Identified! KY - Cloverport, banks of Ohio River, Leg in Shoe, Mar'20 - Danny ”Tin Can“ Napier

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Sorry if somebody’s already started a thread on this...

Very little info that I’ve seen this far.

A human leg in a shoe was found on the banks of the Ohio River near Cloverport (Breckinridge County) around lunch on Monday. It was decomposing, so it could have come from anywhere upstream (KY, IN, OH, WV, PA)

Leg with shoe found on banks of Ohio River
WDRB-41
Louisville, KY
3/17/2020
Kentucky State Police are investigating after part of a leg with a shoe was found near the Ohio River.
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KSP says the body part had been in the water for some time and was decomposed. Investigators say the medical examiner will confirm the leg is human.
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Laughing said:
Glad that wasn't me walking along the river....

Awaiting a piccie of the shoe!
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Oh, I saw this newly listed profile on NamUs yesterday.

I came across Devin Butler's profile while I was searching for a potential match and wondered whether these are his remains. His height of 5'7" seems as if it would match with a size 10 shoe. Although, we know how foot sizes go. o_O

Devin's NamUs profile -
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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I'm wondering if this could be Tanner Harper (The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)) who's been missing since Dec 2018. It says he was wearing dark shoes. With his 5'9-10" height, it seems like size 10 shoes could be reasonable.

His car was found on the 2nd Street Bridge or near it. Cloverport is a few counties downstream. It seems at least possible he could have washed up there.

Tanner has always stuck in my mind because I remember the day he went missing. I could see the bridge from my office building and we saw the boats and law enforcement out on both sides of the river.
 
These cases are tough. Without very distinctive markings or clothing/accessories it’s hard to tell. Hopefully someone is looking into these local guys, they seem like they could be good possibilities. Especially Tanner, his circumstances sure seem to fit this scenario. IMO.
 
MadMcGoo said:
These cases are tough. Without very distinctive markings or clothing/accessories it’s hard to tell. Hopefully someone is looking into these local guys, they seem like they could be good possibilities. Especially Tanner, his circumstances sure seem to fit this scenario. IMO.
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I wonder how decomposed the leg was. Tanner was last seen 15 months ago. Devin has been missing about 2 1/2 years. Would there be anything left? I wish we had more details.
 
stringofpurls said:
I wonder how decomposed the leg was. Tanner was last seen 15 months ago. Devin has been missing about 2 1/2 years. Would there be anything left? I wish we had more details.
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One of the first articles said the Medical Examiner would have to determine if the “part of the leg” was even human. I’m guessing that means it was probably completely or mostly skeletal. But I’m not sure what kind of a damage a body would sustain by simply being in a river for a certain amount of time. Assuming the body went into the water in one piece. Depending on a the water current and area around the river (locks/damns, rocks, trees or shrubbery), I’d think it’s possible for a body to take quite a beating from the elements. I’m not trying to sound overly graphic. Hopefully you understand what I’m getting at. I think 15 months or 2 1/2 years could both be described as “for some time”.

Another thing, although it’s not probable, this could be a woman’s leg/shoe. I know women who’d fit in and wear this shoe. More information would be helpful although I doubt there’s much more available. I would venture to say the other parts of this person’s body will be or have been found in a similar location/manner.

JMO
 
I was trying to determine from the photos of the shoe if they looked to be fairly worn or not. You can see that there is some damage to the shoe that was most likely caused by being in the river, but as far as normal wear patterns, it doesn’t look like the person had the shoes long. Or at least he/she didn’t wear them often. The sole appears fairly new, or like a tire, much of its “tread” is as it would be when it was bought. That’s just my observation, I’m not sure how helpful that is. lol

ETA: it actually looks like the shoe may have been slightly too large for the person. It could be the quality of the shoe too, but I know anytime I’ve worn shoes that were too big, they got this crease near the toe quicker than they did with shoes that fit properly. Take this all with a grain of salt, I’m not an expert shoe analyst :D
D2BFFE63-FA91-461F-AAED-E001A2AC610F.jpeg
 
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TristanP said:
“The medical examiner will determine if the leg is human.”

So, do the deer in KY like to shop for shoes at Walmart? I’ve heard the cattle prefer Macy’s while the horses like to support locally owned shops...

LOL
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:D:D I was thinking it but you said it!

Maybe they thought random shoes find their way onto random bones? IDK... probably just a technicality (surely), but it was a bit humorous that they’d mention that.
 
This is weird. I was Googling and looking for updates on this. There have been at least 3 partial legs with shoes found along the Ohio River. This one in 2020, and one in Indiana along the Ohio, and another in Marietta Ohio that was sent to Montgomery county crime lab in Dayton OH. These others were in 2016 and 2018 I think. Can't remember which one but coroner said it did not show markings of having been removed from the body. Strange. Is somebody dumping dismembered bodies in the river somewhere?
 
AggieLou said:
This is weird. I was Googling and looking for updates on this. There have been at least 3 partial legs with shoes found along the Ohio River. This one in 2020, and one in Indiana along the Ohio, and another in Marietta Ohio that was sent to Montgomery county crime lab in Dayton OH. These others were in 2016 and 2018 I think. Can't remember which one but coroner said it did not show markings of having been removed from the body. Strange. Is somebody dumping dismembered bodies in the river somewhere?
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I remember watching a documentary about feet in shoes showing up on a beach, cannot recall where. I think it was determined that most had probably jumped from a near by bridge. The feet come away from the body after all the time in the water. Maybe this could be something similar? Not sure, but I’m am sure I would never want to find one!!
MOO
 
MissUnderstood said:
I remember watching a documentary about feet in shoes showing up on a beach, cannot recall where. I think it was determined that most had probably jumped from a near by bridge. The feet come away from the body after all the time in the water. Maybe this could be something similar? Not sure, but I’m am sure I would never want to find one!!
MOO
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Might be in the Pacific Northwest -- shoes wash up on the beaches both with & without feet.

JMHO YMMV
 
But this is 3 separate legs over about 3 years on a fairly short stretch of the Ohio River which is almost a thousand miles long. And that was not really an in depth search. Just popped up quickly as I was looking for updates. Maybe none are related and it's just convenient if you are close to such a major river to pitch a body in the river. But where's the rest of the person/s? Maybe I'll have to search how many other remains other than legs have turned up along the Ohio.
We just had a case of a guy disappearing from a hotel near the Great Miami River in Dayton OH. Family pleading for information on FB. About a week or week and a half later his body was found about 20 miles down river. Maybe major, fast moving rivers are popular to get rid of victims if one is nearby.
 
AggieLou said:
But this is 3 separate legs over about 3 years on a fairly short stretch of the Ohio River which is almost a thousand miles long. And that was not really an in depth search. Just popped up quickly as I was looking for updates. Maybe none are related and it's just convenient if you are close to such a major river to pitch a body in the river. But where's the rest of the person/s? Maybe I'll have to search how many other remains other than legs have turned up along the Ohio.
We just had a case of a guy disappearing from a hotel near the Great Miami River in Dayton OH. Family pleading for information on FB. About a week or week and a half later his body was found about 20 miles down river. Maybe major, fast moving rivers are popular to get rid of victims if one is nearby.
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It's a common phenomenon to find disarticulated legs/feet still within the shoe, in bodies of moving water. Most of these people died of accidental or natural causes, or suicide, and it has nothing to do with foul play. I'm copying over a bit of an explainer I did on another similar case a bit ago. I talked mostly about the ocean but all of these forces are at play in big rivers like the Ohio and Mississippi....

Disarticulation of limbs is extremely common in drowning victims and any body that's in moving water, particularly the ocean, for more than a day or so. A body in the ocean will typically float for a bit before sinking, where currents drag the body around on the bottom and through debris, which very often disarticulates limbs. There's also sometimes scavenger activity. Eventually the body starts to decompose more and float, which often leads to the discovery of partial remains like these days to weeks or even much longer after the person died.

This is the same type of phenomenon that's believed to be behind the discovery of many disarticulated feet in shoes over the years on the PNW. Shoes (particularly athletic shoes and boots, which is what these feet are found in) are pretty durable and good at keeping a foot in tact and in relatively good shape after it's been disarticulated in the water.

Because other parts of the body aren't as well protected/contained, they usually degrade and disperse faster, and can quickly become difficult or impossible to locate.
 
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I guess that likely is the case with the leg. The Ohio is 3rd largest river in the US by volume and largest tributary of the Mississippi. Years ago we used to boat on the Ohio around Cincinnati and farther east. A group of "friends" pitched me overboard one time near downtown Cincinnati. I'm good in the water but man, it was scuzzy back then. I was not real happy.

But it would be nice if it's possible to identify the leg and give a family an answer to a likely missing person.
 
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