An undated photo of the hiker Vance Rodriguez, nicknamed 'Mostly Harmless.'
hiker whose body was found in a tent in Florida. Hikers who met him along the way said he’d introduce himself as “Mostly Harmless” . Some knew him as “Denim,” like the jeans he was wearing.out Feb. 8, profiles the men and women on Facebook who volunteered their time to search for the mysterious man’s real identity.
The Facebook users helped keep sustained attention on the case, even when local law enforcement hit a wall. For example, a big breakthrough in the search came in July 2020 when members of the Facebook group worked with the company Othram, which uses genetics to help crack, to the Mostly Harmless case. Othram needed $5,000 to run a DNA analysis on the hiker’s bone, and in about a week, the Facebook users successfully came up with the money via crowdfunding.