DNA links foot found in B.C. to missing man

One of five human feet found off the British Columbia coast since last August has been identified as belonging to a man who was reported missing from the B.C. Lower Mainland last year, according to the RCMP.

An RCMP spokesman said familial DNA was used to match the foot to a depressed man whose name has not been released.  Foul play in the case is not suspected, Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre told CBC News on Saturday.

He said police plan to hold a news conference on Monday to release more details.

"We were able to notify the family yesterday, and out of respect for them, they asked that we give them at least 48 hours to get together as a family with other relatives and deal with this development," Lemaitre said.

In the last year, five feet have washed up on small islands in the Georgia Strait and Fraser River, each encased in a running shoe.

Police have said that none of the feet appears to have been intentionally severed, but likely detached through a natural process.

Police showcased the running shoes during a news conference earlier this month in the hopes of solving the cases.

Lemaitre said investigators told another family on Friday that the feet are definitely not those of two relatives who died in a plane crash off Quadra island in February 2005. The bodies of brothers Doug and Trevor DeCock were never found in the wreckage.

Meanwhile, a coroner in Washington state said on Friday that he will be talking to the B.C. Coroners Service about a body found 16 months ago on Orcas Island in the San Juan archipelago.

Despite the torrent of publicity over the five severed feet in recent weeks, San Juan County coroner Randall Gaylord said he did not advise B.C. investigators about the discovery until Thursday.

Gaylord said the body did not have a right arm, left hand or any feet. The body was discovered five months before the first of the five feet was discovered on B.C.'s Jedidiah Island.

Gaylord said he advised B.C. investigators about the discovery on Thursday after reading a newspaper article about the case recently.