Re: Sixth Foot Washed Ashore On Vancouver Island Beach

On Jun 19, 12:13 am, "tiny dancer" <tinydancer...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
5th right foot adds to B.C. mystery
2nd foot this week, and 6th in total, found off west coast

VANCOUVER - The grisly saga of human feet washing ashore on the coastlines
of British Columbia became even more macabre Wednesday with the discovery of
a sixth human foot on a beach in Campbell River, B.C.
The sighting of a right foot encased in a size 10 men's black Adidas running
shoe on a sand spit on the eastern side of Vancouver Island provides more
dread to the growing mystery of who these feet belong to, and how many more
are out there, waiting to be found.

It's the second foot found in three days, and the sixth in less than a year.

The latest body part in a series of gruesome discoveries, which is capturing
interest around the world, washed ashore on beach near the Thunderbird RV
Park and Campground. The foot was discovered in the morning by a Campbell
River woman who had been looking for rocks for a crafts project.

The unidentified woman had heard of the other human feet and rushed up to
tell Sandra Malone, owner of the RV Park, to call the police.

Malone, who had also heard of the cases of the disarticulated feet, raced
down to look at the latest finding.

"People are all talking about this. You wonder if it's a serial killer thing
or what's going on," said Malone. "They're washing up all over the place."

Malone said she saw a right foot inside a black Adidas running shoe, which
was sitting above the high-tide line about a metre from the grass.

"The woman who found it thought it was just a shoe until she saw the bones
sticking out," said Malone.

B.C. RCMP Const. Annie Linteau said the latest foot and the shoe have been
sent to the B.C. Coroners Service for analysis by a forensic pathologist
will attempt to determine the source of the foot and if it is related to the
other feet. A DNA analysis will also be conducted.

Until the forensic analysis is completed, there will be no comment by the
police on whether the foot had been severed or belonged to a victim of foul
play, added Linteau.

Malone said the leg bone was still attached to the foot bone and there was
no remaining muscle. The leg bone was "cut on a straight line" just three to
four inches above the ankle, she added.

"It looked like foul play. That's the first thing that came into my mind."

The death of her brother and four other men in a plane crash off nearby
Quadra Island in 2005 was the first thing on the mind of Campbell River
resident Sally Feast.

She raced down to the spit as soon as she heard about the foot, which was
found not far from where the plane carrying her brother took off.

"It's emotionally draining. It could be his foot. But it's possible it's
not. We just want closure."

Feast said that every discovery of a human foot must be raising the hopes
and fears of relatives and friends of thousands of missing people in B.C.

"Just when you think everything is going nice and level, this happens. It's
two feet in three days. As the movie said: 'Houston we have a problem.'"

Chief coroner Terry Smith has said that DNA profiles developed for the first
three feet do not match any of the missing person cases for which the
coroner already has a DNA sample.

Smith also stressed that there is no evidence yet proving that the feet are
connected to each other or belonged to victims of four play.

There is no shortage of theories about what is behind the appearance of the
feet.

"I just think the more people you have missing, the more chances you have of
finding naturally occurring denigration of the body," said Ian Buckingham of
Victoria, a retired physician and coroner. He has also served as military
diver with the Canadian, U.S. and Royal navies.

While more people are missing, there are also more people walking beaches
than before, Buckingham said.

"Some (feet) have been discovered by pets who have good noses," he said. "I
just think there are lots more people out there than there used to be."

The ankle joint can easily come apart from the leg during a body's
disintegration at sea, Buckingham said.

All six of the feet - five rights and a left - have been found since August
2007 in the Strait of Georgia, which is sheltered from the Pacific Ocean by
Vancouver Island, or nearby in the mouth of the Fraser River.

Prof. Kurt Grimm, who teaches earth and ocean science at the University of
B.C., said it's unlikely the feet are washing in from the Pacific Ocean.

Rather, they're probably originating from B.C. waters.

"It's extremely unlikely that they're coming from the outside," he said.

Grimm said the six feet, all encased in buoyant sneakers, have either come
from the strait or the Fraser River, which empties into the strait.

The major ocean current off B.C.'s coast travels in a large
counter-clockwise loop, he explained. Constantly changing local weather
systems and tides usher floating debris caught in the current to shores in
North America and Asia, rarely piling ocean rubbish in the same place, he
said.

That may be why feet aren't piling up in other regions.

"It's very bizarre," he added.

However, another expert noted that when a foot separates as a body
decomposes, modern running shoes could keep it afloat for large distances..

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a U.S. authority on ocean currents and drifting objects,
said a disarticulated foot could float for up to 1,600 kilometres in a
buoyant sneaker.

The story has been picked up by international media outlets, including the
Sydney Morning Herald, which played the story prominently on its website in
Australia.

"We carried the story because it's so bizarre. I'm sure people around the
world are amazed by the story. I've never heard anything quite like it,"
said Simon Morris of the Morning Herald.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=a28ae8e0-5221-4....

According to the news (tv) this afternoon, this last one is a hoax, a
paw, in a sock and the shoe stuffed with seaweed. Nothing like
wasting other people's time, is there.
yD
.

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