SYDNEY — 1935 · Unsolved Case

The "Shark Arm" case

UnsolvedSources: CLast updated: 14 October 2026

In 1935 in Sydney, a human arm regurgitated by a tiger shark on display at an aquarium was identified as belonging to a man named James Smith, turning the matter into a murder investigation. A man linked to the case, Reginald Holmes, was killed under suspicious circumstances before he could give a statement. The investigation pointed to a suspect, but the case was dropped before it could reach trial due to a legal technicality and was never officially resolved.

Date: 1935
Place: Coogee / Dawes Point, New South Wales, Sydney, AU
Category: Unsolved Case
Case Status: Unsolved
Coordinates: -33.8688, 151.2093 ↗

Timeline of Events

1935Shark regurgitated the human arm (April)
1935A linked witness was killed under suspicious circumstances
1935Case dropped over a legal technicality

Sources

Official Report
Contemporary Press Archive

Source grade C: no linked source yet; details rely on the general press archive. If you spot a mistake or something missing, report it with "Suggest a correction" in the app.