Thursday 25 September 2014

Somerton Man: DNA On Fingerprints Card & The Torn TAMAM SHUD Piece


The Torn Piece Could Provide The DNA Needed..

"...many cold cases whose samples were too small or degraded to prove useful are now resubmitting evidence to labs for Touch DNA analysis."



Much has been said in the press regarding Professor Abbott's desire to have the body of the Somerton Man exhumed for DNA identification purposes.

I understand that the Professor has already taken DNA samples from members of Jestyn's family in an effort to prove whether or not the Somerton Man was in some way related to them.

Exhumation is one way of accessing his DNA but is there another one or maybe 2 ways that DNA could be examined and without exhuming the body of the man? I think the answer is Yes.

Touch DNA


This science deals with the ability of Forensic officers to extract usable DNA samples from extraordinarily small samples, 5 to 30 skin cells is all that is required..

The image of the torn piece is to all accounts of the original taken from the copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam which had been thrown into the Hillman Minx car and on the back of which was written the now famous 'code'.

The torn piece was recovered during the autopsy, it was extracted, using tweezers, from a hard to find waistband fob pocket of the Somerton Man's trousers, the ones he was wearing on that fateful day. According to the surgeon, Cleland, the paper was tightly rolled up and quite small.

Somerton Man's DNA on The Torn Piece


When you think about how the words were carefully torn from the book and then equally as carefully handled, folded and then rolled up, how long do you think his fingers would have been in contact with that paper? 2 minutes? 90 seconds? All it takes, according to the Forensic DNA center, is 60 seconds and in that time the surface DNA is transferred to the article being touched, the DNA cells are sloughed off. In the UK all that is needed is between 5 and 20 nucleated cells in order for sufficient low copy DNA to be identified. 

It certainly appears to be that DNA samples could be extracted from the Torn Piece.

The argument will be that over the years a number of people would have handled this piece. My response would be 'And?' If there are 20 samples on the piece then all that you would be looking for is one of those, the one which had probably the most number of cells given the handling it had, and see whether it matched one or more from Jestyn's family.


Interestingly this torn piece still exists and it is in safe hands. To my knowledge neither Professor Abbott nor anyone else has ever mentioned or attempted to obtain DNA samples from the torn piece, the question would be would the person who has the piece hand it over? Perhaps they would hand it over to an independent party.


DNA from Fingerprints

It stands to reason that if you can obtain DNA samples from a piece of paper or other surface, then you should also be able to obtain it from fingerprints. That turns out to be true as well, the same techniques are used, Touch DNA, to collect DNA samples from fingerprints. In the case of Somerton Man, what we have is a reasonably clear set of 10 fingerprints taken using the type of fingerprint ink used at the time. It is highly likely that by default, DNA cells from the man's hand were deposited into the ink and on to the fingerprint card where they will still be. I believe the original fingerprint card is still in existence.



Here's a table showing the various types of crime cleared up by the use of Touch DNA:

You can download a detailed PDF document that discusses Touch DNA methods and techniques.

In this video clip you can see how one US Police Department cleared up 38% of Burglaries using Touch DNA

It could be that there is a reasonable explanation why the extraction of DNA from the torn piece or the fingerprint card has never been mentioned, that is as far as I am aware, and why apparently no efforts were made to examine the torn piece and the fingerprint card for DNA. 

How Touch DNA Works & Why it Matters



This technology has been called a breakthrough by many in law-enforcement for its ability to derive evidence where there is a lack of visible DNA (such as blood, semen, hair, or saliva). It can also be used on fingerprints that are too smudged or incomplete for fingerprint analysis.

Finally, many cold cases whose samples were too small or degraded to prove useful are now resubmitting evidence to labs for Touch DNA analysis.


The process of extracting Touch DNA for forensic analysis involves swabbing, taping, or scraping for trace amounts of epithelial cell-tissue from surfaces like doorknobs, countertops, windows, and even clothing and food. This starter DNA is then amplified using Polymerase Chain Reaction technology to create identical copies that are large enough for proper analysis. 

According to Ryan Forensic DNA Consulting, “the amount of DNA needed to yield a full DNA profile with most commercially available amplification kits is approximately 1 nanogram (ng) of DNA and partial profiles can be obtained with even less starting material."

That comes out to about to the infinitesimally small number of about 5-30 skin cells. With those numbers in mind, it's easy to see why Touch DNA has been embraced by police departments across the country. Of course, if you want Touch DNA evidence to work for you, it's essential you adhere to specimen collection best practices to avoid compromising a sample.

Please feel free to comment I will answer all questions if I am able to.
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Sunday 21 September 2014

Somerton Man: The Engraver





In the last post we covered off on the fingerprint issue and detailed why SM was right handed and that he had scars and markings on his right thumb, forefinger and middle finger. These things suggested he had been using a hand tool and that the markings were indicative of that hand tool being an engraving tool. Here's some solid information that supports the evidence.


In the image above you can see the prints from the man's thumb, forefinger and middle finger in that order.

In the image of the thumb print, note that the wear/indentations are near the top.

The Forefinger print shows wear almost exactly radiating from the centre of the print.

The Middle finger print shows its wear off to the left as you look at it.

Now lets look at the typical grip used by an engraver as per the images below:



Notice the thumb pressed close at the top, the forefinger almost central and the middle finger, somewhat hidden has a grip off to the left.

The closeness is obvious and is entirely consistent with the wear in the fingerprints submitted as being from the Somerton Man.

The next image below shows a slightly different grip style but nonetheless still consistent in the location of the wear, in this case the image shows part of the Intaglio printing technique:



Once again the fingerprint wear and the grip used in the Intaglio printing process are consistent.

Now let's look at further evidence that completely supports this argument, below are two images, the first image shows the knife found in the suitcase and the image to the right shows a vintage engraving tool:














You can clearly see the similarities between the two, almost identical in shape, this particular tool is for engraving wood. Wood block printing techniques were much in use during the 1940s. The shape of the tool means a different grip to the one shown prior to this. Here's a video clip link showing one Intaglio process:
The above is all new information but based on the hard evidence that remains, all that was needed to be done to uncover these additional and important facts was to treat this case as an investigation.

An interesting fact is that engravers were extremely well skilled at fine details including micro writing so yet again we have brought even more evidence to support the existence of micro writing in a number of places in this case.




The image above is of President Lincoln's fob watch, as you can see a message was engraved into it, it deals with details of a military attack. I have included this image because at one time one of Jestyn's relatives told me that there was a watch and something had been engraved into it on the inside. I can't vouch for the watch's existence, it is interesting though given the discovery that the person's fingerprints are consistent with those of an engraver.

Here's the message in Lincoln's watch:
"April 13th 1861, Fort Sumpter was attacked by rebels on the above date. J Dillon'
The second part of the message is repeated and states the location as Washington and then states
"Thank God we have a government"

I have more posts coming soon with further information on another item of evidence, I hope you'll drop by again soon.


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Sunday 7 September 2014

Somerton Man: The Suitcase Contents. Updated February 2019. NEW TARTAN


Over the last several years I have managed to amass a collection of images related to the Somerton Man case. They range from the suitcase contents to possible SM candidates and whole lot more, but first an acknowledgement.

Acknowledgement
I want to acknowledge those people who freely gave input and provided some of the research and sometimes images that will appear in this gallery. More than happy to include their names with their permission. The background is that we all belonged to the original Facebook group, 'World Search for a Rare Copy of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam' set up by Professor Abbott and then later we set up our own group known as 'Inner Sanctum'. The bottom line is that I make no claim to being the sole author and I am grateful for having had the experience of working with a super team of researchers. So, here are their initials or pseudonyms:

Grace, TJ, JP, BT, BB, JR. If I have missed anyone please let me know.

In the end there is no one person who can rightly claim that they are the premier source the exception being Detective Sergeant Gerry Feltus (Retired) who had the Somerton Man case on his desk as a Cold Case and who actually knew and interviewed Jestyn.

Anything I do here by way of extending the range and depth of information on the case will have its roots in the work done by Gerry in his book, The Unknown Man. You'll see a link to Gerry's website to the right of this page.

This page starts off the Gallery and I will be adding more links over the coming days and weeks. I thought that the best approach would be to show some of the images here and then place a link to Google Drive where you can find more from the files described. The Gallery itself is also found on a separate page to the right of this post, it will be added to and new additions posted here as a reminder

First off the rank is a collection of images of the suitcase items.


Scarf, more like a shawl? Notice label bottom right of scarf
Image enhanced view of suitcase and contents


Video still
Negative view, sometimes negatives
show up additional information






Lamonte Tartan










This Lamonte Tartan is similar to the SM version, however so is the Black Watch tartan.













McDonald/Keane Tartan. This was found on a tartan search, web-based, the notation made mention of Mcdonald and Keane families.


Irish variation of the Keane tartan













This kilt is as worn by members of the Adelaide based 27th Scottish Battalion, Colonel Alexander Pope was the CO of this outfit when they served in PNG up to 1945.

Dressing Gown

With regards to the dressing gown, some research unearthed the details to be found on the sleeves of similar gowns to SM's





Ties


SMs ties.
Tootal Ties Ad from 1948

                     Elasta Strap trousers



Negative of inside of trousers

















Elasta Strap Trousers 



















Trousers, button missing


Close up of trouser pocket/laundry labels. Very feint.


Laundry Marks









Sundry Contents


Soapdish
Group, toothbrush, loupe, tie.





Razor Strop close up, adjacent to the brush handle..

Loupe? Notice the 'grips' within the
loupe..

One effort to identify the toothpaste, unsuccessful



Lion Toothpaste? Razor Strop




Engraved brush end













Cigarettes

The man was found with a packet of Army Club cigarettes which had Kensitas cigarettes inside it. This was apparently common practice in those days, the idea was to not let others know that you had a better quality cigarette in order to conserve your supplies. Another option was to make others think that you were ex service.

Just below you can see an image of a 1948 style packet of Army Club cigarettes and the same year packet of Kensitas.
Kensitas 1948

The Lighter

The lighter was Australian made by Green & Co. It came in 2 variations, one was military as you will see below and the other was civilian. What you will notice is that this is not a throw away 'zippo' style of lighter. this lighter has a separate fuel tank into which lighter fuel was poured, a wick that extended into the tank and of course wheel and flint.

The question is that, given that SM was a relatively heavy smoker, what happened to the packet o flints and lighter fluid that every smoker with a lighter, especially one with a fuel tank, would carry with them?








      







                             
Fuel Tank and Lighter fluid advert together with a similar ad for lighter flints.

                                           A 1953 Ad for Lighter fluid




Group

















New Pelaco, Australian made, Shirt from case


Close up of scissors

Scissors maker


























Canadian Army 'housewife' kit
including Barbour's Thread. Slightly different card shape
           
               
Barbour's Waxed Thread.
The only item that tied SM to the suitcase, this thread was 
in common use. Of note, is that Barbour's threads were military 
issue items and included in 'housewife' packs.  Notice that the
SM card has Linen WAX THREADS with an S at the end. That
may help identify just where it was produced.



Feather Stitch Jacket. The machines capable to do feather
stitching only existed in the US at the time.

Glass dish and button


Button

Labels Removed



LETTER CARDS

Contrary to common belief, the 'envelopes' found in the suitcase 
were in fact pre-paid letter cards

Example lettercard





Negative of a lettercard





Pencils

Note the scissors, brush handle, knife, scabbards ( made from wrapped zinc) and the black case to the right is believed to be for the 'cut throat' razor. You can just see the corner of the razor strop above the piece of zinc plate, as you will see the razor strop end has a wire triangular piece with a wire loop at the end. This is quite different to the image of the suspected jeweller's loupe shown earlier on this post.



Pencil sharpener





John Lobb, London & Paris. Similar shoes to SMI contacted Lobbs and John Lobb told me 
that the number 204B was one of theirs but, that number belonged to a pair of mens riding boots. 



A Spit & Polish job on the example shoes above. Interestingly some will remember their service days when a heated teaspoon was used to apply polish and then buffed. Pete Bowes from www.tomsbytwo.com asks the question, 'Where is the polishing cloth/rag?' Good question!




SM's shoes, note 6 lace holes and there are 21
brogue punched holes across the toe.

Negative of SM's shoes, Wide Welt


SM Shoes, close up and colour enhanced
Shoe Polish


Typical shoe ID marks location






US Military Issue







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ABOUT US and OUR RECORD

Learn more about, when the blog started our location plus a long list of 'finds' and new evidence discovered by this blog