“Hi, my name is Benjaman Kyle, you don’t know who I am, and frankly either”, with these words Benjaman Kylea man found without memory, naked and without feeling in August 2004 near a burger king in Georgia, launched an appeal for denounce its history. Kyle suffered from amnesia retrogradeand remembered only a few details of his past, not enough to understand his identity. This man He lived for eleven years in total anonymitywithout anyone denouncing his disappearance or that he was able to trace his past. Precisely for this reason, he decided to adopt the pseudonym of Benjaman Kyle: in 2015thanks to a series of accurate genetic testsit was finally possible to reconstruct his true identity. His real name is William Burgess Powellbut for privacy reasons, man has decided not to reveal more details.
Benjaman Kyle’s discovery
Is the August 31, 2004and are the early hours of the morning a Richmond Hillin Georgia (USA). A 65 -year -old man is found near the Burger King restaurant by the head of the fast food: he is naked and without senses, he was probably attacked, and is lying near the bins between the interstate road 95 and the Highway 17. It is brought to the hospital, awakens, is quite well, but it doesn’t remember anything: Not his name, not as he arrived there, does not even recognize his face. Amnesia retrogradeso the doctors say. From the first tests carried out, three holes are found in the skull, perhaps caused by a blow, but it does not understand much more, and has a cataract to both eyes, perhaps due to a long exposure to the sun, during its fainting.
“Hello, my name is benjaman kyle, you don’t know living i am, and quite frankly, in the do i”
“Hi, my name is Benjaman Kyle, you don’t know who I am, and frankly either”
Nobody has his disappearance reported: whoever it is, seems to come from nothing. There are no clues Near the Burger King, nor more details that can help the police find out who this man is: he is therefore initially called “Bk”, Because found near the Burger King, initials which then become the fictitious name that decides to take, Benjaman Kyle.
Investigations to find out who the mysterious man is
Slowly, some memory begins to emerge: Benjaman Suppose that he was born on August 29, 1948having two or three brothers, but cannot give information, has vague memories of Denver and Indianapolis, claims to have lived in Boulder in the 70s. In addition, he remembers having been in the library of the University of Colorado, but he cannot say if he studied there, and he also talks about a chair seen in the library. He also talks about magazines “Restaurant & Institutions“And he cites a restaurant in Boulder: these data make him think they have worked in catering, But his memories stop in the mid -1980s.
Few and confused elements, not enough to trace a picture that allows to trace its origins. Linguists are also involved who claim that his emphasis can be mixed between that of North of Indiana and Oklahomabut again the information is not enough to formulate hypotheses on who Benjaman Kyle is really.
Without an identity document and without insurance, Benjaman is inserted in the John Doe database – fictitious name that is assigned to men whose identity is unknown – But it is difficult for him to make up for a lifetime, as well as to receive medical assistance being without insurance. Time passes, e Nobody claims Benjaman’s disappearance.
Benjaman Kyle, towards the conquest of true identity
In the 2012eight years after Kyle’s discovery, John Wikströma student of the University of Florida, dedicates the short film to chance Finding Benjamanwhich will also be presented to Cannes Film Festival and al Tribeca Film Festival.
It is an opportunity for denounce the story of Benjamanwhich at that moment lived as a homeless: The short film manages to attract the gaze of public opinion and a local entrepreneur decides to offer man a job, which will lead him to have a home. The Senator of Florida Mike Weinstein He will also be able to get him a temporary identity document.
Thanks to the visibility obtained, the story reaches up to a team of researchers who deal with Forensic genealogy and, in 2015, thanks to a Series of genetic testsBenjaman is identified: his real name is William Burgess Powellbut the man decides not to disseminate other data for privacy reasons and to protect his family.
