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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

#321

Post by Bayart »

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?

I've just hit 30 and I still default to C or C-style to think about code. I've been formally taught coding with the K&R (while being introduced to Perl, Bash, PHP and LUA as a teenager), and I'm far from the only one.

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

#322

Post by pvaldes »

Raphmedia wrote: post #37

Could it be a Canadian that drove to NY and then hiked west? That's a pretty common thing to do. I have a bunch of friends from college that are bouncing around the globe travelling on foot, picking fruits and doing farm-work when they run out of funds. Or are the databases / missing persons agencies communicating with each others?

He talked with several people. A canadian accent would be noticed.

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

#323

Post by pvaldes »

asphyxiac wrote: post #62
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.

Aneurism would show up in the autopsy, right? And snake bite in the toxo report? Not sure about stroke.

Bothrops or Vipers distroy blood or tissues. Would made unmistakable swelling or extensive inner bleeding.

Micrurus bites could be not so easy to detect but would not explain the weight loss.

And liver and kidneys were clean

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

#324

Post by LorenPechtel »

crdrost wrote: post #222
giantg2 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That doesn’t fit. You don’t discover you’re terminally ill and then brainstorm a game while you're out trying to find yourself. If you think you're terminally ill then your notebook is likely to be full of meditations on the day's endeavors and thoughts about your legacy, and your mortality, maybe even your family. You write about a game when you're nowhere near a computer, it's because you're imagining eventually be…

You're thinking of a person who is fighting the terminal illness. But not everyone chooses to fight, some choose to spend their remaining time doing something they want to do. It's quite possible for someone to decide the cost in suffering from fighting the disease isn't worth the extra time the fight would gain them. Note that this isn't from ignorance, those more medically knowledgeable are more likely to make such a choice.

The problem here is what would it have been that wasn't picked up in autopsy?

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

#325

Post by LorenPechtel »

almog wrote: post #102
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...

> "was only able to hike 10 miles a day" Where is this quote from? It's not from the linked article. > "10 mi / day is absolutely abysmal for a normal thru hiker." To the best of my understanding, unless he flip-flopped, he was not a thruhiker as he started in NY. It is not clear either if he made his way south in a continuous footpath. Moreover, even for a thru-hiker, the 10 by 10 gold standard of hiking does not ap…

I'm thinking "thru-hiker" isn't really the right description of this guy. It feels to me like someone who was doing long distance hiking without regard for completing a trail.

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

#326

Post by LorenPechtel »

Uberphallus wrote: post #305
NikolaeVarius wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, its absymal. I was carrying 45 pound full on winter gear loadout while thru hiking and I was getting 23 miles a day at going from 5k ft to 13k ft This was without any real special training.

From https://truecrimesociety.com/2019/08/22/unidentified-and-mos... > He wasn’t an experienced hiker (wore jeans the first couple weeks, didn’t carry maps/gps/phone, had a tent that was too big, carried a backpack that was over 50 lbs) Also in the pictures without jeans he was wearing knee support, he might have just had arthritis or something like that.

And his mix of gear suggests someone lacking experience. I'm very used to seeing novices on the trails with a wide range of gear, mostly cheap stuff. By the time you get to the top of the highest mountain in this part of the state (class 1, 17mi RT with 1 mile of climb) almost everything you see except shirts is fairly high end.

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

#327

Post by Supermancho »

chasd00 wrote: post #202
znpy wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uh, we don't know for sure he didn't ever commit a crime, your logic is flawed.

that's a scary comment. I'll remind you that he's innocent until someone proves otherwise.

Thats a presumption in pursuit of justice, not a principle to follow. Humans are generally all guilty of something, even if they dont get caught

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

#328

Post by LorenPechtel »

dmckeon wrote: post #180
almog wrote: post #116

I love how sometimes worlds collide and thruhiking related stories make it to HN. It is however sad for it to be in this context. If anyone reading this consider getting into long distance hiking, I'd encourage you to do so. While it is always best to avoid getting into dangerous situations rather than finding your way out of there, getting yourself either: 1. A subscription based satellite messenger (Garmin Mini is…

If you travel to places where you might want people searching for you from the air to notice you amid many square miles of search area, a signal mirror is remarkably effective. https://adventure.howstuffworks.com/survival/gear/use-signal...

A signal mirror is useful for directing searchers to you, but is useless for telling them you have a problem. I actually have both a beacon and an inReach--I got the beacon when I started doing hikes that weren't part of a group, but were still on fairly popular trails. This year I've been deliberately avoiding the crowds so I added an inReach.

With the beacon they'll know exactly who and where you are (but nothing about the nature of the problem) and it also transmits a homing signal for aircraft. With the inReach if you just trip the SOS they only get who and where, but you also have text messaging so that you can communicate how urgent the situation is and what it will take to get you out. (Safe but unable to extract won't get anything like the response that femoral artery severed, tourniquet applied gets.)

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

#329

Post by LorenPechtel »

almog wrote: post #307
oh_sigh wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I asking for too much but why didn't his makeshift snowshoes work? Being of sound body and mind with only 10 miles between you and civilization should rarely be a death sentence.

I'm not sure how well his makeshift snowshoes performed, but the journal of his account during the time he waited for someone to find him portray him as more resourceful than most hikers I've met. As to his distance from civilization, I'm assuming you refer to Lagunitas Campground to hwy 285. That is around 20 miles as the crow flies, more like 30 miles on trail from what I see on CalTopo, but with thick fresh layer…

Yup, I have aborted a hike because of an inch of snow. I didn't recall exactly where the trail was, only that it was basically cut into a slope. Looking down at it I couldn't figure out where it would be safe to walk and where I would be risking sliding down the hill. It really changes things.

Obviously, I could have scraped aside the snow every couple of feet and figured it out but I knew there was a lot more such terrain ahead, it would have been very slow.

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

#330

Post by ficklepickle »

runjake wrote: post #277
exogeny wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interestingly, the PDF distributed by Collier County lists an alias of "Ben Bilemy". That simply cannot be just a coincidence.

I don’t recall exactly but I believe I was checking last name variances based off of the Bilemy alias. So, not a coincidence. Sorry for the hazy memory. It was a while ago and was not super important to me. It was just one of my many random OSINT exercises I like to do. Hopefully my comment might spur somebody on HN with more time to locate the LI profile.

I found a reddit post[0] linking the LI profile[1] of Ben Bellamy. Can't get past the login-wall right now but I will check later.

0 -https://www.reddit.com/r/AppalachianTrail/comments/970h8f/co...

1 - https://goo.gl/images/8dALKK (Actually a google images link that redirects to LinkedIn)

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