Human toe found at Dash Point State Park in Federal Way

A Father’s Day stroll at Dash Point State Park in Federal Way turned into a once-in-a-lifetime experience when a man found a human toe on the beach.

On June 15, Kevin Ewing from Tacoma said he, his two young kids and his wife were hanging out on the beach at the state park when he walked ahead of his family to the tide line in search of feathers. Ewing said he walked all the way down to about the park’s property line when he found what looked like a Christmas package.

He found a little box wrapped in green cloth, with a yellow string tied around it like a bow, Ewing said. Ewing said he has Native American ancestry, so his first thought was that the package was a prayer bundle or maybe a message-in-a-bottle type of item.

Ewing said he removed the green cloth and found a pine box shut with tape. He opened it with his pocket knife and found a feather, grass that had been burned, sage, lavender, tobacco and a rag with something inside it. He said when he unwrapped the rag, he quickly realized it was not related to any common Native American practices he is aware of.

“I set the box down on the ground, I believe, and I used my knife to pick the rag up and open it, and it was a severed human big toe that was in there,” Ewing said. “At first I was very shocked, and it took me a few minutes to kind of be like, ‘is this what I think it is?’ Then once it dawned on me that that’s what it was, I set everything down.”

Ewing said he also observed a dead seagull near the box, which appeared to be mutilated. He was unsure if it was related, but the bird appeared to have been skinned and not killed normally. He said that at first, he thought the toe might actually be part of the seagull, but upon looking at the toe again, he knew it was definitely not.

He took pictures of what he found, quickly returned to his wife, then showed a park ranger. Washington State Patrol (WSP) arrived, took over the investigation and asked him about what he found. He said he has not heard anything about the toe since.

According to WSP Trooper Rick Johnson, the toe is at the King County Medical Examiner’s Office in an attempt to match DNA. Additionally, Johnson said that a bulletin went out to all law enforcement to cross-reference any cases that may be tied to this.

According to WSP’s incident report, the toe was comparable in size to that of an adult male. Another piece of organic matter, along with what appeared to be feathers and herbs, was also found in the box where the toe was discovered.

Ewing said he’s not traumatized from the situation, but it was certainly startling. He said it was a reminder that the world’s not safe.

“You don’t expect to find something like that every day, or any day, especially on Father’s Day, when you’re out with your family,” Ewing said.

Ewing said upon discovering the toe, he left the area because he didn’t know if it was related to something nefarious, and if someone was going to jump out of the bushes. Ewing said the experience was creepy, to say the least. He said he’s glad he found the toe instead of someone else who might not have handled it so well or would have just thrown the toe away.

Ewing said now he’s left wondering if the toe belonged to a missing person, if it was part of a murder, or if someone did it to themselves. Ewing said the way the box was put together seemed very intentional, and he’s not sure if it was part of some kind of witchcraft.

“Just very odd. The toe definitely did not look like it was amputated. It definitely didn’t look like a surgeon had taken it off. It didn’t look like a very clean medical cut,” Ewing said.

Ewing said now he hopes that the owner of the toe can be identified, and hopes that can bring peace to someone’s family or help solve a crime. He said he thinks that, best-case scenario, someone cut the toe off their own body.

Another angle of the toe found on the beach. From WSP records request.

Different angles of the toe found on the beach. From WSP records request.

The cloth, string, box and toe. From WSP records request.

The box were the toe was found. From WSP records request.