When I first heard about the many dismembered feet found in the British Colombia area, my first thought was:  Why feet?  Why didn’t they find, for example, heads or legs or arms?  After seeing the photograph of the boot -and assuming it is the boot which housed the dismembered foot mentioned in this story!- that particular element of the story, at least to me, a bit clearer.  The boot, as shown, remains in great shape despite the passage of many years.  Given it hasn’t disintegrated all that much over that time, it is logical to assume that what was inside the boot also remained in place.  While the rest of a person’s body decomposes and -no other nicer way to say it- breaks apart, the foot tucked inside the boot/shoe would stay in place.

Thus, people who died in the waters of the lakes, whether their deaths were caused by natural or darker means, would have their bodies eventually decompose but their feet, trapped within their shoes, had a better chance of eventually being found.