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Police in South Australia said they are "cautiously optimistic" after an Australian researcher claimed to have discovered the identity of Somerton Man.
The University of Adelaide's Professor Derek Abbott said on Tuesday that the body of a man found on a beach in 1948 was that of Carl "Charles" Webb.
The identity has not been confirmed by authorities but South Australia Police on Wednesday released a statement welcoming the development.
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"South Australia Police are still actively investigating the 'Somerton Man' coronial matter," a police spokesperson said.
"We are heartened of the recent development in that case, and are cautiously optimistic that this may provide a breakthrough.
"We look forward to the outcome of further DNA work to confirm the identification which will ultimately be determined by the Coroner."
Webb was a Melbourne-born electrical engineer and instrument maker who went missing in 1947.
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"He was born in 1905 in Footscray, Victoria," Abbott told Today Extra on Wednesday morning.
"In the '40s, he lived in South Yarra and we found his occupation was an instrument maker. And he basically falls off the radar around 1947. We can't find any documentation or information about him at all."
Abbott said he was "99.99 per cent" confident in his identification after looking at several pieces of DNA evidence.
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"We managed to extract enough DNA from one of the Somerton man's hairs and, from that DNA, we were able to then find a distant cousin that is still alive, he said.
"That cousin turned out to be on the paternal side of Charles Webb. And the way we found Charles Webb is to expand that family tree out from that distant cousin and we ended up building this family tree with 4000 people on it… it's like a Sudoku puzzle with 4000 slots on it.
"Charles Webb was right in the middle of it with six siblings in the family, and he was the only one of the six siblings with no date of death. No documentation. We could not find a death certificate."
Abbott said the final proof of the identity "fell into place" on Saturday.
"We then tunnelled down through the maternal line and found a distant cousin on his mother's side that also matched," he said.
"And so that's like that triangulation – they meet at a point and that's Carl Webb. And we've found other matches that also go to that point now."
Source: 9News
