Antero Bonifacio found out he was related to the Somerton Man by reading his local paper
A Victorian man has shared the remarkable story in which he discovered he was the missing link in solving the 74-year-old Somerton Man mystery.
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Until last month, Antero Bonifacio had no idea he was the missing link in solving one of South Australia’s most enduring mysteries.
The Gippsland man was flicking through his local Victorian newspaper when his curiosity was piqued by the breakthrough identification of the Somerton Man.
Just three months earlier, the 47-year-old father had been contacted by Adelaide University Professor Derek Abbott, who was seeking his DNA to help identify someone.
“He contacted me back in April this year and said he was a professor from Adelaide University dealing with Dr Colleen Fitzpatrick from the states about a potential lost ancestor of mine,” Mr Bonifacio told The Advertiser.
“They didn’t let on whether it was a male or a female, what the circumstances were, but they did let me know it was my great-grandmother who this person might be related to.”
A few internet searches to validate who Prof Abbott was reassured Mr Bonifacio, who went on to order a DNA kit from ancestry.com.au.
Mr Bonifacio used the kit to send off a saliva sample to help genealogists create a family tree.
About six weeks later, his great-great-grandmother’s nephew was confirmed to be Carl Webb, making him the Somerton Man’s first cousin three times removed.
Mr Bonifacio was not aware of his connection to the mystery man at that point, though, or the high-profile case he had helped to solve.
“Lo and behold, I think it was the next week I saw it in the paper, the Somerton Man. I thought ‘hang on a minute, that can’t be a coincidence’,” he said.
“I read it and I saw the surname Webb and I thought ‘hang on a minute, that’s the same surname as what we’ve been looking for’.
“I was reading all the different articles that came out that week and thought that must be the link … but I wasn’t sure if there was another Webb.
“But he (Prof Abbott) called me later in that week and confirmed everything, it was great.”
Mr Bonifacio had not heard of the Somerton Man case prior to his interactions with Prof Abbott, which for 74 years has been one of South Australia’s most enduring mysteries.
On December 1, 1948, the unknown man’s body was found propped up on a seawall on Somerton Beach.
His cause of death remains unknown. Until last month, police and amateur sleuths had only guessed as to who the man was, some saying he was a dancer or a Russian spy.
Prof Abbott and Dr Fitzpatrick made the breakthrough DNA identification in July 22, using hairs from a cast made to preserve the dead man’s face shape.
Carl Webb was an electrical engineer and instrument maker from Melbourne.
Mr Bonifacio said he felt privileged to be part of solving the mystery.
“My mum was big on family history, but she passed away last year. She would’ve been rapt if she was around to participate in this,” he said.
“Getting to know a bit more about your family history and being able to be … a part of solving the mystery, I’m just grateful to be able to help out where I could.”
Prof Abbott said Mr Bonifacio was key in the “triangulation” breakthrough that led relatives to be linked to Webb on both his mother’s and father’s side.
“We initially built the family tree from a paternal line that connected to Carl Webb,” Prof Abbott said.
“It was then Antero’s DNA that gave us the final evidence we needed to triangulate a maternal line back to Carl Webb.
“So Antero was a critical piece of the puzzle we needed.”
Another relative of the Somerton Man is Helen Dangerfield, of Mackay, Queensland, whose grandmother was Doris Maud Webb, Carl Webb’s sister.
Ms Dangerfield, 64, said her sister-in-law on her husband’s side made her aware of their connection to the mystery man, which joined some dots from her family history.
“I haven’t always followed case, but I am very excited about the connection,” Ms Dangerfield said,
“I have done a fair bit of family history and wondered why I could never find Carl’s death certificate.”
She said her mother only briefly mentioned Webb.
“About 10 years before she passed away, I did sit down with her to get as much family history as possible and while she did give his name, there was no mention of him disappearing,” she said.
Prof Abbott said there were potentially dozens of relatives of Mr Webb still living who would mainly be based in Victoria and Queensland.
“Finding his name is just the beginning of the story, we need to now fill out the story, so finding out more about him and his wife as well would be the way to go, but the only way to do that is to engage the public,” he said.
Prof Abbott urged anyone who thought they may be related to the Somerton man to email him at derek.abbott@adelaide.edu.au
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