A man walking his dog on a British Columbia beach this week made a grisly discovery: A foot in a shoe, along with part of a lower leg. Adding to the mystery is that it is the 13th foot to wash up on the Canadian province’s coastline over the past decade.
“Our early analysis suggests these are human remains and we will do further investigation and testing … in the coming weeks,” said Andy Watson, a spokesman for the BC Coroners Service, about the Thursday discovery. The remains included a tibia and fibula.
The Coroners Service said all previous 12 feet were human. The service identified eight of them and determined they belonged to six individuals.
No foul play was involved in those cases, according to the Coroners Service, though it did not say how it arrived at that conclusion.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Coroners Service are trying to identify the owner of the foot found this week, as well as the cause of death. They said they will look into any possible matches to missing persons cases.
It’s not clear why so many feet have washed up on British Columbia shores. When asked, the coroner’s spokesman said, “I’m not able to speak to” the reason.
Watson said, however, “There’s no reason to believe that they (the cases) were connected in any way.”
