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Shark Arm Murder Mystery

18:37 recording · EN · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

A tiger shark vomited Jim Smith's tattooed arm in 1935 Sydney, exposing a murder never solved.

  1. A shark's stomach opened a murder caseThe only part of Jim Smith ever recovered was the arm a captive tiger shark threw up at the Coogee aquarium baths.
  2. The arm was cut, not bittenExaminers said it was severed with something sharp and not by shark teeth or surgery, which turned a bathing accident into a murder inquiry.
  3. The key witness died before testifyingHolmes agreed to testify against Brady and was shot three times in the chest soon after, and the case against Brady collapsed.
Executive Summary AI
  • Josh and Chuck open a Short Stuff episode on the shark arm murder, thanking the Dictionary of Sydney, the Sydney Crime Museum, Snopes and Atlas Obscura for the research.1:13
  • In 1935 a fisherman off Coogee Beach caught a small shark that was then swallowed by a 12-foot tiger shark, which he handed to the Coogee aquarium baths as an attraction after three men had been killed by sharks on New South Wales beaches in a couple of weeks.1:51
  • On April 25th, Anzac Day, the shark turned lethargic and disoriented and threw up a human arm; the autopsy showed the arm had been cut off with something sharp rather than bitten, and a tattoo of two boxers plus fingerprints identified it as Jim Smith's after his brother Edwin Smith contacted police.3:41
  • Police found Smith was a bankrupt builder, boxer, bookmaker and smuggler working for boat builder Reginald Lloyd Holmes, that he was blackmailing Holmes over an insurance scam, and that a cab driver had driven the forger Patrick Brady to Holmes' house the morning after Smith was last seen drinking with him.11:28
  • On May 20th Holmes shot at himself in a speedboat, survived, led a four-hour chase through Sydney Harbor, offered to testify against Brady, and was then found dead in his car with three gunshot wounds; Brady was acquitted on circumstantial evidence, and theories about Eddie Wayman, gangland reprisals against informants, or a hitman Holmes hired himself remain unproven.13:24
Key Quote
“I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here sitting in for Dave.”
— Josh1:06
Key Quote
“And then right after that, a larger tiger shark swallowed that smaller shark.”
— Host1:59
Key Quote
“Yeah, just over the course of a couple of weeks, three different men were killed by sharks on New South Wales beaches.”
— Host2:29