They Called Him Mostly Harmless ending explained: Who was Vance John Rodriguez?

HBO’s They Called Him Mostly Harmless is an example of “cyber sleuthing” and its efficacy. The true crime story presented here shows how internet investigation by amateur social media sleuths helped authorities unravel the mystery of an unidentified corpse. Together they managed to reveal the true identity of a dead hiker, going by the name “Mostly Harmless” to be a Louisiana resident, Vance John Rodriguez.

While the documentary revealed the negative side of amateur investigation in the nasty rivalries and massive quantities of useless information that caused distractions in the actual probe, it depicted the way social media interactions and crime enthusiasts can solve a nearly clueless case. Directed by Patricia E Gillespie, the HBO Max documentary, They Called Him Mostly Harmless, featured Nicholas Thompson, a former Wired journalist, who has compiled the evidence to document the complete report.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers and suggests the reader’s discretion.

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Who was Vance John Rodrigues of They Called Him Mostly Harmless and what happened to him?

Vance was recognized by many hikers but no one knew his name. (Image via HBO)

Vance John Rodriguez was the unidentified hiker at the centre of the true-crime documentary They Called Him Mostly Harmless. While his corpse was initially unidentified due to a lack of any documents and identifiable items near his body, intense and laborious cyber sleuthing by crime enthusiasts on social media helped identify him and his background.

In July 2018, some hikers in the Big Cypress National Preserve, Florida, reported a dead body inside a tent. As the authorities including lead investigator, David Hurm, investigated the scene, they found the starved emaciated body of a hiker with food preserves and money within the tent.

What baffled the authorities was the complete absence of any form of ID, document or phone to identify the dead person. Since there was no sign of any foul play, drug overdose or animal attack death, except for an old long scar on his stomach, the investigation was getting difficult.

Things started looking up as amateur sleuths in social media groups took interest in the case. It started with identifying the dead person’s sketch in the police flyers that was identified by a woman named Kelly.

Kelly Fairbanks had taken a picture of Vance. (Image via HBO)

Vance, who was last seen hiking on the Appalachian Trail, had met a few fellow hikers at different points of his journey and some of them had clicked pictures with him. He had introduced himself with the moniker “Mostly Harmless” to Kelly Fairbanks who had a picture of him. When Kelly posted the picture on a Facebook group, many hikers remembered meeting the dead hiker.

Some hikers remembered Rodriguez as “Denim”, a name that caught on due to his clothing preference. While many cyber groups became interested in solving the mystery, Christie Harris came forward with digital inquiry and a tip she received was one of the parameters to solve the mystery of identification.

The various social media detectives also helped with crowdfunding a DNA test by Othram Genetics company that pointed out the origin of the dead hiker to be from Louisiana. The DNA profiling, Christie’s tip and a Wired article together pieced the identity of the dead hiker to be Vance Rodriguez.

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What was Rodriguez of They Called Him Mostly Harmless actually like?

As They Called Him Mostly Harmless presented, the authorities and Wired journalist Thompson probed into Vance’s past to understand the cause of his death. While Kelly and other hikers who met him remember him as kind and friendly, digging into his past, his friendships, and relationships reveal a person with mental health issues.

As Thompson reached out to Vance’s family and friends, Vance’s background was exposed. At 17 he had liberated himself from his family, after a suicide attempt at 15 leading to a scar on his stomach. His girlfriends remember him as nasty, abusive, and harmfully controlling, a twist to why he nicknamed himself “Mostly harmless”.

While Rodriguez didn’t graduate, he was a computer whiz and a successful coder as the HBO documentary shows.

The article in Wired helped with the identification. (Image via HBO)

While Thompson could not unravel the cause of his fallout with his family, an interview with one of Vance’s friends gave an insight into the possible reason for his death. As per this friend, Rodriguez went on “outages” where he would avoid food and human contact, and stay immobile, till he would snap out of it.

Going by this theory, some people believe he was in one of his “outages” when he died due to starvation and exposure.

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How did the documentary, They Called Him Mostly Harmless, end?

As They Called Him Mostly Harmless reaches its end, the documentary focusing on the online detectives, shows Christie explaining how she is glad she didn’t quit on the case. While the text on the screen says she’s already on her next case, she shows her emotional connection with the case by saying:

“I think when I found him, I found me and realized this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”

She is shown taking a call, leaving the room and coming back to say that Tabitha was decapitated. As They Called Him Mostly Harmless ends with this scene, viewers are left baffled by the reference to Tabitha.

While Vance Rodriguez’s case has seen a closure at least about his identity, the cause of his death is still unclear. His “outage” seems to be the most logical explanation though it is a mystery why he did not snap out of it this time. As for Tabitha, it might be the next case that Christie was working on.

They Called Him Mostly Harmless is available for streaming on Max and Discovery Plus for subscribers.