Somerton Man: The Real Face of the Somerton Man?

Is This Our Man?

Over the past few weeks, I have been liaising with Pete Bowes of TomsByTwo regarding the apparent differences between the earlier images of SM and those that were taken just prior to the bust being made and the 3D scan that was carried out by Adelaide University. I took on the project of having an artist create their impression, based on the 3D scan, of how this man would look when he was alive. The above is the outcome of the full face view. On the left is the 3D image from the Adelaide University Scan.

I will be adding two more semi-profile views to this post, but in the meantime, I thought I would share this with everyone and get any feedback you may have.

I should point out that we are acting on the assumption that this scan is of the man found on the beach. As many would be aware, there is a possibility that it is not him due to a comment made by Paul Lawson when he spoke of discussing the 'Disposal of the original body' with Adelaide Police. We should also be mindful of the fact that Jestyn's unusual reaction came when she viewed this bust of the man.

THE COMPARISON

Looking through the image archive and on being prompted by Pete Bowes, here's an interesting image that I brought togtether using the GIMP free graphic image editing tool. The intent was to compare the images of SM from the first Police photo to the 3D profile.

I have made every effort to get these images to properly align and as you can see whilst the head shape is similar, I actually aligned the images using the height and breadth of the originals and then the forehead from each, the original image that shows beneath in the lighter grey pic appears to be quite different in the shape of the nose, the upper lip and the chin. The natural question would be 'Did the embalming process or the mold making process have the effect of significantly altering the appearance?' Bear in mind that we are dealing with digital images and there could be some variance between the two pics, I just happen to think that the variances here go beyond what you might expect.

Consider this, Police set the interview up for Jestyn with the intent to 'shake her up' and perhaps get her to confess to knowing the man. The Police knew that the plaster bust was a good likeness to SM otherwise they would not have made use of it.

THE THEORY
This would explain to some extent why the initial, altered image of SM was the one publicised by the Police, they didn't want their prime suspect to know the real identity of the man that was found on the beach until it suited their purpose. That's the theory and I know that stemming from this, there is a range of new inferences that can be applied to the case. It can change the whole game.



Thanks to Pete Bowes for his input.