This intensifying macabre mystery has flummoxed police and forensic investigators. Unlike the others that have been found, including one discovered Monday near Vancouver, this one was not detached at the ankle joint; there was no evidence of disarticulation. "It was cut clean, about three or four inches above the ankle bone. It was definitely severed, like it had been sawn off," said Sandra Malone, manager of Thunderbird RV Park and Campground in Campbell River, about 260 kilometres north of Victoria.
Ms. Malone was working what she thought was a routine shift at the RV park on Wednesday morning when a local woman approached her, obviously distraught. "She said she'd been collecting rocks for a craft project when she saw a shoe lying on the beach, just above the high-tide mark," recalled Ms. Malone. "She wasn't sure, but she thought there was a foot inside it." Ms. Malone followed her down to the beach. The shoe-clad foot was lying in plain view. "I could see two white bones sticking out of a black sneaker. The bones didn't have any flesh on them but they didn't look that old. The shoe was in pretty good condition but there was a lot of seaweed around it" said Ms. Malone.
The forth one was found on May 22 on Kirkland Island in the Fraser River. That complaint came in at noon from a passer-by who spotted the foot on Kirkland Island "with its shoe intact," according to Canadian authorities. The Coroners Service of British Columbia confirmed the remains to be human. The grisly finding may or may not be connected to other sneakered feet that have washed up in the province, said Cpl. Nycki Basra, spokeswoman with the Richmond unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "Right now, it's much too early to speculate," she said. "However, we are looking at a possible connection", she added. In February, a sneaker with the remains of a right foot was found on the east side of Valdez Island. Two feet were recovered last August in the same area, Gabriola, B.C. police said, adding that they have "yet to determine if foul play is involved." Police there say they've been in the process of reviewing all missing persons files that might be related to the discovery.
Police say DNA testing is being done on the latest foot, and DNA profiles have been conducted on the others. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer based in Seattle, Wash., said when a human body submerged in the ocean, the main parts like arms, legs, hands, feet and the head are usually what come off the body. "It's not unusual for body parts to wash up along the United States or Canada," he said. "There's so many accidents, like boating. That's not unusual."
Annie Linteau, a spokeswoman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said: “We are exploring the possibility that it could be people who have drowned. It could be missing fishermen. It could be the remains of people who died in a plane crash." The bodies of four out of five men on a plane that crashed three years ago have still to be recovered. The only left foot found so far was recovered on Monday on Westham Island. Campsite manager Sandra Malone, who found the latest foot on Wednesday, said: "The leg bones were coming out of the running shoe. The foot appeared to have been deliberately severed." Police tried to calm fears that it is the work of a maniac, insisting there was no evidence the feet were deliberately cut off.
Police carry a foot, found Wednesday, near Campbell River, B.C. in a plastic container.
An angler is a man who spends rainy days sitting around on the muddy banks of rivers doing nothing because his wife won't let him do it at home.
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