Chris's Crime Forum

CTV News is reporting another development in a case that has baffled police and the public for over a year, drawing worldwide attention to British Columbia's southwest coast.

Another severed foot has washed up on B.C.'s shoreline, this time in the Vancouver suburb of Richmond, where it was discovered by a woman on Tuesday morning while she was walking near the banks of the Fraser River with her dogs.

"It had been brought up by a high tide,'' said Diane Johnston. Since she was too scared to climb down the river bank to fetch a running shoe that was sitting up on a rock, she notifed her husband Ken, who later phoned Richmond police.

RCMP Const. Annie Linteau has confirmed that the New Balance running shoe contained the remains of a human foot. Those remains will be sent to the B.C. Coroners office for further examination Wednesday.

It is the seventh foot to have been found in a coastal region -- that includes the B.C. west coast, and the northwestern tip of Washington State -- since August of 2007.






Related Links: Map of the severed feet discoveries in B.C. and the U.S.

The first foot was found on Jedidiah Island, in the strait that divides Vancouver Island from the mainland. It was a right foot inside a Campus-brand men's size 12 running shoe that was mainly distributed in India.

Six days later, another right foot -- inside a man's size 12 Reebok running shoe -- washed ashore on Gabriola Island.

A third -- a right foot in a Nike sneaker -- was found in the area on Feb. 8 on the east side of Valdez Island.

The fourth and fifth feet were both found near the Fraser River.

The fourth came ashore on Kirkland Island on May 22 and was the only one of the five that came from a woman's body. It was found in a New Balance running shoe.

The fifth, a size 10 left foot, was located a kilometre away on June 16. It was later determined to be a match to the foot found months earlier on Valdez Island.

Then, on August 3, a newspaper in Washington State reported that a running shoe, containing bones and flesh had been found at a Strait of Juan de Fuca beach, just south of the U.S-Canada border, about 40 kilometres west of Port Angeles.

Police are expected to answer media questions about the Richmond discovery later today.

"The shoe looked to be in pretty good shape,'' said Ken Johnston during an interview with CTV. He said it was found near the mouth of the Fraser River, behind an old paper plant in Finn Slough.

With reports by CTV British Columbia's Renu Bakshi and Jon Woodward


link

Good lord one or two feet washed up is a coincidence,7 well to me thats a whole different story.

VANCOUVER -- The discovery of yet another detached foot in a waterlogged running shoe lessens, rather than enhances, the ongoing puzzle of the grisly West Coast finds, according to a prominent oceanographer who has paid close attention to the captivating mystery.

"I don't want to burst any bubbles, but I think we're getting to the bottom of things," said Curtis Ebbesmeyer of Seattle yesterday. "Science is starting to come through."

Mr. Ebbesmeyer based his conclusion on the likelihood that the latest find in a small, left-footed New Balance running shoe - the seventh within 16 months - was a match to an earlier, nearby discovery of a right-footed sneaker of the same brand and a similar size.

"That means we have only two rights that haven't been matched," said the expert, who has won a measure of fame with his study of ocean currents based on the accidental release of thousands of bathtub toys, including rubber ducks. "My specialty is everything that floats on the ocean."

Ken Johnston and his wife, Diane, came across the seventh foot encased in a running shoe Tuesday along the south arm of the Fraser River in Richmond.

Mr. Johnston said he was even more shaken a day after the couple's discovery than he was at the time they came across the shoe floating in the afternoon tide.

"It was eerie, very weird, and even more so today, as you come to the realization that maybe this was part of a human being," he said. "It rattled me a bit more. It's all very strange."

Since the first orphaned foot was found Aug. 20, 2007, on the shores of Jedediah Island in the Strait of Georgia, interest in the apparent mystery has grown worldwide, as more running shoes with feet inside them kept turning up at various locations along the West Coast.

None of the feet appear to have been purposefully severed but separated through natural processes, according to the RCMP, which has nonetheless launched an intense investigation into the case.

So far, only one of the feet has been linked by DNA to a specific individual. Police said the victim's death was not suspicious.

Two other feet have been identified as being from the same person, and now, with the most recent discovery, there is a possible second match. A right New Balance shoe with a woman's foot inside was found off Kirkland Island near Richmond on May 22.

"We are certainly aware of the parallels between the latest shoe and the one discovered in May," said RCMP spokeswoman Constable Annie Linteau. "One left, one right and a similar size."

However, she said police cannot even confirm the remains in the shoe are human until the coroner's office conducts an examination and DNA analysis.

She said police continue to comb missing-persons lists for clues to the feet, but often, there is no DNA available from those who have disappeared.

Constable Linteau said local police investigators have never heard of so many detached feet washing up in the same general vicinity in such a short period of time.

Mr. Ebbesmeyer, however, said it is not unusual for body parts to show up anywhere along ocean shores. "I know on the shorelines of Florida and Texas, where I've studied, you get detached heads, feet, legs, everything showing up. Drifting human remains are not that unusual. It's just that nobody likes to talk about them."

What intrigued him initially about the so-called mystery was the fact that the first four discoveries were all right feet. "A string of rights. That's unusual," Mr. Ebbesmeyer said. "But now we're starting to see some matches."

Mr. Johnston, a former MLA who is running for Richmond council in Saturday's municipal elections, said he has been taken aback by the number of news media calls he has received. "I didn't realize how much interest there was in this. I'm so tired of it," he said, wearily.

He said the foot was first noticed by his wife during a morning walk with their beagles Patty and Keegan, but it was difficult for her to get close to the shoe. Mr. Johnston joined her later in the day, and the object was hauled up on shore.

"I turned it over and saw a bit of a sock inside. Then I poked it with a stick and what was inside was hard, like a bone." He then placed it in the plastic bag they carried for their dogs' waste and prepared to take it home. But recalling all the publicity over earlier feet finds, Mr. Johnston decided to call police immediately.

"They were there within 30 minutes, with all their cameras, and they dragged it away. Then they interviewed us for quite a time. It was like I was guilty or something."

Seaborne, severed and suspicious

The mystery of the severed feet in athletic shoes washing ashore along the West Coast continues as a seventh appendage is discovered along the Fraser River.

1. Jedediah Island, Aug. 20, 2007: Men's size 12 Campus running shoe

2. Gabriola Island, Aug. 26, 2007: Men's size 12, right, white Reebok brand running shoe

3. Valdes Island, Feb. 2, 2008: Men's size 11, right, blue-and-white Nike brand running shoe

4. Kirkland Island, May 22, 2008: Women's size 7, right, blue-and-white New Balance brand running shoe

5. Westham Island, June 16, 2008: Men's size 11, left, blue-and-white Nike brand running shoe. Matches the right foot found Feb. 2

6. Olympic Peninsula, Aug. 4, 2008: Men's size 11, right, Everest brand hiking-style shoe

7. Lulu Island, Nov. 12, 2008: Left, blue-and-white New Balance brand running shoe. Might match the shoe found on May 22

link

The theories behind the mystery feet have been far-fetched, even silly; also sad and sinister.

But one thing is for sure: seven of them, human, each clad in a hiking or running shoe, have washed up on Canada’s west coast shore at irregular intervals over the past 15 months.

They have all been found by passersby on a stretch of islands along British Columbia’s Strait of Georgia near the Fraser River, attracting enough international interest and media coverage to prompt two hoaxes. In one case, someone stuffed the skeleton of an animal paw and some seaweed into a sock and shoe and left it on Vancouver Island.

The findings, said Annie Linteau, a constable in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, are highly unusual.

“The Fraser River, many other bodies of water, quite often they find bodies,” said Ms Linteau. “But not feet.”

A 12-year-old girl found the first foot, on Aug 20 2007. The latest turned up Nov 11 in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver also known as Lulu Island. So far, forensic tests have proved only that the appendage – a woman’s left, wearing a blue-and-white New Balance shoe – was human, said Ms Linteau.

The foot would seem to be a match for one found on another island in May; DNA tests are being conducted. Testing already showed feet three and five, size 11s in Nike shoes found on Feb 2 and June 16, were from a missing man, who was reported to have been depressed. Foul play is not suspected in his death.

Some of the wilder theories have blamed organised crime, a serial killer or human trafficking operation.

Four victims of a small plane crash in the area three years ago have been ruled out. It was even suggested the feet could belong to some of the victims of the 2004 tsunami, travelling relatively intact via ocean current from Indonesia, across Antarctica, the Pacific Ocean and into the mostly outflowing Fraser.

“That is totally impossible,” said Dr Richard Thomson, a research scientist at BC’s Institute of Ocean Sciences.

Most experts say the feet came from bodies that entered the water locally. None were severed or torn off; instead they “disarticulated” naturally.

“Most modern running shoes have comfort gels and air cushions that make them more buoyant than salt water,” said Dr Thomson. “If the poor person is lying on the bottom of the ocean, parts that have running shoes will float and detach.”

Other body parts would be eaten by marine life or pecked at by birds. A foot in a running shoe, and likely also a sock, would float sole up and be protected.

Police have pared down the province’s missing-persons list of more than 2,000 people to focus on about 60 “highly probable cases”, and are seeking leads from the public, said Ms Linteau.

Janice Raven runs Hummingbird Lodge, a bed and breakfast on Gabriola Island where foot No 2, a man’s size 12 in a white Reebok shoe, was found on Aug 26 last year.

People there are not really worried about the feet anymore, most having been satisfied with forensic explanations she said.

“It’s almost becoming, ‘Oh well, another one; big deal. It’s nobody I know.’”


link

Richmond RCMP are investigating the discovery of yet another severed foot washing up on shore in Richmond. The right foot, which appears to belong to a male, was discovered Tuesday near No. 6 Road and Triangle Road. The foot was discovered by two men walking near the shore, according to Richmond RCMP.

The right foot appears to belong to a male, according to Richmond RCMP. It was found encased in a size 8.5 Nike running shoe. It is the fourth foot to be found in or near Richmond in the last couple of years.

In November 2008, city councilor Ken Johnston and his wife Diana found a human foot near the south dyke trail at the end of Garden city road. DNA testing showed it matched a female foot that washed up earlier, in May 2008, on Kirkland Island, right across the river. In June of 2008, a foot was also found on nearby Westham Island, which is near Kirkland Island.

A total of seven feet have now washed up on B.C. shores in the last couple of years, according to the Richmond RCMP. Another washed up in Washington State. Like all the others that have been found, the most recent foot appears to have separated from the leg bone naturally through what is called disarticulation, meaning it was not cut off.

The foot has been turned over to the B.C. Coroner's service.

update


Seventh severed foot identified as missing B.C. man's
BURNABY, B.C. — A severed foot found in a Vancouver suburb last week has been identified as belonging to a man missing since last year.

The B.C. Coroners Service said Thursday the remains of the right foot discovered on Oct. 27 on a beach in Richmond, B.C., is that of a 25-year-old man who has been missing since January 2008. His identity has been withheld at the request of his family.

Investigators do not believe any foul play was involved in the man's death.

This was the seventh severed foot found in B.C. since 2007.

The investigations into the other found feet were continuing.

The first six feet washed ashore either in the Fraser River delta or on islands in the Strait of Georgia between the mainland and Vancouver Island.

The third and fifth feet were found to have belonged to the same person.

The latest foot was the first to have been found this year.


Police have said there has been no evidence to date of foul play in relation to the grisly discoveries, and it appears that all the remains separated from the body through a natural process called disarticulation.

Warm water, decomposition and marine life preying on remains can separate a limb from a body.

http://www.canada.com/news/Seventh+seve ... story.html