SEQUIM, Wash. — A white sneaker with human remains inside washed up on the shores of a county park beach in Clallam County.
According to the sheriff’s office, just before 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 9, a person from Sequim called 911 to report a shoe that looked like it had human remains inside.
The shoe was found roughly 50 feet from the Port Williams Beach boat launch at Marly Nelson County Park.
A responding deputy confirmed the presence of bones and human tissue inside the shoe.
The shoe is described as a white Puma brand sneaker with green and blue “Sharpie” marker colorings covering the exterior.
Size information printed on the toe tag lists the shoe as European size 35.5, U.S. size 4C, and 22 centimeters in length. Based on typical U.S. shoe standards, the length corresponds to approximately a women’s size 5 to 5.5, according to the sheriff’s office.
No “additional suspicious items” were in the area, deputies say.
The Clallam County coroner responded and recovered the shoe containing the remains for further forensic examination.
This is not the first instance of human remains being discovered on a Clallam County beach.
In September 2022, human remains washed ashore at the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge near Sequim in Clallam County. The remains were identified as one of the 10 victims of the floatplane crash that went down near Whidbey Island on Sept. 4, 2022.
In December 2021, a woman’s New Balance size 8 shoe containing a human foot was found near the mouth of the Elwha River in Port Angeles. The woman was later successfully identified and her years-long missing persons case solved through advanced forensic DNA technology provided by Othram Labs.
Investigators will evaluate whether taking a similar approach would be helpful in this case.
©2025 Cox Media Group
