Police investigating foot found on shore

Mike Modrzynski

Michigan State Police troopers are seeking identification and information on a foot discovered Monday.

Late Monday afternoon, deputies from the Presque Isle County Sheriff Department responded to a call from a resident of Hammond Bay who said they had found what appeared to be a human foot.

Upon arrival, deputies took possession. The foot was encased in a sock and a sandal, according to Michigan State Police Detective Ron Nightingale from the Cheboygan Post.

At the scene Tuesday, Nightingale said the entire beach north of the Hammond Bay Research Station was being considered a crime scene until his searchers and a K-9 unit from Gaylord had a chance to carefully search the area around where the foot was discovered.

"Right now I can't tell anything more about the foot other than it is in the possession of the (Presque Isle sheriff)," he said. "I don't know if it is a right or left foot or if it is a man's or a woman's foot. We are arranging to send it down to an anthropological forensics expert in Lansing at MSU."

He did say the foot was found at the water's edge at the outlet of a small creek but refused to speculate how long it had been there or even if it had washed up on shore.

He said it was a strange coincidence that in the past 12 months, five sneaker-clad feet had been discovered in British Columbia, Canada. He said it was strange, but likely no connection to this case.

"We have several jumpers (from the Mackinac Bridge), a few fishermen and other missing persons it could belong to so it could be anyone at this point in time," Nightingale said. "We still don't have a positive identification on the human torso we found several weeks ago near the Presque Isle-Cheboygan county line. It will take time before we have an answer."

Anyone with information can call Nightingale at the Cheboygan Post, 231-627-9681 or, the Presque Isle County Sheriff Department at 734-2156.

Mike Modrzynski can be reached via e-mail at mmodrzynski@thealpenanews.com