9th Foot Washes Up in BC

Buoyant footwear behind grisly finds, coroner says
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 11, 2011 12:22 AM CST
9th Foot Washes Up in BC
The foot was found in this size 12 black Cougar-brand hiking boot.   (BC Coroner's Office)

Another foot missing its owner has washed ashore in southwestern British Columbia—the ninth such grim discovery in the last four years. Unlike the others, this one, found by a group of teens, was in freshwater and was in a hiking boot, not a running shoe, CBC reports. Investigators believe the foot separated naturally from the rest of the body and had probably been submerged for at least a decade. Six of the feet found previously have been identified.

The foot finds may be unsettling, but they're simply the result of changes in footwear, the local coroner insists. "As shoes become more buoyant, that's the only source of remains that we're likely to find in many water-related cases," he tells the Coquitlam Now, though he doesn't explain why the bodies are there to begin with. "Then it's a case of the body just breaking down. Whatever is buoyant or encased in something buoyant—like these running shoes or hikers—will come back to the surface." (More British Columbia stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X