September 15, 2007
Severed foot find sparks search'Eerie' discovery during dog walk prompts police probe
By JON WILLING, SUN MEDIA
Police divers were planning to search the area of the Ottawa River today where a woman found a human foot in a high-top sneaker.
Ottawa major crime detectives are probing the Thursday night find near a small marina under a popular lookout along the Rockcliffe Pwy.
Const. Alain Boucher said police will likely search up the river for other evidence and possibly ask for assistance from Gatineau police.
Police are also reviewing missing persons files.
Sgt. Peter Linegar of the missing persons unit said there are currently 14 active missing person cases, six involving males and eight involving females.
Linegar said most missing person reports don't include what the person was wearing and he couldn't determine if the foot was related to any of his cases.
The shoe is believed to be a size 9.
It was too early to say if police were dealing with a homicide, a suicide or an accident. Police set up a small command centre at the base of the cliff yesterday while officers searched the shore.
It was nothing new for Shirley Kent to find a shoe along the shore, but this one was different.
"It was too heavy," Kent, 50, said of the "eerie" discovery.
Kent, who runs a nearby boathouse and restaurant, said she was walking along the shore with her dog picking up litter around 7 p.m. on Thursday when she saw the black shoe on its side.
She put it in a garbage bag and quietly took it to the boathouse as customers sat on the deck. A cook helped look inside the shoe and that's when they saw the decomposed left foot inside a long black sock.
Dr. Andrew McCallum, regional supervising coroner, said he couldn't disclose any details about the probe.
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/News/OttawaAndRegio...pf-4498002.html