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Oops! 'Human' foot belonged to ape
Search for body ends after lab makes discovery.
Date published: 2/12/2007 BY BILL FREEHLING It turns out that the foot found Saturday in Spotsylvania County was not that of a human, authorities said today. The search through 127 tons of trash at the Livingston Landfill ended abruptly this morning after the foot was cleaned and X-rayed by state medical examiners. They determined the foot was not human and was possibly that of an apelike species, said Spotsylvania Sheriff Howard Smith. The medical examiner's office called the sheriff's office this morning, Smith said. They did not say if it was a monkey or some other type of ape-type species-only that it wasn't human. "The good news is that we don't have a homicide," Smith said. Smith said about 35 fire, rescue and sheriff's employees had been looking through the garbage for about an hour today before the search ended. They did the same all day Sunday. Smith said they will not look for the remainder of the apelike species. The left foot was found about 3 p.m. Saturday by landfill workers cleaning the treads of a bulldozer used to spread and cover garbage. It was sent to the state forensics laboratory in Richmond for examination. Smith said the foot appeared to have been cleanly sawed off above the ankle. He said there was just skin and bone-no hair. Smith said a member of the medical examiner's office at the landfill Sunday also believed that the foot belonged to a human. It appeared to be about the same size, Smith said. Smith said he has no idea how the foot ended up in the landfill. It was covered with sludge and hadn't decomposed significantly when found. He said it had appeared to be an adult's foot; it seemed big for a baby's. The 127 tons of trash had been delivered Saturday to the Massey Road landfill. The search included heavy machinery, rakes, cadaver dogs-and even sifting by hand. Smith said they searched about half the trash Sunday and were preparing to tackle the rest today. Bill Freehling: 540/374-5424 bfreehling@freelancestar.com
Read more stories about Spotsylvania Date published: 2/12/2007
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