A detached human foot that mysteriously washed up on an island off the coast of Canada in December has been linked to a missing man in Washington, US, British Colombia (BC) cops have confirmed.
A dog walker found the human foot wearing white sock and black running trainer, with its shin bone still attached. The dog walker identified as Mike Johns, 56, told CTV Vancouver Island News that the foot was "totally intact". "My dog, she was sniffing the bones so I stopped and took a look, and I saw the bones and noticed it was attached to a shoe," he said.
The cops confirmed that the foot belonged to a man known as Stanley Okumoto, 79, who went missing on September 19, 2017, from East Bremerton, Washington.
His body was found two months later, but his left leg and foot were missing.The coroner's service, after DNA analysis, confirmed that the foot belonged to the man.
Strangely, this is not the first such case. Since 2007, 13 feet have been found in the British Columbia coast, the latest one is of Okumoto's.
On August 20, 2007, the right foot of a human encased in a shoe made in India was found. Since then, human feet washing has become more common, The Sun reported.
It is, however, unclear how Okumoto and the other victims died. The BC Coroners Service has been able to identify eight of the previous feet by matching them to six individuals. It believes that the victims might have died from accidents or suicide. The coroner's office also mentioned that no foul play is suspected in any of the cases.
Okumoto's foot was found in a section of British Columbia known as "king tides". Officials believe that the strong currents might have brought the foot from Washington to Canada.
The reason why human feet keep washing up on the shore is still a mystery and has not been solved yet.
