Has Rachel Egans DNA finally ended Derek Abbotts involvement in the Somerton ManMystery? Police checked incoming train records and believed the man had arrived at the Adelaide railway station by overnight train from either Melbourne, Sydney, or Port Augusta. The public wants to know who this man was. Public library officials called in to translate the text identified it as a phrase meaning "ended" or "finished" found on the last page of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. DNA, Abbott said, is a key to solving the mystery. Guess whos coming to dinner? DNA is going to make the ultimate difference in this case, Fitzpatrick, a forensic genealogist with Identifinders International in Fountain Valley, California, told BuzzFeed News. 6 The question of lividity (and a finaltwist). team was capable of identifying the man after 70 years of mystery surrounding his death. Investigators found no missing persons, immigrants, or ships deserters to explain the Somerton Man, one of Australias most enduring cold-case mysteries. How an Electrical Engineer Solved Australia's Most Famous Cold Case "But physical evidence such as this points us to where it might be profitable to concentrate our future efforts.". The 60-year-old strands of hair may hold other secrets besides those contained in the DNAspecifically, information about the isotopes of the elements in his system, which may provide clues about the Somerton Man's lifestyle. It was thought 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 Harkness until mid-1950. Somerton police officers found the body rigid and cold and death was declared at the Royal Adelaide Hospital at 7.45 am. I dont know about Jessies sisters. According to Day, he looked like he . Detective Superintendent Des Bray, from SA Police's Major Crime Division, said that improvements in technology would give forensic experts the best chance yet "to possibly identify the man through his DNA. 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. Australia's Mysterious Somerton Man Identified as Carl Webb | Smart The Scene At The Taman Shud Case: Neil Day was riding his horse down Somerton beach in Adelaide (Australia) on December 1, 1948. After years of forensic investigation, Somerton Man's identity remains a mystery (Part 2: DNA, isotopes, and autopsy) . The next time I have a check up with the local quack thats what Im going to ask him. The condition can develop due to several underlying medical conditions, ranging from blood disorders to liver disease. Thomson also said that whilst she was working at Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney during World War II, she had owned a copy of the Rubaiyat. The chemicals used in the embalming process can significantly break down any DNA present. We are getting closer to an answer.. 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. (6) He had congestion in the 2nd half of the duodenum. The Somerton Man fits into neither category. Timingmatters. The man was clean-shaven, in a brown suit and was laying on his back while against a wall near the shore. The group of Associate Professor Jeremy Austin, at the university's Australian Centre for Ancient DNA (ACAD), found that the Somerton Man's mother belongs to the DNA haplogroup H. About 40% of Europeans belong to this group, so it's not particularly surprising, given the Somerton Man clearly appears Caucasian. The Bizarre True Story Of The Somerton Man - Grunge From the autopsy photos, investigators can determine that the Somerton Man had a small mole near his lip, a straight nose, fairly pronounced nasal arches, attached earlobes, a large ear cymba, a diagonal earlobe crease (DELC), and necktie stripes in a typically American design. 'Toxic' marriage may explain death of Somerton Man as new details This is the second part of a two-part story about the forensic investigation of the Somerton Man. 19 Instances of false reporting in the early stages of the Somerton BodyCase. By March 2022, Abbott said he had already established Webb's name through years of work with Fitzpatrick to build a complex family tree of around 4,000 names that led to Webb, whose date of death had not been recorded. She recalled that he was English speaking and only carrying a small black case, not unlike one a musician or a doctor might carry. It was suspected that the suitcase was owned by the man found on the beach on December 1. The treasure hunt which followed gave members a chance to admire the wealth and beauty of the flowers and the vegetables in the garden. You know how I answer the question, Was he a spy? I get a coin, and I flip it up in the air.Feltus. But the catch with autosomal DNA is that the concentration levels per human cell are much lower than the levels of mtDNA and YDNA. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Neil Day initially went over to see if the man was alright and got fairly close to him and couldn't see him breathing and then Days friend took hold of the man's leg to see if they could wake him, but they quickly realized he was dead. A review of events that took place between the 22nd and 27th of July,1949. Somerton man mystery 'solved' as DNA points to man's - CNN His investigations led to many questions concerning the assumptions police had made on the case. By early February 1949, there had been eight different "positive" identifications of the body, including two Darwin men who thought the body was of a friend of theirs and others who thought it was a missing station worker, a worker on a steamship, or a Swedish man. According to the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionTrusted Source (CDC), amoxicillin and penicillin are the most commonly prescribed treatments for strep throat. The details of the case were spread far and wide around the world, says Ellis-Jones and so too were the autopsy pictures and the images of the . and Terms of Use. His hands and nails showed no signs of manual labor, with pronounced high calf muscles consistent with people who regularly wore boots or shoes with high heels or performed ballet. 28 The Somerton Man Investigation what wentwrong. Fitzpatrick compared DNA from Rachel and her mother to identify which portions of her genome came from her father. Thomson denied ever knowing the Somerton Man. The scrap came from the last words of the last page of The Rubiyt of Omar Khayyam, an 11th-century poetry book about lifes transience. The Egans reported lodging a new application with the Attorney-General of South Australia, John Rau, to have the Somerton Man's body exhumed and DNA tested. Somerton Park, Australia. And I think there is some truth to that.. by Lisa Zyga (The cars owner dropped the book off at the police station, saying he didnt know how it got there.) Perhaps the most unique piece of evidence in the Somerton Man case is a tiny piece of paper found in the man's pocket containing the printed words "Tamm shud," which means "finished" or "ended . 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". , Phys.org. The 3 Inch Conundrum and a measured reponse to 'Jo.'. Where to now with Jessica Harknessinvolvement? That year, however, authorities allowed him to take 50 hairs from the Somerton Man's death mask, which had been obtained before his burial. The Somerton man died alone on a beach in 1948. Now Australian How the Somerton Man investigation could have been done in oneday. The Unknown Man. The unresolved mystery of the Somerton - Medium Did you talk to her about that at all?" The Government of South Australia Attorney-General's Department notes that several witnesses saw him on the beach the day before "sleeping," and they thought he was drunk, according to . Change). People with these conditions can be apparently pretty healthy and athletic untill something gets to far out of whack and they start declining. Harking back to the Coroners speculation, in that if it was found that TSM didnt die where he was found and had been carried to the beach, cue Detective ODohertys credible witness, then everything would need reconsidering, which would include his alleged 30th November arrival in Adelaide etc etc so, perhaps he was in town and unwell for quite some time before dying. A search of the mans clothes revealed an unused second-class rail ticket from Adelaide to Henley Beach, a bus ticket to St. Leonards at 11.15 am, a US-manufactured, narrow aluminum comb, 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. Are these medical conditions something that its likely he lived with for some time or was there rapid onset as a result of something, like a poison? 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 in the front of the copy of the Rubaiyat that was given to Boxall. RACHEL EGANS DNA LINKED TO PROSPER THOMSON Part2. The Somerton Man's autopsy photos. Yes, she replied: her ex-husband. The timing is significant as the man is presumed, based on the suitcase, to have arrived in Adelaide the day before he was found on the beach. "In anything like this, you can only be 99.999% sure that it's right. Abbott started asking her family about the case. According to the pathologist, John Burton Cleland, the time of death was estimated at around 2 am, on December 1, 1948. . While the autopsy found he had a good heart at the time of death, had he lived longer he may have developed coronary problems. I won't speculate on how this man died, but there may also be potential to establish a definitive cause of death. 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. There appears to be a deleted or underlined line of text that reads "MLIAOI". His pockets held chewing gum, combs, and unused bus and train tickets. Preliminary results show that the Somerton Man had higher-than-normal levels of arsenic, lead, and strontium-88 in his system. Mortuary photo of the unknown man found dead on Somerton Beach, south of Adelaide, Australia, in December 1948. ", Abbott said that they were convinced they've found their man. FamilyNamed. Byron, I missed one of Dwyers findings. Then the scientist ran those segments through massive DNA databases (maintained by genealogy companies such as Ancestry.com) to try to find out more about her fathers father the suspected Somerton Man. Lumps of potato in the stomach contents suggested death before digestion was complete. "If the (Somerton Man's) body had been taken to the place where it was found, the difficulties disappear." February 26, 2022; Was the state of the Somerton Man's health a factor in his death? Parallax Error. Will the Somerton Man mystery ever be solved? - Adelaide Lovers 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. We can't say for certain say that this is the reason he came, but it seems logical.". The Somerton Man also had a relatively rare dental condition: he was missing both lateral incisors, resulting in his canine teeth being directly next to his top central teeth. Mystery of the somerton man: Taman Shud case - Caso Criminal The Criminal Connection: Roy Webbs father-in-law was an associate of one of Australias most notoriouscriminals. We delve into how the story unfolded, why the case has been so hard to crack and . An unnamed man said he found it discarded in his car on November 30, the day before the Somerton man's death. It's an enduring mystery here in South Australia. All figures credited to Derek Abbott, University of Adelaide. As Fitzpatrick will present at next weeks meeting, Rachels paternal line traced back to the Mid-Atlantic states of the US, centered around Virginia. These can range from dietary and lifestyle habits to the side effects of medications and serious underlying conditions., https://www.healthline.com/health/indigestion#causes. Of course, this is only true if Rachel is indeed the Somerton Mans granddaughter. The Body on the Beach: The Somerton Man and the Tamam Shud Case The local press report the story. Uncovering the isotope information involves first burning a 1-cm length of hair with an excimer laser beam and then analyzing the isotopes in the burned hair using a technique called laser ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), which was carried out by Dr. James Chappell at the University of Adelaide. Investigators did find one bizarre clue: a scrap of paper tucked in the mans watch pocket, printed with the words Tamm Shud, which means finished in Persian. Two egregious failures in the policeinvestigation. The final DNA twist in the Somerton Man case comes from Abbott himself. S3 Ep101: Loveless Shacks by Chardonnay & DNA August 12, 2011. (Bottom) A family tree showing Robins relationship to Thomas Jefferson. A fictionalised account of the Somerton Mancase. This post is all about Carl Webbsbrain. Somerton Man: Experts say mystery could surround case forever - adelaidenow According to Abbott, Webb was born on November 16, 1905 in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne. The six clues that have failed to solve the Somerton Man mystery "The strontium-88 is very interesting, as there is a very sharp change about one-and-a-half weeks before death," he said. Contact Dan Vergano at dan.vergano@buzzfeed.com. A telephone number was also found in the back of the book, belonging to a nurse named Jessica Ellen "Jo" Thomson (19212007), born Jessie Harkness in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, who lived in Moseley Street, Glenelg, about 1300 ft (400 meters) north of the location where the body was found.
