Dave on wheels exposed: The twist you never expected

Dave on Wheels Exposed: The Twist You Never Expected

When something seems too good to be true, it often is.

             Dave Rose, more commonly known as Dave On Wheels on Twitter and his blogspot, has recently achieved some sort of internet celebrity due to some unfortunate events. Or so we are all led to believe. I only just learned about Dave early this morning from a deeply upset friend. She showed me the final blog post he wrote while in the hospital. My first thoughts were about how awful this is, and how life sometimes is so unfair. And then I had an unnerving feeling that wouldn't depart. Dave was deaf with cerebral palsy. Such an unfortunate disorder as it is, and deaf too? So he must not have been able to sign (from lack of motor control) and unable to talk or hear. How awful to be trapped in a body with thoughts but not being able to express yourself to anyone, not even your family and friends. He wrote fondly about his friends with cerebral palsy, I imagined how difficult that would be, given that he couldn't sign, hear, or talk. Suddenly nothing added up anymore. Being a fairly efficient online "detective" I tried to prove my gut (for lack of a better word) wrong. I explain in my email to the Chive below, but basically I uploaded the picture seen below into Google images and searched it to see if it was anywhere else on the web. These are my results.

(Read on to the end, I assure you this gets very interesting)

As you can see, the first link is from the Tobii website. 

Does that picture look familiar?

So after seeing this, naturally my stomach sank. First, because one of my closest friends was so affected by Dave, and his message, although not true, was positive. At this point I wasn't sure whether it would be the right thing to come forward with the information because so many people were affected in a positive way. At the same time though, I realized this wasn't just any ordinary person impersonating some ordinary person. This was some "able bodied" person (referencing his final blog post) impersonating someone that is affected by this horrible disorder. And if anyone deserves credit for having a beautiful mind it is Hunter Dunn. So I searched on. 

After performing a few Google searches I was able to return the following. 

From this I was able to search him on Facebook with some relevant results by adding Danville Virginia to the narrow search by location feature on Facebook. And alas, I found Hunter Dunn. The real Dave Rose.

His links are as follows:

http://www.facebook.com/hunterdunnproject

http://twitter.com/HSD_ROCK

http://myspace.com/hunterdunnproject

All of this probably seems hard to believe. Who would go through SUCH extreme efforts? I really can't think of a single person... well, that's not true, now I can. If it seems unbelievable, because as a friend once told me "sometimes the truth is more unbelievable than a lie" (something I never believed until now, then I have more damning evidence for you. My friend, who was deeply affected by "Dave" and his uplifting outlook on life and positive message, provided to me the following links after the collapse of her denial about who "Dave", or Hunter rather, actually is. 

http://www2.godanriver.com/news/2011/dec/23/rest-story-article-leads-touching-help-danville-ar-1564793/

Does the above picture look familiar? If not, it should. 

Above is one of "Dave's" profile picture on Facebook.

The above is an image of "Dave" posted on the Chive's website.

http://johnedmathison.org/blog/2012/05/30/defeat-the-giants/

Hunter was asked to be the speaker for his high school graduation. Below is his beautiful, and articulately written speech. 

“Tonight, I want to talk to you about determination, motivation, and setting goals.”

“We all have giants to overcome in life. When I say giants, I do not mean those in fairy tales or the ones in the NFL. I do not even mean sports heroes like Tiger Woods or Derek Jeter! I’m talking about the ones we encounter each and every day. It might be a dreaded doctor’s appointment, a science project you put off until the night before, a big comprehensive test, or anything else that stresses you. To conquer these so called giants, you have to have determination, because without it, you cannot accomplish anything.”

“Since motivation comes from within oneself, one has to have that to be successful at achieving his goals too. I know the importance of having determination, motivation and working towards one’s goals.”

“I know about these giants in life. Giants do not have to be academics alone. They can be personal trials, emotional distresses, relationship tribulations, or in my case, the inability to speak, control my arms, or even do a simple task like brushing my teeth. Getting an education and attending school was a giant obstacle for me as well. Having peers and even my teachers see beyond my wheelchair and accept me was a daily challenge too. If I could overcome all of this with determination, motivation, and a spirit that doesn’t mind being bruised, then you can also. You cannot give up regardless of what you face. You cannot allow these giants to beat you. In fact, with faith, even the giant called death can be overcome by believing in Jesus Christ.”

“You have proven you have determination and motivation for you are here tonight. Each of you needs to feel proud of yourself, but you must continue to work towards your goals.”

“Now, I would like to ask you two questions. Will you defeat giants with determination or will you just let your giants crush you?”

Thanks for the challenge, Hunter! Read Numbers 13:25-33 (NLT). The 10 spies said that the new land was occupied with giants and the people of Israel were like grasshoppers. Caleb countered with a faith in a God bigger than the giants and said “Let’s go at once to take the land. We can certainly conquer it.” (v. 30)

Faith watches giants fall!

Below is my email to the Chive, hoping they remove their post and set the record straight, giving the credit to the REAL David Rose, Hunter Dunn.

to thechivesubmit

http://www.tobii.com/en/assistive-technology/north-america/user-stories/cerebral-palsy/hunter-and-his-mytobii-p10/

http://www.facebook.com/hunterdunnproject

http://twitter.com/HSD_ROCK

http://www.myspace.com/hunterdunnproject

I felt compelled to send this email even though I only found out who Dave, was from a friend who was in contact with him on twitter, this evening. Having no attachment to Dave Rose, because I'd only just heard of him, I questioned the facts my friend told me after having read the blog post he wrote "before" he passed away. A few things didn't settle well with me. I wondered how someone who was deaf with cerebral palsy would be able to communicate with his family or friends. Given that other people with cerebral palsy likely didn't have enough motor control to sign to David who couldn't hear. Further, I wondered how his family communicated with him before his wonderful Tobii technology which could read his eye movements, since this is likely a fairly recent development. Imagine your surprise after not hearing or really communicating with your son or brother for over two decades and seeing a well written blog post that included contemporary idioms and expressions like "it kick ass on able bodied people". Let alone the fact that he had no way to have heard these things to begin with, being deaf and all. I saw how devastated my friend was, who said she had been crying all night, and thought about all the other people out there that are grieving his loss. After uploading the image of "David" in front of his computer in Google images and searching I found a post on the Tobii website of a young man named Hunter Dunn. It included said image. After doing a little more digging I found the links I'm sending to you now. And after seeing what an effort Hunter, or what people identify as "David Rose", is trying to put into the HunterDunnProject which is even on iTunes, I am appalled that someone else would impersonate him. Not only that, but also receiving so much more credit for faking a death than Hunter has for sincerely trying to make a difference. "Dave" has nearly 16,000 followers on Twitter while the real Hunter has a modest 61. Also, for someone that can only type 4 words a minute, 1051 words for a "final" blogpost (which would have taken nearly 5 hours without breaks and full strength), I can only imagine how challenging that must have been with pneumonia... Apart from the obvious, a blog set up August 31, 2012 (and twitter around the same) with a lot of talk about his "sister" Nichole (which was the topic of discussion for his first post), I think it is odd that he passed only days after he grew his fan base. Fortunately his sister is taking care of all his depressed fans over twitter and email. I've attached some pictures. I just think the word should be set straight because I can imagine a lot of people are grieving over this, and I feel it's wrong.

I hope this finds its way into the right hands. Thank you.

Kristi-Anne

Below is an excerpt from his (Hunter's) Facebook page (and written on his Tobii). I can't recall having read something as deep and impassioned in a long time.

So now that you've all seen the proof. I'm wondering if you're all questioning what I questioned after discovering this. Why? Why would anyone want to go to such lengths to impersonate someone with a disability? Furthermore, who?

Dave's blog was run by his "sister" Nichole Rose, NicholeRose85 on twitter and at gmail. (nicholerose85@gmail.com) Below is the first blogpost on Dave's blogger account. Posted on August 31st, the post happened to be all about his wonderful, blonde, moderately attractive sister Nichole. How kind of him.

What a poorly taken headshot picture. 

I hope that the "85" in her email isn't indicative of the year she was born (pictures don't lie sweetheart). But I guess someone that would lie about having cerebral palsy would have no issue lying about their age. 

Below is her comment under Dave's final, and tragic blog post. I can't imagine the strength someone must have to think first of all her "brother's" the sad and faithful followers before addressing her own grief over her dear and . "Dave" passed at 5:33 pm, the below blog post was posted only 29 minutes after his passing. Did she use his Tobii to post it, or did she rush home to access the post on her laptop? Will we ever know? 

You live in Orange County, right Nichole? Are you going to take "Dave's" advice and go away to pursue your dream acting career? You know, you might actually be good, you almost had us all fooled!

Nichole has now kindly taken care of Dave's depressive followers and fans. The level of celebrity this has received is astronomical since he passed away. I feel so sorry for Nichole to have to deal with so much when she already must be grieving so much.

Please send my condolences to your heart broken father. "David" was truly an inspiration. And I'm sure to him too. 

With the likes of even Kim Kardashian bringing attention to this, it's no surprise Dave his risen to this the level of celebrity. 

But it appears that Nichole doesn't know who Kim Kardashian is... it must have been from all that time  she was forced to spend living under a rock to take care of her brother. How benevolent and selfless of you! You're truly a saint. Saint Nichole Rose. It has a nice ring to it, don't it? 

Being from Orange County, Los Angeles being your nearby neighbour, I don't know what is more shocking, that you don't know who Kim Kardashian is, or that your meticulous planning and execution actually paid off (until now). But wait, the story thickens... 

Below is a screenshot from "Dave's" tweetstats

http://www.tweetstats.com/graphs/daveonwheels

As you can see, nearly all of his tweets were posted from TweetDeck (a social media dashboard to manage multiple Twitter and Facebook accounts). How kind of Dave to share his Tobii with his sister so that she would spare no time in logging out of his Twitter account and back into hers for timely responses. 

"Dave" inspired many people. He grew his internet fame once he was discovered by two of the Chive models (Erin Willett and Sarah Hill) who shared his story with the world through the help of the Chive's website popularity. These girls genuinely cared about him and developed friendships. Sarah Hill (@_SHill_) the Chive model cared so deeply for "Dave" she tried to fly to his location in Orange County to see him after word that he was in the hospital. She has since removed her tweet because the "family" did not want any visitors. Below is a screenshot my friend provided me from Erin Willett's (@ErinWillet) Facebook where it shows that she had tried to visit "Dave" but access was restricted to his "family". 

So after much digging to find any information, on the only known relative of "Dave", Google provided little relevant results for Nichole Rose. So now we know that "Dave" was actually Nichole, but then who is "Nichole"? Fortunately my friend was close enough to the situation (she was even featured in one of "Dave's" heartfelt blog posts) that his best friend's name is Kate Vickery. Her Facebook link as follows:

 http://www.facebook.com/shine7602.

Given that Kate was seemingly the only connection to "Dave" that is clearly legitimately a real person (her Facebook account was created in January of 2009), a natural reaction would be to assume that she must be the mastermind behind the scheme. But why would a young, attractive girl, with what appears to be an active life with plenty of friends want to execute such an elaborate and sophisticated plan for? 

It didn't make sense. So I clicked on "David Rose's" link to his Facebook page beneath her picture. And it got even more confusing, David has had his account on Facebook since 2007. How

 is that possible? He had several friends at that point too. But we've already got enough solid proof that David Rose isn't David Rose at all, and not even Nichole now that we look at it even closer. He's not Kate Vickery either. So then who is he? What person would actually go through lengths this deep and unfathomable in order to create a character with a disability. As I was scrolling through his Facebook Timeline I saw a handful of attractive young girls being added and communicated with on his wall. And all of a sudden clarity.

If you've ever seen To Catch a Predator hosted by Chris Hansen on Dateline's NBC then you know this is really not that extreme. Creating a fake account with a young boy to talk to young girls? But now, people are a little more wise when it comes to Facebook. It's fairly simple to realize a fake account when you see one. Friend counts, comments, pictures, etc all help us determine who is real from who is fake. Or so we think. By using pictures and an identity of an impossibly harmful disabled boy it's almost impossible to fail at gaining sympathy votes from young girls with large hearts that overlook any doubt or scepticism. It is a lot easier to believe a young man that has cerebral palsy has fewer friends, comments, photos, and interactions (unless you are Hunter Dunn who is a total superstar :)) than a young attractive guy. Having no photos with other people or friends is an immediate red flag. 

I guess it probably works well for the person behind this intricate scheme (that started as far back as November 19th 2007 when he "David" joined Facebook) that there are thousands of young and attractive girls now in constant contact with him through "Nichole's" twitter. 

So all we can really be sure about is that "David Rose" is not David Rose, or a deceased young man born with cerebral palsy. We can also be sure that this story is much more complex than any of us really understand. We don't know for sure who, or why, but we can all assume. What we can be sure of is that there is someone out there, much more intelligent and inspirational than "David" ever was and his name is Hunter Dunn. And who knows, maybe this was fate's way of trying to give Hunter the credit he so clearly deserves. I don't think any of us would have thought that coming out of this there would be question as to whether "Dave" was a fictional character portrayed by an online pedophile. But with fewer reasoning explanations, this possibility is the only plausible one I can think of that remains.