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The Somerton Man Mystery

I was going to post about this!
The 'Taman Shud' mystery is a favourite of mine, part of Australia's wonderful collection of weirdness.

The Missing Prime Minister, Parkes Observatory, The Birdman of the Coorong, Guillaume Le Testu, the disappearance of Lamont Young, those strange falls of hail in Alice Springs and what really happened to Lasseter's Reef?
 
catsmate said:
I was going to post about this!
The 'Taman Shud' mystery is a favourite of mine, part of Australia's wonderful collection of weirdness.

The Missing Prime Minister, Parkes Observatory, The Birdman of the Coorong, Guillaume Le Testu, the disappearance of Lamont Young, those strange falls of hail in Alice Springs and what really happened to Lasseter's Reef?
Click to expand...

....That under arm bowl.

;)
 
TBH had never heard of it but the article sounds quite interesting and worth further read.
 
This news has caused quite a stir in a facebook group I joined to discuss a podcast about the 1970 Isdal Woman case in Bergen, Norway (which has several curious similarities). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isdal_Woman

I'm curious to know what exactly the authorities intend to do with the Somerton Man's DNA. Compare it to someone who claims they may be a relative, I read somewhere.

The Isdal Woman is unlikely ever to be identified unless her DNA is released to one of the large public DNA databases and relatives can be traced. But the Norwegian authorities so far will not do this, seemingly as it would contravene privacy law. I gather that there is some other test case pending which might result in that policy changing but that's been talked about for a couple of years and nothing has come of it. The police have shared the profile with other police forces through Interpol but unsurprisingly none of them had on file a DNA match for this woman who died in 1970.
 
Jack by the hedge said:
This news has caused quite a stir in a facebook group I joined to discuss a podcast about the 1970 Isdal Woman case in Bergen, Norway (which has several curious similarities). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isdal_Woman

I'm curious to know what exactly the authorities intend to do with the Somerton Man's DNA. Compare it to someone who claims they may be a relative, I read somewhere. The Isdal Woman is unlikely ever to be identified unless her DNA is released to one of the large public DNA databases and relatives can be traced. But the Norwegian authorities so far will not do this, seemingly as it would contravene privacy law. I gather that there is some other test case pending which might result in that policy changing but that's been talked about for a couple of years and nothing has come of it. The police have shared the profile with other police forces through Interpol but unsurprisingly none of them had on file a DNA match for this woman who died in 1970.
Click to expand...

Compare it to existing DNA databases to try to nail down his identity, see if he has living relatives today. Perhaps also determine if he fathered Jessica Thomson's son Robin, which would prove that his relationship with her was much closer than she claimed.

Personally, I think both he and Jessica Thomson were spying for the Soviet Union. Maybe the Soviets thought he was a double agent or about to defect, and killed him.
 
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shemp said:
Government resistance, claiming it wasn't in the public interest. They finally agreed to in October 2019.
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Ah. Yes, looking into it, it seems the man's body is having to be exhumed for this. I had assumed they would've preserved some material that was now being tested. I can sympathize to a degree with the government's reluctance to exhume a dead body to satisfy the curiosity of some people on the internet.
 
Checkmite said:
Ah. Yes, looking into it, it seems the man's body is having to be exhumed for this. I had assumed they would've preserved some material that was now being tested. I can sympathize to a degree with the government's reluctance to exhume a dead body to satisfy the curiosity of some people on the internet.
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Free entertainment. That's what I pay my taxes for.
 
I have a theory. 1948ish?

Call me crazy, but could this be the last surviving Kiwi who owned the thing brought over to show the Aussies the original recipe inventing the Pavlova from the 20's.

Age seems right.

Nasty Aussies kidnap him. Kill him.Take away his identity. Burn the recipe evidence and still try to claim they invented it?

In fact, it may go deeper. If they got the age wrong he may have also brought the original ANZAC biscuit recipe.
 
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Jack by the hedge said:
This news has caused quite a stir in a facebook group I joined to discuss a podcast about the 1970 Isdal Woman case in Bergen, Norway (which has several curious similarities). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isdal_Woman
Click to expand...
Interesting. There are quite a few unidentified bodies in similar cases.
In Ireland we have the case of 'Peter Bergmann', a mysterious 'Germanic' man who (apparently) committed suicide on a beach near the town of Sligo on 16JUN2009, after methodically disposing of his personal possessions without being seen on CCTV.
Another such case is that of 'Lyle Stevik', the twenty-something man who hanged himself (it's believed anyway) in a cheap motel in Amanda Park, Washington in 2001, a few days after the 11 September terrorist attacks.

Jack by the hedge said:
I'm curious to know what exactly the authorities intend to do with the Somerton Man's DNA. Compare it to someone who claims they may be a relative, I read somewhere.
Click to expand...
Pass it around everyone who's got a database and hope for a familial match.

Jack by the hedge said:
The Isdal Woman is unlikely ever to be identified unless her DNA is released to one of the large public DNA databases and relatives can be traced. But the Norwegian authorities so far will not do this, seemingly as it would contravene privacy law. I gather that there is some other test case pending which might result in that policy changing but that's been talked about for a couple of years and nothing has come of it. The police have shared the profile with other police forces through Interpol but unsurprisingly none of them had on file a DNA match for this woman who died in 1970.
Click to expand...
One could argue there is a legal duty to establish identity that overrides potential privacy.
 
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catsmate said:
... One could argue there is a legal duty to establish identity that overrides potential privacy.
Click to expand...

One could argue that, but that argument has not so far carried the day in Norway. Not that I know the detail of the legal position - it's all very vague.

One thing which would possibly improve the argument's chances is if there was an unsolved crime for which someone might be prosecuted. But the case was judged suicide and due to a quirk in Norwegian law at that time the statute of imitations passed after 25 years even if it had been murder. So nobody could now be prosecuted even if they came forward and confessed.
 
They don't worry about stupid rules on NCIS.. They go ahead and run the DNA tests anyway..

Easier to get forgiveness that permission.

You don't have to exhume the body.. Just get a core sample and plug the hole..
 
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Jack by the hedge said:
One could argue that, but that argument has not so far carried the day in Norway. Not that I know the detail of the legal position - it's all very vague.

One thing which would possibly improve the argument's chances is if there was an unsolved crime for which someone might be prosecuted. But the case was judged suicide and due to a quirk in Norwegian law at that time the statute of imitations passed after 25 years even if it had been murder. So nobody could now be prosecuted even if they came forward and confessed.
Click to expand...
What about investigating the deceased for espionage or possessing false documents?
 
Skeptical Greg said:
They don't worry about stupid rules on NCIS.. They go ahead and run the DNA tests anyway..

Easier to get forgiveness that permission.

You don't have to exhume the body.. Just get a core sample and plug the hole..
Click to expand...
There's no need for exhumation, there are stored tissue samples.
 
cullennz said:
I have a theory. 1948ish?

Call me crazy, but could this be the last surviving Kiwi who owned the thing brought over to show the Aussies the original recipe inventing the Pavlova from the 20's.

Age seems right.

Nasty Aussies kidnap him. Kill him.Take away his identity. Burn the recipe evidence and still try to claim they invented it?

In fact, it may go deeper. If they got the age wrong he may have also brought the original ANZAC biscuit recipe.
Click to expand...

Hey, he could have just called the wrong guy a thug and got his ass erased from history
 
catsmate said:
What about investigating the deceased for espionage or possessing false documents?
Click to expand...

Well, they investigated at the time of course. They already know all the many identities she filled in on hotel registrations were bogus and use non-existent passport numbers, but whatever fake passports she had were never found so there's not much to investigate. I believe the same statute of limitations problem would apply to any crimes she might have been involved in, and of course you can't prosecute a corpse anyway, so how much police time do you invest in chasing answers?
 
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