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More theories on the mystery of the five severed feet
Wednesday, June 18 - 06:30:00 AM

Mike Lloyd/Province/Vancouver Sun/Globe
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) - Every day seems to bring a new theory on the mystery of BC's five severed feet. The search for answers has resulted in a parade of experts on everything from flotsam and ocean currents, to running shoe recognition.

Since 2004, there have been reports of 13 feet washing ashore around the world. There have been five that have been found in the past year in local waters. And the Vancouver Province reports another eight have washed up in California, Ottawa, Spain, New Zealand and Britain. The latest was spotted off Ladner on Monday.

The Province quotes a Vancouver athletic shoe store manager who, looking at a photo, thinks it may have been in a basic Nike runner, but can't tell if its a men's or women's model.

Some of the more interesting thoughts have come from oceanographer Curtis Ebermeyer, quoted in today's Globe and Mail. Ebermeyer says certain beaches attract certain types of flotsam and the feet washing up in BC may be an example of that. He says the ocean sorts things out to an exquisite degree.

If, for example, a shipping container of shoes is lost in the ocean, he says some beaches collect just left shoes, others collect right shoes.

Still the best hope of solving the mystery is identifying the owners through DNA matches. There are now profiles on three of the five feet, but so far no matches to any missing people.

One person watching closely is Sally Feast. Her brother and four others were killed in a plane crash off Quadra Island in 2005. The bodies were never found.

She tells the Vancouver Sun there have been no answers from the coroner's service on DNA matches yet.

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Another severed foot washes up in Campbell River
Wednesday, June 18 - 12:35:00 PM

Jim Goddard
CAMPBELL RIVER (NEWS1130) - Campbell River RCMP say another severed foot has been found near that community. It's the sixth foot to wash up in coastal B.C. in recent months.

RCMP say the right foot in a size-10 black Adidas running shoe was found at Tyee Spit just after 10 this morning. The discovery was made by a person out for a walk.

In the past 11 months, six human feet have been discovered along B.C.'s coast. Five have been right feet. A foot discovered in Ladner Monday appeared to be a left foot. So far police haven't been able to say if there's any connection between the severed feet.

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This is REALLY stupid!!! Why would someone do this?!

'A sick joke': Latest severed foot discovery was a hoax
Thursday, June 19 - 02:30:00 PM

Nikki Pena/Mike Hanafin
CAMPBELL RIVER (NEWS1130) - The RCMP has launched an investigation into yesterday's discovery of a 6th 'severed foot', near Campbell River, which has now been determined to be a hoax.

The B.C. Coroner's Service (BCCS) says it has confirmed the remains found in a running shoe at Tyee Spit are not human. The Coroner's Service says a forensic pathologist and an anthropologist have determined a skeletonised animal paw was inserted into the shoe with a sock, and packed with dried seaweed.

The BCCS calls the hoax 'disrespectful to the families of missing persons' and says it is no longer investigating the incident. They're also chiding the unknown hoaxster(s) for wasting valuable investigative time and resources that could be spent on the main investigations, which is still continuing.

RCMP Constable Annie Linteau says they're looking for the person involved in what they call 'a sick joke'. "It's unbelievable that someone would take the time to something like this..that's someone's loved one we're talking about here." If a suspect is caught, RCMP will pursue public mischief and possibly animal cruelty charges.

RCMP Inspector Brendan FitzPatrick says the insensitivity shown to the families and the victims involved is unbelievable. "Time was taken to ensure that the remains were set up to closely resemble human remains. While it is a relief that there was a not a human victim involved, the fact somebody would perpetrate a hoax such as this is disturbing."