This article contains content provided by Twitter. The identity and cause of death of the so-called Somerton man remain unknown. There is some uncertainty about the circumstances under which the book was found. A man showed police a 1941 edition of Edward FitzGerald's (1859) translation of Rubaiyat, published by Whitcombe and Tombs in Christchurch, New Zealand. 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. "All this time we've been publishing the autopsy photo, and it's hard to tell what something looks like from that", Abbott said. He had no money or identification on him, the labels in his clothing were cut off, and his minimal possessions yielded no clues. Police conducted an Australia-wide search to find a copy of the book that had a similarly blank verso. The tags on his suit had been cut off, and forensic examiners suspected he had been poisoned. The case is part of Operation Persevere, which seeks to put a name to all unidentified remains in South Australia. A researcher in the case of the Somerton Man says he has solved the decades-old mystery, identifying the figure as a Melbourne-born electrical engineer. The hauntingly intriguing case of the Somerton Man has baffled researchers for decades. [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. 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. "The first cousin we found was on his paternal sideand the second one we found was on the maternal side," he said. [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. In reply, Boxall says "no", and when asked if Harkness could have known, Boxall replies: "Not unless somebody else told her." 1951: Dorothy Webb reported to be living in Bute, South Australia. [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. [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. What was his cause of death? Its up to the cops to make the legal determination of who this guy was.. On 26 July 2022, Adelaide University professor Derek Abbott, in association with genealogist Colleen M. Fitzpatrick, claimed to have identified the man as Carl "Charles" Webb, an electrical engineer and instrument maker born in 1905, based on genetic genealogy from DNA of the man's hair. [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". We can't say for certain say that this is the reason he came, but it seems logical., Records showed that Webb enjoyed reading and writing poetry, as well as betting on horse races. "It's a triangulation from two different, totally distant parts of the [family] tree," Prof Abbott told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 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". Lawson's diary entry for that day names her as "Mrs Thompson" and states that she had a "nice figure" and was "very acceptable" (referring to the level of attractiveness) which allows the possibility of an affair with the Somerton man. [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. [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. [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. Dismissing the enigmatic figure as a drunk or a soundly sleeping beachgoer, the couples made no effort to approach him. [41] In the back of the book were faint indentations representing five lines of text, in capital letters. His identity has never been determined, but there are several theories about his origin. She recalled that he was English speaking and only carrying a small black case, not unlike one a musician or a doctor might carry. The two daily Adelaide newspapers, The Advertiser and The News, covered the death in separate ways. [36] The paper's verso side was blank. Processing the results could reportedly take up to a year. Ive already been on Trove to see if theres any presence of Charles Webb coming up in the old newspapers. The three sons would eventually work at the family bakery. They included a suitcase, more items of clothing with their labels removed, and incoherent writings believed to be a code. Police begin work to exhume the body in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Mangnoson was born in Adelaide on 4 May 1914 and served as a Private in the Australian Army from 11 June 1941 until his discharge on 7 February 1945. The copy not only had its last page torn out, but also incoherent writing believed to be a code on its back cover. My feeling has always been that its been suicide, that Rubaiyat was known as a kind of suicide handbook, Bilsborow said. But a professor at the University of Adelaide was on his own mission to crack it. [75] Lying next to him was his unconscious father, Keith Waldemar Mangnoson. C.I.B. He said their investigations had also found a link to the name "TKeane" which was printed on the Somerton Man's tie. Mack stated that the reason he did not confirm this at the viewing was a difference in the colour of the hair. It has been one of the most interesting cases in Australias history. [67], By early February 1949, there had been eight different "positive" identifications of the body,[68] including two Darwin men who thought the body was of a friend of theirs,[69] and others who thought it was a missing station worker, a worker on a steamship[70] or a Swedish man. The second line has been struck out a fact considered significant due to its similarities to the fourth line and the possibility that it represents an error in encryption. The theme of Rubaiyat is that one should live life to the fullest and have no regrets when it ends. 15 January 1948: Boxall arrives back in Sydney from his last active duty and is discharged from the army in April 1948. [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. You really kind of narrow it down so much it could be any one of Carls siblingsbut Carl is the one with no documented death.. In fact, all of the tags on his clothing had been deliberately removed. 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. The Somerton Man has been exhumed what happens now? [63], In early January 1949, two people identified the body as that of 63-year-old former wood cutter Robert Walsh. 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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. [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". [113] In 1941, he married Dorothy "Doff" Robertson, a pharmacist and chiropodist. Explore in 3D: The dazzling crown that makes a king. [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. "It turns out that Carl Webb has a brother-in-law called Thomas Keane, who lived just 20 minutes' drive away from him in Victoria," he said. [5], On 1 December 1948 at 6:30am, the police were contacted after the body of a man was discovered on Somerton Park beach near Glenelg, about 11km (7mi) southwest of Adelaide, South Australia. The City Baths on King William St. were accessed from the station's northern exit via a lane way. [note 3]. 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]. [95] It was reported that the body was exhumed as part of Operation Persevere and Operation Persist, which are investigating historical unidentified remains in South Australia. Kate Thomson opposed the exhumation as being disrespectful to her brother. "Somerton Beach Mystery Man", Transcript, Broadcast 27 March 2009. Is climate change killing Australian wine? [7] He was clean-shaven[7] and carried no identification, which led police to believe he had committed suicide. 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. In the book, it is unclear whether the first line begins with an "M" or "W", but it is widely believed to be the letter W, owing to the distinctive difference when compared to the stricken letter M. There appears to be a deleted or underlined line of text that reads "MLIAOI". The man was well-built, about 40 to 50 years old, 5. [24] All identification marks on the clothes had been removed but police found the name "T. Keane" on a tie, "Keane" on a laundry bag and "Kean" on a singlet, along with three dry-cleaning marks; 1171/7, 4393/7 and 3053/7. 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. [66] Any thoughts that a positive identification had been made were quashed, however, when Elizabeth Thompson, one of the people who had earlier positively identified the body as Walsh, retracted her statement after a second viewing of the body, where the absence of a particular scar on the body, as well as the size of the dead man's legs, led her to realise the body was not Walsh. [116], Derek Abbott and Colleen Fitzpatrick believe that Carl had serious mental health issues and "spiralled down" after losing four close relatives in seven years. Scotland Yard was also asked to assist with the case, but could not offer any insights. 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. [43], In 1978, following a request from ABC Television's journalist Stuart Littlemore, Department of Defence cryptographers analysed the handwritten text. The man's body was found on 1 December 1948 on Somerton beach in the South Australian city of Adelaide. In July 1947, Jessica "Jestyn" Harkness gave birth to her son Robin in Melbourne, at which point she was not married. Interestingly, the book contained several handwritten annotations, including a suspected code and the phone number of a nurse, Jessie Jo Thomson, who lived near the site where the body was discovered. Theres almost a sequel film here, [not] of who is Somerton man?, but now its the mysterious case of Charles Webb., Remains of mystery Somerton man exhumed 70 years after his death, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning, 2023 Guardian News & Media Limited or its affiliated companies. "For more than 70 years, people have speculated who this man was and how he died," South Australia Attorney General Vickie Chapman said. The time is estimated by a "quick opinion" on the state of. They included a suitcase, items of clothing with their labels removed and incoherent writings believed to be a code. There is no record of the Adelaide railway station's bathroom facilities being unavailable and no ticket in his pocket to suggest he visited the Public Baths, outside of the station. The autopsy also showed that the man's last meal was a pasty eaten about three to four hours before death,[8] but tests failed to reveal any foreign substance in the body. The Somerton Man case has been an enigma since his body was discovered in 1948. [23] It was believed that the suitcase was owned by the man found on the beach. [8] A search of his pockets revealed an unused second-class rail ticket from Adelaide to Henley Beach; a bus ticket from the city that may not have been used; a narrow aluminium comb that had been manufactured in the USA; a half-empty packet of Juicy Fruit chewing gum; an Army Club cigarette packet which contained seven cigarettes of a different brand, Kensitas; and a quarter-full box of Bryant & May matches.
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