the somerton man solved
Derek Abbott, from the University of Adelaide, said that. [80] International circulation of a photograph of the man and details of his fingerprints yielded no positive identification. Abbott also tracked down the Barbour waxed cotton of the period and found packaging variations. "There's lots of. There was congestion in the second half of the duodenum. A former ballet dancer. Also, the other "L" has a curve to the bottom part of the character. 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. The man was well-built, about 40 to 50 years old, 5. They suggested that the Somerton man was Robin's father and, therefore, Rachel's grandfather. August 1945: Jessica Harkness gives Alf Boxall an inscribed copy of. CNN . [110], Abbott's research indicates Webb enjoyed betting on horses, thus the coded messages could be horse names. Despite authorities public appeals and mounting media coverage of the mystery, no one was able to positively identify the Somerton Man. [27], Around the same time as the inquest, a tiny piece of rolled-up paper with the words "Tamm Shud" printed on it was found in a fob pocket sewn within the dead man's trouser pocket. In June 2010, Abbott obtained a photograph of Jessica Thomson's eldest son Robin, which clearly showed that he like the unknown man had not only a larger cymba than cavum but also hypodontia. Kate Thomson opposed the exhumation as being disrespectful to her brother. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine He was fond of poetry and wrote several poems of his own, "most of them on the subject of death, which he claims to be his greatest desire", Dorothy stated. Officials declined to comment on the new findings, instead telling CNN they would respond when results from the testing are received., Solved! (modern). Abbotts research was undertaken with American genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick. Searches conducted by the US National Archives, the UK National Archives and the Australian War Memorial Research Centre have failed to find any records relating to H. C. Reynolds. Bilsborow said: Now that weve got his name, theres still so many questions. The Egans reported lodging a new application with the Attorney-General John Rau to have the Somerton man's body exhumed and DNA tested. The police believed that Clive had been dead for twenty-four hours when his body was found. Was he murdered? It was noted that the movement seen by witnesses at 7 p.m. could have been the last convulsion preceding death. [note 4] Thomson told police that, after the war ended, she had moved to Melbourne and married. [2], A number of possible identifications have been proposed over the years. [90], In October 2019, however, Attorney-General Vickie Chapman granted approval for his body to be exhumed to extract DNA for analysis. Tucked inside the watch pocket in his pants was a slip of paper with Persian words printed on it which meant "finished.". )[note 5] There is no evidence that Boxall had any contact with Jessica Thomson after 1945.[55]. Johnson identified himself at a police station. The Somerton man died alone on a beach in 1948. A South Australian academics claims to have identified Somerton man as a 43-year-old electrical engineer from Melbourne could finally provide answers in one of Australias most infamous cold cases. I solved it when I was looking back at my old notes on the tamam shud code, which had a solution. [38] The book was missing the words "Tamm Shud" on the last page, which had a blank reverse, and microscopic tests indicated that the piece of paper was from the page torn from the book. Webb was born in 1905 but was later identified as a person with no death record, Abbott said. Webb, who was born in the Australian state of Victoria in 1905, fit the bill. He then stated its absence was not unknown but that he could not make a "frank conclusion" without it. Fitzpatrick said the DNA evidence disproves any genetic relationship with Robin Thomson, and therefore Abbotts own wife Robin Thomsons daughter, Rachel Egan whom Abbott met during investigations. 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 . "The first cousin we found was on his paternal sideand the second one we found was on the maternal side," he said. In 1951, Dorothy was reportedly living in Bute, South Australia, 144km (89mi) from Adelaide. Dr. Anne Coxon of Forensic Science South Australia said: "The technology available to us now is clearly light years ahead of the techniques available when this body was discovered in the late 1940s," and that tests would use "every method at our disposal to try and bring closure to this enduring mystery". What was his cause of death? [113][116], Dorothy recalled one instance in March 1946 in which her husband apparently attempted suicide with an overdose of ether. [11] In news media, books and other discussions of the case, Thomson was frequently referred to by various pseudonyms, including the nickname "Jestyn" and names such as "Teresa Johnson ne Powell". Though the state coroner has yet to confirm the pairs findings, Abbott tells the Guardians Natasha May that as a scientist, he is confident in the accuracy of the analysis. He also found no evidence indicating the identity of the deceased. [32] The contents of the boy's stomach were sent to a government analyst for further examination. Late 1946: Harkness moves to Mentone to temporarily live with her parents. [57] In the front of the copy of Rubaiyat that was given to Boxall, Jessica Harkness had signed herself "JEstyn" [sic] and written out verse 70: Indeed, indeed, Repentance oft before They then tracked down the man's living relatives, using their DNA to confirm his identity. 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. Scotland Yard was also asked to assist with the case, but could not offer any insights. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Australian charged 32 years after gay hate killing. A police report was made by Detective Don O'Doherty. She nursed him back to health, only for him to scold her for it and become more violent. When no one came forward to identify Somerton man, authorities were left with only cryptic clues to guide them. VideoThe secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, LGBT troops take love for Eurovision to front line, Why an Indian comedian is challenging fake news rules. The body of a man found on a South Australian beach more than 70 years ago has been exhumed in the hope of solving one of the country's most intriguing mysteries. When the bakery closed down, Carl retrained as an electrical instrument maker. [104], In July 2013, Abbott released an artistic impression he commissioned of the Somerton man, believing this might finally lead to an identification. The police had asked the public if anyone had a copy of the book with the last page missing, and a man came forward with the last page torn out. The man was found lying in the sand across from the Crippled Children's Home, which was on the corner of The Esplanade and Bickford Terrace. [105], In December 2017, Abbott announced three "excellent" hairs "at the right development stage for extracting DNA" had been found on the plaster cast of the corpse, and had been submitted for analysis to the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA at the University of Adelaide. [45] A 2014 analysis by computational linguist John Rehling strongly supports the theory that the letters consist of the initials of some English text, but finds no match for these in a large survey of literature, and concludes that the letters were likely written as a form of shorthand, not as a code, and that the original text can likely never be determined.[46]. There is also an "X" above the last "O" in the code, and it is not known if this is significant to the code or not. Red spy or red herring: Was the Somerton Man a Russian agent, or is there an Irish link? Although the last character in this line of text looks like an "L", it is fairly clear on closer inspection of the image that this is formed from an "I" and the extension of the line used to delete or underline that line of text. 16 RACHEL EGAN'S DNA LINKED TO PROSPER THOMSON.. by peterbowes on May 31, 2021. In November 2013, three of their relatives gave interviews to the Channel Nine current affairs program 60 Minutes. In 1949, Jessica Thomson requested that police not keep a permanent record of her name or release her details to third parties, as it would be embarrassing and harmful to her reputation to be linked to such a case. [note 3]. There is a . [38] Former South Australian Police detective Gerry Feltus (who dealt with the matter as a cold case) reports that the book was found "just after that man was found on the beach at Somerton". When Thomson was taken by authorities to visit a death mask of Somerton mans face, the taxidermist present, Paul Lawson, told ABCs Australian Story last year it was obvious she knew the man. [18] About the same time, Ina Harvey, the receptionist from the Strathmore Hotel opposite Adelaide railway station, revealed that a strange man had stayed in Room 21 or 23 for a few days around the time of the death, checking out on 30 November 1948. [98] His investigations have led to questions concerning the assumptions police had made on the case. [71] Following publication of the man's photograph in Victoria, twenty-eight people claimed to know his identity. [42] (Subsequent research suggests that her future husband, Prosper Thomson, was in the process of obtaining a divorce from his first wife in 1949, and that he did not marry Jessica until mid-1950. Did you talk to her about that at all?" His identity has never been determined, but there are several theories about his origin. [42] In his book on the case, Gerry Feltus stated that when he interviewed Thomson in 2002, he found that she was either being "evasive" or she "just did not wish to talk about it". 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. Last month Ms Chapman said the decision to exhume the body followed "intense public interest" in the case. The man was well-built, about 40 to 50 years old, 1.8 metres tall, and had grey-blue eyes and gingery-brown hair that was greying at the sides. [36] The paper's verso side was blank. 26 July 2022: Derek Abbott announces that his DNA analysis has identified the man as Carl "Charles" Webb, an electrical engineer and instrument maker born in Melbourne in 1905. "It's a triangulation from two different, totally distant parts of the [family] tree," Prof Abbott told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (Carls brother Roy also died in a prisoner-of-war camp the same year.) MLIABOAIAQC [3][4] South Australia Police and Forensic Science South Australia have not verified the result, but South Australia Police said they were "cautiously optimistic" about it. Theories abounded, including that the person - dubbed Somerton Man - was a spy. Although poisoning remained a prime suspicion, the pasty was not believed to be the source. [note 2] Detective Sergeant Lionel Leane, who led the initial investigation, often protected the privacy of witnesses in public statements by using pseudonyms;[14] Leane referred to the man who found the book by the pseudonym "Ronald Francis" and he has never been officially identified. "Somerton Beach Mystery Man", Transcript, Broadcast 15 May 2009. The case of the Somerton Man In 1948, the body of an unidentified man was found on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. (Cryptography experts contend that the string of letters dont actually constitute a code; Abbott, for his part, tells ABC they probably represent the first names of horses Webb bet on. A potential granddaughter's DNA is planned to be compared to the unknown man's to see if it is a match. She said although it looked as if there was nobody alive now that would remember him, she hoped to turn to the archives to answer new questions the findings opened up. The ear shapes shared by both men were a "very good" match, although Henneberg also found what he called a "unique identifier"; a mole on the cheek that was the same shape and in the same position in both photographs. Dismissing the enigmatic figure as a drunk or a soundly sleeping beachgoer, the couples made no effort to approach him. [87][self-published source? A search concluded that no T. Keane was missing in any English-speaking country. [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. At least two sites relatively close to Adelaide were of interest to spies: the Radium Hill uranium mine and the Woomera Test Range, an Anglo-Australian military research facility. The case is also known after the Persian phrase tamm shud (Persian: ),[note 1] 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. The pair analysed DNA evidence from hairs caught in a plaster cast made of the mans face more than half a century ago by investigators. Privacy Statement Carl moved out in 1947 and no official records revealing his subsequent whereabouts have been found as of 2022.[113][116]. Both kidneys were congested, and the liver contained a great excess of blood in its vessels. But a number of curious items found on the body encouraged ongoing speculation. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? 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). Most populous nation: Should India rejoice or panic? The Somerton man mystery began in the early hours of December 1, 1948, when beachgoers found a body lying on Somerton beach in Adelaide. [116] She applied for a divorce on 5 June 1951, citing desertion. [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 site at tamamshud.blogspot.com shows exactly how it was uncovered and gives the precise methodology so that anyone can test it for themselves. An inquest into the man's death, conducted by coroner Thomas Erskine Cleland, commenced a few days following the discovery of the body but was adjourned until 17 June 1949. However, the police did state that the body was consistent with that of a man who had been a wood cutter, although the state of the man's hands indicated he had not cut wood for at least eighteen months. He was a Russian spy. I was convinced that he was from Europe maybe a displaced person after the second world war [who] was here alone., But to find out that hes Australian, from Victoria, and that he died, and no one obviously noticed he was missing, or no one followed up with the police that he was missing I find that particularly kind of tragic.. [21], An autopsy was conducted, and the pathologist estimated the time of death at around 2 am on 1 December.[15]. In trying to solve the Somerton Man case, Abbott became part of it. In July 1947, Jessica "Jestyn" Harkness gave birth to her son Robin in Melbourne, at which point she was not married. [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 still dont know who he is, or what he was doing. But, they said that the "only clue of any value" remained the clothing the man wore. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. In. [49] Feltus also stated that her family did not know of her connection with the case, and he agreed not to disclose her identity or anything that might reveal it. x My feeling has always been that its been suicide, that Rubaiyat was known as a kind of suicide handbook, Bilsborow said. [8][10] A couple who saw him at around 7pm noted that they saw him extend his right arm to its fullest extent and then drop it limply. [7] An unlit cigarette was on the right collar of his coat. On December 1, 1948, the body of a man was found on Somerton beach. If the book was found one or two weeks before, it suggests that the man had visited previously or had been in Adelaide for a longer period. 26 July: The unlisted phone number discovered in the book is traced to a woman living in Glenelg (Jessica Thomson, previously Harkness). [74], Contemporary reports considered the connection with the death of a two-year-old boy six months later. "I would like to see the toxicology done. Or maybe a final goodbye to a lover.. Between 11:00a.m. and 11:15a.m: Checks a brown suitcase into the railway station cloak room. [114], Forensic Science South Australia, who were still investigating, declined to comment on Abbott's findings. [98] Abbott believes an exhumation and an autosomal DNA test could link the Somerton man to a shortlist of surnames which, along with existing clues to the man's identity, would be the "final piece of the puzzle". The Somerton Man had his prints taken a couple of days after he was found and a few weeks later they were forwarded to all the English speaking countries: Scotland Yard, The RCMP (Canada), the FBI, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, then the mammoth task of sending copies to every police station in Australia. [65] Police were skeptical, believing Walsh to be too old to be the dead man. VideoThe secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, LGBT troops take love for Eurovision to front line, Why an Indian comedian is challenging fake news rules. It bore the phrase Tamm ShudPersian for its finished or its endedand was soon traced to The Rubiyt of Omar Khayym, a 12th-century book of Persian poetry popularized by an 1859 English translation. Beyond the DNA results linking the Somerton Man to Webb, Abbott and Fitzpatrick found ample archival evidence supporting the identification. They then used archival records to search for individuals whose biographies mirrored what was known about the Somerton Man. Also inside were a shaving brush, shoe polish, a knife, scissors, a screwdriver and assorted attire, some of which was labeled with variants of the name T. I may have solved the Somerton code, completely by accident! There was congestion of the pharynx, and the gullet was covered with whitening of superficial layers of the mucosa with a patch of ulceration in the middle of it. A photograph of the scrap of paper was released to the press.[36]. The Somerton man mystery began in the early hours of December 1, 1948, when beachgoers found a body lying on Somerton beach in Adelaide.