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
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Date published: 2/12/2007
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