The Shark Arm case
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The Shark Arm Case refers to an incident in Coogee, New South Wales, Australia, in early 1935, when on ANZAC Day a captured 3.5 meter tiger shark at the Coogee Aquarium Baths regurgitated a human arm. The arm belonged to a missing person, a former boxer and small time criminal named James Smith, and was identified by a unique tattoo. The arm had been severed with a knife, which led to a murder investigation.
Although arrests were made, police were hampered by the lack of the body and in the end no one was ever charged for the murder. Another local criminal, Reginald Holmes, whom Smith had sometimes worked for, was found shot in a car near the Sydney Harbour Bridge the day before the inquest into Smith's death was due to begin. The presumption was that Holmes was killed to keep him from talking.
[edit] Trivia
The Shark Arm Case was the basis of a 2003 episode of CSI: Miami.
Bill Bryson mentions this case in his book Down Under (known as In a Sunburned Country in the U.S.), but wrongly implies that the arm belonged to a swimmer who was eaten by the shark.
[edit] External links
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