Theories abound as fifth foot washes up
B. C. Coast; Police dismiss serial killer speculation
Brian Hutchinson, National Post
Published: Wednesday, June 18, 2008
VANCOUVER -Another disarticulated human foot has been found in B. C. coastal waters. That makes five feet discovered near Vancouver since last summer.
Two right feet were found within six days of each other in August, on different small islands only a few dozen kilometres apart. A third right foot washed up in February, a little further to the south. Last month, a fourth right foot, reportedly a woman's, was spotted by a passerby in the sweeping Fraser River delta, closer to Vancouver.
And on Monday, yet another foot was found, also in the delta. A left foot, this one. Like all the others, it was encased in a running shoe, sock on.
Despite the similarities there is nothing to reveal their origin, or so police investigators let on.
"Hold back" evidence -- information that only someone with knowledge of an event or crime would know, such as type of shoe, distinguishing characteristics of a foot -- is something that police hold dear.
But investigators have at least indicated that none of the feet were detached from their limbs by mechanical means; they were not severed.
A simple and expeditious process of decomposition is responsible instead.
The footwear in which all five feet were found saved them from further disintegration. It also allowed them to float. The feet might have drifted down the Fraser, from any number of communities and tributaries in the B. C. interior.
Alternatively, they might have first touched water in the Strait of Georgia, which separates the B. C. mainland from Vancouver Island.
Of course, the feet might have originated in several different places. Where? When? It's almost impossible to determine with any precision, say forensic experts. Most vexing, of course, is that no one has determined to whom the feet belonged.
Police are throwing cold water on speculation that the feet might be evidence of another serial killer at work. Butchers such as Robert (Willie) Pickton are exceedingly rare, and investigators say it's not unusual for human remains to wash up on local beaches and in riverbeds. A detached foot does not necessarily connote murder.
Except this appears to be without precedent. One foot was anomalous enough; it was deemed newsworthy. Numbers two and three and four were more disturbing and seemed more phenomena than coincidence.
Five seems like a serious problem. News media around the world are paying attention.
Doug Decock wonders if some of the feet are all that remain of his two sons. A little more than three years ago, brothers Trevor and Doug Decock Jr. were passengers in a float plane that went down near Quadra Island, about 200 kilometres north of Vancouver.
Only one body was recovered after the crash, but in time all five occupants were assumed dead.
Reached at his home in the Queen Charlotte Islands yesterday, Mr. Decock confirmed that the Coroners Service of British Columbia office is comparing a sample of his own DNA with genetic information recovered from several of the disarticulated feet.
The process is agonizingly slow, said Mr. Decock. He delivered his first DNA sample two months ago.
"I was contacted again last Friday and was asked to provide another [DNA] sample," he added.
"They are still working on it, but so far I don't think there's been any [connection]."
A successful comparison could solve some of the mystery. But not all of it. There are too many unexplained feet.
Other parents in the province must also be thinking about the five feet, and their missing sons and daughters, and a possible link.
According to the RCMP, there were 2,371 missing people in B. C. as of the end of May. At least two more from B. C.'s Lower Mainland were declared missing earlier this month.
A survey of the latest missing person reports reveals some startling similarities. Many of the missing individuals are white, single young men, notes Constable Annie Linteau, an RCMP media liaison officer.
Some of the men were known to be depressed, or even suicidal. Others were, by all accounts, hard-working and happy, and not at all the type to simply vanish without explanation or apparent cause.
According to police reports, a number of the missing were last seen wearing running shoes. Their disappearances, once considered random, are now being treated as suspicious.
bhutchinson@nationalpost.com - Updates on missing people in the province can be found on the B. C.
RCMP Web site: bc.rcmp.ca
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