Ben Hildebrand

**Benjamin** "**Ben**" **Hildebrand** was the boyfriend of Amanda Kirby following her divorce from Paul, and a father figure of sorts to her son Eric.

## Background

At some point following Amanda Kirby's divorce from her husband Paul, she and Ben met and struck up a romance. He also bonded with her son Eric, and became a father figure of sorts to him.

## Dino-Soar

*"Make sure you get as close as you can! I'll give you something extra if you make it a good trip."*
—**Ben**, imploring **Enrique** to bring him and **Eric** as close to the island as possible
At some point, Ben — in an attempt to further bond with Eric — offered to take him on an illicit parasailing tour of Isla Sorna, despite knowing full well that the island was strictly off-limits to human exploration. Though well aware of the potential ramifications of the tour, both legal and otherwise, Ben was able to obtain Amanda's permission to take her son on the trip as planned.

Sometime later, Ben and Eric had arrived in Costa Rica and the parasailing tour initially proceeded as planned, even with Enrique Cardoso and his partner at the helm of Dino-Soar; both were eventually able to behold Isla Sorna for themselves, and Ben continued to beckon the tour guide for a closer approach to the island.

## The Accident

As the boat travelled through a river in the island the weather progressively became more difficult to contend with — though it remained clear a thick bank of fog had soon formed in the boat's path, severely impeding visibility; Ben and Eric remained above the blanket of fog but lost sight of the boat beneath them. The boat eventually cleared the fog, but to their shock it had been left vacated, with blood splattered across the deck and some minor on-board damage from an unknown source.

With the now-unmanned boat hurtling uncontrollably towards a none-too-distant rock formation and Eric panicking, Ben attempted to release them before the moment of impact, being successful at the very last second just as the boat collided with the rocks. As they drifted through the air toward the island's jungle, Ben attempted to reassure a shaken Eric, telling him that everything will be alright.

## Aftermath and Death

At some point following this ordeal the two finally landed on Isla Sorna and were both forced to resort to basic survival skills until any sort of help came. During the landing their parachute became snagged on a tree branch, leaving Ben and Eric hanging; Eric managed to detach from the parachute and fell to the forest floor as Ben recorded this with a handheld camcorder.

However, Ben did not last long on the island, and Eric had been left to fend for himself; when his corpse was discovered, it had no legs, implying he was attacked and killed by something while Eric, not tied to a tree, managed to escape. When help did finally arrive in the form of Eric's parents and Dr. Alan Grant, they had found the parachute still tangled in the tree branches. Pulling it off, they were startled to discover Ben's skeletal remains suddenly fall from the branches above, still harnessed to the parachute. The horrified Amanda fled the scene screaming, forcing Paul to run after her. After catching up with Amanda, she revealed that — although initially stunned by the loss of Ben — she was far more concerned with locating her son Eric, who was still yet to be found.