5 ms·

I'm the author of the piece. I think the best clues are that the mystery hiker told people he was from Louisiana, and that he worked in the tech industry in NY.

I'm the author of the piece. I think the best clues are that the mystery hiker told people he was from Louisiana, and that he worked in the tech industry in NY. I suspect someone here might recognize him. I'm reachable at nxthompson at protonmail.

mabbo 6y ago
Just wanted to say that it's a really well written piece. Nothing over-dramatized, but the whole story is there.
phreack 6y ago
I just wanted to thank you for writing an engaging long form article that doesn't meander telling parallel stories jumbled together. I could draw a straight timeline from the first paragraph to the last and that's oddly something I don't see too often in this format anymore!
- eganist 6y ago
  Perhaps some unexpected context: at least some authors of long-form pieces write with the objective of selling the rights to their works in mind. The more it feels like a screenplay, the more likely it is to attract a buyer who feels it has potential as one. I don't have numbers from you, just that bit of context and some supporting quotes off the record. Qualification: I tech-consult producers and writers on screenplays.
  - 0x1F8B 6y ago
    You probably know this but others might not: there are literally agencies that develop ideas through a tight lifecycle of inception, moderate form to long form market testing in publications like Wired and investment and film/podcast/TV development sourcing based on feedback from those market tests and brand sponsorship and alignment for the launch of the final product. Here is one agency in particular: https://www.epicdigital.com/ https://www.epicdigital.com/
- mapgrep 6y ago
  It should be good, he's the editor in chief :-)
radicalbyte 6y ago
Has his DNA been checked against people in the various online sequencing sites? You might be able to find a relative that way. They found a serial killer through that a year or two ago.
- mxxx 6y ago
  Read the article dude
  - radicalbyte 6y ago
    Ahh the article mentions checking the FBI database, and ends with the family-tree analysis. I hadn't finished reading before I posted, sorry :)
TwoBit 6y ago
It seems hard to believe that he worked in the tech industry but wouldn't be recognized. Perhaps articles like this will be seen by ex associates.
jamisteven 6y ago
Question, in the first picture he is wearing a jacket with "BR" embroidered on left side, was that ever looked into if its not a brand name?
- _whiteCaps_ 6y ago
  Maybe a Banana Republic puffy?
- thekevan 6y ago
  Brooks Range brand of jackets. Their logo was a BR then. https://www.themanual.com/outdoors/best-down-jackets-2017/ https://www.themanual.com/outdoors/best-down-jackets-2017/ (Second one down.)
mrzool 6y ago
What a great read — thank you!
breck 6y ago
$5,000 and 5 months? Why in the world is the DNA matching going so slow? My cousin mailed fifty bucks and some spit in an envelope on Monday and Wednesday I get an email from 23andMe saying "Hey! We think this is your cousin's spit!". And neither of us is missing!
- pavlus 6y ago
  23andMe don't do full sequencing, they just map small parts of DNA which are tied to features they test.
  - breck 6y ago
    Right but full sequencing doesn't net you much with ancestry. Much more important is SNPs on a broad population. Also, even if full sequencing were needed, we're not even talking de novo sequencing, full sequencing is routine daily work nowadays.
- SaberTail 6y ago
  A few things off the top of my head: 1. collecting a DNA sample from a corpse is more difficult than having someone spit in a tube and drop it in the mail. It takes tools and a specialist 2. they want to compare with lots of different databases. Most GEDMatch data comes from genotyping arrays, that look at ~500k variants on the genome. However, different companies use different sets of single-nucleotide variants. Meanwhile, law enforcement databases look at microsatellites, which can't be assayed easily with an array. Sequencing someone to be able to use all the different databases would be on the order of a thousand dollars 3. The genetic testing companies do things in bulk. Your cousin's spit was run though the various steps (like PCR) with 100s of other samples. Doing it for a single sample is going to be more expensive
  - breck 6y ago
    This is a fantastic answer, thank you.
type0 6y ago
Your article reads like one of the LEMMiNO stories https://www.youtube.com/c/LEMMiNO/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/LEMMiNO/videos Maybe it could be a good basis for a video

mabbo 6y ago

Just wanted to say that it's a really well written piece. Nothing over-dramatized, but the whole story is there.

phreack 6y ago

I just wanted to thank you for writing an engaging long form article that doesn't meander telling parallel stories jumbled together. I could draw a straight timeline from the first paragraph to the last and that's oddly something I don't see too often in this format anymore!

eganist 6y ago
Perhaps some unexpected context: at least some authors of long-form pieces write with the objective of selling the rights to their works in mind. The more it feels like a screenplay, the more likely it is to attract a buyer who feels it has potential as one. I don't have numbers from you, just that bit of context and some supporting quotes off the record. Qualification: I tech-consult producers and writers on screenplays.
- 0x1F8B 6y ago
  You probably know this but others might not: there are literally agencies that develop ideas through a tight lifecycle of inception, moderate form to long form market testing in publications like Wired and investment and film/podcast/TV development sourcing based on feedback from those market tests and brand sponsorship and alignment for the launch of the final product. Here is one agency in particular: https://www.epicdigital.com/ https://www.epicdigital.com/
mapgrep 6y ago
It should be good, he's the editor in chief :-)

radicalbyte 6y ago

Has his DNA been checked against people in the various online sequencing sites? You might be able to find a relative that way. They found a serial killer through that a year or two ago.

mxxx 6y ago
Read the article dude
- radicalbyte 6y ago
  Ahh the article mentions checking the FBI database, and ends with the family-tree analysis. I hadn't finished reading before I posted, sorry :)

TwoBit 6y ago

It seems hard to believe that he worked in the tech industry but wouldn't be recognized. Perhaps articles like this will be seen by ex associates.

jamisteven 6y ago

Question, in the first picture he is wearing a jacket with "BR" embroidered on left side, was that ever looked into if its not a brand name?

_whiteCaps_ 6y ago
Maybe a Banana Republic puffy?
thekevan 6y ago
Brooks Range brand of jackets. Their logo was a BR then. https://www.themanual.com/outdoors/best-down-jackets-2017/ https://www.themanual.com/outdoors/best-down-jackets-2017/ (Second one down.)

mrzool 6y ago

What a great read — thank you!

breck 6y ago

$5,000 and 5 months? Why in the world is the DNA matching going so slow? My cousin mailed fifty bucks and some spit in an envelope on Monday and Wednesday I get an email from 23andMe saying "Hey! We think this is your cousin's spit!". And neither of us is missing!

pavlus 6y ago
23andMe don't do full sequencing, they just map small parts of DNA which are tied to features they test.
- breck 6y ago
  Right but full sequencing doesn't net you much with ancestry. Much more important is SNPs on a broad population. Also, even if full sequencing were needed, we're not even talking de novo sequencing, full sequencing is routine daily work nowadays.
SaberTail 6y ago
A few things off the top of my head: 1. collecting a DNA sample from a corpse is more difficult than having someone spit in a tube and drop it in the mail. It takes tools and a specialist 2. they want to compare with lots of different databases. Most GEDMatch data comes from genotyping arrays, that look at ~500k variants on the genome. However, different companies use different sets of single-nucleotide variants. Meanwhile, law enforcement databases look at microsatellites, which can't be assayed easily with an array. Sequencing someone to be able to use all the different databases would be on the order of a thousand dollars 3. The genetic testing companies do things in bulk. Your cousin's spit was run though the various steps (like PCR) with 100s of other samples. Doing it for a single sample is going to be more expensive
- breck 6y ago
  This is a fantastic answer, thank you.

type0 6y ago

Your article reads like one of the LEMMiNO stories https://www.youtube.com/c/LEMMiNO/videos https://www.youtube.com/c/LEMMiNO/videos Maybe it could be a good basis for a video