Human foot found near WA river in 2021. Investigators now raising money for DNA test

Investigators are raising money to DNA test a human foot that was found in woman’s shoe near a Washington river in 2021, authorities said.

A beachgoer found a New Balance shoe with a foot inside near the mouth of the Elwha River in Port Angeles, the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office said. The shoe was a woman’s size 8.

Authorities said they were never able identify it because of the “limited recovery of the woman’s remains.” Investigators couldn’t determine the woman’s age, ethnicity, height, weight, hair color or eye color.

Now investigators are trying to raise $7,500 to get the woman’s foot DNA tested through Othram, a private lab in The Woodlands, Texas. As of Thursday, investigators have raised over $4,200.

The “unique nature of the evidence” limited the department from getting forensic analysis by Washington State Patrol and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System after the foot was discovered, The Seattle Times reported.

The department also tried to test the foot through a lab at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth, but it has stopped taking out-of-state evidence, the news outlet reported.

Port Angeles is about 85 miles northwest of Seattle.

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