[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. But, they said that the "only clue of any value" remained the clothing the man wore. Video, 00:02:36, The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. ITTMTSAMSTGAB[29]. The links to Thomson go back to the scrap of paper with the Persian words for finished found in the mans fob pocket in his trousers. 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. She appeared as if she was about to faint. [32], In 1949, the body of the unknown man was buried in Adelaide's West Terrace Cemetery, where the Salvation Army conducted the service. [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. The three sons would eventually work at the family bakery. 27 July: Sydney detectives locate and interview Boxall. [5], Carl Webbs father Richard August Webb (died in 1939) had emigrated to Australia from Hamburg, Germany. It was a concealed code and the cipher used was a Hill cipher. 16 RACHEL EGAN'S DNA LINKED TO PROSPER THOMSON.. by peterbowes on May 31, 2021. )[note 5] There is no evidence that Boxall had any contact with Jessica Thomson after 1945.[55]. "So When That Angel of the Darker Drink", Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, "World War II Nominal Roll, "Boxall, Alfred", "List of facts on the Taman Shud Case that are often misreported", "Somerton Man identified as Melbourne electrical engineer, researcher says", "Seven-decade mystery of Somerton Man solved", "Professor's 15-year search for answers seeks to crack the secret code to the death of the 'Somerton man' found on an Adelaide beach", Unidentified Body Found at Somerton Beach, South Australia, on 1st December 1948, "Unsolved Death from 1948: The Somerton Man (The Taman Shud Case)", 'Unparalleled Mystery' Of Somerton Body Case, Curious aspects of unsolved beach mystery, Army Officer Sought to Help Solve Somerton Body Case, Unbreakable: Somerton Man's poetic mystery, "Computational linguistic analysis of the Tamam Shud Cipher", "No Sydney Clue to Dead Man Found at Somerton, S.A.", A Body, A Secret Pocket and a Mysterious Code, 30-Year-Old Death Riddle Probed In New Series, "Jessica Thomson's reaction to the dead man's bust", Somerton body said to be that of wood cutter, Somerton Body may be that of station hand. "We can't say for sure, but we can speculate," he said. 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. 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. Officials declined to comment on the new findings, instead telling CNN they would respond when results from the testing are received., Solved! Per a 1949 inquest report, a doctor who examined the Somerton Mans remains placed his time of death around 2 a.m. 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. [11] For example, in the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was unable to match the dead man's fingerprint with prints taken from files of domestic criminals. 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. Victoria detectives disproved all the claims and said that "other investigations" indicated it was unlikely that he was from Victoria. Most accounts state that the book was found in an unlocked car parked in Jetty Road, Glenelg either in the rear floor well, or on the back seat. 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. A search concluded that no T. Keane was missing in any English-speaking country. [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. On the night of November 30, 1948, two separate couples noticed a smartly dressed man lying on the sand, his head propped against a sea wall, according to Smithsonian magazines Mike Dash. I sworebut was I sober when I swore? Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. [24] With wartime rationing still enforced, clothing was difficult to acquire at that time. 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. Abbott, who has researched the Somerton Man for more than two decades, met his current wife, Rachel Egan, through the case. [64] A third person, James Mack, also viewed the body, initially could not identify it, but an hour later he contacted police to claim it was Walsh. His history and the autopsy findings suggest he committed suicide by poisoning himself.[113]. "I would like to see the toxicology done. [7], As one journalist wrote in June 1949, alluding to the line in Rubaiyat, "the Somerton Man seems to have made certain that the glass would be empty, save for speculation". Police suspect the calls may be a hoax and the caller may be the same person who also terrorised a woman in a nearby suburb who had recently lost her husband in tragic circumstances. Police arrived on the scene the following morning after receiving reports of a dead body on Somerton Beach. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. The police said this was the first time they knew that such action was needed. | [91][92], An exhumation was carried out on 19 May 2021. Initially, the letters were thought to be words in a foreign language[38] before it was realised it was a code. It has been one of the most interesting cases in Australias history. [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. 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. A man showed police a 1941 edition of Edward FitzGerald's (1859) translation of Rubaiyat, published by Whitcombe and Tombs in Christchurch, New Zealand. Is climate change killing Australian wine? Derek Abbott was able to analyse the Somerton Man's DNA using hairs preserved when authorities made a plaster model of his face. "Somerton Beach Mystery Man", Transcript, Broadcast 27 March 2009. The case has been considered, since the early stages of the police investigation, "one of Australia's most profound mysteries". They observed that the format of the code also appeared to follow the quatrain format of Rubaiyat, leading them to theorise that the code was a one-time pad encryption algorithm. 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. When the bakery closed down, Carl retrained as an electrical instrument maker. Still, she denied knowing the man, and authorities didnt press her on the issue. Boxall was born in London on 16 April 1906, enlisted in the Australian Army on 12 January 1942 and was not discharged until 12 April 1948. 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. 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. 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 phrase was identified as coming from the classic book of Persian poetry Rubiyt of Omar Khayym. 16 November 1905: Carl "Charles" Webb born in Footscray, Melbourne, Victoria. 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. But a professor at the University of Adelaide was on his own mission to crack it. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. 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". It was noted that the movement seen by witnesses at 7 p.m. could have been the last convulsion preceding 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. 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. [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. And then and then came Spring, and Rose-in-hand [80] International circulation of a photograph of the man and details of his fingerprints yielded no positive identification. [58], The News featured their story on its first page, giving more details of the dead man. [42] The police agreed a decision that hampered later investigations. DNA testing would confirm or eliminate this speculation. [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. [32] Soon after being interviewed by police over her harassment, Mangnoson collapsed and required medical treatment. [note 6] The father was taken to a hospital in a very weak condition, suffering from exposure;[75] following a medical examination, he was transferred to a mental hospital. Despite repeated requests for an exhumation, the . "We have evidence that he had separated from his wife, and that she had moved to South Australia. He was slumped against a seawall, dressed in a suit and tie. The case of the Somerton Man In 1948, the body of an unidentified man was found on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. University of Adelaide researcher Derek Abbott believes the unknown man found slumped and lifeless at Adelaide's Somerton Beach on December 1, 1948, was Carl "Charles" Webb, a 43-year-old engineer and instrument maker. "The first cousin we found was on his paternal sideand the second one we found was on the maternal side," he 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. 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. "[82] Phillips supported his conclusion by pointing out that the organs were engorged, consistent with digitalis, the lack of evidence of natural disease and "the absence of anything seen macroscopically which could account for the death". 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. after 11:15am: Buys a 7d bus ticket on a bus that departed at 11:15a.m. from the south side of. 1951: Dorothy Webb reported to be living in Bute, South Australia. [44], In 2004, retired detective Gerry Feltus suggested in a Sunday Mail article that the final line "ITTMTSAMSTGAB" could stand for the initials of "It's Time To Move To South Australia Moseley Street" (Jessica Thomson lived in Moseley Street which is the main road through Glenelg). Additionally a similar-looking man had been recently seen lurking around the house. [41] In the back of the book were faint indentations representing five lines of text, in capital letters. Bilsborow said: Now that weve got his name, theres still so many questions. [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. [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. "It kind of feels like climbing Mount Everest, and having that mixture of elation that you're at the top, but also tiredness and exhaustion," he said. The case has drawn international interest and attracted plenty of sleuths online. When police arrived, they found the man lying in the sand with his head resting on the sea wall, with his legs out in front of him, and his ankles crossed. The actual reveal is quite impressive; it is very clear coding. acute gastritis hemorrhage, extensive congestion of the liver and spleen, and the congestion to the brain. [36] The paper's verso side was blank. 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 BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Copies of Rubaiyat, as well as the Talmud and Bible, were being compared to the code using computers to get a statistical base for letter frequencies. [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. While the mystery man's remains were exhumed last year by SA Police, Professor Abbott has in the meantime persisted with his own independent efforts to crack the case. And from 4000 names, the pair narrowed it down to one - Carl Webb. 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. [23] It was believed that the suitcase was owned by the man found on the beach. [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. Freda Grace and Carl lived a 20-minute drive away from each other. [7] He was clean-shaven[7] and carried no identification, which led police to believe he had committed suicide. In July 1949, a local man came forward with a copy of The Rubiyt that hed found tossed into the back of his car around the time of the Somerton Mans death. | READ MORE. Officer in Charge, No. [74], Contemporary reports considered the connection with the death of a two-year-old boy six months later. "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. 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. [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. [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. In. The man's body was found propped up against the seawall at Somerton Beach in Adelaide on December 1, 1948. [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". 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. Mack stated that the reason he did not confirm this at the viewing was a difference in the colour of the hair. Read about our approach to external linking. Adelaide's 73-Year-Old MysteryThe Somerton Man | Unsettling & Unsolved 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. In 1951, Dorothy was reportedly living in Bute, South Australia, 144km (89mi) from Adelaide. [49], Roma Egan, the widow of Jessica Thomson's son Robin, and Robin and Roma's daughter Rachel Egan, also appeared on 60 Minutes. Police questioned a woman seen leaving the cemetery but she claimed she knew nothing of the man. He gave Cleland a piece of paper with the names of the two drugs which was entered as Exhibit C.18. Ive already been on Trove to see if theres any presence of Charles Webb coming up in the old newspapers. One newspaper article refers to the book being found about a week or two before the body was found. [32] The contents of the boy's stomach were sent to a government analyst for further examination. Or maybe a final goodbye to a lover.. 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. 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. 58. To narrow down the pool of potential candidates, Abbott and Fitzpatrick plugged the Somerton mans DNA into the genealogical research database GEDmatch. It was believed the man had died while sleeping. 3. 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 . 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. 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. My feeling has always been that its been suicide, that Rubaiyat was known as a kind of suicide handbook, Bilsborow said. 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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. [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. [110], Abbott's research indicates Webb enjoyed betting on horses, thus the coded messages could be horse names. Webb was then a 35-year-old instrument maker. The 5-foot-11, 40- to 50-year-old man carried no money or identification. 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. Collins, an inmate of New Zealand's Whanganui Prison, claimed to know the identity of the dead man. To view this content choose accept and continue. There was blood mixed with the food in the stomach. Bilsborow says the theory that Somerton man was a Russian spy emerged in the 1970s at the time of the cold war, particularly fuelled by the writing in the copy of the Rubiyt they interpreted as code. [51] According to Leane, he described her reaction upon seeing the cast as "completely taken aback, to the point of giving the appearance that she was about to faint". The torn-out fragment found in the Somerton Mans pocket perfectly matched a gap on the final page of the discarded copy. The City Baths on King William St. were accessed from the station's northern exit via a lane way. From there, the trail went cold. Read about our approach to external linking. "[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. (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. May 1950: Jessica and Prosper Thomson are married. 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. And he was not a Russian agent, but rather a Melbourne-born electrical engineer. 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]. ), Others posited that the Somerton Man was a former professional ballet dancer, drawing on the coroners comment that his calf muscles were high and well developed, such as found in women, and suggestion that he had been in the habit of wearing high-heeled and pointed shoes., Perhaps the most convincing theory centered on Thomsons son Robin, whose distinctive ears and teeth closely resembled the Somerton Mans. She said the news also turns on its head the theory in her documentary that Australian ballet dancer Robin Thomson was the son of Somerton man. Following a public appeal by police, the copy of Rubaiyat from which the page had been torn was located. SA Police have been contacted for comment. His identity has never been determined, but there are several theories about his origin. Late 1946: Harkness moves to Mentone to temporarily live with her parents. Cryptic clues about man found on an Adelaide beach in 1948 spawned theories of jilted lovers and cold war spies but the truth may open up even more questions. [104], In July 2013, Abbott released an artistic impression he commissioned of the Somerton man, believing this might finally lead to an identification. According to Prof Abbott, Webb was born in 1905 in a suburb of Melbourne. 16 October 1912: Prosper Thomson is born in central Queensland. He said it had been thrown into the back of his car around the time of the incident. Police begin work to exhume the body in the early hours of Wednesday morning. [71] Following publication of the man's photograph in Victoria, twenty-eight people claimed to know his identity. Advertising Notice Feltus believed Thomson knew the Somerton man's identity. 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. The man was well-dressed and had no obvious injuries, but an autopsy . She nursed him back to health, only for him to scold her for it and become more violent. [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 A suicide note perhaps?