The cast of They Called Him Mostly Harmless consists of the men and women on Facebook who did a deep dive into discovering the identity of a now-deceased man who introduced himself as "Mostly Harmless" to hikers.
Directed by Patricia Gillespie, the new Max documentary explores the impacts of both the true crime and sleuthing communities in uncovering the truth in the age of social media.
At the center of the documentary is a deceased body that two hikers found on July 23, 2018. After the Collier County Sheriff's Office couldn't identify the deceased's name, they decided to post a sketch of his face on Facebook, leading to a group of sleuths who dedicated their time to finding out the truth.
They Called Him Mostly Harmless premiered on Max on February 8.
Every Main Interviewee in Max's They Called Him Mostly Harmless
David Hurm
Working as a lead detective, David Hurm was the one who responded to the 911 call about a dead body that was found on the Appalachian Trail.
Hurm said that he and his team were confused when they found the body since the deceased was thin, yet his tent contained food, and he was within walking distance of a truck stop. There were also no injuries on the body and no signs of struggle.
As a result, Hurm and his team decided to create a flyer with the deceased's face (touched up, of course) to see if locals could identify him.
Christie Harris
Christie Harris, a delivery woman working for Puritan Cleaners from Virginia, is a member and moderator of a Facebook group dedicated to identifying unidentified people.
Harris recalled identifying Mostly Harmless as her first case, noting that she joined a Facebook group centered around them.
Kristin Adams
Kristin Adams is a criminal research investigator from the Collier County Sheriff's Office.
In They Called Him Mostly Harmless, Adams explained how the investigation led to creating a flyer after failing to identify the name of the deceased, saying that it's the agency's way of seeking assistance from the community.
They released it to local media and social media.
Kelly Fairbanks
Kelly Fairbanks is a so-called Trail Angel who reached out to the Collier County Sheriff's Office to let them know that she recognized the face of the dead body.
A Trail Angel is someone who gives snacks and assistance to hikers.
Fairbanks revealed that she met the man six months before his body was found. She said that the man introduced himself as Mostly Harmless.
Brandon Dowell
Brandon Dowell is a hiker who revealed that he spent time with Mostly Harmless, and he knew him as someone called "Denim."
Dowell said that he met Denim at the Springer Mountain Shelter. He revealed that Denim talked to him about his troubled childhood and recent breakup.
Marge "MJ" Creech
Marge "MJ" Creech is Brandon Dowell's friend who also camped and spent a good amount of time with Denim.
Creech described Denim as quiet yet having a positive attitude. She met Denim when she started to challenge herself in trying to finish hiking on the Appalachian Trail.
Mike Gormley
Mike Gormley was also a hiker who interacted with Mostly Harmless, describing him as friendly and easygoing.
Gormley also unveiled that Mostly Harmless had a huge backpack during his hiking days, which to him was unusual. He was the last hiker who saw Mostly Harmless before he died.
Nicholas Thompson
Nicholas Thompson, the CEO of The Atlantic and the former editor-in-chief of WIRED, came across the story of Mostly Harmless and admitted that it was an interesting case since it's hard to disappear during the digital age.
Thompson used the victim's notebooks as clues and discovered that it was code for a game for programmers called Screeps. This led to people investigating Screeps to find the real name of the deceased hiker.
Kristine Gill
Kristine Gill works under the public relations department of the Collier County Sheriff's Office and serves as the host of the agency's podcast, Sworn Statement.
With the investigators thinking out of the box, Gill used the podcast to get answers about Mostly Harmless' real identity.
Natasha Teasley
Natasha Teasley, an outdoor enthusiast, believes that she has to protect and take care of Mostly Harmless' reputation since he is a member of her community.
Teasley took over from Christie Harris in moderating the Facebook group since it was flooded with crazy and outrageous claims about the victim.
Bill Powell
Bill Powell has an online therapy journal about the benefits of hiking to cope with cancer. He used the alias, Ben Reynolds, to hide his identity.
Powell was wrongly identified as Mostly Harmless by several cybersleuths, and he was harassed at one point. Powell even went out of his way to join various Facebook groups to debunk the theory that he's Mostly Harmless.
David Mittleman
David Mittleman is the CEO of Othram. The company works with law enforcement investigations, focusing on human investigations from crime scenes.
David shared in They Called Him Mostly Harmless how the company uses sophisticated methods to find out peoples' identities using their DNA.
Kristen Mittleman
Kristen Mittleman is David's wife and the Chief Business Development Officer at Othram.
She works with her husband to uncover the identities of bodies found at crime scenes.
They Called Him Mostly Harmless is now streaming on Max.
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