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Posted: 21-10-2007 12:06 Post subject: Severed leg (and feet) mysteries

Toenail bid to identify human leg

Police hope a toenail clipping could help identify a man whose leg was washed up on a beach.
Forensic experts have been called in to help detectives over the body part which was discovered in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee in March.

Tests on a toenail proved that the man, who was aged 16-25, had stayed in colder countries such as Denmark and Finland before his death.

A DNA profile from the sample has now been passed to police across Europe.

Tayside Police hope that a match will be found and the mystery man identified.

The leg, with foot still attached, was found on the shore at Beach Crescent on 20 March.

Pathologists said it had probably been in the water for months and traces of denim proved he had been wearing blue jeans.

The man had also been wearing size 9 black Reebok trainers and black Umbro sports socks.

Tests by scientists at Queen's University in Belfast found that the man had stayed in three different regions prior to his death.

The procedure, known as Stable Isotope Profiling, was carried out by Dr Wolfram Meier-Augenstein,

He found that the man probably stayed in the UK or Ireland before travelling to colder climates.

Det Sgt Kevin McMahon said: "The most recent geographic location lived in continuously for 13 months was indicative of a climactic zone and latitude encountered in the southern parts of Scandinavia and the corresponding part of the Baltic region.

"What is even more fascinating is that he was able to tell us that around 16 months prior to the death of the man a change in the profile indicates a short stay in a region with an even colder climate, possibly on the same latitude as Oslo or Helsinki.

"At months 17, 15 and 14 prior to death, the results possibly indicate brief stays at yet another location with the characteristics of a 'halfway house' between the UK, Ireland and Central Europe and the Baltic region, which points towards countries like Denmark."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7052418.stm

Posted: 21-10-2007 14:03 Post subject:

That's some impressive forensic work, rynner.

Posted: 21-10-2007 16:31 Post subject:

Impressive though I have trouble imaging a new series for the franchise called "CSI:Broughty Ferry"

I'm not sure how helpful it'd be in identifying him, lots of people drop out of sight, unless he's got close family or friends who've noticed he's gone he may be someone no-one's even reported as missing, particularly if he's travelled a bit as the forensics suggest.

Posted: 21-10-2007 16:31 Post subject:

He might not be dead.He might have just got bored of his leg and thrown it out to sea.

Posted: 21-10-2007 19:30 Post subject:

it's amazing how much (alleged) detail can be read into such evidence nowadays.

When I was an undergraduate at Michigan State University (circa 1971 or 1972) the physical anthropology lab was tasked to identify a lower shin / foot encased in a high-top miliary boot that'd washed ashore from Lake Michigan. It was believed to be the remains of one of 4 or 5 crew members of an Air Force plane that'd crashed into the lake in the 1950's (none of whose remains had ever been recovered).

In that case, the determining factors were foot size (as measured from the bones) and some few hairs still preserved down inside the boot ...

If the hairs' color hadn't matched only one of the crew members, they'd never have been able to attribute the remains to only one of the possibilities.

Posted: 21-10-2007 23:41 Post subject:

Posted: 05-03-2008 08:57 Post subject:

There's more of 'em.... Shocked

Three severed feet found on Canadian beaches
By Tom Chivers
Last Updated: 2:40am GMT 05/03/2008

A severed right foot has been found on a beach in western Canada - the third such find in the last six months.

The latest foot, still wearing a trainer, was washed up on Valdes Island, a tiny, isolated community in British Columbia, earlier this month, the Victoria Times Colonist reports.

Local police are calling it one of the most bizarre cases in recent memory, but are unclear whether any foul play is involved.

The previous two feet, both right and wearing size 12 (US) trainers, washed ashore on Gabriola and Jedediah Islands, less than 40 miles from Valdes, in August of last year.

DNA samples have been taken from all three feet, but so far the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have been unable to match them to anyone in their databases.

"It is unusual," RCMP spokeswoman Const. Annie Linteau told the Times Colonist. "We are in the preliminary stages of this particular investigation, and of course we will not enter into speculation."

While it is not unheard-of for separated body parts to be washed ashore, Jeff Dolen, British Columbia's assistant deputy chief coroner, said this would be "the first instance of three such similar remains being discovered" in such proximity.

Freshly-dead bodies sink in seawater. However, as they decompose they fill with gas, sometimes bringing them back to the surface. Heads, arms and legs often become separated as they decompose, but Gail Anderson, a forensic entomologist from Simon Fraser University, said that those parts rarely float.

"Obviously there's some sort of current picking up light items and washing them to those particular areas," she said.

The Vancouver Island Major Crime Unit has sent detectives to the islands to help investigations. Meanwhile the three feet have been sent to the BC Coroners Service for forensic testing.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/04/wfeet104.xml

Posted: 05-03-2008 19:30 Post subject:

Has someone killed Jake the Peg?

Posted: 06-03-2008 10:11 Post subject:

Mystery of three right feet washed up on Canadian islands
· No DNA match to anyone on police database
· Theories range from crime to mortuary worker's joke
Helen Pidd The Guardian, Thursday March 6 2008

Canadian police are investigating the mystery of three right feet that have turned up off Vancouver Island in the past six months.

The first was washed up in August on an isolated island in British Columbia. A 12-year-old girl beachcombing with her family found a size 12 running shoe with a human right foot still inside. Six days later a couple hiking around coves on another remote island found another size 12 right foot in a trainer under a tree trunk. Then, last month, another right foot was spotted, this time bobbing about in the water off a third island.

Although the discoveries sound like a film plot, the scenario is flummoxing police in western Canada. They collected DNA from the remains but could not match them to anyone on their database.

Dr Simon Boxall, an oceanographer from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, said: "It is not that unusual for body parts to turn up in the sea - they can be the result of a fishing accident, or a whole body getting hit by a passing ship, for example - but the fact that all three were clustered so close together does suggest dodgy dealings."

Forensic anthropologist Brenda Clark, from Camosun College in Victoria, Canada, told the Provence newspaper it was impossible to make accurate estimates of gender, age, stature or ancestry just by looking at a foot.

Looking at a map of where the feet were found - on the islands of Jedediah, Gabriola and Valdes in Georgia Strait - does allow educated guesses as to where they may have come from, said Boxall. "Looking at the oceanography of where the feet were found, the likelihood is that they originated from within the Vancouver area itself," he said.

"That's because in order for items to get washed into the ... quite narrow strait they would have to go on quite a tortuous journey and wouldn't have been in such good condition and so close together when they were found, even though the trainers would allow the feet to happily pootle for some time."

As for why all three feet were right and not left, Boxall believes it is a coincidence.

Not everyone agrees. Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a former professor of oceanography at the University of Washington, and an expert in floating objects (he is writing a book called The Floating World for HarperCollins), said: "Left footwear and right footwear often tend to wash up at different times at different places because they float differently.

"There are beaches that collect mostly rights and other beaches that collect mostly lefts. The winds or the currents sort out left and right footwear."

However, resident Digby Jones, 80, told the New York Times: "The whole thing is a scam, as far as I'm concerned, all part of a big joke. If they go to the mortuaries on the mainland, they'll find some guy laughing his head off."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/06/canada

Guardian Online. Helen Pidd. 06 March 2008

A suitably Fortean body parts mystery.

Posted: 07-03-2008 06:08 Post subject:

We have some posts on this one.

http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=30835

Posted: 07-03-2008 10:39 Post subject:

I was totally wrong-footed that time! How did I miss this Thread? confused

Posted: 01-04-2008 15:27 Post subject:

...and now we might have to change the thread title.. Wink

Children find human head on beach

A woman's head has been found by children playing on the beach at Arbroath in Angus.

The head, hidden inside a plastic bag, was discovered by two young sisters. They ran home to tell their mother, who called the police at about 1030 BST.

Officers, who have cordoned off the area near South Street, have since discovered a human hand.

A spokesman for Tayside Police said the force was now attempting to identify the woman.

Officers will be contacting other forces about current missing persons.

The body parts are being removed for detailed examination and an extensive search of the area is ongoing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7324591.stm

Posted: 02-04-2008 12:14 Post subject:

Police find second hand on beach

A second hand has been discovered by officers searching a beach where a woman's head was found in a bag.

Two young sisters found the head while playing on Arbroath beach in Angus on Tuesday morning.

The discovery sparked a police search which led to the discovery of the first hand about 50 yards away.

Tayside Police revealed on Wednesday that a second hand had been found on the Seagate beachfront. A search of the area is due to resume after high tide.

The search will be extended along the shoreline next to Victoria Park and will also take in the harbour and the area towards the Signal Tower Museum.

Det Ch Insp Graham McMillan, who is leading the investigation, said: "We're going to wait for the high tide to make the maximum benefits of the currents and the tidal movements to hopefully give us some fresh evidence or leads."

Forensic examinations are continuing on the body parts in an attempt to identify the woman.

However, Det Ch Insp McMillan said it could be several days before they had the test results which could shed further light on the inquiry.

The woman does not match the records of any local missing person and Tayside Police are liaising with every other UK force to try to identify her.

Det Ch Insp McMillan said: "We've had some positive lines of inquiry coming into our incident room which we are grateful for.

"But it is still early days and we're keeping an open mind on a number of lines of inquiry."

He appealed for anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area, or anyone with concerns about a friend or relative they have not seen for a while, to get in touch.

Specialist officers will also speak again with the young girls who found the head.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/7325628.stm

Posted: 02-04-2008 19:06 Post subject:

*shudders*

that's horrible. what a find Sad