Kevin J. Herts

Kevin J. Herts is the father of Elo, and a character who studied and became infected with SMV and attempted to investigate the work of his father, Andrew Herts.

Biography
Prior to the events leading to his infection, Kevin had an apartment in Turnip Hill where he set up a small lab to keep notes on SMV, as well as several samples of blue mushrooms. He was the author of the book "The Legend of the Stalburg Underground". Presumably he lived separately from his daughter Elo and the rest of his family until they came to Turnip Hill to escape some group pursuing them.

A set of notes in his apartment explains how he was attempting to find out what his father was doing, which reveals he was somehow involved with SMV. During his studies, Kevin managed to gather a lot of information about SMV, which caught the attention of an unknown group that viewed him as a threat. This may of led to his initial infection.

His lab notes were discovered by a woman affiliated with the unknown group, and helped Kevin's family access the underground city. The discovery led to a cure which worked on Elo.

INFRA
In Turnip Hill, Kevin's body can be located after finding the passcode to his apartment from the elevator hideout. Disturbingly, despite being unresponsive, he's still alive in a late-stage of SMV infection, and can only slightly squirm. His head and face are covered in green mushrooms and is unnaturally dented, and his natural dark-skin has become discolored.

There's a thick layer of dirt in the room he's in, growing even more green mushrooms, as well as several barrels of "liquid gypsum" (a soil cleanser). Since the barrels were moved in here for a single purpose, it's possible Kevin's conversion was intentional.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, Kevin shares several similar traits with Mörkö, mainly bloody tear stains running down his face, as well as oddly shaped fingers (Although the latter cannot be seen without noclipping into the room his body is in.) Kevin's model is also referred to as "morko_003" in the game files.
 * A note in Elo's hideout underneath the Castle Rock Bridge says Kevin visited Stalburg Steel at some point.