The remains of a dismembered human foot were discovered in a shoe by a dog in Sevier County, Utah, earlier this month, leading officials to investigate whether the human remains are linked to a missing persons case from 1997.
According to Fox 13, the dismembered human foot remains were discovered on May 16 as a man and his dog were walking on the shore of Utah’s Fish Lake.
ABC 4 reported that Sevier County Sheriff Nathan Curtis said that after picking up the shoe his dog discovered, the owner of the dog saw what “appeared to be a bone in the shoe.”
Curtis told ABC 4, “Detectives responded and found the remains of what appeared to be the remains of a human foot inside the shoe.” According to ABC 4, the Utah Medical Examiner’s Office has confirmed that the shoe discovered by the dog contained a dismembered human foot.
ABC 4 reported that while a search was conducted along the shore of Utah’s Fish Lake just one day after the discovery of the human remains, the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that “no other evidence was found to indicate where the foot came from.”
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Fox 13 reported that detectives have indicated that they believe the human foot remains could belong to David M. White, who went missing while fishing on Fish Lake in September of 1997. The outlet noted that law enforcement officials never found White’s body.
Deseret News previously reported that at the time of White’s disappearance, police officials believed he may have fallen into the center of the lake while not wearing a life jacket.
Following a failed attempt to locate White’s missing body, Sevier County Sheriff’s Lt. Delbert Lloyd told reporters, “That whole lake is deep, and it was too deep for the three divers we sent in. It was just too dark, too black.”
According to Fox 13, police officials have indicated that they have obtained a DNA sample from one of White’s children and are going to have it tested to see if there is a connection with the recovered foot remains. The outlet noted that law enforcement officials have confirmed that there are no other known reports of people believed to be still missing near Fish Lake.
