Clallam to meet with Canadian law enforcers to compare notes on floating feet
Clallam County Sheriff's Detective Sgt. Lyman Moores on Tuesday stands with the men's size 11 Everest brand shoe that contained the remains of a human foot when it was discovered on a Strait of Juan de Fuca beach last Friday. -- Photo by Chris Tucker/Peninsula Daily News
By Paige Dickerson, Peninsula Daily News
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Clallam County Sheriff's Department are coordinating a meeting with all police agencies to discuss the six feet that have washed ashore in the past year.
All of the feet were found on beaches in the vicinity of the Strait of Georgia until last weekend's discovery near Pysht, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca about 30 miles west of Port Angeles.
Coordinating a meeting with the Canadian law-enforcers is complicated, Undersheriff Ron Peregrin said.
"We are dealing with at least 11 agencies, so we aren't sure where or when we will meet," he said.
"But we will, so that we can coordinate all of our investigations."
Canadian origin?
Sgt. Tim Shields of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Vancouver, British Columbia, agreed with Clallam County sheriff's detectives that the latest discovery could have originated in Canadian waters.
The saltwater border dividing the Strait of Juan de Fuca is less than 10 miles from the beach on which the shoe was found by a camper tangled in seaweed and debris.
"We'll be consulting with oceanographers yet again to see if that is a possibility and we will be comparing the information obtained from the Sheriff's Department with our list of missing persons to see if we can make a possible link," Shields said.
One day after a Seattle medical examiner's laboratory determined that the flesh and bones inside the Clallam shoe was human, the Sheriff's Department on Tuesday described the black hiking-style shoe as Everest brand, men's size 11.
The black leather and cloth sneaker is a shoe made for light hiking, and the tube sock which contained the human foot remains was Levi's brand, the Sheriff's Department said Tuesday.
Different than other shoes
The mostly black Clallam shoe is different from the mostly white athletic shoes in which the five other severed feet were found in British Columbia.
All of the feet, however, appear to have separated naturally from their bodies while in the water, Peregrin said.
The King County Medical Examiner's office in Seattle will run a DNA analysis to compare with DNA of missing people.
Canadian authorities have already done DNA testing on the feet found there, and concluded that one of the five belonged to a depressed man who went missing in early 2007.
Two others belonged to the same man, and the remaining one belonged to a woman.
Of the five feet found in Canada four are right feet — as was the one found near Jim Creek last Friday.
A sixth "foot" found in June in British Columbia was determined to be an animal paw that had been shoved inside an athletic shoe as a hoax.
Peregrin said Monday that the DNA analysis on the Clallam foot will take about six to eight weeks.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
Sheriff's Department statement
On 08/02/2008, a citizen walking the beach in the area of the old Silver King Resort located about 30 miles west of Port Angeles discovered a shoe inside of which was a sock containing bone and fleshy material.
Clallam County Sheriff's Department personnel responded to the scene and collected the items.
The King County Medical Examiner's Office has since determined that the remains found inside the shoe are of a human foot.
The shoe is an Everest brand, size 11, for a right foot and the sock is a Levi's brand tube type.
Agencies or persons having information about the possible origin of this item are asked to contact the Clallam County Sheriff's Department, Detective Tom Reyes, at 360-417-2372.
Detective Sgt. Lyman Moores Clallam County Sheriff's Department
Last modified: August 05. 2008 9:00PM