And. [94] The remains were deeper in the ground than previously thought. [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. In all this soup and ocean of DNA cousins, we were able to connect one of them to Carls father and one of them to Carls mother, Fitzpatrick tells the Times. [110], Abbott claimed his DNA identification from strands of hair found in the plaster death mask made by South Australian Police in the late 1940s. 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. (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. The 5-foot-11, 40- to 50-year-old man carried no money or identification. Derek Abbott, a physicist and electronic engineer at the University of Adelaide, and Colleen Fitzpatrick, a forensic genealogist who specializes in using DNA to solve cold cases, identified the Somerton Man using hairs caught in his death mask. The man's body was found propped up against the seawall at Somerton Beach in Adelaide on December 1, 1948. [50], It was determined the letter frequency of the message in the back of the Rubaiyat was considerably different from letters written down randomly; the frequency was to be further tested to determine if the alcohol level of the writer could alter random distribution. [49], Roma Egan, the widow of Jessica Thomson's son Robin, and Robin and Roma's daughter Rachel Egan, also appeared on 60 Minutes. Johnson, about 45, of Arthur St, Payneham, was found on Somerton Beach, opposite the Crippled Children's Home yesterday morning. His pockets contained nothing to identify him. [21], An autopsy was conducted, and the pathologist estimated the time of death at around 2 am on 1 December.[15]. 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. Last month Ms Chapman said the decision to exhume the body followed "intense public interest" in the case. Australia's Mysterious Somerton Man Identified as Carl Webb | Smart The Egans reported lodging a new application with the Attorney-General John Rau to have the Somerton man's body exhumed and DNA tested. [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. 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. Solving the Somerton man mystery: no Russian spy, just a bit of a loner 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. Dr Fitzpatrick now wants to help solve the mystery of his death. 16 RACHEL EGAN'S DNA LINKED TO PROSPER THOMSON.. by peterbowes on May 31, 2021. To view this content choose accept and continue. Did he die by suicide? [24] He immediately checked his suitcase at the station cloak room before leaving the station and catching a city bus to Glenelg. This would be followed by a crackdown on Soviet espionage in Australia, which was revealed by intercepts of Soviet communications under the Venona project. stationed in Australia. 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. Feltus believed Thomson knew the Somerton man's identity. In a later interview Lawson describes her behaviour as being very odd that day. What was unusual was that there were no spare socks found in the case, and no correspondence, although the police found pencils and unused letter stationery. [59][60] That same day, The News published a photograph of the dead man on its front page,[61] leading to additional calls from members of the public about his possible identity. A smuggler. [103] However, Rachel Egan's DNA has been analysed and links were found to the grandparents of Prosper Thomson. Some answers may come soon, some may take years, and some may never be answered, Abbott tells ABC. 58. [83], The South Australian Police Historical Society holds the plaster bust, which contains strands of the man's hair. When the bakery closed down, Carl retrained as an electrical instrument maker. In reply, Boxall says "no", and when asked if Harkness could have known, Boxall replies: "Not unless somebody else told her." The three sons would eventually work at the family bakery. The copy not only had its last page torn out, but also incoherent writing believed to be a code on its back cover. The police believed that Clive had been dead for twenty-four hours when his body was found. [22], On 14 January 1949, staff at the Adelaide railway station discovered a brown suitcase with its label removed, which had been checked into the station cloakroom after 11:00am on 30 November 1948. 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With the original copy lost in the 1950s, researchers have been looking for a FitzGerald edition. 10 p.m.11 p.m.: Estimated time he had eaten a pasty based on time of death. One of the witnesses told the police she observed a man looking down at the sleeping man from the top of the steps that led to the beach. Mystery of Australia's 'Somerton Man' solved after 70 years - BBC The text has not been deciphered or interpreted in a way that satisfies authorities on the case. 14 October 2019: Attorney-General of South Australia grants conditional approval for The Somerton Man to be exhumed in order for a DNA sample to be obtained. [43], In 1978, following a request from ABC Television's journalist Stuart Littlemore, Department of Defence cryptographers analysed the handwritten text. 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. 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. [52] In an interview many years later, Paul Lawson, the technician who made the cast and was present when Thomson viewed it, noted that after looking at the bust she immediately looked away and would not look at it again. Contrary to Abbotts initial suspicions, the new DNA survey showed no genetic ties between Egan and Webb, definitively proving that Robin was not Webbs son. In November 2013, three of their relatives gave interviews to the Channel Nine current affairs program 60 Minutes. [31] Cleland, as the investigating pathologist, re-examined the body and made a number of discoveries. For the next 70 or so years, speculation and increasingly outlandish theories dominated discussion of the Somerton Man. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. He said it had been thrown into the back of his car around the time of the incident. [2], A number of possible identifications have been proposed over the years. "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. Was he murdered? "For more than 70 years, people have speculated who this man was and how he died," South Australia Attorney General Vickie Chapman said. 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. While Henneberg found anatomical similarities in features such as the nose, lips and eyes, he believed they were not as reliable as the close similarity of the ear. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? A suicide note perhaps? [32], Cleland speculated that, as none of the witnesses could positively identify the man they saw the previous night as the same person discovered the next morning, there remained the possibility the man had died elsewhere and had been dumped. Public interest in the case remains significant for several reasons: the death occurred at a time of heightened international tensions following the beginning of the Cold War; the apparent involvement of a secret code; the possible use of an undetectable poison; and the inability of authorities to identify the dead man. [32] Soon after being interviewed by police over her harassment, Mangnoson collapsed and required medical treatment. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday. The handwriting found in the back of a book of the Rubiyt of Omar Khayym, theorised to be a sort of code. 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". 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. [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. DNA Could Identify Somerton Man Exhumed in Australia - New York Times Abbott and Rachel married in 2010 and they have three children. [77] The two were found by Neil McRae[note 7] of Largs Bay, who claimed he had seen the location of the two in a dream the night before. This is just us drawing the dots. 14 January 1949: Adelaide railway station finds the brown suitcase belonging to the man. There has been persistent speculation that the dead man was a spy, due to the circumstances and historical context of his death. The last mention of Webb in the historical record dates to April 1947, when he left his wife. Now, Australian police say advances in DNA technology make exhumation worthwhile. The case has long baffled detectives and amateur sleuths, and is regarded as one of Australia's most enduring mysteries because of strange clues linked to it, including a suspected code and a book of Persian poems. [116] She applied for a divorce on 5 June 1951, citing desertion. Despite authorities public appeals and mounting media coverage of the mystery, no one was able to positively identify the Somerton Man. This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. April 1947: Charles Webb leaves his wife Dorothy, whereupon she files for divorce. [81], Years after the burial, flowers began appearing on the grave. The Somerton Man - Mystery Solved? - Apple Podcasts 14 March 1958: The coroner's inquest is continued. "We can't say for sure, but we can speculate," he said. "I'm hoping, ashis name gets out there, there will be somebody that will have an old photo album in a garden shed somewhere.". Dorothy described Carl as solitary, having few friends, living a quiet life and being in bed by 7pm each night, but also moody, violent and threatening, especially when facing defeat even over relatively trivial matters. She was 27 years old in 1948. [note 3]. WTBIMPANETP [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. Other curious finds baffled authorities. Tamam Shud Case: Everything We Know About The Somerton Man - PEDESTRIAN.TV The case has drawn international interest and attracted plenty of sleuths online. Police conducted an Australia-wide search to find a copy of the book that had a similarly blank verso. 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. Meilan Solly is Smithsonian magazine's associate digital editor, history. [113][116], Dorothy recalled one instance in March 1946 in which her husband apparently attempted suicide with an overdose of ether. The police said this was the first time they knew that such action was needed. Somerton man mystery 'solved' as DNA points to man's identity He said their investigations had also found a link to the name "TKeane" which was printed on the Somerton Man's tie. [24] With wartime rationing still enforced, clothing was difficult to acquire at that time. As to why the Melbourne man was in Adelaide, Abbott said: We have evidence that he had separated from his wife, and that she had moved to South Australia, so possibly he had come to track her down., Fitzpatrick said: This is an amazing mystery to solve. Who killed 'Little Red Riding Hood'? [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. On the inside back cover, detectives read through indentations left from previous handwriting: a local telephone number, another unidentified number, and text that resembled a coded message. 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. Professor Abbott said Webb was born in Footscray on November 16,1905 to Richard August Webb (1866-1939) and Eliza Amelia Morris Grace (1871-1946). 'Somerton man' mystery is 'SOLVED': Extraordinary twist in Australia's most baffling death 70 years after he was found dead on a beach with a coded note in his pocket. Maciej Henneberg, professor of anatomy at the University of Adelaide, examined images of the Somerton man's ears and found that his cymba (upper ear hollow) is larger than his cavum (lower ear hollow), a feature possessed by only 12% of the Caucasian population. 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. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. [75] Lying next to him was his unconscious father, Keith Waldemar Mangnoson. Somerton Man Identified Through DNA, Researchers Say - New York Times I Solved The Code - Somerton Man Code - YouTube Astonishing Legends. Read about our approach to external linking. 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". They included a suitcase, more items of clothing with their labels removed, and incoherent writings believed to be a code. 1994: The Chief Justice of Victoria, John Harber Phillips, studies the evidence and concludes that poisoning was due to digitalis. Feltus said he was still contacted by people in Europe who believed the man was a missing relative but did not believe an exhumation and finding the man's family grouping would provide answers to relatives, as "during that period so many war criminals changed their names and came to different countries". Webb, who was born in the Australian state of Victoria in 1905, fit the bill. This article contains content provided by Twitter. [74], Contemporary reports considered the connection with the death of a two-year-old boy six months later. [32] Mangnoson believed that this situation could be related to her husband's attempt to identify the Somerton Man, believing him to be Carl Thompsen, who had worked with him in Renmark in 1939. The hauntingly intriguing case of the Somerton Man has baffled researchers for decades. The Decades-Old Mystery Of The Unidentified Somerton Man May Have - MSN Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. And I would like to find out what happened to Dorothy," she told CNN.
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