Program Note: Watch Randi Kaye’s full report on Anderson Cooper 360°, tonight 10p ET.
Randi Kaye
AC360° Correspondent
UPDATE: 4:10p ET
(CNN) — What was believed to be the sixth human foot to wash up on the shores of British Columbia in recent months was a fake, authorities said Friday. The British Columbia Coroners Service confirmed that the remains found in a shoe on Thursday were a “skeletonised animal paw” that was put in the shoe with a sock and packed with dried seaweed.
ORIGINAL POST:
This goes down as one of the most bizarre stories I have ever been asked to report.
It’s a mystery that began nearly a year ago, when a random foot was discovered on the shores of Canada. Soon, more followed.
Now, six feet in all have been discovered. All of them in the waters of the Georgia Strait area between Vancouver Island and the B.C. mainland.
The first two feet washed up in August 2007, one on Gabriola Island, the other on Jedidiah Island. Then in February another foot appeared on Valdes Island.
On Wednesday this week, the sixth human foot dressed in a running shoe was found.
It was discovered on a beach in Vancouver Island by a woman who was walking on the beach. The foot was still wearing a size 10 black adidas running shoe.
By now you’re probably wondering, what the heck is going on?
Well you’ll get the full report on Anderson Cooper 360 tonight, but here’s what we know: Five of the feet found are right feet, including the one picked up this week. One of the feet discovered is a left foot, compounding the mystery.
Officials don’t suspect foul play because it doesn’t appear any of the feet were severed.
Investigators have far too many theories to list here but one of the more interesting ones is the feet may belong to victims of a plane crash. A plane, carrying four men, went down in 2005. Some of the bodies are still missing.
Dr. Gail Anderson, of the Simon Fraser University Centre for Forensic Research, says it’s possible the feet belong to the missing bodies.
She told a local newspaper, “Perhaps a plane going down, a boat going down, where a number of deaths have occurred [could be the origin], perhaps something has happened. The tide has shifted, another boat has hit it, something has happened to move it.”
Relatives of the victims have spent the past three years trying to find their remains, navigating a complex system of channels and currents and calculating where the tides may have taken the bodies.
The B.C. Coroner’s Service has asked family members of the plane crash victims to provide further DNA samples to see if there’s a match between their samples and DNA taken from three of the feet.
I’m wondering how far a severed limb can travel in the water? And why are just feet turning up? Also, if they’re found still wearing socks and sneakers, has that helped preserve them and the DNA?
So many questions. We’re going to get to the bottom of this mystery but if you have any ideas on where these feet may be coming from, I’d love to hear them.
| Cindy |
June 19th, 2008 1:05 pm ET I have been reading about and keeping up with this story. It is very strange indeed! The first thought that came to my mind was that someone was killing people, dismembering them and putting their bodies in the ocean. But now they don’t think that is the case. I will really be looking forward to this report tonight. Cindy…Ga. |
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| Janna |
June 19th, 2008 1:06 pm ET re; only feet turning up- Perhaps hungry sea life devoured the rest of the bodies… |
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| Melissa |
June 19th, 2008 1:10 pm ET How can the officials say the feet weren’t severed? If they weren’t, wouldn’t they be attached to the leg? There’s a lot the officials aren’t releasing about these feet for us to even try to understand what might have happened. |
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| Fay, CA |
June 19th, 2008 1:31 pm ET Randi, this is a story I’ve been following on the web for a while and it just gets stranger by the day–the theory about a plane crash or a boating accident being the cause sounds pretty plausible–or at least that’s what I’d like to believe, because it freaks me out to think that there’s some maniac going around chopping people’s feet off and dumping them in the water. |
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| Pat |
June 19th, 2008 1:32 pm ET Your initial report suggested foul play because the feet had been clearly severed with a very clean cut. Now that fact appears to have changed. Sounds like the investigate is far from complete even as far as the report of condition of the evidence is concened. |
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| Gary Chandler in Canada |
June 19th, 2008 1:38 pm ET There is only one explanation I can think of. |
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| Oreste Matellini |
June 19th, 2008 1:44 pm ET No doctor here but a foot inside a laced up shoe can be preserved I guess from being eaten by sea life, which would not be the case on other body parts exposed more to the elements if these are body parts from some plane crash or the like…. But if there’s some looney person chopping people’s feet with tools those tool marks would have been eaten away by sea life I guess???? Of course, If the owner’s of the feet are alive they would have come forward already! What about some morgue intern playing with unclaimed body parts??? Maybe I watch too many movies but hey! Anything is possible…. |
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| Jody |
June 19th, 2008 1:46 pm ET There is obvously alot of information that is being kept out of the news that is too early to share with the media but a little more information may help someone identify the person(s) to whom the feet belong to. I think they are dealing with something much more complicated than a plane crash and they are baffled. My questions are: Did the first five feet have shoes as well? |
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| Marie Claude |
June 19th, 2008 2:09 pm ET I am not sure if they could be those of the men missing from the plane crash because there was an article about a woman whose husband died in that plane crash that killed 4 or 5 men and said that her husband had been located and burried after the crash. Although he is the only man that had been found, it would mean that they are now down to 3 or 4 men missing. Seems like there are 5 RIGHT feet that have been found lately.. to whom that extra foot (or these extra feet)would belong to then?? More feet turned up than actual missing men from the plane!! |
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| twyla landry hawaii |
June 19th, 2008 2:11 pm ET I still think it is strange that only feet are washing up…..does the shoe on the right foot match any of the shoes on left feet that have washed ashore???? All the junk you find in a shark’s belly, it just seems strange that they would be spitting feet out but like Oreste said “Anything is possible….: |
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| Lilibeth |
June 19th, 2008 2:21 pm ET Anything is possible. I can only imagine how unsettling this would be for those who live in the area. I hope they get to the bottom of this soon. |
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| John Victoria |
June 19th, 2008 2:46 pm ET Why are we so nieve. I’ll go out on a limb: Five right feet show up from a plane crash some years ago with four passengers aboard? The limbs are not severed but are mearly falling off? Nobody is claiming any feet? Tides move right feet in different directions than left feet? Some two years later feet with running shoes finally wash ashore here only? Salt water either preserves or destroys flesh? MS 13 is working in Vancouver. |
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| Gary Chandler in Canada |
June 19th, 2008 2:52 pm ET From this desk, I can see Gabriola Island, where one of the feet was found. |
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| jacey |
June 19th, 2008 3:02 pm ET I’ve secretly wanted to see the theories devolve to Canadian piranhas. |
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| Tabby |
June 19th, 2008 3:32 pm ET I live on the BC coast (Lower Mainland) and according to the news here, I believe all the feet that were found had shoes (runners) on. If these feet were part of the people who died in the plane crash, I don’t think your shoe would stay on on impact. Even people getting hit by a car, their shoes tend to fly off, so I don’t believe the theory that the feet are the remains of the plane crash victims, just my opinion. Also, the witness that did find the last foot in Campbell River did say that the the cut was a clean cut 3 to 4 inches above the ankle. They are all men’s feet except for one. There are theories flying around that these feet could be part of the missing men that have been disappearing the last few years in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland - disappearing without a trace! I do find it strange only feet are showing up and I am sure that the police know more than they are saying, which is understandable. It is very unsettling. |
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| Betty Ann, Nacogdoches,TX |
June 19th, 2008 3:43 pm ET Hi Randi~ |
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| Toni Clark |
June 19th, 2008 3:58 pm ET I think it’s a serial killer or from drug dealers, they do freakish things, tied up a girl in this area and set her on fire, she managed to get (burn) loose and walked to help, still smoking. |
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| Stacy McCurdy |
June 19th, 2008 4:17 pm ET I believe that the shoes/feet belong to tsunami and/or typhoon victims that have been washed out to sea. The rest of the bodies have long since be devoured, but the foot is being preserved and protected from fish by the shoe. The shoes float, thereby traveling along the sea currents (and being pushed by storms, etc.) and are now washing up along the coast and inlets of Canada. If bottles thrown in the ocean can travel halfway around the world, so can shoes. That’s my theory… |
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| Alain Troi |
June 19th, 2008 4:48 pm ET I think that what we are looking at here are remnants of the Tsunami and other disasters in Asia that have made there way to the North American shores. In the Queen Charlotte Islands there are certain marine animals that are not indigenous to the area showing up every so often because of the ocean currents. As well, the foam and structure of modern shoes make a foot boyant and would thus allow it to float away. What the RCMP should release is the ethnic background determined from the DNA and the sex of the person who once wore the shoe and the time that decomposition has taken place. I read that a shark was caught off the coastof Madagascar (tiger shark) that had several arms and legs of humans in it’s stomach. It was later determined that the human parts were from the Tsunami victims that were washed out to sea. Sharks and currents can and do move around more than what we think. |
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| Amanda, Alberta CA |
June 19th, 2008 5:17 pm ET Stacy McCurdy, I’m impressed and intrigued by your theory. I never would’ve thought of that but it certainly makes alot of sense to me. I have been following this for a while as well and as I understand it from news reports in Canada, they have DNA off three of the feet and DNA from some of the plane crash victims, which leads me to believe that the feet came from somewhere else. I would think that if the DNA matched the plane crash victims then it would be reported. Of course whoever planted the fake sixth foot they should be ashamed of their actions. |
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| Sammy |
June 19th, 2008 5:36 pm ET Seems the 6th foot is a hoax.. an animal claw in a sock, stuffed into a shoe and packed with seaweed. kind of sick if you ask me. |
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| Keith |
June 19th, 2008 5:50 pm ET Perhaps it is a Viral Ad campaign for Dexter Season 3… |
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| Norm Bush |
June 19th, 2008 5:57 pm ET I think that Stacy’s post above is spot on. But would you respect the opinion of a guy with the last name of Bush LOL (for the record no relation , born and bread Canuk here) |
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| Oreste Matellini , Toronto-ON. |
June 19th, 2008 6:21 pm ET Now I read last “foot found” was an “animal paw”????? This is just macabre-surrealism and I KNOW sooner or later a movie or documentary is going to come out about this story…….I still stick to my “theory” of some sick jokester removing feet from unclaimed bodies in some morgue…. Just watched actually some documentary about what happens to unclaimed bodies in Los Angeles and apparently they are “stored” for ages til eventually they are cremated and buried in mass graves…. Who would know if someone is taking bits or their limbs away?? This story is just freaky yet with a touch of macabre humour thrown in… |
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| Lily of Vancouver |
June 19th, 2008 8:00 pm ET I’m also from Vancouver and never heard of a serial killer with a serious foot fetish. It is highly possible that the feet come from missing people, be it from a boat or plane and of course, there are many homeless who disappear all the time. Anyway, if someone chopped off your feet because you forgot to pay for that pound of coke, you would need to go to a hospital and eventually be fitted for prostheses. That kills the therory of footless people. They’ll figure it out. Someone ought to call Grissom and Willows and the mystery will be solved in 24 minutes (sans commercials). Still strange that the feet are in runners and mostly right feet. Sure is creepy. |
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| Annie Kate |
June 19th, 2008 8:52 pm ET I love all the theories advanced in the comments - particularly the one about the feet being from people who died in the Tsunami. That was a while back now but maybe its possible the feet could have lasted this long. Whatever the cause is, finding unattached feet on the beach gives a whole new slant to beach combing |
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| amadeusmax |
June 19th, 2008 8:56 pm ET IT’s obvisouly the work of some type of murder,er probably from a serial killer. IF they all came from one single plane, why mostly left feet? Why only feet? If you take a look at lake currents one should be able to see where the feet came from. Unfortunately this looks like the work of some derranged killer. Maybe the police need to be looking for bodies that were missing both feet, legs altogether. Or simply the missing. Because I would like to know the bizzare plane crash scenario that would only allow mostly left feet to be found after an accident. I don’t mean to sound sick, but can’t you tell if the feet were decomposed at the same length of time? But whats even more sickening is that now people are making a joke out of this by placing fake feet in the water. |
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| Mic |
June 19th, 2008 11:28 pm ET I’m from the small town of Ladner in which Westham Island is located and I happen to know the people who found the 5th foot and they said it seemed as if there was no cut at all to it as if it just became dismembered due to decomposing so it makes one wonder if according to the threory that the foot can float up to 1000 miles in a shoe it is from the plane crash that took place up in Campbell River… |
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| Sean Smith |
June 20th, 2008 12:33 am ET I live in Campbell River and I find it kind of sad that the only way this beautiful community will be recognized for the next while is for being the place the some moron decided that adding a fake foot to the floating foot mystery would be funny. As for the theories, I will throw this one out there. Human trafficers making a point to those on a voyage. A rope or a chain tied to a block and the body thrown overboard. The body sits on the bottom for a while, the ocean and sealife take their toll, the foot and leg seperate, the rope or chain falls away and the foot is caught by the current, made bouyant by the shoe. Who knows. The west coast of BC is the end of the line for a lot of powerful currents. You should see the whirlpools created around here just by our tides. Don’t hold this hoax against Campbell River, folks. Even paradise has its idiots. |
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