This is a story of a man found dead on the 1st of December 1948. He was lying against a sea wall on Somerton Beach in Adelaide, Australia. He was well-dressed in a suit and had no obvious cause of death. His age was estimated to be around 45 years of age. Searching his clothes revealed only a packet of cigarettes, chewing gum and bus and train tickets. All of the labels on his clothes had been cut out. There was also no ID on him.
However, a closer examination revealed a secret pocket in his trousers and there was a torn-out page from a book. The words Tamam Shud were written on it. An autopsy was carried out and this showed that his spleen was very much bigger than it should be. This was an indication that he had been poisoned. However, when the toxicology report came back, no poisons were detected.
The police investigation team tried to match his fingerprints with the database in Australia. There was no match. They tried dental records with the same result. So, they sent his prints and dental records worldwide and it came back with no match. Further investigations located a witness who thought he had seen the victim. This led to finding a brown suitcase. But, once again, all of the clothes inside had had their labels cut out. There was still no way to identify the man. All they did have was that a jacket had been purchased in America.
Eventually, the police tracked down the meaning of the words, Tamam Shud. They were Persian (now Iran) and translated to “ended” or “it is finished.” True words to describe him. There also appeared to be a coded message which has never been deciphered. More research showed they came from the end of the translation by Scott Fitzgerald of the Rubaiyat from Omar Khayyam. Then, a car was discovered with not only the same book on the back seat but the correct page had been torn out. To add to the mystery, the book was found to be a rare edition. But all attempts to identify the man had failed.
That was until many years later, a professor at the University of Adelaide, Derek Abbott, used DNA analysis to try to crack the mystery. Working with a forensic expert from the USA, Colleen Fitzpatrick, they narrowed down the possibilities from 4,000 to one. His name was Carl Webb. When checked against the DNA of living relatives, the identity was proven.
He was born in 1905 in Melbourne, Australia, one of six children. He got married but eventually, he and his wife parted and she is said to have gone to South Australia. This could indicate that they were living in America and why his jacket was purchased there. What happened then, we do not know. In the last few years, it has been suggested the body be exhumed to make further DNA tests along with more toxicology tests to ascertain the actual cause of death. To the best of my knowledge, this has not happened yet.
John Pullen 