Canadian police say they’re not alarmed by a human foot on a British Columbia beach—at least the 15th discovered since 2007.
The left foot washed ashore in West Vancouver in September, though the BC Coroners Service is just now looking for help identifying its owner. “Typically … we would work with any of the available information that we would find at a scene to help determine the identity, but, in this case, we’ve exhausted those options,” spokesman Andy Watson tells the CBC.
As in most of the earlier cases, the foot was found in an athletic shoe—specifically, a gray Nike Free RN in a men’s size 9.5, believed to have been purchased in the spring or summer of 2017.
“Certainly, it is an odd trend” but “this isn’t a cause for panic,” Watson adds of finding all these feet. Ten of the 15 cases have been traced to missing person cases. “Sometimes they are natural deaths, or suicides, or accidental deaths,” he tells CNN, noting feet easily detach from a body buffeted by waves, while foam-soled shoes keep them afloat.
“We don’t see any indication that there is any suspicion of foul play.” In the latest case, police believe the shoe fitted with an OrthoLite insert belonged to a man younger than 50. However, DNA from the foot didn’t match any missing person cases, per Global News. (The last foot to be found got stuck in a logjam.)
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