19.05.2021
2 min read

Mystery Somerton man to be exhumed in SA in bid to determine his identity

The so-called Somerton Man was found dead on a beach more than 70 years ago. His identity has never been determined.
Tim DorninBy Tim Dornin

Mystery Somerton man to be exhumed in bid to determine his identity

The remains of the so-called Somerton man will be exhumed at an Adelaide cemetery in a bid to solve the more than 70-year mystery over his death and his identity.

On December 1, 1948, the man’s body was found on Somerton Beach with the circumstances of his death remaining an open police investigation.

The case is in the hands of the Major Crime Investigation Branch, with detectives to be on hand when his body is exhumed at the West Terrace Cemetery on Wednesday morning.

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“Following recovery of the remains, Forensic Science SA will attempt to recover a DNA profile from the man,” Detective Superintendent Des Bray said.

Forensic Science SA’s assistant direction Anne Coxon said the technology available today was clearly light years ahead of the techniques available when the body was discovered in the late 1940s.

The Somerton Man has never been positively identified. Credit: South Australian Police
The so-called encrypted code, found in the inside cover of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Credit: South Australian Police

“Tests of this nature are often highly complex and will take time,” she said.

“However we will be using every method at our disposal to try and bring closure to this enduring mystery.”

Attorney-General Vickie Chapman, who gave permission for the exhumation, said she believed the Forensic Science SA team was well equipped to handle the challenging task.

“For more than 70 years people have speculated who this man was and how he died,” Chapman said.

A photographic reconstruction of the body found on Somerton Beach, released by police in 1948. Credit: South Australian Police

“It’s an enduring mystery but I believe that, finally, we may uncover some answers.”

The case is part of Operation Persevere which seeks to put a name to all unidentified human remains in South Australia.

It runs in tandem with Operation Persist, under which cold case homicides are actively investigated.

The Somerton man’s body was first found by passers-by who noticed him slumped against a seawall.

The body of the Somerton Man was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery in 1949. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

His cause of death remains unknown and many theories have been advanced over his identity, ranging from a jilted lover to a Cold War spy.

An initial police investigation and coronial inquest left the matter unresolved with the case particularly mystifying because of a number of items found with the body.

They included a suitcase, items of clothing with the tags removed, incoherent writing believed to be a code, the poetry book The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and a torn scrap of paper with the Persian words “Tamam Shud”, meaning it is finished.