Shoe-clad feet wash up on Canadian islands

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Three times in less than a year, three right feet inside running shoes have been found near separate islands in the Strait of Georgia.

Police don’t know if there are any links between them. Speculation in the region is rife, including that the feet were from slaying victims or they were the remains from drownings. Police haven’t reached any conclusions.

“It is very unusual,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Annie Linteau said Tuesday.

Linteau said two of the feet were size 12, but the size of the third was not released.

The first right foot was found by beachcombers on Jedidiah Island in August. A few days later, a foot was found inside a man’s Reebok sneaker on Gabriola Island. The third was found on the east side of Valdez Island on Feb 8.

“We’re looking into all our missing person files,” Linteau said. “We’re certainly inviting anyone who may have information about these right feet to give us a call.”

She said the coroner’s office was doing DNA testing.

Sheila Malcolmson, a Gabriola Island government official, said the feet are the talk of the islands.

“We are all getting e-mails and messages from friends far away, saying, ‘What’s going on up there? ” Malcolmson said. “We’re all walking around carefully.”