The secret life and complicated family history of the Somerton Man have been revealed in a series of candid family photographs and divorce papers more than 70 years after the mysterious figure was found dead on an Adelaide beach.
The identity of the Somerton man has been a mystery since his body was discovered alone in the Adelaide seaside suburb of Somerton Park in 1948, sparking rumors that he was the victim of a jilted lover or had links to Cold War spies. .
Her fully clothed body was discovered by two trainee jockeys riding horses on the popular beach and detectives noted a number of puzzling details.
The tags on the Somerton man’s clothing had been torn off, a trademark of spy agents, and he found nothing more than a book of Persian poems and a coded note in his jacket pocket.
The cold case quickly became one of Australia’s biggest unsolved mysteries with hordes of online detectives and forensic experts trying to identify it.
In an old family photo album, Charles Webb, believed by some experts to be the Somerton Man, in the back row of a family photo, playfully places his hand on the head of a man believed to be his brother-in-law (Charles Webb is circled in red)
The Stuart brothers and Cristy Webb are believed to be distantly related to the Somerton Man.
One such investigator is Professor Derek Abbott of the University of Adelaide, considered an expert on the baffling Somerton Man case.
In June, while collaborating with American forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick, the pair were finally able to identify the Somerton Man as Carl ‘Charles’ Webb.
They were able to match three 75-year-old locks of hair found on a Somerton Man ‘death mask’ to genetic records uploaded by members of two separate families on a genealogy website.
Here they found brothers Stuart and Cristy Webb and Antero Bonifacio, relatives of a man they believed to be Charles Webb, who was born in 1905 in Melbourne and worked as an electrical instrument maker.
He played community soccer and was one of six siblings.
Using a sample of Cristy’s saliva, Professor Abbott was able to match the brothers to the Somerton Man, leading the family on a trip down memory lane.
Antero Bonifacio (pictured) is believed to be the thrice-eliminated first cousin of Charles Webb, who has been identified by experts as the Somerton Man using DNA samples.
In another photo, a boy marked C. Webb (bottom left) stares into the camera from the front row of the Swinburne Technical College under-16 football team.
Using a sample of Cristy’s saliva, Professor Abbott told the Webb brothers that they were, in fact, related to the Somerton Man, leading the family on a trip down memory lane.
“Professor Abbott asked me if I was related to Norman Webb, who is my grandfather, and that led to a whole series of questions about my heritage and if there are any family photos or stories that I can remember,” Stuart told ABC. australian history.
In an old family photo album, they found Charles in the back row, playfully placing his hand on the head of a man believed to be his brother-in-law.
In another photo, a boy marked C. Webb stares into the camera from the front row of the Swinburne Technical College under-16 football team.
Cristy said she had mixed emotions upon learning of her link to the Somerton Man.
The fully clothed body of the Somerton Man was discovered by two trainee jockeys riding horses on the popular beach and detectives noted a number of puzzling details.
The tags on the Somerton Man’s clothing had been torn off and he found nothing more than a book of Persian poems and a coded note in his pocket.
Professor Derek Abbott (pictured) has been studying the case for years and is considered one of the experts on the Somerton Man, whom he identified as Charles Webb using DNA samples.
“So I got my DNA results, and it was happiness, it was joy, but there was also some sadness for this forgotten family member,” she said.
“This was a person, it wasn’t just a media hit for a while or an unsolved mystery. She was our family.
Boniface is believed to be the first cousin, thrice estranged, of Charles Webb and has since questioned how his relative ended up in Adelaide.
‘Why didn’t any of the brothers try to find out where he went? Did they know that he had gone to Adelaide and she had never come back? he said.
The last years of Charles Webbs’ life were engulfed in tragedy after his mother, father, and loving brother Roy died in the lead up to his own death.
University of Adelaide researcher Derek Abbott said the man was Carl ‘Charles’ Webb, a 43-year-old man who was also an instrument maker (pictured is a created visual image of the man)
Webb’s fully clothed body was found with a coded note (pictured) in his pocket on Somerton Park Beach 74 years ago.
He had married Dorothy Robertson in 1941, and the couple had a troubled marriage with his wife stating in a divorce decree that he was “cranky” and had no friends.
In March 1946, he is believed to have attempted suicide after Dorothy came home to find him staring into space. He said the house smelled of ether, a strong anesthetic.
Charles loved to write poetry, especially about death, and many experts agreed that he had committed suicide in 1948.
Unfortunately, none of his family had reported Charles missing after he left Melbourne for Adelaide in April 1947.
The fact that he was never claimed and the manner in which he was found led many to speculate that he was a Cold War-era spy (pictured, Somerton Man’s burial on June 14, 1949)
The doctor who performed an autopsy on her body found that her stomach was congested with blood and that she died after her heart failed.
Despite the confidence of Prof. Abbott and Prof. Fitzpatrick, other experts say that Charles Webb cannot be categorically confirmed as the Somerton Man.
Xanthe Mallett, a forensic scientist and criminologist, said DNA was usually tested against an item belonging to the deceased, which was not the case in this case.
The match has yet to be confirmed by South Australian Police, who are actively conducting their own separate DNA investigation to be confirmed by the coroner.
