DNA analysis matches 2 feet found on B.C.'s coastline
Last Updated: Friday, December 5, 2008 | 6:35 PM PT
CBC News
A woman's right foot was found encased in this size 7 New Balance running shoe on May 22 in Kirkland Island, B.C. (RCMP) DNA tests have confirmed a match between a left foot that washed up in the Fraser River last month and a right foot found in May on Kirkland Island, B.C.
The feet belonged to the same woman, whose identity has not yet been determined, the B.C. Coroners Service said Friday.
The left foot was discovered on Nov. 11 in Finn Slough in the south arm of the Fraser in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. The right foot was located May 22 on Kirkland Island, also in the Fraser River.
Both feet were found in size 7 New Balance running shoes.
"Investigations by the RCMP, Delta Police Department and the coroners service to determine the identities for this pair, the pair of male feet matched on July 10 and a remaining right foot are ongoing," Terry Foster, a senior public affairs officer, said in a news release.
'There is no forensic evidence at this time to support anything other than disarticulation.'— Terry Foster, B.C. Coroners Service
"An ID was confirmed on the right foot found on Aug. 20, 2007, at Jedediah Island near Parksville but was withheld at the request of the family," he said.
Six feet have washed up on B.C.'s coastline since August 2007.
"In all cases, these remains appear to have naturally separated from the body. There is no forensic evidence at this time to support anything other than disarticulation as there are no tool or trauma marks on the remains," Foster said.
A sneaker encasing a human foot was discovered south of B.C. in Washington State in August this year.
The RCMP have said that size 11 shoe does not fit with any of those found on the feet in B.C. But authorities in Washington said the shoe could have come from Canada due to the nature of the currents that move through the Juan de Fuca Strait, which separates Vancouver Island and Washington's Olympic Peninsula.
RCMP spokeswoman Const. Annie Linteau said Friday that matching the feet is only one part of the investigation.
"It's certainly a good step in our investigation," she said. "We still have to look at all relevant missing persons' files [and] the DNA profiles that we have on file in an attempt to ID those remains," she said.
