,770 --> 01:07:19,600
we were going to flood it.

1311
01:07:22,930 --> 01:07:25,930
We put a lot of flyers out
towards news stations

1312
01:07:25,930 --> 01:07:28,930
and their missing persons
pages, things like that

1313
01:07:28,930 --> 01:07:30,800
so they can get
the information out

1314
01:07:30,800 --> 01:07:32,670
to the people
that may have known him.

1315
01:07:32,670 --> 01:07:35,130
[man] Why did Mostly Harmless
start hiking?

1316
01:07:35,130 --> 01:07:36,970
I started running
Facebook ads

1317
01:07:36,970 --> 01:07:38,330
for my WIRED story,

1318
01:07:38,330 --> 01:07:41,170
targeted at people
in Louisiana.

1319
01:07:41,170 --> 01:07:43,500
[Natasha] All of a sudden,
every single Facebook group

1320
01:07:43,500 --> 01:07:46,770
related to South Louisiana
in any way, shape, or form

1321
01:07:46,770 --> 01:07:48,700
was bombarded.

1322
01:07:48,700 --> 01:07:50,830
[notification dings]

1323
01:07:51,830 --> 01:07:52,900
[Christie] Enough.

1324
01:07:53,830 --> 01:07:55,070
This has to end.

1325
01:07:57,430 --> 01:08:02,330
And then December 16th, 2020,

1326
01:08:02,330 --> 01:08:04,200
picked up my phone

1327
01:08:04,200 --> 01:08:05,730
and I go over to the post

1328
01:08:05,730 --> 01:08:07,630
in the group Missing in
Louisiana.

1329
01:08:08,830 --> 01:08:11,970
There was a comment there
that said...

1330
01:08:17,900 --> 01:08:20,470
It said,
"Christie, I know who this is.

1331
01:08:21,400 --> 01:08:22,870
I know this story

1332
01:08:22,870 --> 01:08:24,670
and I'm going to email you
right now."

1333
01:08:24,670 --> 01:08:26,970
And I'm like, "What?"

1334
01:08:28,200 --> 01:08:29,170
And there it was.

1335
01:08:30,200 --> 01:08:31,700
It says,

1336
01:08:31,700 --> 01:08:34,000
"Christie, his name
is Vance Rodriguez.

1337
01:08:35,070 --> 01:08:37,970
My husband worked with him
in Shoppers Choice."

1338
01:08:39,200 --> 01:08:40,770
And there you see...

1339
01:08:41,870 --> 01:08:43,270
a picture.

1340
01:08:48,300 --> 01:08:50,000
I looked at his eyes
and I knew...

1341
01:08:52,030 --> 01:08:53,100
it was him.

1342
01:09:03,970 --> 01:09:06,130
[Natasha] I can see it
with my own eyes,

1343
01:09:06,130 --> 01:09:08,600
but I still... My brain
doesn't truly believe

1344
01:09:08,600 --> 01:09:09,570
that it's the case.

1345
01:09:14,100 --> 01:09:15,170
[Nick] Yeah.

1346
01:09:15,170 --> 01:09:16,370
Wow.

1347
01:09:18,630 --> 01:09:20,530
Message just came in.
This is him.

1348
01:09:21,870 --> 01:09:22,900
Poor guy.

1349
01:09:23,800 --> 01:09:27,000
And I was like,
"Oh, my gosh. I did it."

1350
01:09:28,130 --> 01:09:29,670
[sobs]

1351
01:09:29,670 --> 01:09:30,970
So there were two people

1352
01:09:30,970 --> 01:09:32,130
who basically hit
on the same day.

1353
01:09:32,130 --> 01:09:34,630
A person he had worked with
and a former roommate.

1354
01:09:36,070 --> 01:09:38,300
I screenshot it and sent it
to law enforcement

1355
01:09:38,300 --> 01:09:40,630
with an email that said,
"I think we got him."

1356
01:09:42,500 --> 01:09:44,200
[keyboard clicking]

1357
01:09:44,200 --> 01:09:46,230
[Kristin]
Heard from multiple people

1358
01:09:46,230 --> 01:09:47,870
that it was him.

1359
01:09:47,870 --> 01:09:49,700
It was a collective effort

1360
01:09:49,700 --> 01:09:52,730
of thousands of people
to solve this case.

1361
01:09:54,430 --> 01:09:56,770
[David H] Kristin located
contact information

1362
01:09:56,770 --> 01:09:59,900
for the family
of Vance Rodriguez.

1363
01:09:59,900 --> 01:10:03,530
And we closed the office door
and we just called the family.

1364
01:10:04,400 --> 01:10:05,830
[phone rings]

1365
01:10:07,770 --> 01:10:10,100
[Kristin] There seemed
to be some disbelief,

1366
01:10:10,100 --> 01:10:11,730
just kind of shock.

1367
01:10:11,730 --> 01:10:13,870
We explained
the situation to them.

1368
01:10:13,870 --> 01:10:17,230
They responded that
they in fact did have a son

1369
01:10:17,230 --> 01:10:19,570
by the name
of Vance Rodriguez.

1370
01:10:20,500 --> 01:10:22,270
They didn't know
he was missing.

1371
01:10:22,270 --> 01:10:24,800
They thought
he had moved to New York,

1372
01:10:24,800 --> 01:10:28,630
and they had no contact
with him for several years.

1373
01:10:29,800 --> 01:10:31,000
[Natasha]
He was telling the truth.

1374
01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:32,230
He told people that
he had originally lived

1375
01:10:32,230 --> 01:10:35,230
in Baton Rouge
and was from Louisiana,

1376
01:10:35,230 --> 01:10:36,900
um, that he worked in tech.

1377
01:10:36,900 --> 01:10:39,200
He told a lot of things
about himself.

1378
01:10:41,700 --> 01:10:44,630
[Nick] I thought he was maybe
30 at the most,

1379
01:10:44,630 --> 01:10:46,630
and it turns out he was 41.

1380
01:10:49,970 --> 01:10:55,700
Your hope as a journalist
is that when we figured out
his name,

1381
01:10:55,700 --> 01:11:01,300
you would find out some
incredible redemptive story.

1382
01:11:01,300 --> 01:11:03,500
But when we found out
his name,

1383
01:11:03,500 --> 01:11:05,800
we didn't realize

1384
01:11:05,800 --> 01:11:07,870
that all the things that
we would learn about Vance.

1385
01:11:10,870 --> 01:11:15,200
I immediately went
into full-on reporter mode.

1386
01:11:16,600 --> 01:11:19,800
I did public record search
of where Vance Rodriguez

1387
01:11:19,800 --> 01:11:22,730
of that age range had lived
and found his building.

1388
01:11:23,870 --> 01:11:25,570
Spoke to the landlord
of the building.

1389
01:11:26,500 --> 01:11:28,130
He had paid
six months of rent.

1390
01:11:28,130 --> 01:11:29,870
He had left his passport,
his wallet,

1391
01:11:29,870 --> 01:11:32,100
and everything inside
of his old apartment.

1392
01:11:32,100 --> 01:11:35,670
It's absolutely, uh,
I'm walking away from my life.

1393
01:11:35,670 --> 01:11:37,300
I'm closing the door
on my life,

1394
01:11:37,300 --> 01:11:40,470
locking it and walking away
from my life.

1395
01:11:40,470 --> 01:11:46,370
I found a woman
who appeared to have lived
in the same building.

1396
01:11:48,700 --> 01:11:50,270
Turned out
it was his girlfriend.

1397
01:11:51,800 --> 01:11:53,070
They had broken up.

1398
01:11:54,330 --> 01:11:58,300
I learned that he had been
abusive in ways

1399
01:11:59,700 --> 01:12:01,200
that I didn't probe on.

1400
01:12:01,200 --> 01:12:03,130
I don't know exactly
the contours of,

1401
01:12:03,130 --> 01:12:05,270
but he seemed like...

1402
01:12:05,270 --> 01:12:08,430
a bad, bad man.

1403
01:12:11,770 --> 01:12:14,030
It seems like there
was trouble with women

1404
01:12:14,030 --> 01:12:15,700
for a long time.

1405
01:12:15,700 --> 01:12:17,970
There were
at least three women
who have come forward

1406
01:12:17,970 --> 01:12:20,600
and said that
they were abused by him.

1407
01:12:20,600 --> 01:12:23,430
[Nick] There's another
girlfriend from Louisiana,

1408
01:12:23,430 --> 01:12:25,030
his mother posts on Facebook

1409
01:12:25,030 --> 01:12:27,070
that, you know,
he was so cruel

1410
01:12:27,070 --> 01:12:28,600
that he broke her daughter.

1411
01:12:30,370 --> 01:12:32,100
[Brandon] Yeah. I don't...
I don't really know

1412
01:12:32,100 --> 01:12:33,470
what to say
about these articles.

1413
01:12:33,470 --> 01:12:34,870
You know, it's...

1414
01:12:36,370 --> 01:12:38,930
a lot of information
to digest.

1415
01:12:38,930 --> 01:12:42,200
Uh, it was a quote
from his ex.

1416
01:12:42,200 --> 01:12:44,100
She wrote on a Facebook page,

1417
01:12:44,100 --> 01:12:46,600
"Apartment 950 a month,

1418
01:12:46,600 --> 01:12:49,130
bill's 300 a month,

1419
01:12:49,130 --> 01:12:51,270
standing up to the monster
that beat you up

1420
01:12:51,270 --> 01:12:53,970
emotionally and physically
for five years.

1421
01:12:53,970 --> 01:12:55,170
Priceless."

1422
01:12:56,330 --> 01:12:59,770
He seemed sincere
and he seemed...

1423
01:12:59,770 --> 01:13:01,370
compassionate to me.

1424
01:13:02,430 --> 01:13:05,200
Like, he understood, you know.

1425
01:13:09,170 --> 01:13:11,830
But he was abusive it seems.

1426
01:13:11,830 --> 01:13:15,200
And that was certainly
very shocking to me.

1427
01:13:16,430 --> 01:13:18,430
100% unacceptable.

1428
01:13:18,430 --> 01:13:20,930
You can't...
You can't hit anybody.

1429
01:13:20,930 --> 01:13:22,600
Women, men, nobody gets hit.

1430
01:13:22,600 --> 01:13:27,000
Nobody gets hit
or abused or hurt or whatever.

1431
01:13:27,000 --> 01:13:29,170
It doesn't happen
or it shouldn't happen.

1432
01:13:29,170 --> 01:13:32,270
Being in a relationship
similar to what was described

1433
01:13:32,270 --> 01:13:34,800
about Mostly Harmless,

1434
01:13:34,800 --> 01:13:38,700
I hated to know
that he was an abusive person.

1435
01:13:38,700 --> 01:13:40,130
It's not my job to judge

1436
01:13:40,130 --> 01:13:41,600
whether he abused
those women or not.

1437
01:13:41,600 --> 01:13:42,930
I don't know.

1438
01:13:42,930 --> 01:13:44,700
I was shocked and appalled

1439
01:13:44,700 --> 01:13:46,400
by the number of women

1440
01:13:46,400 --> 01:13:49,500
who just inherently
did not believe

1441
01:13:49,500 --> 01:13:51,000
his former girlfriends.

1442
01:13:51,000 --> 01:13:54,400
Vance was...
Vance was a bad guy.

1443
01:13:55,370 --> 01:13:56,770
I believe the women that say

1444
01:13:56,770 --> 01:13:58,500
that he did
the abusive things.

1445
01:13:58,500 --> 01:13:59,400
Yes.

1446
01:13:59,400 --> 01:14:03,070
Did I project
who I wanted him to be?

1447
01:14:03,070 --> 01:14:04,330
Yeah, probably a little

1448
01:14:04,330 --> 01:14:06,800
because I always see
the best in people.

1449
01:14:10,670 --> 01:14:12,300
[Nick] We drew this image
of this guy

1450
01:14:12,300 --> 01:14:16,230
who was kind of a lost soul.

1451
01:14:16,230 --> 01:14:20,630
[MJ] The group made him into
some kind of a handsome hero.

1452
01:14:22,300 --> 01:14:25,130
[Christie] He just had
this familiar face to him.

1453
01:14:25,130 --> 01:14:28,370
And I guess people
just made it personal.

1454
01:14:28,370 --> 01:14:32,230
People want to project
who they want someone to be.

1455
01:14:33,900 --> 01:14:35,700
You don't know this guy.

1456
01:14:35,700 --> 01:14:38,530
You only know the pictures
that you have seen.

1457
01:14:38,530 --> 01:14:40,370
You only know
the stories you've heard.

1458
01:14:40,370 --> 01:14:42,530
You've never met this guy.

1459
01:14:42,530 --> 01:14:46,170
I tried to come up
with my own mental composite

1460
01:14:46,170 --> 01:14:48,170
of who is this man?

1461
01:14:48,170 --> 01:14:49,770
What I knew about him already

1462
01:14:49,770 --> 01:14:52,330
and what I was just finding
out about his past.

1463
01:14:52,330 --> 01:14:53,700
I guess there was more to him,

1464
01:14:53,700 --> 01:14:55,770
a dark side
I didn't know about.

1465
01:14:55,770 --> 01:14:57,500
It was a gut punch.

1466
01:14:57,500 --> 01:14:58,900
Like, honestly,

1467
01:14:58,900 --> 01:15:02,700
I stopped wanting to know
a lot more about who he was.

1468
01:15:02,700 --> 01:15:06,100
The great mystery
is why did no one find him?

1469
01:15:06,100 --> 01:15:07,930
And part of it is 'cause
he did a really good job

1470
01:15:07,930 --> 01:15:09,200
of erasing his tracks.

1471
01:15:09,970 --> 01:15:11,170
And the sad part of it

1472
01:15:11,170 --> 01:15:13,570
is because no one
was looking for him

1473
01:15:13,570 --> 01:15:14,900
'cause he was an asshole.

1474
01:15:19,430 --> 01:15:20,830
One of the great questions

1475
01:15:20,830 --> 01:15:22,030
was why this guy
had been known

1476
01:15:22,030 --> 01:15:23,730
as Mostly Harmless
out on the trail.

1477
01:15:23,730 --> 01:15:26,430
And once Vance's name
was discovered,

1478
01:15:26,430 --> 01:15:29,070
we realized that his Screeps
username was vaejor,

1479
01:15:29,070 --> 01:15:33,070
which is a combination
of Vance John Rodriguez.

1480
01:15:34,130 --> 01:15:36,230
[Natasha]
We had assumed all along

1481
01:15:36,230 --> 01:15:38,400
that he had gotten
the trail name

1482
01:15:38,400 --> 01:15:40,270
Mostly Harmless in Georgia.

1483
01:15:40,270 --> 01:15:42,200
But here we are

1484
01:15:42,200 --> 01:15:44,100
on Screeps,
on the Screeps Slack,

1485
01:15:44,100 --> 01:15:47,170
and he's saying,
"I'm mostly harmless."

1486
01:15:50,470 --> 01:15:52,800
And this is January, 2017

1487
01:15:52,800 --> 01:15:55,000
shortly before he started
out on his hike.

1488
01:15:55,900 --> 01:15:57,370
And there's a book
called Mostly Harmless,

1489
01:15:57,370 --> 01:16:00,370
that's a part
of the Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy.

1490
01:16:04,430 --> 01:16:05,770
[Nick]
I think he chose the name.

1491
01:16:05,770 --> 01:16:09,670
It may have just been
that he read the book.

1492
01:16:09,670 --> 01:16:11,130
He liked the book.

1493
01:16:11,130 --> 01:16:13,230
He recognized
that Mostly Harmless

1494
01:16:13,230 --> 01:16:15,600
is a pretty great phrase.

1495
01:16:15,600 --> 01:16:17,870
It's because
if you're mostly harmless,

1496
01:16:17,870 --> 01:16:20,030
you're also partly harmful.

1497
01:16:20,030 --> 01:16:23,100
It suggests someone who knew
something about his past

1498
01:16:23,100 --> 01:16:24,830
and was trying
to move away from it,

1499
01:16:24,830 --> 01:16:27,270
but was also aware of it.

1500
01:16:34,470 --> 01:16:36,300
[MJ] I've talked to people
who are abused.

1501
01:16:36,300 --> 01:16:38,730
If someone in your family
abuses somebody

1502
01:16:38,730 --> 01:16:40,330
and it's not resolved,

1503
01:16:40,330 --> 01:16:42,470
you end up doing
some abuse yourself.

1504
01:16:43,830 --> 01:16:45,670
[Nick] I never spoke
with his parents.

1505
01:16:45,670 --> 01:16:47,600
I sent several messages
to his sister

1506
01:16:47,600 --> 01:16:50,070
after I knew that she had been
notified by the police.

1507
01:16:51,170 --> 01:16:52,730
And she said,
she just didn't wanna talk

1508
01:16:52,730 --> 01:16:54,100
and the family wouldn't talk.

1509
01:16:55,830 --> 01:16:56,900
All of his friends knew

1510
01:16:56,900 --> 01:16:58,200
that he had
a terrible relationship

1511
01:16:58,200 --> 01:16:59,530
with his family.

1512
01:16:59,530 --> 01:17:03,400
He spoke of abuse
from his father,

1513
01:17:03,400 --> 01:17:05,170
though they didn't know
what kind of abuse.

1514
01:17:05,900 --> 01:17:07,730
I learned from court records,

1515
01:17:07,730 --> 01:17:10,730
he had been legally
emancipated from his family

1516
01:17:10,730 --> 01:17:11,900
at age 17.

1517
01:17:11,900 --> 01:17:13,600
You become...

1518
01:17:13,600 --> 01:17:15,000
independent when you're 18,

1519
01:17:15,000 --> 01:17:17,330
like... So what exactly
has to happen to have yourself

1520
01:17:17,330 --> 01:17:21,230
want to be emancipated
from your parents at that age?

1521
01:17:21,230 --> 01:17:23,600
I never talked to anybody
who knew the answer to that.

1522
01:17:25,270 --> 01:17:27,970
[Natasha] Talking to the one
friend from college

1523
01:17:27,970 --> 01:17:29,870
who knew anything
about the family,

1524
01:17:29,870 --> 01:17:32,230
his mental health
was pretty much

1525
01:17:32,230 --> 01:17:34,600
a dominant part of his life.

1526
01:17:35,470 --> 01:17:37,070
He would have these moments

1527
01:17:37,070 --> 01:17:39,530
where he would just stop
interacting with people.

1528
01:17:39,530 --> 01:17:41,930
He would go to his room,
he'd go to other places,

1529
01:17:41,930 --> 01:17:44,870
um, and he would stop eating.
He'd stop showering.

1530
01:17:44,870 --> 01:17:46,530
He would stop caring
for him himself,

1531
01:17:46,530 --> 01:17:49,570
um, for days, weeks,
and even months.

1532
01:17:49,570 --> 01:17:51,930
[Nick] The phrase that made
the most sense was outages

1533
01:17:51,930 --> 01:17:54,430
where he would
just shut down.

1534
01:17:56,130 --> 01:17:58,570
[Natasha]
And then, his friend Shelly,

1535
01:17:58,570 --> 01:18:00,770
she told me
when he was a teenager,

1536
01:18:00,770 --> 01:18:03,270
he had gone into a field

1537
01:18:03,270 --> 01:18:05,600
and shot himself
in the stomach.

1538
01:18:06,830 --> 01:18:08,470
While he was laying
there bleeding,

1539
01:18:08,470 --> 01:18:09,970
he changed his mind

1540
01:18:09,970 --> 01:18:12,200
and was able to drag himself

1541
01:18:12,200 --> 01:18:14,030
out of the field
and go get help.

1542
01:18:16,870 --> 01:18:18,470
The scar was not cancer.

1543
01:18:18,470 --> 01:18:20,930
It was not from any disease.

1544
01:18:20,930 --> 01:18:22,670
The scar was from a trauma.

1545
01:18:22,670 --> 01:18:24,170
It was from a gunshot wound.

1546
01:18:25,800 --> 01:18:28,130
My understanding was that

1547
01:18:28,130 --> 01:18:32,170
his parents wanted to get him
mental health assistance

1548
01:18:32,170 --> 01:18:33,800
after his suicide attempt,

1549
01:18:33,800 --> 01:18:36,200
and that was the reason
he no longer wanted

1550
01:18:36,200 --> 01:18:37,670
to have a relationship
with his family.

1551
01:18:40,500 --> 01:18:43,270
It's very possible this fist
fight that we hear about

1552
01:18:43,270 --> 01:18:46,130
had to do with wanting
to get their son assistance,

1553
01:18:46,130 --> 01:18:47,670
wanting to get him help.

1554
01:18:47,670 --> 01:18:49,870
Um, I can only assume

1555
01:18:49,870 --> 01:18:51,330
that his parents
cared about him.

1556
01:18:56,730 --> 01:18:57,930
[MJ]
At the beginning I thought,

1557
01:18:57,930 --> 01:19:00,100
"Oh, no, he wouldn't have
committed suicide."

1558
01:19:00,100 --> 01:19:02,330
Sort of, like, that's not
the image I had of him.

1559
01:19:02,330 --> 01:19:04,730
When I read that he had tried
it when he was 16

1560
01:19:04,730 --> 01:19:08,300
and the... And the depression.
I said, "No, he did."

1561
01:19:08,300 --> 01:19:10,030
I really didn't think
it was suicide.

1562
01:19:10,030 --> 01:19:11,800
I never really did,
to be honest.

1563
01:19:14,330 --> 01:19:18,700
In my opinion,
he took to one of his outages

1564
01:19:18,700 --> 01:19:20,830
and it just went too far.

1565
01:19:22,730 --> 01:19:24,500
[Brandon]
Maybe he starved himself.

1566
01:19:25,230 --> 01:19:26,900
It seems like a terrible
way to go,

1567
01:19:26,900 --> 01:19:29,870
but I mean, I don't know.

1568
01:19:29,870 --> 01:19:31,530
I don't know why he died.

1569
01:19:31,530 --> 01:19:34,570
Maybe the whole trip
was about, uh, penance.

1570
01:19:34,570 --> 01:19:37,170
You know, paying back
for the stuff I had done.

1571
01:19:37,170 --> 01:19:38,230
I need to suffer.

1572
01:19:39,070 --> 01:19:40,930
If I kill myself,
is it enough?

1573
01:19:42,200 --> 01:19:43,600
[Natasha]
I think he killed himself.

1574
01:19:43,600 --> 01:19:45,970
I think he intentionally
starved himself to death.

1575
01:19:49,330 --> 01:19:52,830
The book Mostly Harmless
by Douglas Adams

1576
01:19:52,830 --> 01:19:55,000
starts to come back up
in your mind.

1577
01:19:56,500 --> 01:19:57,770
[Nick] It's one in a series

1578
01:19:57,770 --> 01:20:00,100
called The Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy,

1579
01:20:00,100 --> 01:20:02,700
and the main character is
traveling around the galaxy,

1580
01:20:02,700 --> 01:20:06,500
making an atlas
for other travelers.

1581
01:20:06,500 --> 01:20:09,230
[Natasha] The book ends with
the destruction of the world.

1582
01:20:09,230 --> 01:20:12,370
The main characters are
kind of coming to their peace

1583
01:20:12,370 --> 01:20:16,000
with the imminent end of life
as they know it.

1584
01:20:18,270 --> 01:20:20,200
[Nick]
"This is not your home,"
said, Trilian Steel,

1585
01:20:20,200 --> 01:20:21,900
keeping her voice calm.
"You don't have one.

1586
01:20:21,900 --> 01:20:23,270
None of us has one.

1587
01:20:23,270 --> 01:20:25,970
Hardly anybody
has one anymore.

1588
01:20:25,970 --> 01:20:28,030
They don't even have
any memory of who they are

1589
01:20:28,030 --> 01:20:29,230
and what they're for."

1590
01:20:31,000 --> 01:20:33,400
[Kelly] " A tremendous feeling
of peace came over him.

1591
01:20:33,400 --> 01:20:36,300
He knew that it lasts
for once and forever.

1592
01:20:36,300 --> 01:20:38,330
It was now all finally over."

1593
01:20:41,170 --> 01:20:43,700
[Christie]
It feels a little bit like

1594
01:20:43,700 --> 01:20:47,030
his trail name
was his suicide note

1595
01:20:47,030 --> 01:20:48,330
to a certain degree.

1596
01:20:58,500 --> 01:21:00,230
[Brandon] I feel like
we could have been...

1597
01:21:00,230 --> 01:21:01,530
Could have been pals,
you know,

1598
01:21:01,530 --> 01:21:03,200
and that just really stinks.

1599
01:21:04,270 --> 01:21:06,930
You know, someone who...

1600
01:21:06,930 --> 01:21:09,130
offered me so much compassion
and kindness.

1601
01:21:10,770 --> 01:21:12,900
Hey Bennett, can you rejoin
the group, please?

1602
01:21:12,900 --> 01:21:16,370
[Bennett speaking]

1603
01:21:16,370 --> 01:21:18,770
What kind of story?
A true story?

1604
01:21:18,770 --> 01:21:22,070
It almost feels like a...
Like a parallel me

1605
01:21:22,070 --> 01:21:25,900
that just happened to go
in a different direction.

1606
01:21:25,900 --> 01:21:27,700
Go, go, go, go, go.

1607
01:21:27,700 --> 01:21:31,100
I don't think Denim
got the support he needed

1608
01:21:31,100 --> 01:21:32,330
to really heal.

1609
01:21:34,270 --> 01:21:36,430
I think he felt
really isolated

1610
01:21:36,430 --> 01:21:39,800
and felt like no one
wanted him around.

1611
01:21:42,800 --> 01:21:45,830
So, I'm gonna play a song
that is called,

1612
01:21:45,830 --> 01:21:48,570
"I've been Thinkin'"
from my band, Bombardier.

1613
01:21:48,570 --> 01:21:53,600
And, uh, it's about Denim

1614
01:21:53,600 --> 01:21:55,430
and the time I spent with him

1615
01:21:55,430 --> 01:21:58,000
and also about myself

1616
01:21:58,000 --> 01:22:00,900
and how I relate to him.

1617
01:22:02,900 --> 01:22:04,970
[guitar plays]

1618
01:22:10,470 --> 01:22:13,000
He was a person
that died too soon,

1619
01:22:13,000 --> 01:22:15,030
you know, and it's sad to see.

1620
01:22:15,030 --> 01:22:16,300
He had a lot to offer.

1621
01:22:17,600 --> 01:22:20,270
♪ I've been thinkin' ♪

1622
01:22:20,270 --> 01:22:24,370
♪ About running away again ♪

1623
01:22:24,370 --> 01:22:27,930
♪ About calling off
My friends ♪

1624
01:22:27,930 --> 01:22:31,530
♪ Just to tell 'em
That I'm never coming back ♪

1625
01:22:34,470 --> 01:22:36,570
[Nick]
There is Mostly Harmless.

1626
01:22:36,570 --> 01:22:38,870
And then there's
Vance Rodriguez, right?

1627
01:22:38,870 --> 01:22:40,700
Who exists until the moment

1628
01:22:40,700 --> 01:22:42,400
he goes
into Harriman State Park.

1629
01:22:42,400 --> 01:22:44,930
And Mostly Harmless
is a compelling character

1630
01:22:44,930 --> 01:22:46,930
even if Vance Rodriguez
is less so.

1631
01:22:47,830 --> 01:22:49,600
♪ I've been thinking... ♪

1632
01:22:49,600 --> 01:22:51,100
[man] Today, I'm pleased
to announce

1633
01:22:51,100 --> 01:22:53,170
that after
more than two years,

1634
01:22:53,170 --> 01:22:56,830
we now know the identity
of the deceased hiker

1635
01:22:56,830 --> 01:23:00,600
who went by the trail name,
Mostly Harmless.

1636
01:23:00,600 --> 01:23:02,270
And the family
made arrangements

1637
01:23:02,270 --> 01:23:04,400
with the medical
examiner's office.

1638
01:23:04,400 --> 01:23:05,600
Vance was brought home.

1639
01:23:05,600 --> 01:23:07,630
They had a ceremony for him.

1640
01:23:07,630 --> 01:23:12,000
[Brandon] ♪ Walk on Monday
Walk on Tuesday ♪

1641
01:23:14,030 --> 01:23:17,570
[MJ] I think I could see
the real him.

1642
01:23:17,570 --> 01:23:20,330
It was the eternity
that was in that moment.

1643
01:23:20,330 --> 01:23:21,700
I knew him then.

1644
01:23:21,700 --> 01:23:23,770
So I think a lot of us
miss him,

1645
01:23:23,770 --> 01:23:25,470
missed the one that we knew.

1646
01:23:27,500 --> 01:23:30,270
Maybe he's looking down
and laughing at all us now

1647
01:23:30,270 --> 01:23:33,430
or saying, "Oh, wow,
I wish I had stayed alive.

1648
01:23:33,430 --> 01:23:35,530
These people really loved me."

1649
01:23:37,130 --> 01:23:42,100
I would encourage him
to live on, I would
probably say, "Hang in there,

1650
01:23:42,100 --> 01:23:44,330
um, get some help."

1651
01:23:49,270 --> 01:23:50,870
[MJ] Goodbye for now, Denim.

1652
01:23:51,430 --> 01:23:53,700
But since coincidence,

1653
01:23:53,700 --> 01:23:55,570
let us meet
four times already.

1654
01:23:55,570 --> 01:23:58,770
I will look
for a fifth chance encounter.

1655
01:23:58,770 --> 01:24:00,900
I believe
that it's quite possible.

1656
01:24:00,900 --> 01:24:04,830
[Brandon] ♪ Walk on Monday
Walk on Tuesday ♪

1657
01:24:06,300 --> 01:24:07,900
[Natasha] Within sleuthing,
there are people

1658
01:24:07,900 --> 01:24:10,770
who feel unseen
and feel unheard

1659
01:24:10,770 --> 01:24:12,000
and feel invisible
in the world.

1660
01:24:13,330 --> 01:24:16,900
This is a way
that they can be seen

1661
01:24:16,900 --> 01:24:18,730
through these people.

1662
01:24:18,730 --> 01:24:21,170
And this is a way
to get closure in your life

1663
01:24:21,170 --> 01:24:24,370
for things that you're never
gonna get closure for.

1664
01:24:24,370 --> 01:24:27,900
[Brandon] ♪ Walk on Sunday
What was my name? ♪

1665
01:24:29,000 --> 01:24:31,230
[Natasha] I don't plan
on sleuthing again,

1666
01:24:31,230 --> 01:24:33,930
like I want more
real life experiences,

1667
01:24:35,630 --> 01:24:40,130
but sleuthing for this case
showed me I'm unstoppable.

1668
01:24:40,130 --> 01:24:43,170
And so I'm deciding then that
I was going to do this thing

1669
01:24:43,170 --> 01:24:45,130
that I've been dreaming
of doing my whole life,

1670
01:24:45,130 --> 01:24:47,100
which is opening
my own company

1671
01:24:48,270 --> 01:24:51,430
and bring the outdoors
to everybody

1672
01:24:51,430 --> 01:24:52,930
who wants to go outside.

1673
01:24:59,170 --> 01:25:00,970
[Christie]
I am glad I did not quit.

1674
01:25:03,600 --> 01:25:06,130
I am glad
I saw this to the end.

1675
01:25:07,370 --> 01:25:08,670
I really am.

1676
01:25:10,870 --> 01:25:12,670
I think when I found him,

1677
01:25:14,100 --> 01:25:15,330
I found me...

1678
01:25:17,400 --> 01:25:21,430
and realized this is
what I'm supposed to be doing.

1679
01:25:25,330 --> 01:25:27,930
And that's a very
powerful thing.

1680
01:25:28,870 --> 01:25:30,970
This is what I'm supposed
to be doing.

1681
01:25:59,300 --> 01:26:01,100
[laughs]

1682
01:26:01,100 --> 01:26:02,470
Oh, my God.

1683
01:26:12,730 --> 01:26:17,170
Um, now I saw that message.

1684
01:26:19,370 --> 01:26:20,830
I'm gonna tell you this.

1685
01:26:20,830 --> 01:26:22,700
I'm in front of a filming
camera right now.

1686
01:26:24,500 --> 01:26:25,570
Uh...

1687
01:26:27,970 --> 01:26:29,130
What?

1688
01:26:34,970 --> 01:26:36,170
I gotta walk out.

1689
01:26:38,600 --> 01:26:39,870
[door opens]

1690
01:26:45,070 --> 01:26:46,870
We've got this story...

1691
01:26:48,800 --> 01:26:51,300
that Tabitha was decapitated.

1692
01:26:54,270 --> 01:26:56,230
[phone ringing]

1693
01:26:56,230 --> 01:26:57,500
Oh, God.

1694
01:26:59,800 --> 01:27:01,900
Hey, Mrs. Young.
What's going on?