Adam (unsolved Thames murder case)

"Adam" is the name given to a young African boy whose torso was discovered in the River Thames, London on September 21, 2001. He is believed to have been between the ages of four and seven. The murder is believed to be linked to a ritual killing. Despite the use of the best forensic science in the world and ground-breaking investigative techniques, the London Metropolitan Police Service have not caught the killer.

The torso was first discovered on the afternoon of Friday September 21, 2001 as it floated past the Tower of London towards Tower Bridge in Central London. A passer-by crossing the bridge had noticed an orange object in the water, and realising it was a body as it passed under the bridge, alerted the police. The Metropolitan Police sent its marine search unit to the scene, who recovered the torso further upstream. The body was found to be the torso of a young black child, the orange being a pair of shorts around the stumps of the legs.

The discovery of the torso shocked police, and prompted massive media coverage in the United Kingdom and around the world. The police named the body "Adam" in the absence of any positive identification.

Initial investigations

Police soon realized after recovering only the torso, that the circumstances were unusual and not typical of a sex-related murder. It was initially suspected that the murder was a medicine murder. This type of killing involves the removal of body parts such as the ears or genitals. However Adam's genitals were not removed, and the police ruled out this theory.

Post mortem

A post-mortem was carried out on Adam's remains. This established from the amount of British food and pollen in Adam's lungs that he had only been in the United Kingdom for a few days. A potion that contained ingredients used in African ritual magic was also discovered.

Nigerian link

Adam's bones were also analysed to see if it could determine his geographical origins. As everything a person eats bears the trace of the soil of where it was grown or reared, soil samples were compared to places around the world. Scientists determined from this that Adam originated in the Yoruba Plateau in Nigeria, Africa.

Metropolitan police travelled to Nigeria and launched a campaign to track Adam's parents. Despite visiting primary schools and looking at reported missing children in the region, there was no success.

Linked cases

In July 2002, a Nigerian woman arrived in the UK from Germany, claiming to have fled from a Yoruba cult that practised ritual murders. She claimed that they attempted to kill her son, and that she knew Adam was murdered in London by his parents. However, police searching her flat found orange shorts with the same clothing label as those found on Adam.Facts|date=March 2007

Surveillance of the woman's associates brought the police to another Nigerian, a man named Kingsley Ojo. Searching of Ojo's house found a series of ritual items, however none of the DNA on the items matched Adam's DNA. Ojo was charged with child trafficking offences, and is expected to be questioned by police about the Adam case.Facts|date=March 2007

Future

Progress on the case has been considerable given the lack of evidence and the existence of only Adam's torso. However, the lack of dental records or face imagery has been a major block to solving the crime. Still, Metropolitan police believe the publicity surrounding the case has acted as a deterrent for further ritual crimes in the UK.Facts|date=March 2007

The police also note that Adam would never have been found if his body had washed out into the North Sea, which would have occurred only two turns of the tide after his discovery.Facts|date=March 2007

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2803441.stm News article] , BBC, February 27 2003
* [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/19328071?version=1 "'Child sacrifices in London'"] , This Is London, June 16 2005
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4098172.stm "Boys 'used for human sacrifice'"] , BBC, June 16 2005

Further reading

Sanders, Todd 2003. Imagining the Dark Continent: the Met, the media and the Thames Torso. Cambridge Anthropology 23(3), 53-66.