Possible severed foot found on Washington coast

What appears to be another sneaker-clad human foot has washed ashore in waters near British Columbia, this time in Washington state, U.S. newspapers report.

State authorities say they are in contact with the RCMP to see whether there might be a connection with five feet found in shoes on British Columbia beaches in the past year.

Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Peregrin said the shoe, found Friday on a beach about 50 kilometres west of Port Angeles on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is similar to three of those found in Canada: The remains appear to be from a human right foot and were inside a man's low-cut athletic shoe, possibly used for hiking.

"But this is a considerable distance to where the others were found in Canadian waters," he told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "And one that was found was a hoax, so we want to be certain."

Five athletic shoes containing human feet have been found along the Strait of Georgia between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland since August 2007. The Strait of Juan de Fuca separates Vancouver Island and Washington's Olympic Peninsula.

The RCMP announced last month that none of the feet had been forcibly severed. Police discovered that two of the feet belonged to the same man, and determined a sixth shoe found in June in B.C. was a hoax: an animal paw that had been shoved inside an athletic shoe.

Uncertain if foot is animal or human

Det.-Sgt. Lyman Moores told the Seattle Times the shoe probably belonged to a man, but he couldn't identify the brand or size.

"What it was is a sock inside the shoe that appeared to contain decomposed flesh," he said. "We don't know at this point whether that's animal, whether it's human, or what it is."

Tests should determine by the end of the week whether bones and flesh in this shoe are human, Moores told the Times.

Results of a DNA profile will take six to eight weeks, Peregrin told the Post-Intelligencer.

Authorities said a woman walking along Jim Creek found the foot Friday and reported it to the Clallam County Sheriff's Office early Saturday.

"She could see sand in the shoe and when she removed the sock, she could tell there were bones and probably decomposing flesh," Peregrin said of the woman, who found the shoe in seaweed near milepost 34 on state Route 112.

Clallam County Sheriff's deputies began working with the RCMP on Saturday. Local authorities were hesitant to speculate on whether there is a link between the cases.

"But those similarities you can't ignore," Peregrin said. "We want to make sure our investigation is co-ordinated."