PORT ANGELES — The crowdfunding effort for DNA testing of a human foot, which was found by a beachcomber in August 2008, has almost reached 10 percent of its $7,500 goal.
The fundraising effort through Othram’s DNASolves.com seeks to identify a human foot inside a sock and shoe found by someone walking along the beach near the old Silver King Resort about 30 miles west of Port Angeles in August 2008.
As of Thursday afternoon, $730.74 had been raised.
According to Kristen Mittelman, chief development officer at Texas-based Othram, the company is the only one that identifies people from crime scenes versus medical or consumer cases.
Its employees are experts in the human genome and forensic-grade genome sequencing techniques in the medical field.
Clallam County Sheriff Brian King has said the sheriff’s office has no new leads on the case that would cause them to employ the genetic testing other than it’s been unsolved for more than a decade and the advanced genetic testing conducted by Othram has worked before.
Investigators with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the remains found inside of the shoe were part of a human foot.
They also confirmed the shoe was a size 11 Everest brand, made for the right foot and the sock was a Levi’s brand tube sock.
No other identifying information was discovered and despite investigators’ efforts, the identity of the individual remains unknown.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office published a news release on Aug. 5, 2008, that included details of the discovery along with photographs of the shoe and the tube sock but were unable to identify to whom it belonged.
