‘I’m not sure we will ever be absolutely certain.’
‘What we would do in a forensic context normally is to take deceased DNA and compare that directly with something we knew belonged to them, like a toothbrush or a hairbrush. We haven’t got that here.
So my concern is that we may never be able to categorically say we know this person’s identity.’
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Xanthe Mallett, forensic scientist, criminologist and associate Professor at the University of Newcastle.
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The Somerton Man .. 
Heads up people!
A little bird told me that they have recently received a lot of new information, with every reason to be very excited. Remember that there are multiple lines of research that can be used for identification, not just the DNA line. Be aware though that not all new results can or will be made public, especially during this phase.
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We tremble in anticipation ..
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N.S.W. Fingerprint Dept. was formed in 1903 and became the Central Fingerprint Bureau in ’41, maintaining, thereby retaining a nation wide (including NZ & Territories) ‘manual’ collection index for fingerprints and criminal records until 1986. It now forms part of the Australian Forensic Services Group. NB: SM’s original prints could still be held in NSW Police archives and DNA extraction from FP cards is indeed a possibilty.
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You won’t be able to get Boxall’s fingerprints now and compare them because he is dead and gone
Doubtful if his are on police record anyway but it could be worth a search, and if they aren’t on record, then that opens up a possibility
It could be anyone’s fingerprints though, for that matter who never had a police record and there’s a squillion people out there who could have been used who never had a police record including anyone in the morgue at that time.
No person is attributed to taking the fingerprints, there is no name or signature or rank or date or where they were taken – nothing at all, and that was to prevent anyone being asked, prosecuted and convicted for making a falsehood
All this stuff isn’t just happenstance, it was to cover their backsides so they can’t be traced and didn’t get caught
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Good point nobody home.
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Durham’s prints are where the smart money is and a lucky double hit? in the pipeline is what’s particularly exciting.
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I’m pretty sure that the unsigned print form we’re familiar with was the last of obligatory three sets obtained at the time. The original went to NSW and has to have been in order for it to be indexed and filed. Second seems to have been retained by the undertaker Elliott as POI (mentioned by Feltus ?) and the other would have been retained by Sapol as part of the active file. As outlined the original should still be held in archives along with millions of others tagged over the past 121 years of record keeping.
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Go for it. It’s Crucial evidence
Shouldn’t be too hard to find if there is a chronological reference to the filing system
I think you’re on to something with the DNA
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ITTMTSAMSTGAB =
I’m Theorising Thomson’s Move To Staid Adelaide Maybe Served To Gag Alf Boxall
Any more for any more, I churn em out by the score, cause I’m a geriatric bore what’s more
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…….. here we go
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More photoshopped pictures from the family album
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It’s pretty obvious who Calypso is
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You won’t be certain if you keep looking in the wrong place
Full marks to Gerry Feltus who cracked the code
TTMTSAMSTGAB Time to move to SA Moseley St Glenelg Adelaide Beach
The rest of it falls in place when you apply the events to it which is what he did. Good detective work GF
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I don’t think anything other than the DNA from the exhumed will be satisfactory. Just like the hairs, there’s no certainty around a half set of someone’s fingerprints.
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…nor a toe tag called Jerry and a fake pine box fulla dirt & grey clod
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GC is half right (for a change) in that prints were wired in cases when speed was of the essence; then Fax took over in the 80s and is still in use for convenience and discretion. However back in 1948 the Sydney Central Fingerprint Bureau acted as a central depository for all states and territories plus New Zealand, which I thought I brought up yesterday. It means in essence that Jim’s correctly completed No. 1 set of prints taken of SM would have been sent off to Sydney and by rights should still be accessable. One would think a lad with GC’s criminal background might have known basic police procedural formalities.
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GC would like to see SM’s Sydney CFB prints certificated. I’m thinking most concerned punters would like see GC certified.
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