Resolved Canada - Human Foot in size 9½ Nike Free RN running shoe, black swoosh logo, W. Vancouver, Sep 2018

[cybervampira]

B.C. Coroners Service looking for info in case of foot washed ashore in West Vancouver | CBC News

The B.C. Coroners Service is looking to the public for help identifying another foot that washed ashore in West Vancouver last September.



The left foot was found inside a blue sock and light grey Nike Free RN running shoe with a black swoosh logo. It's a men's size 9½ shoe with Ortholite inserts, according to Watson.

Watson said the the shoe was believed to have been manufactured between Feb. 1 and April 17, 2017, and appeared to be in relatively new condition. He believes the victim would have acquired the shoe sometime in the spring or summer of 2017.

Investigators believe the foot belonged to someone under the age of 50, but DNA analysis hasn't been able to create a match with any missing persons files.

Since 2007, 10 of the 15 missing feet cases have been solved — all tied to missing person investigations, but this case, and four others, remain a mystery.



He said the location the foot was found — the beach near 30th Street in West Vancouver — may not have much to do with the location a person went missing, due to the active tide systems in the region.

 

[otto]

So many feet found in the area!
They seem to either be plane / boat accidents, or suicides.

 

[dotr]

Do other cities find that many feet in running shoes?

 

[Betty P]

Again? This seems so unusual.

Not sure I understand this statement from the ME in the linked article:

Since 2007, 10 of the 15 missing feet cases have been solved — all tied to missing person investigations, but this case, and four others, remain a mystery.

"I mean, certainly, it is an odd trend. One thing that we know is that these feet that are found — they're not linked to any sort of suspicious circumstance," said Watson.

It seems 10 feet found that belonged to missing persons sounds somewhat suspicious.

 

[dotr]

Rbbm. It would be helpful if shoe sizes were included in mp. reports.
The human feet that routinely wash ashore in the Pacific Northwest, explained
"But why do body parts so often end up on the shores of the Salish Sea and not around other coastal regions, like the San Francisco Bay Area? Parker MacCready, an oceanography professor at the University of Washington, said the story is simple. “Things that float at the ocean surface move with the currents, but also are pushed a bit by the wind, and this can be significant in getting them to shore,” he wrote in an email. “The prevailing winds here [around the Salish Sea] are west to east, and so floating stuff in this part of the Pacific gets blown to the coast effectively.”

That said, severed feet also occasionally wash up around other waterways. In November, a lone foot wearing a sneaker was found in a dumpster next to a boat ramp on the Willamette River near Portland, Oregon. In 2017, a foot wearing an athletic shoe was found on a dock in Charleston, South Carolina, and hikers found a foot inside a tennis shoe on the banks of the Mississippi River near St. Louis, Missouri.

We’ve seen this happen occasionally in other parts of the world too: Body parts including a foot washed up in Rio de Janeiro, near the beach volleyball courts before the 2016 Olympics. Body parts of tourists also washed up on a beach in Fiji in 2016."
"Taylor said she is advocating for shoe size to be included in standard missing person reports, a detail that could help identify the next foot that turns up."

 

[Ark]

An explanation to why so many feet have washed up in the area:

The tides and currents are very strong within the area. If a body goes in to the water wearing running shoes and socks and jeans or some sorts of other pants. The running shoe and sock is tightly bound to the foot and the ankle, where as the jeans tend to give a bit of space. There will be a gap where water can penetrate just above the sock on the ankle. If you think about it, over time, the strong currents will "hack away" (for lack of a better term) at that area. Much like abrasion. Due to running shoes these days being far more buoyant and light compared to running shoes of the past, they detach from the rest of the body after said abrasion caused by the currents and float to the surface, and eventually to shore. The rest of the body will either likely sink or end up somewhere else if close to shore.

You never seen any smart black work shoes wash up now do you? Its all about the buoyancy of the shoe, and then the abrasion at the ankle. How some people think someones cutting off feet and chucking them in the water is beyond me. But who knows, stranger things have happened. Most likely answer though is the one given above.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Cross-posting from the "Wa - Jean-marc Faubert, 28, Burlington, 25 May 2018" thread:

Wonder if they've tested his DNA yet.....
Mystery deepens as cops unable to ID human foot that washed up on Vancouver shore

From a Vancouver Sun article:
“[SBM]
Using DNA evidence, the coroners service has determined the latest found foot is that of a man but they have been unable to match it with any of the DNA profiles on file for missing persons.
Based on the bone structure of the foot, the coroners service’s identification specialist believes the age at death is under 50.
The man was wearing a light grey Nike Free RN shoe with a black Nike swoosh logo and white base, white laces and a blue sock.
The shoe was a men’s U.S. size 9.5 with an OrthoLite insert. It was manufactured between Feb. 1 and April 17, 2017, and appeared to be in relatively new condition.
[SBM]”
Another foot, the 15th since 2007, washes up on a B.C. beach
Additionally, from a CBC article:
“[Andy Watson, a spokesperson for the coroners service] believes the victim would have acquired the shoe sometime in the spring or summer of 2017.”
B.C. Coroners Service looking for info in case of foot washed ashore in West Vancouver | CBC News
According to Jean-marc’s NamUs profile:
“Footwear: Believed to have been wearing black and white Nike basketball shoes.“ (BBM)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
The shoe the man was wearing is more of a running shoe than a basketball shoe, but the color-way is similar to the ones Jean-marc is believed to have been wearing, IMO.
He was 28 at the time of his disappearance.
It was over a year after the shoe would have been purchased that Jean-marc went missing, so it is possible that he owned a pair, IMO.
Worth submitting?

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Also cross-posting from Jean-marc's thread:

Good catch! Definitely worth submitting!

Here’s the Nike shoe thread btw:
CANADA - Canada - Human Foot in size 9½ Nike Free RN running shoe, black swoosh logo, W. Vancouver, Sep 2018

@inmyhumbleopinion: information is power! My vote is YES submit your findings & keep us posted.

Thank you so much for your input and encouragement, cybervampira and Penny4YourThoughts.

I would also like to thank cyber for starting the shoe thread, and Penny, for sharing the article about the foot in the first place!

I sent an email to the B.C. Coroners Service, highlighting the same things I did in my previous post. I included in the email a link to Jean-marc's NamUs profile and another to an early news article about his disappearance.

I also left a voicemail message for the detective with Burlington, WA, PD, whose contact information is listed on Jean-marc's NamUs page.

Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

[JerseyGirl]

Recognize this shoe? Its owner is missing a foot

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Once again, cross-posting from Jean-marc's thread:

Heard back from the B.C. Coroners Service today!

“Hello [me ],

I agree, it is a good association circumstantially. This connection is already currently being looked in to and we are in contact with detectives from Washington. Many thanks for your email.

Regards,

Ian Charlton
Spatial Information Analyst
Special Investigations Unit”

So we shall wait and see.

View attachment 169239

 

[Nannbob]

Once again, cross-posting from Jean-marc's thread:

Have there been any updates?

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Have there been any updates?

Thank you so much for bumping the the thread, Nannbob!

Mr. Charlton with the B.C. Coroners Service sent me an email about three weeks ago. I opened it, meant to post about it and completely forgot .

Here is what the email said:
“Good morning [me ],

Once again, thank you for reaching out a few weeks ago in regards to the unidentified foot. Just to let you know, the investigation is still ongoing.” (BBM)

This was March 7th. I just did a quick search to see if there has been an update, and I didn’t see anything.

Also from the email:
“In the meantime, I was wondering if you could do me a favour.

I have been working on an interactive map of our active Unidentified Human Remains cases across British Columbia, Canada, in an aim to try and generate new investigative leads from the public, especially regarding some of our older cases. The application shows approximate locations of where remains were found and information on that case.

It was released publicly a couple of weeks ago, and likely still has some teething problems, but it would be great to get some involvement and feedback on it.

If you could possibly circulate it around the websleuthing community, it would be hugely appreciated, as we believe this application could be vital in generating new leads to these cold cases.

Link to the application is here: ArcGIS Web Application

Thanks in advance,

Ian Charlton
Spatial Information Analyst
Special Investigations Unit”

Incidentally, I found a CTV article from just two days ago that talks about the map:

“[SBM]

Andy Watson with the BC Coroners Service said the project was motivated by one of their five core questions: who died?

‘This is an important question for us to answer; when we have unidentified human remains, we know there is a family out there still searching for answers,” Watson told CTV News. “And so it’s important for our agency to provide the service to those looking for closure and we do whatever we can to achieve that goal.’

The new map will give viewers a visual overview of the approximate location where human remains are found, along with case numbers and a summary of any key information acquired in investigations.

Watson said the human remains map took about a year-and-a-half for the service’s spatial information analyst Ian Charlton to develop.

[SBM]”
Nearly 200 cases of unidentified human remains mapped in B.C.

I will start a thread where we can talk about the map and the cases shown on the map sometime later today.

 

[dotr]

Ws thread..
BC Coroners Service launches map of 200 unsolved/unidentified persons

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

Ws thread..
BC Coroners Service launches map of 200 unsolved/unidentified persons

Thank you so much for posting!

 

[Laughing]

If you'd like to read a lot about how these tides work & how things move across & through our oceans:



https://www.amazon.com/Moby-Duck-Beachcombers-Oceanograp-Environmentalists-Including/dp/0143120506

Not about crime -- except crimes against the environment -- but a great book!

 

[Manwel]

Thank you so much for bumping the the thread, Nannbob!

Mr. Charlton with the B.C. Coroners Service sent me an email about three weeks ago. I opened it, meant to post about it and completely forgot .

Here is what the email said:
“Good morning [me ],

Once again, thank you for reaching out a few weeks ago in regards to the unidentified foot. Just to let you know, the investigation is still ongoing.” (BBM)

This was March 7th. I just did a quick search to see if there has been an update, and I didn’t see anything.

Also from the email:
“In the meantime, I was wondering if you could do me a favour.

I have been working on an interactive map of our active Unidentified Human Remains cases across British Columbia, Canada, in an aim to try and generate new investigative leads from the public, especially regarding some of our older cases. The application shows approximate locations of where remains were found and information on that case.

It was released publicly a couple of weeks ago, and likely still has some teething problems, but it would be great to get some involvement and feedback on it.

If you could possibly circulate it around the websleuthing community, it would be hugely appreciated, as we believe this application could be vital in generating new leads to these cold cases.

Link to the application is here: ArcGIS Web Application

Thanks in advance,

Ian Charlton
Spatial Information Analyst
Special Investigations Unit”

Incidentally, I found a CTV article from just two days ago that talks about the map:

“[SBM]

Andy Watson with the BC Coroners Service said the project was motivated by one of their five core questions: who died?

‘This is an important question for us to answer; when we have unidentified human remains, we know there is a family out there still searching for answers,” Watson told CTV News. “And so it’s important for our agency to provide the service to those looking for closure and we do whatever we can to achieve that goal.’

The new map will give viewers a visual overview of the approximate location where human remains are found, along with case numbers and a summary of any key information acquired in investigations.

Watson said the human remains map took about a year-and-a-half for the service’s spatial information analyst Ian Charlton to develop.

[SBM]”
Nearly 200 cases of unidentified human remains mapped in B.C.

I will start a thread where we can talk about the map and the cases shown on the map sometime later today.

View attachment 177176 View attachment 177177

I have had email responses from Ian Charlton as well. I love that he seems very open to working with Websleuths and values input from those of us here.

Did anybody hear about the Seattle human remains in bags found on a beach across from Pike Place Market? I immediately wondered about the feet remains.

 

[margarita25]

We have a whole thread on disarticulation and human feet washing up also

@dotr

 

[dotr]

We have a whole thread on disarticulation and human feet washing up also

@dotr

Threads just mentioned on this new thread..
WA - WA - 'Several bags' of human remains found at West Seattle beach, 19 June 2020

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

I have had email responses from Ian Charlton as well. I love that he seems very open to working with Websleuths and values input from those of us here.

Did anybody hear about the Seattle human remains in bags found on a beach across from Pike Place Market? I immediately wondered about the feet remains.

Cool! I’ve come across a few others like Mr. Carlton. It’s encouraging.

By the way, I just looked at B.C. Coroners Service’s website again, and it appears that the foot that was found along a West Vancouver beach in September 2018 has been identified:
“In September 2018, a left foot was found along a rocky beach in West Vancouver. DNA analysis linked this foot to a male that went missing earlier that year.”

Coroners Service Special Investigations Unit - Province of British Columbia

 

[Steph9676]

Cool! I’ve come across a few others like Mr. Carlton. It’s encouraging.

By the way, I just looked at B.C. Coroners Service’s website again, and it appears that the foot that was found along a West Vancouver beach in September 2018 has been identified:
“In September 2018, a left foot was found along a rocky beach in West Vancouver. DNA analysis linked this foot to a male that went missing earlier that year.”

View attachment 251933
Coroners Service Special Investigations Unit - Province of British Columbia

they don’t list who it was found to?