'Mostly Harmless': Florida cops partner with Texas DNA lab to identify hiker's 'twisted' body from 2 years ago
Almost two years since the day a pair of hikers came across the body of a man, now popularly identified as 'Mostly Harmless', authorities investigating the case announced they had partnered with a private DNA laboratory in Texas in a bid to identify him. It was July 23, 2018 when the two hikers making their way across the Big Cypress National Preserve located in Collier County, Florida, found a deceased man in a tent at a campsite called Noble's Camp. "His body was kind of twisted. His eyes were wide open and he was looking right at me," said Nichalaus Horton, the hiker who found the body and called 911.
He had nothing in his possession that could reveal his identity; no phone, no ID, no credit cards. What he did have was hiking gear, $3,640 in cash, and a notebook, where he had lots of written code for a video game that he wanted to develop, ideas for a new protein bar and code related to the game "Screeps". There were no signs to indicate he had been the victim of a crime and an autopsy found no particular disease or fatal illness and indicated that he died of starvation.
Investigators followed the traditional routes when it came to identification but were fruitless. They looked into matching his fingerprints through various databases, both criminal and military, looked through missing person cases in the area, and even widened their search to surrounding areas for leads to little avail.
They eventually made progress after releasing a bulletin seeking information from the public, where they included a composite sketch of the hiker. They said he was between 35 and 50-years-old, had salt and pepper hair and beard, was 5’8” and weighed just 83 pounds. They also said he was wearing a beige shirt with green shorts and black Salomon hiking boots, and that he was found in a yellow Brooke-Range 2-person tent.
People who came across him on the trail stepped forward but said they only knew him as 'Denim,' a name he earned after sharing that he first started hiking in the Appalachian Trail in New York in April 2017. Authorities thought they made a breakthrough when they found he had checked into the Top of Georgia Hostel & Hiking Center under the name 'Ben Bilemy,' but quickly learned that the name was only an alias.
It was Kelly Fairbanks who first succeeded in recognizing the composite as a man she met and became the first to contact the police. Fairbanks was a trail angel, someone who helps hikers on their trail, and said she first met Denim on January 24, 2018.
But she didn't know him as Denim. She knew him as 'Mostly Harmless' – a name he reportedly earned during a conversation with a fellow hiker where he said he was from New York. He appeared content, and when asked who he was by another hiker, the answer came: "He's mostly harmless" and the name stuck.
Fairbanks said she was worried about Mostly Harmless because he seemed new to hiking. She said he was not carrying a phone because he wanted to "disconnect" from the world, and that, along with carrying an enormous tent, were "rookie mistakes."
A similar account was shared by two women who came across him while hiking the Florida Trail in February 2018. They told investigators they met Mostly Harmless while walking a flooded trail and that he did not have GPS or even a map.
Further stories about Mostly Harmless then began appearing on social media. A man who met him at a shelter in Springer Mountain in Georgia in December 2017 said he knew the hiker as Denim because he wore jeans every day for the first two weeks he knew him. He said they had talked late into the evening once and Denim shared that his father was abusive. He also revealed he doesn't speak to his parents, mentioned an ex-girlfriend, and that he was a big fan of 'Dr. Who.'
Other trail angels said he told them he had worked in IT for over 10 years, in either New York or New Jersey, was developing a hiking app, and that he had health problems and wanted to hike while he still could. All said he seemed healthy and expressed shock after learning he weighed just 83 pounds at the time of his death.
Answers are still scarce. This recent foray into forensic genealogy at the second anniversary of his disappearance comes after CCSO detectives sent samples of his DNA to the University of North Texas earlier this year.
In March, after DNA was extracted and compared to national databases of missing persons, there were no hits, which meant that no one had reported Bilemy missing and uploaded information to any of these databases. Detectives even tracked down all his belongings – including contacting the maker of his notebook – but found no leads. "We got the results back this year and at that point, we thought ‘what’s next?’” said Holly Cherian, a crime scene lab analyst with the sheriff's department.
While it was determined that they had exhausted DNA searches, national developments in DNA privacy have allowed investigators to now explore the services of Othram Inc, the first private DNA laboratory built specifically with the intent of assisting law enforcement using forensic genealogy. It has proven effective before. The Golden State Killer case in California was solved after more than three decades in 2018 .after forensic genetic genealogy led investigators to 72-year-old Joseph James DeAngelo Jr., who has since been convicted of multiple counts of murder and kidnapping.
It's unlikely there was such a malicious force behind Bilemy's death, but authorities hope they can at least put a name to the face of the 'Mostly Harmless' hiker.