Theories abounded, including that the person - dubbed Somerton Man - was a spy. Webb was born in 1905 but was later identified as a person with no death record, Abbott said. In November 2013, three of their relatives gave interviews to the Channel Nine current affairs program 60 Minutes. [94] The remains were deeper in the ground than previously thought. [86][needs update] Some independent researchers believe the ID card belonged to Horace Charles Reynolds, a Tasmanian man who died in 1953 and therefore could not have been the Somerton man. The man was dressed in a suit and tie, and appeared to be aged in his 40s or 50s. They included a suitcase, items of clothing with their labels removed and incoherent writings believed to be a code. Read about our approach to external linking. [32] Soon after being interviewed by police over her harassment, Mangnoson collapsed and required medical treatment. [45], An investigation had shown that the Somerton man's autopsy reports of 1948 and 1949 are now missing and the Barr Smith Library's collection of Cleland's notes do not contain anything on the case. In fact, theres probably more questions than there were yesterday, when we didnt have his name. "Somerton Beach Mystery Man", Transcript, Broadcast 27 March 2009. He said their investigations had also found a link to the name "TKeane" which was printed on the Somerton Man's tie. Dr Fitzpatrick now wants to help solve the mystery of his death. The coat had not been imported, indicating the man had been to America or bought it from someone of similar size who had been.[16][28]. [73] By November 1953, police announced they had recently received the 251st "solution" to the identity of the body from members of the public who claimed to have met or known him. He said it had been thrown into the back of his car around the time of the incident. [17], He was dressed in a white shirt; a red, white and blue tie; brown trousers; socks and shoes; a brown knitted pullover and fashionable grey and brown double-breasted jacket of reportedly "American" tailoring. The copy not only had its last page torn out, but also incoherent writing believed to be a code on its back cover. [50], When she was shown the plaster cast bust of the dead man by DS Leane, Thomson said she could not identify the person depicted. When presented with the Somerton Mans death mask, Thomson appeared completely taken aback, to the point of giving the appearance she was about to faint, according to Detective Sergeant Lionel Leane. Solving the Somerton Man mystery, Australia's most baffling - CNET (Supplied) The suitcase When passers-by discovered the man's body on December 1, 1948, he was dressed in a brown suit and had a half-smoked cigarette on his lapel. [100] The media have suggested that Robin Thomson, who was sixteen months old in 1948 and died in 2009, may have been a child of either Boxall or the Somerton man and passed off as Prosper Thomson's son. This is just us drawing the dots. A half-smoked cigarette was resting on his collar, and there was a line from a Persian poem in his pocket - but investigators had no idea who he was. Abbott and Fitzpatrick have been unable to locate a photograph of Webb, but ABCs Opie reports that an image of Webbs brother Roy, who died as a prisoner of war in Malaya during World War II, bears a striking resemblance to the Somerton Man. A photograph of the scrap of paper was released to the press.[36]. Was there a connection with Jo, the nurse? (A spool of thread in the suitcase matched the orange stitches used to repair the mans clothing.) Processing the results could reportedly take up to a year. Mystery of Australia's 'Somerton Man' solved after 70 years - BBC The torn-out fragment found in the Somerton Mans pocket perfectly matched a gap on the final page of the discarded copy. Other curious finds baffled authorities. [62] On 5 December, The Advertiser reported that police were searching through military records after a man claimed to have had a drink with a person resembling the dead man at a hotel in Glenelg on 13 November. To narrow down the pool of potential candidates, Abbott and Fitzpatrick plugged the Somerton mans DNA into the genealogical research database GEDmatch. Tucked inside the watch pocket in his pants was a slip of paper with Persian words printed on it which meant "finished.". Read about our approach to external linking. Australian guilty in 'Claremont serial killings' case, Why science could free Australian 'serial killer', Russia launches pre-dawn missile attack on Ukraine, Explosion derails train in Russian border region. The Somerton Man case has been an enigma since his body was discovered in 1948. The South Australia Police Major Crime Branch, who still have the case listed as open, will investigate the new information. He buys a ticket for the 10:50a.m. train to Henley Beach but does not use it. [99] In May 2009, Abbott consulted with dental experts who concluded that the Somerton Man had hypodontia (a rare genetic disorder) of both lateral incisors, a feature present in only 2% of the general population. Still, she denied knowing the man, and authorities didnt press her on the issue. "I would like to see the toxicology done. A smuggler. Still no picture to compare my reconstruction too though.Brilliant work by @derek_abbott60 and @Identifinders https://t.co/KrCkrZdYPg pic.twitter.com/vOllqL73g1. Feltus believed Thomson knew the Somerton man's identity. [15] He was: 180 centimetres (5ft 11 in) tall, with grey eyes, fair to ginger-coloured hair,[16] slightly grey around the temples,[7] with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, hands and nails that showed no signs of manual labour, big and little toes that met in a wedge shape, like those of a dancer or someone who wore boots with pointed toes; and pronounced high calf muscles consistent with people who regularly wore boots or shoes with high heels or performed ballet. The Tamm Shud case, also known as the Mystery of the Somerton Man, is an unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead at 6:30 am, December 1st of 1948, on the Somerton Park beach, just south of Adelaide, South Australia. (Carls brother Roy also died in a prisoner-of-war camp the same year.) He was slumped against a seawall, dressed in a suit and tie. [44], In 1994, John Harber Phillips, Chief Justice of Victoria and Chairman of the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, reviewed the case to determine the cause of death and concluded that, "There seems little doubt it was digitalis. "We can't say for sure, but we can speculate," he said. "I have spoken to them, except they're all of a generation well below him and so none of them knew himand have no photos in their old family albums or in their garden sheds, unfortunately," he said. A professor who has dedicated decades to solving one of Australia's most enduring mysteries claims he has discovered the identity of the Somerton man. [31] The lack of success in determining the identity and cause of death of the man had led authorities to call it an "unparalleled mystery" and believe that the cause of death might never be known. What, if anything, was his connection to Thomson? [39] The timing is significant as the man is presumed, based on the suitcase, to have arrived in Adelaide the day before he was found on the beach. Shed been adopted as a child and grew up in New Zealand, unaware of her potential links to the cold case. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. " Several years ago, Ms. Egan had her DNA analyzed, and links were found to people in the United States (including relatives of Thomas Jefferson ). [16], In 1978, ABC-TV, in its documentary series Inside Story, produced a programme on the Tamm Shud case, titled "The Somerton Beach Mystery", where reporter Stuart Littlemore investigated the case, including interviewing Boxall, who could add no new information,[51] and Paul Lawson, who made the plaster cast of the body and who refused to answer a question about whether anyone had positively identified the body. South Australian police have not released a statement on the identity of the man or provided an update on their own investigation following the exhumation of the mans body last year. "The fact he [Thomson] has a rare dental and ear condition matching the Somerton Man appears to be an extraordinary coincidence.". [113] In 1941, he married Dorothy "Doff" Robertson, a pharmacist and chiropodist. Accessing the man's remains may be a first step in a process to build a DNA profile and uncover answers in one of the country's most famous cold cases. But after more than 70 years, a researcher says he's solved the mystery - Somerton Man was Carl Webb. On Wednesday, crews began digging at the gravesite, with local media outlet Nine News reporting initial efforts had moved more slowly than expected due to dense clay and uncertainty as to whether the man had been buried in a coffin. The Somerton man mystery began in the early hours of December 1, 1948, when beachgoers found a body lying on Somerton beach in Adelaide. Complete remains of Somerton Man in 'reasonable condition' after exhumation, Nurse driving home from shift among victims of triple-fatal crash involving allegedly stolen car, Lauren Cranston jailed for eight years over one of Australia's biggest tax frauds, 'They will forever know their dad was a hero': 1,000 mourners farewell slain NSW paramedic, Family of man shot dead by police question why they weren't called in to help, There are 11 First Nations MPs and senators. Another theory concerns Boxall, who was reportedly involved in intelligence work during and immediately after World War II. Researchers now say the man is Carl Charles Webb, an electrical engineer from Melbourne. "ekkir ennan mann?". Collins, an inmate of New Zealand's Whanganui Prison, claimed to know the identity of the dead man. "Together with the similarity of the ear characteristics, this mole, in a forensic case, would allow me to make a rare statement positively identifying the Somerton man. The parties interested in the analysis agreed to cover the costs. Keane. A tailor brought in to assess the clothing concluded it was made in the United States, lending weight to the theory that the Somerton Man wasnt from the area. The spleen was strikingly large about 3 times normal size there was destruction of the centre of the liver lobules revealed under the microscope. Was he murdered? In October 1941, he married Dorothy Jean Robertson, who is listed on the couples marriage certificate as a 21-year-old foot specialist. The three sons would eventually work at the family bakery. [110], Abbott's research indicates Webb enjoyed betting on horses, thus the coded messages could be horse names. Early 1947: Harkness moves to a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia, and changes her surname to Thomson, the name of her future husband. [33], Cedric Stanton Hicks, professor of physiology and pharmacology at the University of Adelaide, testified that of a group of drugs, variants of a drug in that group he called "number 1" and in particular "number 2" were extremely toxic in a relatively small oral dose that would be extremely difficult if not impossible to identify even if it had been suspected in the first instance. Police begin work to exhume the body in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Derek Abbott, from the University of Adelaide, said that. The Somerton Man's fingerprints were sent around the world, but no one could identify him. 1986: The Somerton Man's brown suitcase and contents are destroyed as "no longer required". [48] Thomson's daughter Kate, in a television interview in 2014 with Channel Nine's 60 Minutes, also said that she believed her mother knew the dead man. May 1950: Jessica and Prosper Thomson are married. As Hilary Whiteman reports for CNN, a new DNA analysis suggests the Somerton Man is Carl Charles Webb, an electrical engineer from Melbourne who vanished from the public record in April 1947. [87][self-published source? Another couple who saw him from 7:30pm to 8pm, during which time the street lights had come on, recounted that they did not see him move during the half an hour in which he was in view, although they did have the impression that his position had changed. The police believed that Clive had been dead for twenty-four hours when his body was found. The Somerton Man was an unidentified man whose body was found on 1 December 1948 on the beach at Somerton Park, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia.The case is also known after the Persian phrase tamm shud (Persian: ), meaning "is over" or "is finished", which was printed on a scrap of paper found months later in the fob pocket of the man's trousers. A telephone number was also found in the back of the book,[41] belonging to a nurse named Jessica Ellen "Jo" Thomson (19212007) born Jessie Harkness in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, New South Wales who lived in Moseley St, Glenelg, about 400 metres (1,300ft) north of the location where the body was found. Although poisoning remained a prime suspicion, the pasty was not believed to be the source. He noted that the man's shoes were remarkably clean and appeared to have been recently polished, rather than in the condition expected of a man who had apparently been wandering around Glenelg all day. [36] The paper's verso side was blank. The man was well-built, about 40 to 50 years old, 5. Somerton Man body-on-the-beach mystery solved as family secrets unravel | Australian Story ABC News In-depth 1.22M subscribers Subscribe 21K Share 1M views 2 months ago #AustralianStory. South Australia Police consulted their counterparts overseas and distributed information about the dead man internationally, in an effort to identify him. 18 May 1953: death of Horace Charles Reynolds, Tasmanian man born in 1900 and regarded by some investigators as the owner of the "H. C. Reynolds" ID card. 27 July: Sydney detectives locate and interview Boxall. When the bakery closed down, Carl retrained as an electrical instrument maker. [9], Witnesses who came forward said that on the evening of 30 November, they had seen an individual resembling the dead man lying on his back in the same spot where the corpse was later found. Is British seaman's identity card clue to solving 63-year-old beach body mystery? That's most likely what brought him to Adelaide, the professor said. Advertising Notice Also, the other "L" has a curve to the bottom part of the character. Egan was Robins granddaughter. Adelaide's 73-Year-Old MysteryThe Somerton Man - Medium The man's death also coincided with a reorganisation of Australian security agencies, which would culminate the following year with the founding of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). [13], Another witness came forward in 1959 and reported to the police that he and three others had seen a well-dressed man carrying another man on his shoulders along Somerton Park beach the night before the body was found. [24] With wartime rationing still enforced, clothing was difficult to acquire at that time. [49], Roma Egan, the widow of Jessica Thomson's son Robin, and Robin and Roma's daughter Rachel Egan, also appeared on 60 Minutes. [96] The authorities have said that they intend to take DNA from the remains if possible. Officials declined to comment on the new findings, instead telling CNN they would respond when results from the testing are received., Solved! Was it suicide? According to ABC News, a wooden spatula and a brush were used to carefully exhume the remains, which were then placed in a new coffin before being taken away to a forensic science centre. More photos, details and tidbits about. He had a clean-shaven face and appeared to be about 40 years old. Somerton man mystery 'solved' as DNA points to man's identity An Australian researcher claims to have solved a 73-year-old mystery by identifying a man found dead on a beach, CNN said in a report. (The DNA studied by Abbott and Fitzpatrick came from the Somerton Mans death mask, not his body, and was analyzed as part of a separate, parallel investigation.) Initial investigations and a coronial inquest left the case unsolved. The actual reveal is quite impressive; it is very clear coding. Key points: The mystery Somerton Man has been identified as a Melbourne-born electrical engineer Researcher Derek Abbott spent decades researching the case ITTMTSAMSTGAB[29]. Somerton Man: Professor claims he has solved the identity of man found Video, 00:02:36, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. Your Privacy Rights [58], The News featured their story on its first page, giving more details of the dead man. South Australia Police have not confirmed the discovery but say they will comment soon. On 3 December 1948, a day after The Advertiser named him as the likely victim, E.C. From there, the trail went cold. We had all these grandiose ideas about him being Russian, American and European. On December 1, 1948, an unknown man was found lying dead on the sand on Somerton Beach next to the neighborhood of Glenelg, about 7 miles (11 km) southwest of Adelaide, South Australia. 1994: The Chief Justice of Victoria, John Harber Phillips, studies the evidence and concludes that poisoning was due to digitalis. [14] "Francis" had not considered that the book might be connected to the case until he had seen an article in the previous day's newspaper. Dubbed by authorities and the press as the Somerton Man, the man was found smartly dressed and slumped against a wall on a beach near Adelaide, Australia, in 1948, leading to a labyrinthine . [103] However, Rachel Egan's DNA has been analysed and links were found to the grandparents of Prosper Thomson. The man's body was found propped up against the seawall at Somerton Beach in Adelaide on December 1, 1948. [63], In early January 1949, two people identified the body as that of 63-year-old former wood cutter Robert Walsh. DNA testing would confirm or eliminate this speculation. All that could be garnered from the suitcase was that the front gusset and featherstitching on a coat found in the case indicated it had been manufactured in the United States. The Somerton man died alone on a beach in 1948. Now Australian - CNN In his pocket were bus and train tickets, chewing gum, some matches, two combs and a pack of cigarettes. This would be followed by a crackdown on Soviet espionage in Australia, which was revealed by intercepts of Soviet communications under the Venona project. Mystery of Somerton man's identity solved after 73 years, researchers in Australia say Cryptic clues about man found on an Adelaide beach in 1948 spawned theories of jilted lovers and cold.

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