This week, A.C. Roberts dives into unidentified deaths.Most true crime cases start with the same questions—who did it, why did they do it, and how did they get away? But what if the biggest mystery isn’t the crime itself, but the person at the center of it? What happens when someone dies and no one comes forward to claim them—no name, no past, no answers? In the first part of our two-part season finale, we explore three of the strangest unidentified cases in history: The Somerton Man, found dead on an Australian beach with no ID and a cryptic code tied to his case; Lyle Stevik, a man who checked into a motel under a fake name and left behind nothing but a suicide note; and the bizarre Lead Masks Case, in which two men were found dead in Brazil under unexplained circumstances, their faces covered by lead masks and their deaths shrouded in mystery. Who were they? Why did their identities disappear? And what secrets did they take with them? Tune in as we explore the erased—the mystery of those who vanished without a name.

TRIGGER WARNING READ BY:

• ND Simpson

INTRO/OUTRO

• Apex Music

MUSIC

• Danijel Zambo

SOURCES

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerton_Man
• https://www.eleceng.adelaide.edu.au/personal/dabbott/wiki/index.php/
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-body-on-somerton-beach-50795611/
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-26/somerton-man-identified-by-adelaide-university-researcher/101266006
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyle_Stevik
• https://dnadoeproject.org/case/lyle_stevik/
• https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/internet-sleuths-dna-link-john-doe-to-northern-new-mexico/article_5b9b5b6e-34b0-5b6b-8b1b-1b5a9f7a0c7a.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Masks_Case
• https://www.damninteresting.com/the-lead-masks-mystery/
• https://www.vice.com/en/article/4w7gq9/the-bizarre-lead-masks-case-still-haunts-brazil