Bizarre to say the least

Petti Fong
WESTERN CANADA BUREAU CHIEF

VANCOUVER–Cathy Fox was reading about the strange tale of severed feet washing up on B.C. shores in the newspaper yesterday morning.

But even before she finished the article, a friend rushed in with news. Another foot had been washed up just a short distance away, this time in Campbell River where Fox lives.

"I was absolutely disgusted and horrified," Fox said yesterday. "Here I was reading this and thinking it was the most devastating thing and there's one right here." The sixth foot – the second one to wash up since Monday – was found in an area called the Tyee spit.

The RCMP said yesterday the foot will be examined by a forensic pathologist to determine if it is related to the other feet found recently.

DNA analysis done on the other five feet – four right and one left – have yielded no clues on identity.

In Campbell River, boater Mike Rollo said yesterday there is speculation that at least some of the remains belong to the four victims who remain missing after a small plane went down near Quadra Island about a quarter of a kilometre away in 2005.

Family members of the victims of that crash, whose remains have not been fully recovered, have been asked to provide DNA samples.

Terry Smith, the chief coroner of B.C., said the discovery fires up the imagination.

"I can tell you I've never come across anything like this," he said. "One hesitates to say it's a mere coincidence but at this point, that's all we have to work with."

The foot found yesterday was a right foot in what looks to be a size 10 black Adidas running shoe. The foot earlier this week in Ladner appeared to be in a Nike runner.

The first foot was found a year ago on Jedidiah Island in the Strait of Georgia. Less than a week later, another foot was found inside a man's sneaker on Gabriola Island. In February, a third foot was found on Valdes Island.

A couple of months later, in May, another foot was found off Kirkland Island in the Fraser River, and then on Monday, a fifth foot was found along the same river in Ladner