British Columbia Foot Mystery Update

Appearances of disarticulated feet should be no cause for alarm or immediate suspicions of foul play, Simon Fraser University forensic scientist Gail Anderson has said.

Feet are found more often than other submerged body parts because the flesh is often contained tightly within a sock and in the shoe, and is less likely to be accessible to scavenging animals.

Friday, August 27, 2010
Human foot washes ashore on Whidbey Island
By Rikki King
Herald Writer

WHIDBEY ISLAND -- Someone taking a nice walk along the beach near Greenbank got a strange surprise this morning.

Around 11:30, a beach walker found a human right foot washed up on the shore, said Ed Wallace, a detective with the Island County Sheriff's Office.

The foot is small, and appears to belong to a female or a child, officials said. They believe the foot was in the water less than two months. It wasn't wearing a shoe.

Greenbank is on the east side of the island, facing Saratoga Passage.

Island County investigators are asking police at nearby agencies to check missing persons lists. There are no known suicides off Deception Pass Bridge that would match the foot, especially in the last two months. DNA testing is planned.

In recent years numerous feet have washed up near Vancouver, B.C. Officials don't believe this case is related.

"We've never had a foot wash up (here) before," Wallace said.

For now, the foot is at the Island County Coroner's Office. A forensic pathologist will come take samples and send them to the state crime lab.

When a human body is submerged in the ocean, it's common for the arms, legs, hands, feet and head to detach, the Associated Press reports.

Severed feet mystery continues as 13th foot washes ashore!
November 11, 2011 -
Another severed foot has washed ashore in Canada, bringing the number to 13. This bizarre story has been going on for the last four years when as 12 severed feet in sneakers have washed ashore periodically in the Canada and Washington State; all have been in sneakers except for the newest find, the 13th foot is in a hiking boot according to The Daily Mail.

The latest severed foot adds to the mystery of the feet bound in shoes coming ashore. Authorities believe that the feet severe naturally from the body after being in the water for some time and they stay protected due to the tightly bound shoes. They do not believe that any foul play is involved and that these are feet from victims of ship wrecks and plane wrecks off the coast.

Stephen Fonseca of the BC Coroners Office said that it would be difficult for anyone to severe feet from the body without leaving nicks in the bones and these feet show nothing like this.