The woman who believes she may be the grandaughter of the Somerton Man speaks after exhumation

Rachel Egan, who believes she may be the Somerton Man’s granddaughter, said regardless of DNA results, the unidentified man will always be family.

Regardless of potential family ties drawn from the recently exhumed Somerton Man’s DNA, Rachel Egan will always think of the unidentified man as family.

“We feel very protective of Mr S,” Ms Egan said.

“Even the children, not that they would ever think of him as a grandfather, they see him as part of our family as such.”

She first became tied to the mystery of the unidentified man in 2010, when her now husband, Professor Derek Abbott, reached out to her in belief she was as a potential descendant.

The pair married within a matter of months and now hold the Somerton Man – who they refer to as Mr S – very close to their hearts.

So when police, anthropologists and forensic workers took 12 hours to exhume the Somerton Man’s body from his West Terrace Cemetery gravesite on Wednesday, Ms Egan and Professor Abbott felt mixed emotions.

The Exhumation of The Somerton Man at West Terrace Cemetery, Adelaide. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Kelly Barnes

“It was a little bit surreal to learn it was happening and yeah, it was actually quite confronting,” she said.

“At various points when it was about to happen we were thinking about it … it was successful in the end, and I think it was done in a really dignified way.”

She hopes new technology will be the key in unlocking answered questions about who the man was, but said regardless of some potential similarities between her biological father and the Somerton Man, her family considers him family.

She and Professor Abbott married in 2010, and have since had three children, Gisele, 8, and twins, George and Violette, 6.

“Mr S played cupid from the grave,” she said.

“If it wasn’t for the case, there’s no way our paths would’ve met or we would’ve gotten together.”

Rachel Egan and her husband, Professor Derek Abbott, at the West Terrace Cemetery. Picture: Matt Turner.

Mystery has surrounded the Somerton Man since the unidentified body was found slumped against a seawall at Somerton Beach on December 1, 1948.

Professor Abbott, an electrical engineer and researcher from the University of Adelaide, took curiosity with the case in 2007, and has since been campaigning to exhume his remains in a bid to identify him.

Ms Egan’s biological grandmother, Jo Thomson’s number was found written in the back of a book linked to the Somerton Man. She also lived about five minutes from the location his body was found.

Professor Abbott hypothesised Ms Thomson, who died in 2007, had an affair with the Somerton Man, resulting in a child, the ballet dancer Robin, who was Rachel’s father.

Professor Abbott hoped parts of the Somerton Man’s remains could be examined at the University of Adelaide’s Centre for Ancient DNA.

“(I’m) excited about possibly identifying the guy, and giving a name for him to have on his headstone in the future and potentially connecting him back to his real family,” Professor Abbott said.

He expects the process could take up to two years.