Casefile Revisited: The Somerton Man

In December 1948, the body of an unidentified male was found on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, South Australia. It initially appeared the man had simply passed away in his sleep, but as police looked into his death, they discovered a series of bizarre and unexplainable clues that presented more questions than answers. Was the Somerton Man an international spy? If so, what was he doing in Adelaide? And what significance did the ancient Persian text found in his pocket hold? Casefile Revisited features newly re-recorded versions of classic episodes, revisiting the stories with enhanced production, fresh narration, and updated research where possible. --- Narration – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Research & writing – Anonymous Host https://www.instagram.com/caseys.snaps/ Production & music – Mike Migas http://mikemigas.com/ Audio editing – Anthony Telfer Sign up for Casefile Premium: Apple Premium https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/casefile-true-crime/id998568017?ign-itscg=30200S&ign-itsct=casefile_podcastsSpotify Premium https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/9gSwcv7USsbPatreon https://www.patreon.com/casefileFor all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/casefile-archives-2-the-somerton-man The Somerton Man episode was originally released in January 2016. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  From journalist Olivia LaVoix, the creator of the hit investigative series The Bakersfield Three, comes the new Case File Presents series, ADA. In 2011, the body of a woman was discovered in a California vineyard. For more than a decade, she was known only as Jane Doe. Then detectives finally discovered her name. But identifying her was only the beginning. Listen to ADA wherever you get your podcasts.

• 0:34Speaker 01

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• 1:07Speaker 00

  Hello, Case File listeners. As we enter Case Files' 10th year, we've created a new run of special bonus content, Case File Archives. A series of releases revisiting the earliest years of the show, along with previously unreleased premium episodes. This is completely additional content and will not replace new episodes. We will still be back in March with brand-new cases, and we'll be releasing the same number of new episodes this year as we did last year. Case File Archives is simply a way to mark the 10th year, revisit some older episodes, and to offer previously subscriber-exclusive episodes to the wider audience for the first time.

• 1:51Speaker 00

  For the re-release episodes, we have fully edited, polished, rerecorded, and freshly produced them from start to finish to match our current production standards. They are not full rewrites. Our aim isn't to reshape the cases or alter the original storytelling, but to preserve them as they were first told while giving them the level of production they didn't have back in 2016. Where appropriate, updates have been added, but the core structure remains faithful to the originals. Because of this, these episodes may sound a little different to our recent work.

• 2:30Speaker 00

  Today’s re-release is The Somerton Man, the second Casefile episode ever produced. In December 1948, the body of an unidentified man was discovered on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, South Australia. At first, it appeared he had simply passed away in his sleep. But as detectives examined his belongings and retraced his final movements, they uncovered a series of strange and unexplained clues that only deepened the mystery. Originally released in January 2016, the case has seen a significant development since then, which has been included in this re-release version.

• 3:12Speaker 00

  Thank you to everyone who has listened and supported us over the years. Now, here is the second episode from Casefile Archives: The Somerton Man.

• 3:37Speaker 00

  Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website.

• 4:02Speaker 00

  On Wednesday, December 1, 1948, the body of a man was discovered along the seawall of Somerton Park Beach in Adelaide, South Australia. At first, police thought they were dealing with a straightforward matter: the natural death of an unknown man who needed to be identified. However, it soon became apparent that the case was anything but straightforward. The further police looked into it, the deeper it went. Welcome to the mysterious case of The Somerton Man.

• 5:01Speaker 00

  The unknown individual discovered on Somerton Park Beach would come to be known as the Somerton Man. He was found with his head and shoulders leaning up against the sea wall, his legs outstretched along the sand, and his feet crossed. It looked like an uncomfortable position. When case file originally released to this episode, the man’s identity and cause of death remained a mystery. As with all unsolved cases, there were many theories and a lot of speculation. The Somerton Man had no identification on him. In fact, even the labels on the clothes he was wearing had been removed.

• 5:43Speaker 00

  He was found with a crumpled-up piece of paper featuring two words, “to maam shud”, which is Persian, meaning “it is finished” or “ended”. These words were later linked to a poetry book that contained what many believed to be a secret code, and the phone number of a woman who lived just 400 metres from where the Somerton Man was found. While she said she had no idea who the man was, many believed that she was lying. In recent years, some questions in this case have been answered, but for a long time, it seemed like an impossible mystery.

• 6:23Speaker 00

  There were only a few details known with any certainty. We know that the Somerton Man arrived at Adelaide Railway Station one day before he died, on Tuesday, November 30, 1948. Upon arriving at the station, he checked in a suitcase in the cloakroom. The suitcase was tagged, and a receipt was given to the Somerton Man. From a timestamp found on the suitcase’s tag, it was determined that he checked it in somewhere around 11am.

• 6:59Speaker 00

  Police suspected that the Somerton man had likely travelled to Adelaide from another large city, as an unidentified man walking around a small country town or regional area with a suitcase would have caught the attention of locals. The only train arriving from a big city at about that time was one from Melbourne, the capital of the neighbouring state of Victoria. After checking in his suitcase, the Somerton man bought another train ticket to travel from Adelaide Station to Henley Beach, a coastal suburb in the west of the city. It was a one-way second-class ticket, although nothing could really be surmised from that,

• 7:40Speaker 00

  as that line had no first class and all tickets were classified as second-class. There were two departures to Henley Beach around the time that the Somerton man checked in his suitcase. One was at 10:50 AM and the other left at 11:51 AM. But the Somerton man didn't catch either of these, as his purchased ticket was found unused in his pocket after his death. Instead of boarding a train, he walked across the road and bought a bus ticket to Glenelg, another seaside suburb about 8 kilometres south of Henley Beach.

• 8:21Speaker 00

  The bus departed at 11:15 AM and dropped the Somerton man off a short distance from where he was found dead. It's thought that the Somerton man probably purchased a train ticket to Henley Beach as it was the closest railway station to his intended destination. However, perhaps after talking to someone or reading a map, he realised that a bus would be a more direct and efficient route. He then changed his plan and had no further use for the train ticket. After jumping on board what would have been an old-fashioned double-decker bus, he made the journey to Glenelg, arriving at around lunchtime.

• 9:03Speaker 00

  What he did over the next few hours was anyone's guess, because there were no further sightings of the Somerton man until after 7 o'clock that evening.

• 9:17Speaker 00

  At 7:15pm, just as the sun was starting to set, a well-known local businessman by the name of John Lyons went for a walk with his wife along Somerton Park Beach. As they walked, the couple spotted the Somerton man lying on the sand, dressed in a suit with his head propped up against the sea wall. When John and his wife passed by, the Somerton man raised his right arm up, then flopped it down again. The couple put the stranger's pose and demeanor down to him having had too much to drink. Assuming he just needed to sleep it off, they continued on their way.

• 9:58Speaker 00

  Now, this was not a quiet, isolated spot. It was a popular location with plenty of people who regularly used the beach and walked along the esplanade above. The Somerton man was lying right next to a commonly-used set of stairs that led up to the esplanade. At about 8pm that night, just as the light was turning to dusk, a young couple was strolling along the esplanade. They sat down on a bench right next to the staircase by the Somerton man.

• 10:32Speaker 00

  The couple noticed another unknown man in a hat standing at the top of the stairs who was looking down at the sand below. This man was never identified, nor seen or heard from again, and it remains unknown whether he is related to the case or if he was just another passerby. The young couple followed the man's line of sight and saw the legs of Somerton man sprawled out on the sand. Their view of his head and upper body was obscured by the staircase.

• 11:05Speaker 00

  The couple didn't see the Somerton man move, but they thought he might have changed positions at one point. They later left without seeing anyone else.

• 11:19Speaker 00

  At about six o'clock the next morning, Wednesday, December 1, two jockeys were riding horses along the beach. They rode past the Somerton man, but, like John Lyons and his wife, they believed he was just drunk and sleeping off a bender. However, when they rode back up the beach, passing him again, they realised that he hadn't moved at all. The man was in the exact same spot, with his head propped up against the seawall in an unnatural-looking position.

• 11:52Speaker 00

  The two jockeys approached the Somerton man to see if he was alright. They discovered that he was dead. Now, at the same time, businessman John Lyons was actually back at the beach, enjoying a morning swim with a friend. He noticed the jockeys crowded around the Somerton man and realised it was the same person he'd seen the night before. He rushed over to help and called the police.

• 12:22Speaker 00

  Officer John Moss arrived at 6:45 AM. He examined the scene and found a half-smoked cigarette that had fallen between the Somerton man's cheek and collar. Yet, there were no burn marks on his face or clothing. The sand wasn't disturbed, his clothing wasn't dishevelled, and there was no debris or personal items scattered around the beach. Officer Moss determined there were no signs of violence at all.

• 12:53Speaker 00

  A check of the Somerton man's pockets found the unused train ticket, the bus ticket, and two combs, one aluminium and one plastic.

• 13:04Speaker 00

  The aluminium comb was thought to be of American origin, as there were none like it available in Australia at the time. The Somerton man's pockets also contained a packet of juicy fruit chewing gum, a box of Bryant and May's matches, and a pack of cigarettes.

• 13:23Speaker 00

  The cigarette pack featured Army Club branding, but the cigarettes inside were Cancer-ous Club. At the time, it was common for people to buy an expensive brand of cigarettes, then keep the box and later fill it with cheaper cigarettes. Just an image thing, trying to look more distinguished while giving yourself cancer. But the funny thing about the Somerton Man was that the Cancer-ous cigarettes were the expensive ones, more expensive than the Army Club pack they were in. This was seen as a sign of someone who might have been trying to keep a low profile.

• 14:04Speaker 00

  An ambulance arrived to take the Somerton Man's body to Royal Adelaide Hospital, where a doctor pronounced him dead. The time of death estimated by the doctor was no earlier than 2am, but that was a very rough estimate. The methods used to determine when death has occurred are far superior today.

• 14:29Speaker 00

  An autopsy was performed the next day. The coroner's report described the Somerton Man as a Caucasian male, aged about forty-five years old and weighing around eighty kilograms. He was a well-built, strong man in excellent physical condition, with the classic V-shaped body of an athlete. His hands were smooth and uncalloused, indicating he hadn't worked in manual labour, though they bore the yellow stains of a heavy smoker.

• 15:00Speaker 00

  His finger and toenails were well cared for. The Somerton Man had well-developed calf muscles with a bulge near the knee. The coroner thought this was a sign that he may have been a professional dancer, a ballet performer, or similar. He was missing about sixteen teeth, but that wasn't uncommon at the time.

• 15:24Speaker 00

  His spleen was three times the size of a normal one, which indicated pre-existing illness rather than an overnight injury sustained at the time of his death. This was evidence that the Somerton man may have already been in a weakened physical state when he died. Enlarged spleens can be a result of many illnesses, including viral and bacterial infections, inflammatory diseases, and even various cancers.

• 15:53Speaker 00

  The Somerton man's cause of death was not immediately obvious. As there were no signs of foul play, it was initially believed he'd died of natural causes.

• 16:05Speaker 00

  The police certainly weren't treating it as suspicious and were convinced that it wouldn't be long before a friend or relative came forward to identify the body. Sure enough, many people did come forward to view the Somerton man, believing that he might have been a missing loved one. But no positive ID was made.

• 16:26Speaker 00

  When he remained unidentified more than a week later, on Friday, December 10, a decision was made to embalm and preserve the body in the hopes that in the coming days or weeks, somebody would identify him.

• 16:40Speaker 00

  But no one ever did.

• 16:45Speaker 00

  By now, investigators were starting to deviate from their initial belief that the Somerton man had died of natural causes. He had a healthy heart, with no sign of disease or a cardiac arrest, yet something had caused it to stop beating. It was believed that this something was poison. The Somerton man's stomach, kidneys, and liver were congested with a large amount of congealed blood, something that typically happens after an individual is poisoned and not when they die naturally. Tissue samples were sent away for testing with the coroner almost certain they would return positive for poison. Yet, nothing was detected.

• 17:32Speaker 00

  Dr Robert Cowan, the chemist who tested for the presence of poisons, stated: "I found no common poison present, and I do not think any common poison caused the death. If he did die from poison, I think it would be a very rare poison. I mean, something rarely used for suicidal or homicidal purposes."

• 17:57Speaker 00

  There are poisons that excrete from the body quickly, leaving no trace. And although there was no sign that the Somerton man had vomited, something that usually occurs in poisoning deaths, it was possible that he had vomited elsewhere before making his way to the beach.

• 18:15Speaker 00

  To this day, it hasn't been definitively proven that poison caused his death, but it hasn't been disproven either. Regardless, the coroner, medical examiners and police were now certain he hadn't died of natural causes. They just had to work out if his death was suicide or murder.

• 18:44Speaker 00

  Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. The holidays are always such a busy time of year, and between work, socialising and everything else going on, the last thing I want to be thinking about is what I'm going to make for dinner every night. With fresh ingredients delivered straight to your door and easy recipes to follow, Home Chef takes the stress out of dinner. There are more than thirty meals to choose from each week, with options for different tastes and dietary needs, including calorie-conscious and GLP-1-friendly meals. And there's something for every schedule, whether you want a thirty-minute meal, an oven-ready tray, or a quick microwave lunch,

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• 20:57Speaker 00

  Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Case File to continue to deliver quality content.

• 21:14Speaker 00

  Detectives were assigned to the case. While there were no signs of foul play when the Somerton man was found, something unusual was discovered after his body was examined. All of the identifying tags on his clothing had been deliberately removed, so it was impossible to see where the clothes had been made. Detectives had no idea whether the tags had been removed by the Somerton man himself or somebody else.

• 21:45Speaker 00

  They checked the Adelaide train station to see if there was any unclaimed luggage, even though he had no luggage receipt on him amidst the public transport tickets and other items on his person. They found a suitcase that had been checked in on November 30, at around the same time the Somerton man arrived in Adelaide, and had been left abandoned.

• 22:08Speaker 00

  Despite the missing receipt, detectives were certain that the suitcase belonged to the Somerton man. A piece of thread inside it matched the suit he was wearing, and the clothing sizes were a match. Inside the suitcase was a dressing gown, a laundry bag, a few singlets, some underpants, two ties, a pair of slippers, a pair of trousers, a sports coat, a scarf, and a shirt. There were also some coat hangers, handkerchiefs, envelopes, a cigarette lighter, a toothbrush, a razor, a shaving brush, pencils, a towel, a stencil brush, and a screwdriver, a pair of scissors, and a knife.

• 22:51Speaker 00

  Detectives found nothing significant or unusual.

• 22:57Speaker 00

  But there was one strange detail: The suitcases identifying labels, along with the labels from the clothing inside it, had been removed. Just a few tags remained. The laundry bag had the name Keane printed on the label. This name was also found on one of the singlets, while one of the ties featured the name T. Keane.

• 23:25Speaker 00

  This was their sole lead so far in identifying the Somerton man. It was a matter of some concern that they still had no idea who he was, despite sending his photo and fingerprints to agencies across Australia and overseas. Extensive checks into individuals with the surname Keane were conducted, but the name couldn't be matched to the Somerton man. There were no known missing persons or other unaccounted-for people with that name.

• 23:57Speaker 00

  At the time, it was very common for people to buy second-hand garments as clothing had been rationed during World War II. This meant it was very possible that the name belonged to the clothing's previous owner and not the Somerton Man at all. This seemed even more likely when taking into consideration the fact that all of the other tags had been removed from his clothing and from the suitcase, just leaving three items labelled with Keane. If the Somerton Man or somebody else was trying to conceal his identity, the obvious thing to do would be to leave tags behind that bore a false name.

• 24:38Speaker 00

  Another key detail was the Somerton Man's missing luggage receipt. As the suitcase was found unlocked, it was possible that somebody had taken the receipt, accessed the suitcase and tampered with its contents. Maybe even removed a few labels. Detectives made inquiries into the Somerton Man's clothing and found that the jacket he was wearing when he died had been made in the United States of America. His tie featured a certain print that pointed to it also being made in the United States. This didn't mean that the Somerton Man was American, but it was clear that some of his clothing was.

• 25:21Speaker 00

  Unfortunately, the Somerton Man's suitcase and its contents no longer exist, as they were destroyed long ago in a police clean-out. Detectives didn't know who this man was, where he came from, how he died, or if it was suicide or murder. And their job was made even harder because the investigation had started on the back foot. With the Somerton Man's death initially treated as natural, crucial evidence might have been lost. In addition to all of this, crime investigation techniques in 1948 were nowhere near the level of what we have today, with DNA evidence unheard of for another forty years or so.

• 26:05Speaker 00

  The detectives were essentially chasing their tails from the very start.

• 26:14Speaker 00

  As the investigation continued into the early months of 1949, the Somerton man’s body was starting to deteriorate. Police decided to make a plaster cast of his head and up a body to use in their investigation. The cast still exists today. After it was made, the Somerton man was buried at West Terrace Cemetery on Tuesday, June 14, 1949. A headstone was placed at his gravesite, which reads: “Here lies the unknown man who was found at Somerton Beach, 1st December, 1948.”

• 26:54Speaker 00

  At around the same time as the Somerton man’s burial, a piece of evidence was found that investigators originally missed: A crumpled-up piece of paper in the Somerton man’s trousers, printed with the words “To Mom Should.” This Persian phrase means “It is finished,” or “Ended.”

• 27:16Speaker 00

  The piece of paper had been torn from a book. Investigators got to work trying to find where these words could have been taken from. They found that they were printed on the last page of a poetry book titled Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Omar Khayyam was a Persian poet, astronomer, philosopher, and mathematician, who lived from 1048 to 1131. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is an English translation of a selection of his poems, completed by Edward Fitzgerald in the 1850s. The translations are pretty subjective, and others have different interpretations of the poems, but Fitzgerald’s are the most well-known.

• 28:03Speaker 00

  The general theme throughout the book is one of seizing the day, living life to the fullest, and dying without regret.

• 28:12Speaker 00

  Death is a common focus throughout.

• 28:16Speaker 00

  Investigators would eventually track down the actual book the Somerton man tore the words from, but unfortunately, not until a month after the inquest.

• 28:29Speaker 00

  A coronial inquest into the Somerton man’s death was held over two days on Friday, June 17, and then again on Tuesday, June 21. The coroner concluded: “The identity of the deceased was quite unknown, his death was not natural, and that it was almost certainly not accidental.”

• 28:53Speaker 00

  It was noted at the inquest how remarkably clean the Somerton man’s shoes were, looking as though they had been recently polished. That, along with his well-kept nails and general clean and tidy appearance, led the coroner to believe he wasn’t a vagrant or drifter. The inquest was adjourned to no fixed date, meaning the case would remain open and continue to be investigated. If further information turned up, the inquest could sit again.

• 29:26Speaker 00

  Poison was still thought to be the cause of death, and two poisons in particular were named as possible culprits, due to being untraceable. The names of these poisons weren’t released, as they were easy to obtain at the time. The last thing police wanted was to publicise an easy, undetectable way to kill someone.

• 29:52Speaker 00

  By now, the media had well and truly started to focus on the case, following their initial disinterest. A man dying of seemingly natural causes on the beach hadn’t exactly been headline-grabbing. But as time went on, the mystery surrounding the Somerton man’s identity and the exact circumstances of his death captured the interest of the media and the public alike. I mean, who doesn’t like a good mystery?

• 30:22Speaker 00

  After detectives tied the words “Tumam should” to rubeart of Umar Kayam, they made a public appeal asking if anyone had a copy of the book with a page or a piece of a page missing. Incredibly, on Friday, July 22, 1949, a man came forward with a copy that had a piece missing from the exact page where those words would have been printed. It was a very rare edition of the book that was published in New Zealand in 1941. The man said he’d found the book on the backseat of his open-roofed car and had no idea how it had gotten there. It wasn’t his, and he’d never seen it before.

• 31:05Speaker 00

  His car had been parked at Somerton Park Beach at around the time of the Somerton man’s death. This suggested the Somerton man had thrown the book into a random car. But why discard it this way instead of in a bin if he wanted to dispose of it? Did he want someone to find it? Was he being followed, and did that lead to him needing to get rid of the book quickly? An expert in paper was consulted, and tests revealed that the crumpled-up piece of paper in the Somerton man’s possession was definitely from the same book that had been handed in. The identity of the man who came forward with the book is unknown.

• 31:50Speaker 00

  He requested to remain anonymous, and police respected those wishes. As if there weren’t already enough mysteries in this case.

• 32:20Speaker 00

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• 34:15Speaker 00

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• 34:30Speaker 00

  At the back of this particular copy of the Rubaiyat were five rows of handwritten capital letters that appeared to be some sort of code. The first line featured the letter W, followed by a space, and then the letters RGO, ABA, BD, all written together. The second row had the letters M, space, LIA, OI. This row had been crossed out.

• 34:58Speaker 00

  The third line read WTB, IMP, ANETP. Beneath it was a cross that had a long line through it.

• 35:09Speaker 00

  The fourth row was quite similar to the second crossed-out row, with the letters MLI, ABO, space, AIA, QC. The fifth and final row read ITT, MTS, AMS, TG, AB.

• 35:28Speaker 00

  A notable detail about the code was that the second line had been crossed out before the writer then penned another line that was very similar to it. This suggested that whatever they were writing was very deliberate, and that a mistake had been made in one line.

• 35:46Speaker 00

  The code was published in the news, and amateur codebreakers from all over the country got to work on the mystery. Many thought it may have been referencing something in the same book. Top military codebreakers were consulted, but no one has been able to crack it to this day.

• 36:05Speaker 00

  Some have posited that these lines may not be a code at all, but instead a mnemonic device to remind the writer of a certain poem or poems in the book. Or maybe they referenced something else altogether. Perhaps whoever wrote it was just using each letter to represent a word, a sort of shorthand, if you will.

• 36:28Speaker 00

  Whatever it was, it added even more mystery and confusion to the case. The supposed code led many people to believe the Somerton Man was a spy or some sort of secret agent involved in espionage: Jason Bourne, James Bond-type stuff.

• 36:46Speaker 00

  But we will get into that in a bit. First, we need to talk about two phone numbers that were also written down at the back of the book.

• 36:57Speaker 00

  The first number was for a local bank, while the second was found to belong to a local woman named Jessica Thompson. Not only was Jessica Thompson local, she lived just four hundred metres from where the Somerton Man was found. It was starting to look as though the Somerton Man hadn't chosen to visit Somerton Park Beach randomly. He was there with a purpose. On Tuesday, July twenty-six, nineteen forty-nine, more than seven months after the Somerton Man was found, police knocked on Jessica's door. When they asked her about the Somerton Man, she denied all knowledge of him.

• 37:40Speaker 00

  But when they went on to ask about the Rubaiyat poetry book, Jessica surprised them by replying: "Yes, that's my favourite book of poetry."

• 37:52Speaker 00

  The police asked if Jessica owned a copy. She said she used to, but not anymore. She'd given her copy away four years earlier in nineteen forty-five to a military serviceman she'd met in Sydney. His name was Alf Boxall.

• 38:10Speaker 00

  At this point, the police thought they were a mere formality away from identifying the Somerton Man as Alf Boxall. They took Jessica Thompson to see the plaster cast of the Somerton Man and found her behaviour to be odd. After first glancing at the plaster cast, she couldn't look at it again, instead staring at the floor. She gave only brief, simple answers to police questions, replying with "yes", "no" or "I don't know". At times, she looked like she was about to faint. All of her body language seemed to point to her knowing who the Somerton Man was.

• 38:52Speaker 00

  Jessica was married and had two children, a son called Robin and a daughter named Kate. Robin was the oldest, and it was unclear who his father was. Jessica requested that her name not be released, as she didn't want any embarrassment to come to her family due to speculation that she might be linked to the Somerton Man. The police agreed, so for many years, she was only known in the public eye as "The Mystery Woman", or by her nickname "Jestin".

• 39:28Speaker 00

  Detectives went to work on the Alf Boxall theory, and were surprised to find him alive and well in Sydney. Moreover, he still had the copy of the Rubaiyat that Jessica had given him. She had inscribed a short message in the book when she gave it to Alf, and signed it "Jestin".

• 39:49Speaker 00

  This development put a puncture in the police's theory that Alf Boxall and the Somerton Man were one and the same. And because he still had Jessica's old copy of Rubaiyat, this meant that the Somerton Man had owned a different copy that had Jessica's phone number in it.

• 40:08Speaker 00

  So, how did Jessica and Alf Boxall meet? In 1945, Jessica was living in Sydney and training to be a nurse at the Royal North Shore Hospital. She spent a few evenings at the Clifton Gardens Hotel in Sydney, which was then frequented by military servicemen. Jessica was introduced to Alf by the girlfriend of one of Alf's friends. They spent a few nights together, talking and sharing drinks, before Alf was put back on active duty for the war.

• 40:41Speaker 00

  As a parting gift, Jessica gave him a copy of her favourite book of poetry, Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Jessica left Sydney soon after that without completing her nursing exams. She moved to Melbourne for a brief period, before settling in Adelaide. Jessica would have become pregnant with Robin at around this time. Not long after this, she met her husband, they had a daughter named Kate, and all four remained together as a family.

• 41:13Speaker 00

  Remember when the Somerton Man arrived in Adelaide, how the only train arrival from a major city was from Melbourne? What if the Somerton Man met Jessica in Melbourne, where she gave him a copy of Rubaiyat as well? Perhaps he then tried to track her down, only to find out she'd moved to Adelaide, prompting him to travel there in search of a former love.

• 41:39Speaker 00

  Whatever the case, it seemed possible that Jessica was lying to police and knew who the Somerton Man was. Her daughter Kate has described Jessica as a woman with a very strong dark side. Kate even believed her mother could have been a Russian spy after discovering that Jessica spoke Russian but wouldn't say where or why she learnt it.

• 42:04Speaker 00

  This has led many followers of the Somerton Man case to believe in the spy angle. A possible code, missing labels, a mystery identity, an unexplained death, and Jessica's behaviour seemed like compelling details pointing in this direction. To top it all off, Jessica once remarked to her daughter that the Somerton Man was known to people at a much higher level than state police. All of this is detailed in a 2013 60 Minutes story, which we've linked in the episode notes.

• 42:42Speaker 00

  There is another significant piece of information that adds further weight to the spy angle. In 1946, a few hundred kilometres away from Adelaide, Britain and Australia entered into a joint project of missile and nuclear rocket testing. This was known as the Wimmera Testing Facility. Such a top-secret project would provide a reason for a Russian spy to be in Adelaide. Remember, this took place at the start of the Cold War, and it's accepted that there were Soviet spies operating in Australia at around this time.

• 43:18Speaker 00

  One person that might have been able to answer some of these questions was Jessica Thompson, but she kept her cards very close to her chest. She seemed to know more about the case than she let on.

• 43:31Speaker 00

  Jessica was interviewed by former South Australian detective Gerry Feltes, who took on the case and continued to investigate it in his retirement. Detective Feltes described her as being evasive with her answers. It also seemed as though every time the case received media attention and was back in the spotlight, Jessica would go away on holiday or leave town.

• 43:55Speaker 00

  In addition to the world of spies and a theory about the Somerton Man trying to track down a former flame, there was another theory. At the time of the Somerton Man's death, World War II had just finished, but Europe remained in chaos. Millions had been displaced and the Soviet Union was invading more of Eastern Europe, leading to a mass exodus of people looking to find a better life elsewhere. Australia was a popular destination. Isolated from many other parts of the world, it was considered a safe place to live, especially if nuclear war broke out. Millions had been relocating to Australia,

• 44:38Speaker 00

  and 1948 was the peak period for the Australian Government's displaced persons immigration programme. It certainly wasn't uncommon for migrants to create new identities as part of a fresh start in a new homeland. Some believed that the Somerton Man might have been one of many immigrants flocking to Australia at this time, which could explain why no one was ever able to identify him.

• 45:05Speaker 00

  Another possibility was that the Somerton Man was a returning soldier suffering from PTSD who had subsequently become estranged from his family. But of course, with so many questions and so few answers, each theory has its own pros and cons. The big glaring con for every theory is the unexplained cause of death. If the Somerton Man was a displaced immigrant or returned soldier, why did he just die with no sign of health issues? The same goes for the Love Angle. If Jessica was the Somerton Man’s former lover, that would explain why he was in Adelaide, but not his death.

• 45:50Speaker 00

  Suicide is one possibility, but many people have found themselves more drawn to the Jason Bourne-James Bond path. It’s easy to explain the Somerton Man’s death if he was a Russian spy in Adelaide as part of a secret mission. If that was the case, another spy could have killed him with an undetectable poison. But if the Somerton Man was a spy, where does that leave Jessica Thompson? Why was her phone number in his copy of The Rubaiyat? By the way, the copy of that book involved in this case was destroyed along with the Somerton Man suitcase, and an identical copy has never been located.

• 46:33Speaker 00

  Another interesting detail some have noted is that Jessica Thompson’s favourite book was Howard’s End by E.M. Forster. This novel is the story of a girl who has a son out of wedlock. Her family tried to scare her lover off, and in doing so, accidentally killed him in an altercation that proved fatal due to his pre-existing heart condition. Could that have been Jessica’s way of telling us what happened to the Somerton Man without telling us what happened?

• 47:08Speaker 00

  Because there isn’t enough mystery surrounding this case, what about this? Three years before the Somerton Man case, a man named Joseph Saulheim Marshall was found dead in Sydney’s Ashton Park. His death was ruled to be a suicide by poison. When his body was found, a copy of Rubaiyat of Omar Qayyam was lying on his chest.

• 47:35Speaker 00

  As previously mentioned, Rubaiyat is a popular book, but the copy found on Mr. Marshall was an extremely rare edition, just like in the Somerton Man case.

• 47:47Speaker 00

  There are two people thought to be experts on the Somerton Man case, and links to their work are provided in the episode's show notes. First is Gerry Feltes, a retired decorated detective who has investigated the case for many years. He has cracked some tough ones, but even he wasn't able to solve the Somerton Man. He has written a book on the case titled "The Unknown Man".

• 48:14Speaker 00

  The second expert is Professor Derek Abbott from Adelaide University. He stumbled across the case in 2009 and became fascinated, perhaps even obsessed, by the case. Fun fact: the two experts in the case don't get on. Gerry Feltes basically viewed Professor Abbott as an amateur, a pest who should stick to teaching at universities and leave crime-solving to law enforcement professionals. But it can't be denied that both have done excellent work. Professor Abbott has appeared on a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" forum and has lectures on YouTube about the case. Another fun fact: While researching the case,

• 48:58Speaker 00

  Professor Abbott met Rachel Thompson, the daughter of Robin Thompson and granddaughter of Jessica Thompson. He married her, and they now have three children together.

• 49:10Speaker 00

  Professor Abbott was convinced that the Somerton Man was Robin Thompson's father and Jessica Thompson's former, possibly jilted lover, who was tracking her down at the time of his death. Professor Abbott reached this conclusion after observing a feature on the ear of the Somerton Man, which only appears in 1% to 2% of the population. Robin Thompson, who died in 2009, also shared this feature.

• 49:38Speaker 00

  In the hopes of confirming his theory, Professor Abbott submitted two requests to have the Somerton Man's remains exhumed for DNA testing. His idea was to compare his wife Rachel's DNA to that of the Somerton Man to see if there was a familial link. Both of these requests were rejected. However, in 2022, more than six years after the original release of this episode, there was a stunning breakthrough in the case.

• 50:13Speaker 00

  After Professor Rabbit had been investigating the case for more than a decade, South Australia’s then Attorney General, Vicky Chapman, agreed to have the Somerton Man’s remains exhumed for DNA testing. This occurred in May 2021. Meanwhile, Professor Rabbit had also recovered some hairs from the plaster case police had made of the Somerton Man’s head and torso.

• 50:39Speaker 00

  These were sent away for DNA analysis as well. Just over a year later, Professor Rabbit announced that the Somerton Man had finally been identified.

• 50:52Speaker 00

  Using investigative genetic genealogy, Professor Rabbit and American genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick were able to trace two of the Somerton Man’s cousins. This ultimately led them to identify the Somerton Man as a missing man named Carl Charles Webb.

• 51:11Speaker 00

  Born in 1905 in Footscray, and in a city suburb of Melbourne, Carl Webb was the youngest son of German immigrants. He grew up to become an electrical engineer and instrument maker. He took pleasure in poetry and even wrote a few poems himself. They seemed to focus mostly on death, a similar theme to the poems in Rubaiyat of Umar Khyan. Carl Webb also enjoyed betting on horse races.

• 51:42Speaker 00

  Professor Rabbit has speculated that the code in the book linked to the Somerton Man case could actually be referencing racehorses.

• 51:52Speaker 00

  In 1941, he married a pharmacist and coropdist named Dorothy Robertson. According to Dorothy, their marriage was not an easy one, due in large part to Carl. He was a quiet and somewhat isolated man who didn’t have many friends and preferred a quiet life spent mostly at home.

• 52:14Speaker 00

  Sometimes he could be moody, even threatening and violent. Dorothy said that in March 1946, Carl attempted suicide by overdosing on ether, a flammable liquid that used to be used as a recreational drug due to its euphoric effects. Dorothy intervened and nursed Carl back to health, which angered him. Carl became more violent following his suicide attempt, and in September 1946, Dorothy left him out of fear for her own life. She said he'd been physically and verbally abusive for years, and would later obtain a divorce in 1951 citing desertion.

• 52:59Speaker 00

  Carl initially stayed in the couple's South Yarra home before leaving for whereabouts unknown in 1947.

• 53:08Speaker 00

  Members of his family said he relocated to Perth on the other side of the country, but they soon lost touch with him. There was no trace of Carl after 1947, with no recorded documentation about his movements or location.

• 53:25Speaker 00

  With most of Carl's family members who knew him having passed away by the time he was finally identified, there was no one to ask about what had happened to him or how they drifted apart.

• 53:37Speaker 00

  Professor Rabbit has speculated that if Carl Webb was The Somerton Man, he may have travelled to Adelaide in November 1948 in search of his wife Dorothy, who wound up living in South Australia a few years later.

• 53:52Speaker 00

  Another interesting clue was the fact that Carl Webb's eldest sister married a man with the surname Keane, the same name found on some of The Somerton Man's clothing.

• 54:04Speaker 00

  Her adult son, John Keane, had lived just 20 minutes from Carl before being killed in 1943 at age 26 while serving with the Royal Australian Air Force in World War II.

• 54:17Speaker 00

  Some items found in his possession indicated he'd spent time in the United States, possibly during his aircrew training. These included American coins and a map of Chicago. If Carl Webb took ownership of some of John's belongings, this would explain why his garments bore the name Keane and appeared to have been manufactured in the USA.

• 54:43Speaker 00

  Professor Abbott was confident he'd finally, at least partially, solved one of Australia's most enduring mysteries. While South Australia Police did not officially confirm the Somerton man's identity through their own forensic team, they released a comment stating: “We are heartened by the recent development in that case, and are cautiously optimistic that this may provide a breakthrough. We look forward to the outcome of further DNA work to confirm the identification, which will ultimately be determined by the coroner.” Despite Professor Abbott's long-held suspicion that the Somerton man had fathered Jessica Thompson's son, Robin, DNA testing ruled out any genetic link between them.

• 55:28Speaker 00

  Carl Webb was not the grandfather of Professor Abbott's wife, Rachel, and any connection he may have had to Jessica Thompson is unknown. Some of the more thrilling theories about the case were ultimately ruled out, like the notion that the Somerton man was a Russian spy killed while undertaking espionage. But questions still remain, such as: Why was Carl Webb so determined to obscure his identity? Why did he travel to Adelaide? Did he intend to leave hidden messages behind via a crumpled note and an abandoned copy of a poetry book? And how exactly did he die?

• 56:12Speaker 00

  While we may never know these answers for sure, we're now closer to guessing at the truth, whereas before, there was only mystery.

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