Stanley K. Okumoto of East Bremerton, Washington, went missing on Sept. 19, 2017. His vehicle was found the next day in Clallam County, about 240 kilometres away. Two months later, his body was found by a tourist looking for sea otters near Neah Bay in Juan de Fuca Strait. Photograph By KITSAP COUNTY SHERIFF
The left leg and foot that washed up on a Jordan River beach on Vancouver Island in December belonged to a 79-year-old Washington state man, the B.C. Coroners Service said Wednesday.
The coroner’s special investigations unit used DNA analysis to link the human remains, found on Dec. 7 by a Jordan River man walking his dog, to Stanley K. Okumoto from East Bremerton in Kitsap County, Washington.
Okumoto went missing on Sept. 19, 2017. His vehicle was found the next day in Clallam County, about 240 kilometres away from his home.
Two months later, his body was found by a tourist looking for sea otters near Neah Bay in Juan de Fuca Strait. The body, identified through dental records, was missing the left leg and foot.
Clallam County prosecutor Mark Nichols, who is also the county’s coroner, could not determine the cause of death but was able to rule out foul play, according to Washington state media.
Okumoto’s DNA and the DNA from the leg and foot were compared and proved to be a match, the coroners office said.
Thirteen disembodied feet have washed up on B.C.’s coastline since 2007.
Ten of those have been identified as belonging to seven people who died by accident or suicide. One foot was linked to a man who had gone missing 25 years earlier when his boat overturned near Port Moody.
