The BC Coroners are investigating another case of a suspected human foot washed up on shore along the province’s coast.
This week, a resident discovered a shoe along the shores of Gonzales Beach which appeared to contain a severed human foot.
The person who found the shoe containing human remains called in to the BC Coroners Service who are now investigating the situation.
“I can confirm that the discovery was reported to our office and that we are in the very early stages of investigating,” said Ryan Patton, spokesperson for the BCCS.
“As such I have nothing further to provide at this time.”
Gonzales Beach is uniquely split down the middle when it comes to whether it falls within Oak Bay Police or VicPD’s jurisdiction, but according to a VicPD spokesperson, the shoe was not found on their turf.
Victoria Buzz has reached out to Oak Bay Police to find out more about the situation and if there is any chance it could be related to the dead body found on Wednesday morning, which Vancouver Island Integrated Major Crimes Unit (VIIMCU) is investigating.
Oak Bay Police say that at this time they have no hand in any investigation either and that the onus to determine the source of the foot and shoe lies solely on the BCCS.
The shoe was found within one kilometre of the dead body, but according to Oak Bay Police, they are not connected.
The BCCS say this isn’t the first severed foot to wash up on shore.
“This isn’t an unheard of phenomenon in BC,” said Patton. “In fact, there is a map of previous discoveries investigated by our agency.”
See the map below:
Between 2007 and 2019, there were 15 severed feet inside a shoe that washed up on BC’s coast.
“In each of these previous instances DNA testing allowed the Coroners Service to successfully identify the decedent,” Patton told Victoria Buzz.
