A body found in a river. A 53-year-old mystery. A gold signet ring that could help solve it.
These are just a few of the strange details surrounding a cold case that detectives from Victoria’s Alexandra Crime Investigation Unit believe could be solved.
On the afternoon of Christmas Day, 1971, a group of children discovered the body of an unknown man in the Steavenson River, about 60 metres downstream from the Maroondah Highway bridge.
Believed to be in his 40s or 50s, with dark hair and a large build, the man was dressed in blue jeans with a belt, a white shirt, a vest and desert-style boots.
Other items found on his person included a thick waist belt to support the abdominal muscles, a gold Unicorn watch and a black signet ring with an inscription which read “21.4.71 P.U.C.K”.
But detectives couldn’t find any evidence to suggest how his body ended up in the river
Despite the discovery being widely publicised at the time, no one came forward to identify the man and interstate law enforcement agencies had no information about him.
Dental analysis didn’t turn up any additional clues and while an autopsy revealed the man had heart disease and cirrhosis of the liver, the body had decomposed to the point where it was impossible to tell if he had sustained any physical injuries before he died.
A coronial inquest held almost a year after the body was found determined that the cause of death was consistent with drowning.
Still unidentified, the man was buried in a metropolitan grave and the case largely forgotten by the public – until now.
More than 53 years after the body was discovered, detectives are investigating the man’s signet ring in the hopes it could hold further clues about his identity.
It’s believed that the inscription, originally reported to be “21.4.71 P.U.C.K”, could have actually been the Cyrillic ‘Ð .Ð.С.Ð’, which means ‘risk’ in English.
An image from the case file believed to depict what the ring found on the man resembled has been released along with a press release with support for the theory.
“The man was described at the time of the discovery as ‘continental migrant’ and a Ukrainian youth camp was, and remains, 4km upstream from where the man’s body was found,” the release read.
Victoria Police have made enquiries with the Ukrainian embassy and the camp. No additional information about the man’s identity has emerged yet.
“We are confident that there is someone out there who knows something that can help determine who this man was,” Alexandra Crime Investigation Unit Detective Sergeant Flyn Loughlin said.
“This may have occurred back in 1971 but this man was someone’s son, he had a family, and there were those who loved him.”
Loughlin added that even the “slightest bit of information” could help.
