In October 1951, three years after the Somerton Mans death, Dorothy placed a notice in the Age newspaper stating that she had begun divorce proceedings against Webb on the grounds of desertion. "There's lots of. Read about our approach to external linking. SA Police have been contacted for comment. Prof Derek Abbott from the University of Adelaide said on Monday he believes the man found on 1 December 1948, was Carl Charles Webb, a 43-year-old electrical engineer from Melbourne. Some observers cited the code found on his copy of The Rubiyt, as well as the apparent attempts to mask his identity, as evidence that he was a Russian spy. 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. [114], Forensic Science South Australia, who were still investigating, declined to comment on Abbott's findings. But, they said that the "only clue of any value" remained the clothing the man wore. Cookie Settings, Illustration by Meilan Solly / Photos via, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, The True Story of the Koh-i-Noor Diamondand Why the British Won't Give It Back. Police checked incoming train records and believed the man had arrived at the Adelaide railway station by overnight train from either Melbourne,[29] Sydney or Port Augusta. [9][30] There is no record of the station's bathroom facilities being unavailable on the day he arrived. Video, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure, The mystery death haunting Norway for 46 years, MasterChef Australia host Jock Zonfrillo dies, NFL player's daughter, aged two, drowns in pool, Banana artwork in Seoul museum eaten by visitor, Donald Trump arrives in Scotland on golf visit, Indian 'killer' elephant relocated to tiger reserve, Ding becomes China's first male world chess champion. [8][83] Any further attempts to identify the body have been hampered by the embalming formaldehyde having destroyed much of the man's DNA. There is no evidence that police knew in 1949 that she was not married. According to Prof Abbott, Webb was born in 1905 in a suburb of Melbourne. Police questioned a woman seen leaving the cemetery but she claimed she knew nothing of the man. Officer in Charge, No. He also held a torn scrap of paper with the Farsi words Tamam Shud, or "it's finished" printed on it. 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. Abbott had attempted to contact the Thomson family, but upon finding both Jo Thomson and her son Robin Thomson dead, sought expert opinion which showed biological links between Robin and the Somerton man likely due to sharing the same rare dental and ear conditions, on top of the muscular calves which helped Thomson become a professional dancer. Although they commented between themselves that it was odd that he was not reacting to the mosquitoes, they had thought it more likely that he was drunk or asleep, and thus did not investigate further. DNA Researchers Name the Somerton Man, Australia's 73-Year-Old Cold Case. "Somerton Beach Mystery Man", Transcript, Broadcast 15 May 2009. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Was it suicide? Still no picture to compare my reconstruction too though.Brilliant work by @derek_abbott60 and @Identifinders https://t.co/KrCkrZdYPg pic.twitter.com/vOllqL73g1. 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"So, it's a triangulation from two different, totally distant parts of the tree, so that's very convincing.". Collins, an inmate of New Zealand's Whanganui Prison, claimed to know the identity of the dead man. Were just saying this is what the DNA tells us, says Abbott to the New York Times Alan Yuhas. In reply, Boxall says "no", and when asked if Harkness could have known, Boxall replies: "Not unless somebody else told her." When Littlemore suggests in the interview that there may have been an espionage connection to the dead man in Adelaide, Boxall replies: "It's quite a melodramatic thesis, isn't it? The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. After finding a match to a distant cousin, the researchers constructed a family tree of some 4,000 people. This would explain why the Somerton Man was wearing clothes of US origin and with the name Keane on them: they could have been handed down to him from his brother-in-law or nephew. Authorities said if sufficient DNA evidence can be obtained, they will attempt to identify the man and where he came from. By then, Dorothy had moved from Melbourne to Bute, a town 89 miles northeast of Adelaide. 1 December 2 a.m.: Estimated time of death. "[33] Despite these findings, he could not determine the cause of death of the unidentified man. Derek Abbott, from the University of Adelaide, said that. [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. The Somerton man mystery began in the early hours of December 1, 1948, when beachgoers found a body lying on Somerton beach in Adelaide. Taman Shud Case, also called the Mystery of the Somerton Man, is an unsolved criminal case about a man who never had his name and origin discovered, found dead on December 1, 1948, on the beach at Somerton, city of Adelaide, Australia. May 1950: Jessica and Prosper Thomson are married. MLIAOI "I'm hoping, ashis name gets out there, there will be somebody that will have an old photo album in a garden shed somewhere.". 8:30a.m. to 10:50am: The Somerton Man is presumed to have arrived in Adelaide by train. This would be followed by a crackdown on Soviet espionage in Australia, which was revealed by intercepts of Soviet communications under the Venona project. [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. And so he was buried in Adelaide cemetery in 1949 with a tombstone reading: "Here lies the unknown man who was found at Somerton Beach.". He also found no evidence indicating the identity of the deceased. [96] The authorities have said that they intend to take DNA from the remains if possible. Mystery of Somerton man's identity solved after 73 years, researchers in Australia say This week Prof Derek Abbott of the University of Adelaide claimed to have identified Somerton man as. A professor who has dedicated decades to solving one of Australia's most enduring mysteries claims he has d. [110] Through investigative genetic genealogy, matches were found for descendants of two distant cousins of Webb, both on the paternal and on the maternal side. His history and the autopsy findings suggest he committed suicide by poisoning himself.[113]. [32] The contents of the boy's stomach were sent to a government analyst for further examination. The truth, however, is seemingly more mundane. [14][18] On 22 November 1959 it was reported that one E.B. It was a concealed code and the cipher used was a Hill cipher. )[note 5] There is no evidence that Boxall had any contact with Jessica Thomson after 1945.[55]. Australian charged 32 years after gay hate killing. WRGOABABD When the bakery closed down, Carl retrained as an electrical instrument maker. More photos, details and tidbits about. And he was not a Russian agent, but rather a Melbourne-born electrical engineer. [11] They speculated he had showered and shaved at the adjacent City Baths (although there was no Baths ticket on his body) before returning to the railway station to purchase a ticket for the 10:50a.m. train to Henley Beach, which, for whatever reason, he did not board. [47] When she was interviewed by police, Thomson said that she did not know the dead man or why he would have her phone number and choose to visit her suburb on the night of his death. The last mention of Webb in the historical record dates to April 1947, when he left his wife. Here's what they think of a Voice to Parliament, Prime minister says urgent care clinics will start relieving pressure on NT's busy emergency wards in coming months, Trump requests mistrial in rape civil case, NRL concedes error on crucial golden point call. Johnson, about 45, of Arthur St, Payneham, was found on Somerton Beach, opposite the Crippled Children's Home yesterday morning. We knew this day was going to come at some point, she said. The mystery man's remains were exhumed by police last year in a bid to solve the case. [82], Former South Australian Chief Superintendent Len Brown, who worked on the case in the 1940s, stated that he believed that the man was from a country in the Warsaw Pact, which led to the police's inability to confirm the man's identity. "[44] Boxall's army service record suggests that he served initially in the 4th Water Transport Company, before being seconded to the North Australia Observer Unit (NAOU) a special operations unit and that during his time with NAOU, Boxall rose rapidly in rank, being promoted from lance corporal to lieutenant within three months. He said he had tracked down and spoken to Mr Webb's living relatives. Freda Grace and Carl lived a 20-minute drive away from each other. The doctor who carried out the autopsy at the time of the discovery believed the man had died from heart failure due to poisoning, and the coroner didnt rule out murder. The three sons would eventually work at the family bakery. [6] The names were not released to the public until the 1980s as at the time they were "quite easily procurable by the ordinary individual" from a chemist without the need to give a reason for the purchase. Egan was Robins granddaughter. (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. [32] Mangnoson stated that "the car stopped and a man with a khaki handkerchief over his face told her to 'keep away from the police or else'". Terms of Use Red spy or red herring: Was the Somerton Man a Russian agent, or is there an Irish link? A jacket and tie with their tags cut off, unused train and bus tickets and a scrap of paper with the printed words tamm shud, meaning finished in Persian. He said their investigations had also found a link to the name "TKeane" which was printed on the Somerton Man's tie. "[86], The ID card, numbered 58757, was issued in the United States on 28 February 1918 to H. C. Reynolds, giving his nationality as "British" and age as 18. The identity and cause of death. When no one came forward to identify Somerton man, authorities were left with only cryptic clues to guide them. Learning that Thomson had died in 2007 and Robin in 2009, he set out to find Robins living descendants. 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 chance that this was a coincidence has been estimated as between one in 10,000,000 and one in 20,000,000. 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. [103] However, Rachel Egan's DNA has been analysed and links were found to the grandparents of Prosper Thomson. The parties interested in the analysis agreed to cover the costs. For 73 years, the identity of a well-dressed man found slumped by a sea wall of Somerton beach, south of Adelaide, in 1948 has been a mystery leaving room for theories featuring jilted lovers and cold war spies. "Somerton Man mystery 'solved': Professor identifies man found on beach in 1948" from news.com.au " Several years ago, Ms. Egan had her DNA analyzed, and links were found to people in the United States (including relatives of Thomas Jefferson ). In a later interview Lawson describes her behaviour as being very odd that day. [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. For the next 70 or so years, speculation and increasingly outlandish theories dominated discussion of the Somerton Man. The case has been considered, since the early stages of the police investigation, "one of Australia's most profound mysteries". He buys a ticket for the 10:50a.m. train to Henley Beach but does not use it. The man's body was found on 1 December 1948 on Somerton beach in the South Australian city of Adelaide. (Carls brother Roy also died in a prisoner-of-war camp the same year.) ), Carl 'Charles' Webb's prisoner-of-war brother bears resemblance to Somerton Man https://t.co/c7KcGhtiuI. [51][56] Boxall was now working in the maintenance section at the Randwick Bus Depot (where he had worked before the war) and was unaware of any link between the dead man and himself. The Somerton Man's fingerprints were sent around the world, but no one could identify him. In addition, witness statements have disappeared from the police file over the years.[8]. [note 3]. Abbott, who has researched the Somerton Man for more than two decades, met his current wife, Rachel Egan, through the case. [7] He was clean-shaven[7] and carried no identification, which led police to believe he had committed suicide. In September 1946, Dorothy fled from her husband, following years of physical and verbal abuse. Another theory concerns Boxall, who was reportedly involved in intelligence work during and immediately after World War II. The pathologist, Dr. Dwyer, concluded: "I am quite convinced the death could not have been natural the poison I suggested was a barbiturate or a soluble hypnotic". four purpose, and usefulness of god's creation,