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A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

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Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#81

Post by Jtsummers »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #78
Jtsummers wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aneurisms, strokes, toxins (spider/snake bites). The first is pretty quick, but the latter two could leave someone sufficiently weak or incapacitated to move and care for themselves, but still survive long enough to become emaciated.

All of this would show up in an autopsy. Snake bites would leave visible puncture wounds. There are for all practical purposes no deadly spiders native to the US. Tissue necrosis from a brown recluse would be visible, and a black widow would leave neurotoxic signs that a decent autopsy would have found, as well as possibly the toxin itself. (Hardly anybody dies from those two spider bites, and those two are the only…

How long would they remain detectable by an autopsy in a county that didn't even want to spend $5k on DNA testing? How long was the body decaying before discovered. I do agree about the necrotizing venoms. But consider a black widow. You could be incapacitated, rendered helpless for a day or so, and become sufficiently dehydrated to be essentially delirious after recovering from the bite proper. That would leave you in a state that, without assistance, you'd not die from the bite, but from starvation/dehydration several days later. How long is the toxin in the body?

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#82

Post by giantg2 »

tdons wrote: post #69

The police poster mentioned "was only able to hike 10 miles a day". Makes me think it's health related, 10 mi / day is absolutely abysmal for a normal thru hiker. Most aim to do that amount by 10 in the morning...

I thought the same thing when they mentioned he was emaciated with food near by. I would rather die doing something enjoyable than sitting at a desk at work, so maybe a terminal diagnosis prompted his trek. I would assume they would have found most health issues in an autopsy, unless maybe it was something very unusual or difficult to identify after decomposition.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#83

Post by phreack »

nxthompson2 wrote: post #3

I'm the author of the piece. I think the best clues are that the mystery hiker told people he was from Louisiana, and that he worked in the tech industry in NY. I suspect someone here might recognize him. I'm reachable at nxthompson at protonmail.

I just wanted to thank you for writing an engaging long form article that doesn't meander telling parallel stories jumbled together. I could draw a straight timeline from the first paragraph to the last and that's oddly something I don't see too often in this format anymore!

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#84

Post by llsf »

kodah wrote: post #65
dheera wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm slightly less concerned about being anonymous from the government and far more concerned about being anonymous from businesses . How is it that every time I move, they still figure out where I live and continue to send me junk mail? I'm extremely concerned about the ease of arbitrary businesses finding out where some person lives. I want this to be unethical to the point that whoever leaked my address without my…

You're getting downvoted and I'm not sure why, but I'd like a moment to share my story and why I believe in what you believe: My mom called me the other week and told me that a recruiter was looking for me. She gave me their name and number, but I was stumped. How the hell did: 1. They know that was my mother 2. How did they know her number 3. How did they know she would be able to reach me? I've subsequently determi…

Same thing happened to me, but it was not to sell me something. It was nefarious enough that I cannot talk about it, without creating even more damages. Social engineering can still go all the way, where irremediable damage can be done. Then good luck to get justice!

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#85

Post by giantg2 »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #78
Jtsummers wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aneurisms, strokes, toxins (spider/snake bites). The first is pretty quick, but the latter two could leave someone sufficiently weak or incapacitated to move and care for themselves, but still survive long enough to become emaciated.

All of this would show up in an autopsy. Snake bites would leave visible puncture wounds. There are for all practical purposes no deadly spiders native to the US. Tissue necrosis from a brown recluse would be visible, and a black widow would leave neurotoxic signs that a decent autopsy would have found, as well as possibly the toxin itself. (Hardly anybody dies from those two spider bites, and those two are the only…

Depends on the state of decomposition as to what they would find in the autopsy, but I would generally agree that invenomation is unlikely as it wouldn't explain the emaciation (they could be coincidental). Found in a tent in FL... I don't want to imagine that smell. It's also possible they found anomalies or issues but were not able to tie them to the death (I imagine the autopsy is confidential).

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#86

Post by heavyset_go »

Componica wrote: post #40
ColanR wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone wants to check, I'd bet he at least forked or starred the github repo. A script to pull the list of those people, minus anyone whos been active since april 2017, would probably show his account.

Looking at https://imgur.com/a/eTphrRF The code that he writes is a blend of languages. The arrow operators -> is indicative of C/C++ but C/C++ doesn't use nil or function. It's like he thinks in C/C++ first which puts him at about my age mid-40s. Anyone younger than 40 would be using dots '.' due to Java/Javascript/Python instead of '->'. Does anyone else get that vibe?

Some colleges teach courses with C++, and if students or young programmers want to get into game development or graphics, they're often recommended to pick up C++. Systems programming is often taught using C++, if not C.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#87

Post by hultner »

Componica wrote: post #40
ColanR wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone wants to check, I'd bet he at least forked or starred the github repo. A script to pull the list of those people, minus anyone whos been active since april 2017, would probably show his account.

Looking at https://imgur.com/a/eTphrRF The code that he writes is a blend of languages. The arrow operators -> is indicative of C/C++ but C/C++ doesn't use nil or function. It's like he thinks in C/C++ first which puts him at about my age mid-40s. Anyone younger than 40 would be using dots '.' due to Java/Javascript/Python instead of '->'. Does anyone else get that vibe?

Wouldn't say that, I'm around 30 and grew up coding C, C++ and later, in my teens some Perl anf PHP, all these languages use the -> syntax and I still used that in my notes up until two or three years ago, I also use nil from my lisp adventures and prefer snake_caas. The first languages have I learned as a young child made an strong impression in my mental visualisation of programming concepts even of I haven't used them in many years. I found notes on my iPhone using the arrow syntax with snake_case variables. And from the pictures he looks about my age so I'd say 30 is a real possibility as well.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#88

Post by radicalbyte »

nxthompson2 wrote: post #3

I'm the author of the piece. I think the best clues are that the mystery hiker told people he was from Louisiana, and that he worked in the tech industry in NY. I suspect someone here might recognize him. I'm reachable at nxthompson at protonmail.

Has his DNA been checked against people in the various online sequencing sites? You might be able to find a relative that way. They found a serial killer through that a year or two ago.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#89

Post by giantg2 »

Jtsummers wrote: post #52
jariel wrote: post #34

Young men don't die for 'no reason'. It's odd that they couldn't find some cause of death, I assumed that in 2020 we'd be able to make a rough estimate. If there's no obvious foul play then statistically the obvious one would be suicide, but that should narrow only to a few specific things. How many ways are there for one to 'just die' while lying in a tent.

Aneurisms, strokes, toxins (spider/snake bites). The first is pretty quick, but the latter two could leave someone sufficiently weak or incapacitated to move and care for themselves, but still survive long enough to become emaciated.

It would take a fairly long time for even a 130 person to get into the 80s. If you can't move or care for yourself, you'd be dead in that tent in less than 3 days.

Re: A nameless hiker and the case the internet can’t crack

#90

Post by notacoward »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #78
Jtsummers wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aneurisms, strokes, toxins (spider/snake bites). The first is pretty quick, but the latter two could leave someone sufficiently weak or incapacitated to move and care for themselves, but still survive long enough to become emaciated.

All of this would show up in an autopsy. Snake bites would leave visible puncture wounds. There are for all practical purposes no deadly spiders native to the US. Tissue necrosis from a brown recluse would be visible, and a black widow would leave neurotoxic signs that a decent autopsy would have found, as well as possibly the toxin itself. (Hardly anybody dies from those two spider bites, and those two are the only…

> All of this would show up in an autopsy

Not necessarily. The toxin could have been ingested, especially if it was something man-made rather than natural. Many would have left recognizable signs, but others you'd have to know what signs to look for and/or do a specific test. Whatever it is might even have cleared his system (it takes a while to become that emaciated) but not before doing some kind of neurological/motor damage.

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