One of Australia’s most baffling cold cases is a step closer to being solved after more than seven decades of mystery.
It’s been almost 71 years since two trainee jockeys came across the body of a fully-clothed man lying near the shore of Somerton Park Beach, south of Adelaide, on December 1, 1948.
The nationality of the victim, known only as the Somerton Man – as well as his purpose for being in the area – remains a mystery.
A post-mortem determined he died of poisoning but police and coronial investigations were unable to identify the body.
South Australian Attorney-General Vickie Chapman has granted approval for his body to be exhumed in the hope new technology will finally provide the answers need to crack the case.
One of Australia’s most enduring and mysterious unsolved murders is one step closer to being solved 70 years later with the body of the ‘Somerton Man’ (pictured) to be exhumed
The victim, known as the ‘Somerton Man’, was found on Somerton Park Beach in South Australia on December 1948 with a coded message in his jacket (pictured)
The news was welcomed by University of Adelaide Professor Derek Abbott, who has been trying to solve the mystery for more than a decade.
His research led him to his now wife Rachel Egan, who he firmly believes is the Somerton Man’s granddaughter.
‘He wanted to look at my ears and my teeth. He was also after my DNA. It’s probably the first request I’ve had from a man to do that,’ Ms Egan told ABC’s Australian Story.
‘People have said that possibly Derek married me for my DNA. And I think there is some truth to that.’
Her husband believes the Somerton Man may be an American and the father of an Australian ballet dancer who may have fathered a son with an Adelaide nurse Jo Thomson, otherwise known as Jestyn.
The Somerton Man was found about five minutes from Ms Thomson’s home. Her son Robin was 16-months-old at the time.
Professor Abbott believes the Somerton Man and Ms Thomson had a secret relationship, due to the location of where the dead man’s body was found and the fact her phone number was scribbled on a piece of paper found in his pocket.
Ms Thomson denied ever knowing the Somerton Man.
Her son Robin went on to perform with the Australian Ballet and Royal New Zealand Ballet before he died in 2009.
Professor Abbott believed Robin shared remarkable similarities with the Somerton Man, including a rare genetic disorder present in only two per cent of the population.
Rachel Egan (pictured) is believed to be the Somerton Man’s granddaughter
‘I’m not alone in believing she knew who the Somerton Man was – I think just about every policeman involved in this case has the same opinion,’ Professor Abbott told Daily Mail Australia in 2015.
‘Moreover, I believe it likely that she had his child.’
Professor Abbott married and has young three children with Ms Egan, who is Robin Thomson’s daughter.
She’s just as desperate for the Somerton Man mystery to be resolved.
‘I essentially think about him every day and I wonder every day, literally, about the truth and where I fit into all this and where he fits into all of this and how we fit into all of this as a family,’ she told Four Corners.
‘Our children have a lot of unanswered questions with regards to their family history and origins. And to date, we don’t know how to answer those questions. I think it’s important for them. It’s part of their story too.
‘By exhuming the body and giving Mr Somerton an identity, it will finally bring closure to this case and to the lives of a lot of people. There’s a family out there somewhere who have lost somebody.’
The Somerton Man is believed to have fathered a child with nurse Jo Thomson (pictured)
Neil Day recalled the morning of December 1, 1948 when he and a fellow trainee jockey found the body of the ‘Somerton Man’ on the beach.
‘We went over to see if he was alright and we got fairly close to him and couldn’t see him breathing and he never took any notice of us so,’ he told the program.
His friend took hold of the man’s leg to see if they could wake the man.
‘And he was dead,’ Mr Day said.
He was hunched against the sea wall at the top of the beach wearing a suit and shoes and an unlit cigarette resting on his chest.
The suit he was wearing, which included a double breasted jacket, was perfectly pressed.
All the tags on every piece of clothing had also been removed and his shoes perfectly polished.
Australian Attorney-General Vickie Chapman has given conditional approval to exhume the Somerton Man (pictured) for further study and testing
Professor Derek Abbott has been trying to crack the cold case for more than a decade which led to meeting his wife Rachel Egan, who’s believed to be the Somerton’s Man granddaughter
The incident has also come to be known as the ‘Tamam Shud case’ because of a phrase scribbled on a piece of paper hidden in the man’s jacket, which wasn’t found until months later.
‘Tamam Shud’ is a Persian phrase which roughly translates to ‘finished’ or ‘ended’.
Other items found on the man included Juicy Fruit chewing gum, an American metal comb, a bus ticket to North Glenelg and Army Club cigarettes and matches.
A month later, on January 14, a suitcase was found by staff at the Adelaide train station believed to belong to the ‘Somerton Man’.
Inside they found scissors, shoe polish, a tie, ash tray, spoon and toothbrush, among other things.
Theories about the man’s identity are various concluding accusations he could have been a post-war era spy.
The discovery of another ‘coded message’ on the man’s body reaffirmed the spy theory to many people.
It was written on the last page of the The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam and torn out.
The Somerton Man’s son is believed to be Robin Thomson (pictured) who went on to perform with the Australian Ballet and Royal New Zealand Ballet before he died in 2009.
The Somerton Man was buried five months later at West Terrace Cemetery.
South Australian Attorney-General Vickie Chapman, who signed off for his body to be exhumed has had an interest in the case since studying it law school.
‘It’s a case of intrigue and mystery and so it’s been on my agenda for over 40 years now,’ she said.
‘To exhume a body in South Australia, it needs the Attorney-General’s approval for obvious reasons. And I’m quite happy to give my approval, provided the costs are met by those who apply.’
‘I would expect it would be in the order of tens of thousands.’
Portraits of Jo Thomson and ‘Mr Somerton’ hang next to each other in the home of Professor Derek Abbott and his wife Rachel
Professor Abbott isn’t bothered about the cost.
‘This is a breakthrough as the previous attorney-general knocked back the idea,’ he said.
‘I don’t think we really need to talk about the money part, that’s boring, it’s a detail. The money will come,’ he laughed.