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BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 10, 2019
Hiker found dead in Florida could
be a Brooklynite, witness claims
BY COLIN MIXSON
A hiker who died under mysterious
circumstances in Florida last
summer may have been a Brooklyn
resident, according to a Sunshine
State woman trying to locate
his family.
“Two different hikers, who
weren’t talking to each other,
mentioned separately that he
lived in Brooklyn,” said Kelly
Fairbanks, a trail angel who assists
travelers on the Florida National
Scenic Trail.
The hiker, whose name is unknown
and is generally referred
to by his trail names “Denim”
and “Mostly Harmless,” died
last July on a trail near the Nobels
Camp Site in the Big Cyprus
National Preserve, amid an epic
cross-country walk to Key West,
according to Fairbanks.
The angel met and photographed
the late traveler
on another Florida trail
roughly one month before he
passed, she said.
Two other hikers found Mostly
Harmless dead inside his tent, according
to Fairbanks, and the wanderers
discovered his emaciated
body about two days after he died,
according to information released
by the out-of-state offi cials with the
Collier County Sheriff’s Offi ce.
“They were doing a day hike,
found the camp site, and wanted
to take a rest,” Fairbanks said
of the hikers who allegedly discovered
Mostly Harmless’s body.
“They kept hollering out, but nobody
answered, and there were
shoes outside, so they assumed
he was there. Then one of them
peeked in the tent, and that’s
how they found him.”
Local investigators believe
Mostly Harmless had ties to both
Louisiana and New York State,
and authorities with the Florida
sheriff’s offi ce in August disseminated
posters to New York
City media outlets hoping to fi nd
anyone in the fi ve boroughs who
knew the hiker.
Sunshine State investigators
are still waiting for the local
medical examiner to determine
the hiker’s cause of death, but detectives
believe he may have died
of starvation, or succumbed to a
pre-existing, fatal condition that
compelled him to embark on the
interstate trek, according to a
podcast the Collier County Sheriff’s
Offi ce released last month.
But there are mitigating facts
that undermine those theories,
including an abundance of food
sources near Mostly Harmless’s
place of death, and the testimony
of fellow hikers he met on his
journey, including Fairbanks,
who said the deceased spoke optimistically
of his plans for the
future, such as his intention to
settle in Key West.
“He sounded like he had plans,”
she said.
Anyone with information regarding
Mostly Harmless should
call the Collier County Sheriff’s
Offi ce at (239) 774–4434.
MOSTLY HARMLESS: Florida police are seeking any information regarding the
identify of this man, who perished under mysterious circumstances while hiking
through the Sunshine State last year. Kelly Fairbanks