Police Struggle to Explain Washed-Up Human Feet | Newsweek International

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Some scientists maintain that five feet could well wash ashore in the span of 10 months in the normal course of events. "I think it's a coincidence, absolutely. There's a multitude of sources in this oceanic environment region," says Richard Thomson, a physical oceanographer with the federal Institute of Ocean Sciences on Vancouver Island. "There's not a mystery to be solved." Thomson also offers a straightforward explanation for why all the feet are from the same side of the body, suggesting that right feet may be more firmly lodged in their shoes: "Since we're mostly right-handed, we tie up sneakers stronger on the right foot; the foot we kick with, push off with."

The Mounties, meanwhile, are exploring all possibilities-and remain cautious about offering ideas about a possible link between the finds. They've asked the public to be patient while forensic scientists extract DNA from the limbs and anthropologists look for clues in what flesh and bone remains. "It's a mystery," says Linteau, of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "We've certainly heard lots of theories -- from [sources interviewed in] the media, mostly."

Now authorities must begin the painstaking work of combing through missing persons reports to look for victims who might have disappeared at a time that would be consistent with the age of the found parts. In 2000, Linteau says, the police undertook a review of all missing persons cases in the country to acquire DNA where available. Investigators will also look for male victims, two with a sneaker size of 12 and one size 10. One of the bigger running shoes was a Reebok; the smaller one was an Adidas. Police haven't released information about the other shoes yet, but they did disclose that there are no tool markings on any of the feet, which means the parts probably came loose of their own accord. Carleton University biologist George Carmody says that scientists should be able to use DNA to determine whether the owners of the feet were biologically related, in addition to figuring out what race, age and gender their owners were.

But the police know that solving this riddle may take months. "It's extremely unique," says Constable Sharlene Brooks of the Delta Police Department in British Columbia, which has jurisdiction over the fifth foot but is working with investigators from other agencies for clues. "But just because there's a recovery of another foot doesn't mean they're automatically linked to the others. We can't get ahead of ourselves and start speculating. We need to establish identity; that way we can work our way back and determine what the circumstances are for this person's death, whether it's foul play or an accident or myriad other possibilities...we're running into the 'CSI' factor, where people expect us to be done in an hour or a day or two. But this could take quite some time."

portlandtrout, my intention was not to make a joke but offer a premise for consideration based on an article I read several years ago about a phenomenon that was noticed that thongs (flip-flops) that were washed up on some beaches were all right footed while on other beaches they were all left footed. It wasn't something I made up but read, though I don't have a reference at hand. I will try to find one, but maybe someone else out there knows of such a report or research. Take two boats that are the same but fix the rudder on one to the left and to the right on the other. Put them in the water at the same starting point. Would it be idiotic to suggest that these two boats could end up in very different places? Now put another boat of the same style in the water at the same starting point with its rudder fixed to the right. Which bet would you place? That the boat will end up closest to where the left rudder boat ended up or to where the right rudder boat ended up? (And, regarding another's comment, this isn't about duck decoys on a still pond but a boat with a rudder fixed to one side subjected to ocean currents.) The fact that five right shoes have turned up and no left shoes appears evidence enough to give the premise some consideration. (And the left footed shoes, if they floated free in the same manner, could therefore end up in a very different location than the right footed shoes, regardless of whether they originated in the Puget Sound area or not.) The above again is a premise for consideration. Why can't the shoes have come down the Inside Passage or the Strait of Juan de Fuca? And, if so, why couldn't they have come then from the ocean into these passages? I'm not suggesting they did, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. Don't things from the Pacific Ocean find their way into Puget Sound? (I don't know, I'm asking.) And, if so, why couldn't they have crossed the ocean in the first place. In any event, if the five unlucky souls suffered an accident leading to their deaths at the same time and place, it's not all that unlikely that the right foot of each person, each floating within a shoe, each made similar journeys. Who knows, there might have been many more than five people altogether but this sample of five have happened to have made similar journeys. It'll be interesting to hear what the DNA testing turns up, though if the findings show that not all five people were born in the same place, it doesn't mean they weren't in the same place at the time of the accident, whether boat, plane or tsunami, which could have been one that hit Japan or elsewhere in the Pacific. Though, as others indicate by their disbelief, the most likely scene of an accident would seem to be in the Puget Sound area. But that doesn???t mean ruling out other locations as the possible starting point.

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Posted By: steelerslover @ 06/25/2008 2:39:14 PM

The only problem with that would be that her foot would have to travel through the Panama Canal--Aruba is on the other side of the US., this is on the west side, Aruba is below Cuba, right above Venezuela.
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Posted By: jdinperthwa @ 06/25/2008 1:03:29 PM

portlandtrout, my intention was not to make a joke but offer a premise for consideration based on an article I read several years ago about a phenomenon that was noticed that thongs (flip-flops) that were washed up on some beaches were all right footed while on other beaches they were all left footed. It wasn't something I made up but read, though I don't have a reference at hand. I will try to find one, but maybe someone else out there knows of such a report or research. Take two boats that are the same but fix the rudder on one to the left and to the right on the other. Put them in the water at the same starting point. Would it be idiotic to suggest that these two boats could end up in very different places? Now put another boat of the same style in the water at the same starting point with its rudder fixed to the right. Which bet would you place? That the boat will end up closest to where the left rudder boat ended up or to where the right rudder boat ended up? (And, regarding another's comment, this isn't about duck decoys on a still pond but a boat with a rudder fixed to one side subjected to ocean currents.) The fact that five right shoes have turned up and no left shoes appears evidence enough to give the premise some consideration. (And the left footed shoes, if they floated free in the same manner, could therefore end up in a very different location than the right footed shoes, regardless of whether they originated in the Puget Sound area or not.) The above again is a premise for consideration. Why can't the shoes have come down the Inside Passage or the Strait of Juan de Fuca? And, if so, why couldn't they have come then from the ocean into these passages? I'm not suggesting they did, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. Don't things from the Pacific Ocean find their way into Puget Sound? (I don't know, I'm asking.) And, if so, why couldn't they have crossed the ocean in the first place. In any event, if the five unlucky souls suffered an accident leading to their deaths at the same time and place, it's not all that unlikely that the right foot of each person, each floating within a shoe, each made similar journeys. Who knows, there might have been many more than five people altogether but this sample of five have happened to have made similar journeys. It'll be interesting to hear what the DNA testing turns up, though if the findings show that not all five people were born in the same place, it doesn't mean they weren't in the same place at the time of the accident, whether boat, plane or tsunami, which could have been one that hit Japan or elsewhere in the Pacific. Though, as others indicate by their disbelief, the most likely scene of an accident would seem to be in the Puget Sound area. But that doesn???t mean ruling out other locations as the possible starting point.
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Posted By: aliciainsd @ 06/25/2008 12:53:57 PM

The great britan part was from body parts from a plane crash in australia making it all the way to great britan. It's a little wierd that they are all coming so close together, I think that it is a mortician or someone like that, Maybe they cut the leg higher up , then fasten the leg to a dock or something so that part of the foot will eventually come off by itself and it wont look like the foot was severed by a tool. Gross, or maybe it really is just people have drowned and it is a concidence.