Foot in U.S. not a match to B.C.

Tag : slip-on shoe

VANCOUVER - A sixth floating foot to wash up on West Coast shoresin the last year likely belongs to a new victim, RCMP say.
Sgt. Tim Shields said Tuesday that based on the description of theshoe found on a Washington state beach last week, it doesn't matchany of the five other feet found on British Columbia shores.
"Obviously, because they're describing a black shoe ... this doesnot match with any of the running shoes that we have found so far,"said Shields.
"This would presumably indicate that the foot belongs to a newmissing person."
The RCMP are working with investigators in Washington to try toidentify the foot.
Det. Sgt. Lyman Moores, of the Clallam County sheriff's departmentin Port Angeles, Wash., said despite the difference in the sneaker,he believes this foot may be related to the B.C. incidents
"I don't rule that out, being part of the ones they found inCanada," he said Tuesday.
"It's just too much of a coincidence."
The latest sneaker-shod foot was discovered Friday on a beach onJuan de Fuca Strait, about 50 kilometres west of Port Angeles.
U.S. authorities said Tuesday that the black, size-11 shoe was anEverest brand. The sock found inside the shoe was described as aLevi's brand tube sock.
Moores said the brand and style of the shoe will help investigatorspinpoint where it was made and sold.
U.S. authorities have not yet consulted an oceanographer aboutprevailing currents but Moores, who has sailed those waters, saidhe personally believes there's a strong chance this foot made thesame journey as those found in Canada.
"Once it hits the Straits of Juan de Fuca and it had an outgoingtide, if it was carrying it out to the open water and it hit astrong west wind, it could kick it out," he said in an interview.
"So I don't rule it out. We find things on beaches all the timethat come from all over the world, so who knows?"
The discovery of first one, then two and finally five dismemberedfeet, all in buoyant sneakers and washed up on Canadian shores, hasbeen headline-grabbing world news for the last year.
The RCMP has set up a task force to investigate their origins andany potential connections.
So far, one has been identified through DNA as belonging to adepressed B.C. man who disappeared a year ago. Two othersapparently belong to another unidentified man and a fourth belongsto an unidentified woman.
There's just no clue where they originated.
Results from DNA samples taken from toenails found inside the men'sathletic shoe should be back in about a month, Moores said.
They'll be compared with samples from the Canadian feet, as well asthose from a headless, footless corpse that washed up on OrcasIsland in neighbouring San Juan County in March 2007.
But Moores said he doubts there's a connection with the OrcasIsland body because a slip-on shoe found next to the remains is nomatch with this latest find.
Moores said he got in touch with the RCMP on the first day of hisinvestigation and expects to be sharing information this week.
Shields agreed there's a possibility the latest discoveryoriginated in Canadian waters.
"We'll be consulting with oceanographers yet again to see if thatis a possibility and we will be comparing the information obtainedfrom the sherrif's department with our list of missing persons tosee if we can make a possible link."
Some observers have suggested the phenomenon of well-preserved feetshod in athletic shoes is linked to the shoes' ability to float -unlike leather shoes - and preserve remains.
But Moores said the fact so many have washed up in the last year inthis region suggests it's no coincidence.
"There's a couple of things that come to mind immediately," hesaid.
"In the last couple of years we've had these tsunamis wherethousands of people have died. You can't help but think is itrelated to the tsunamis?"
Shields doubts it, though he doesn't exclude the possibility.
He said RCMP have consulted with oceanographers who have advisedthat the most likely scenario is that the feet originated in thesouthern Georgia Straight.
The best clue so far is the shoe itself.
Moores said the brand, style and serial numbers will help pinpointwhere it was made and sold.