Foot found on beach is human

Bones and flesh inside a shoe discovered Friday on a beach west of Port Angeles have been determined to be human, adding another layer to the mystery of five severed feet washed ashore in British Columbia over the past year.

"There is no case that immediately comes to mind that this fits, but that doesn't mean there isn't one," said Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Peregrin, who said his office was informed today by the King County Medical Examiner's Office that the remains are human.

Peregrin said medical examiners also determined the foot was "disarticulated" rather than mechanically severed from its body, meaning it naturally separated from a body. That fact alone, Peregrin said, does not indicate whether foul play was involved in the case.

Peregrin said officers from his department will meet with Canadian authorities this week to see whether there are additional similarities to the B.C. cases. Also, further tests will be done on the remains found in Clallam County; DNA testing could help determine whether the case is related to the other feet found in Canada or other missing-person cases.

The black hiking-type athletic shoe was discovered Friday by a woman walking on a beach at a private camp area about 40 miles west of Port Angeles, near Pillar Point.

Peregrin said the woman didn't initially take a close look at the shoe, but the next day, after recalling the cases in B.C., she went back to the beach and found the shoe still there. This time, she and a companion looked inside and saw the remains of a sock and some decomposing bone and tissue.

Detectives went to the scene Saturday and returned Sunday with cadaver-sniffing dogs, but they found no other evidence associated with the shoe.

Five severed feet in shoes have been found in the past year on B.C. beaches. An additional shoe found in June contained what was determined to be an animal paw, placed as an apparent hoax.

Jack Broom: 206-464-2222 or jbroom@seattletimes.com