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- Somerton Man
- Episode 7
Somerton Man: One Body. One Code. No Name.Episode 71:52
The Man Carried Along Somerton Beach
A late witness account darkens the case, but the official investigation closes without identifying either the killer or the dead.
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Transcript
A witness later reported a well-dressed man carrying another man along Somerton Park beach.
The body was found December 1st, 1948, at Somerton Park beach near Adelaide.
His head rested against the seawall, legs extended, with his feet crossed.
The previous evening, couples saw someone resembling him lying in the same place.
Another couple watched from 7:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. without seeing him move. He looks drunk or asleep.
One couple saw the man extend his right arm fully, then drop it limply.
The pathologist estimated death around 2 a.m. on December 1st, 1948.
The estimate placed death about six hours after the witnesses' last sighting.
Clothing labels were removed, and he carried no hat, wallet, or identification.
Even dental records could not match him to anyone.
Police embalmed the body on December 10th, 1948, unable to identify him.
The body was secretly buried three days before the inquest opened.
That inquest was later adjourned indefinitely, with the central questions still open.
The pathologists suspected a glucoside poison had probably killed him. Nobody would say whether he had taken it himself.
Tests failed to find any foreign substance in his body. The coroner could not determine his identity or cause of death.
A label-less brown suitcase appeared at Adelaide railway station weeks later. A thread inside matched thread used to repair the dead man's trousers.
For decades, the case held a body, suitcase, and no confirmed explanation.
Earlier, police made a plaster cast expecting the body to deteriorate.
Where it leaves off
Caught inside the Somerton Man's plaster death mask were strands of hair that might still contain his DNA.
Sources
- Somerton Man - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.orgsecondary
- Microhistory Interrogates a Mystery: On Some Possible New Relations in theglobalhistories.comsecondary
- Transcript of ABC Australian Story on Somerton Man... - Cipher Mysteriesciphermysteries.comsecondary
- Australia’s Somerton man mystery ‘solved’ as DNA points to man’s identity, professor claims | CNNcnn.comsecondary
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