Rotting toe found in box on Washington beach

A Tacoma, Washington, man found a gift-wrapped severed human toe while celebrating Father’s Day at a beach with his wife and two small children.

While searching the beach at Dash Point State Park for feathers on June 15, Kevin Ewing happened upon a weathered package containing a small pine box that’d been wrapped in green cloth and tied closed with yellow string.

Assuming it was a lost Christmas present, Ewing opened it, eventually finding a severed adult human big toe, reported the Federal Way Mirror.

“At first, I was very shocked,” Ewing told the Federal Way Mirror of the rotted toe. “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

Nearby, Ewing spotted a dead seagull that appeared to be mutilated. He is unsure if the two are connected.

Before bringing the toe to police, he took pictures of his gruesome find, which he shared with the Federal Way Mirror.

DNA testing is being performed on the excised appendage to see if the toe can be matched to its owner.

“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, adding he’s glad he found it rather than someone who may have been left traumatized by the experience.

Ewing said he now keeps wondering if the toe belonged to a missing person, someone who may have been killed, or some disturbed person who cut it off for reasons unknown.

“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,” he said. “It didn’t look like a very clean medical cut.”