Casefile Archives 2: The Somerton Man

Summary of Casefile Archives 2: The Somerton Man

by Casefile Presents

51m•January 17, 2026
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Overview of Casefile Archives 2: The Somerton Man

This episode (a re-release of Casefile’s second original episode) recounts the decades‑long mystery of the Somerton Man — an unidentified man found dead on Somerton/Somerton Park Beach, Adelaide, on 1 December 1948. What began as an apparently natural death became one of Australia’s most famous cold cases: missing clothing labels, an enigmatic scrap of paper reading “Maam Shud” (Persian: “it is finished”), a torn copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, an undeciphered code, a local phone number linked to a woman known as “Jessica,” and persistent theories about spies, lovers and displaced persons. The episode covers the original investigation, evidence, major theories, long-running amateur and professional inquiries, and the breakthrough identification made via investigative genetic genealogy more than 70 years later.

Key facts & timeline

  • 30 Nov 1948: Man arrives at Adelaide Railway Station, checks a suitcase in the cloakroom (receipt missing).
  • 30 Nov 1948, midday–evening: He buys a train ticket to Henley Beach (unused) and a bus ticket to Glenelg; later walks the Glenelg/Somerton Park area.
  • 30 Nov–1 Dec 1948, ~7:15pm: Local couple see him on the beach; at 8pm another couple notice an unidentified man standing above the stairs.
  • 1 Dec 1948, ~6:00am: Two jockeys find him dead on the sand, head propped against the seawall; police called.
  • Postmortem: Male, ~45 years old, ~80 kg, well‑groomed, athletic build; spleen three times normal size; no clear cause of death. Organs congested with congealed blood; poison suspected but forensic tests at the time found no common poison.
  • June 1949: Body buried; plaster cast of head/upper torso made (still exists).
  • July 1949: A torn page reading “Maam Shud” traced to a rare 1941 NZ edition of Rubaiyat; the book, handed in by an anonymous man who found it in his open‑top car parked at Somerton Park, matched the scrap.
  • Back of that book: an apparent code (letters and crossed‑out lines) and two phone numbers — one belonged to a local woman, Jessica Thompson (aka “the Mystery Woman”).
  • 1949 investigation: Jessica denies knowing the deceased, but says she gave her Rubaiyat to a serviceman (Alf Boxall) in 1945 — Boxall later found alive with the copy she’d given him, proving the Somerton Man had a different copy.
  • 2009 onward: Professor Derek Abbott becomes heavily involved; retired detective Jerry Feltis also researches the case.
  • May 2021: South Australian Attorney‑General approves exhumation for DNA testing; hairs from the plaster cast and bone samples used.
  • 2022: Investigative genetic genealogy led by Derek Abbott and Colleen Fitzpatrick identifies the Somerton Man as Carl Charles Webb (born 1905, Footscray, Melbourne). DNA ruled out a genetic relationship between him and Jessica Thompson’s son.

Main evidence & clues

  • The body: well‑dressed (suit made in USA), polished shoes, well‑kept nails, missing clothing labels (most deliberately removed).
  • Found items on person: unused train ticket to Henley, bus ticket to Glenelg, two combs (one aluminium, apparently US origin), packet of Juicy Fruit gum, matches, cigarettes (box/brand mismatch), half‑smoked cigarette found between cheek and collar.
  • Suitcase (at station cloakroom, matched to him by thread and size): contained clothes and personal items; many labels removed; some items labeled “Keen” / “T‑Keen.”
  • Paper scrap: “Maam Shud” (from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam) — last page tear.
  • The book: Rare 1941 edition found in an open‑top car at Somerton Park; matched to scrap.
  • The code: Several lines of letters (one line crossed out) printed/handwritten in the back of the Rubaiyat; amateur and professional codebreakers could not definitively decode it.
  • Phone numbers in book: one for a bank, one for Jessica Thompson (lived ~400 metres from the beach).
  • Plaster cast: made to preserve facial features before burial; later yielded hairs used for DNA.
  • Forensic notes: enlarged spleen; organ congestion consistent with poisoning in investigators’ view, but toxicology at the time did not identify a poison (possible rare/fast‑excreting agent).

Major theories discussed

  • Spy/espionage theory:
    • Cold War context and nearby Woomera weapons testing (sensitive projects) fuelled suggestions he might be a Soviet or other foreign agent.
    • The code, destroyed labels, American clothing, and the undetectable‑poison hypothesis supported this view for many years.
  • Love/obsession theory:
    • Connection to Jessica Thompson (phone number in book) suggested he may have been seeking or connected to her (romantic past or jilted lover).
    • Jessica’s evasive behaviour and her earlier gifting of a Rubaiyat to Alf Boxall deepened suspicion.
  • Displaced person / identity change:
    • Post–WWII migration and displaced persons programs made it plausible the man had a concealed or false identity — accounting for no positive ID.
  • Personal crisis or suicide:
    • Some markers (poetry focused on death, prior suicide attempt in one identified suspect) raised suicide as possible, though circumstances made murder equally plausible.

Investigations, investigators & breakthroughs

  • Early police work (1948–49):
    • Initial assumption of natural causes delayed full forensic collection.
    • Extensive but unsuccessful national & international ID checks; inquest concluded death was not natural and likely not accidental.
    • Many original physical items (suitcase, book) were later destroyed in a police clean‑out.
  • Long‑term investigators:
    • Jerry Feltis (retired detective) — long‑running professional investigation, published The Unknown Man.
    • Professor Derek Abbott (University of Adelaide) — academic researcher who reopened and pursued forensic‑genealogical leads; married into Jessica’s family (his wife is Rachel, Jessica’s granddaughter).
  • Genetic genealogy & exhumation:
    • Repeated requests for exhumation initially refused; approved in 2021.
    • Samples from exhumed remains and hairs from the plaster cast underwent modern DNA analysis and investigative genetic genealogy.
    • In 2022, Abbott and US genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick traced relatives and identified the Somerton Man as Carl Charles Webb (b. 1905, Footscray).
    • Webb: electrical engineer/instrument maker, poetical interests, family history of American links (nephew John Keane served in RAAF, had US coins/map), marital history (married Dorothy Robertson 1941; separation after 1946 suicide attempt; divorced 1951).
    • SA Police stated cautious optimism pending coroner’s confirmation; DNA ruled out Webb as father of Jessica’s son (contradicting one theory).

What the breakthrough explains — and what remains unknown

Explained or clarified:

  • Identity: Likely identified as Carl Charles Webb through investigative genetic genealogy.
  • Some clothing-labelling anomalies could be explained by family connections (a Keane relative) and secondhand belongings.

Still unresolved:

  • Definitive cause of death: No conclusive forensic proof of poison or homicide; contemporary toxicology was negative and many alleged poisons were either undetectable then or excreted quickly. Modern testing has not publicly resolved this.
  • Motive and purpose for being in Adelaide: Why Webb traveled to Adelaide in Nov 1948 and whether he intended a deliberate message remain unclear.
  • Meaning of the code: Never convincingly decoded; theories range from a cipher to a mnemonic (even references to racehorses).
  • Jessica Thompson’s true connection: Phone number was in his copy of Rubaiyat, but DNA ruled out Webb as the paternal link to her son; her precise relationship to Webb (if any) remains uncertain.

Notable insights & quotations

  • Forensic observation: organs “congested with a large amount of congealed blood” — cited by investigators as consistent with poisoning.
  • Dr Robert Cowan (toxicologist, 1949): “I found no common poison present… If he did die from poison, I think it would be a very rare poison.”
  • Coroner (1949): identity unknown, death not natural and almost certainly not accidental — case left open.
  • Professor Derek Abbott’s role: persistent reexamination, use of old evidence (plaster cast hairs) and modern genetic genealogy to make the identification.

Main takeaways

  • The Somerton Man case combined strong, peculiar physical evidence (removed labels, an unusual cigarette/comb mix, the “Maam Shud” scrap and rare Rubaiyat) with tantalising human leads (a nearby woman’s phone number, a mysterious code), producing enduring public fascination.
  • Modern investigative genetic genealogy produced a major breakthrough: the Somerton Man is very likely Carl Charles Webb, ending the mystery of identity but leaving cause and motive unresolved.
  • Many questions probably remain permanently unanswered (intent, precise circumstances of death, full meaning of the code), but contemporary forensic tools have narrowed the field of plausible explanations and converted decades of speculation into a more factual foundation for future work.

Further resources (from the episode)

  • Jerry Feltis — book: The Unknown Man.
  • Professor Derek Abbott — lectures, published research, and media appearances.
  • 2013 60 Minutes story and other documentaries covering Jessica Thompson and the case.
  • Reddit AMA and online talks by Professor Abbott discussing the genealogy work and case details.

(End of summary.)