PORT MOODY - The solution to a 25-year-old mystery has surfaced in Sasamat Lake.

The B.C. Coroners Service identified a missing man whose foot bones washed ashore in Port Moody three months ago.

DNA analysis confirmed the bones belonged to Stefan Zahorujko of Vancouver, who disappeared during a fishing trip on Jan. 5, 1987. Zahorujko, aged 65 at the time, had gone fishing alone on the lake and was never seen again.

His overturned boat, fishing gear and personal items were later found floating in the middle of the lake, and his vehicle and trailer were discovered on Bedwell Bay Road.

He was presumed drowned, but his body was never found, despite multiple searches and recovery efforts.

Then on Nov. 4, 2011, a school group at Belcarra's Sasamat Outdoor Centre first noticed a boot floating a few metres offshore. The next morning, the boot had washed up on the northwest shore of the lake. Inside the boot, a sock contained the remains of a foot.

An autopsy showed that the foot had been separated through natural processes that occur in the water, rather than being mechanically removed. Foul play was not suspected.

Zahorujko's foot is one of nine belonging to seven people discovered in B.C. between August 2007 and November 2012. The B.C. Coroners Service has identified seven of the feet belonging to five people, and they are still working to identify the remaining two. So far, there is no evidence to indicate that any of the deaths are suspicious.

The coroners service led the process to identify Zahorujko's foot, along with investigators from the Coquitlam RCMP, the Port Moody Police and the B.C. Police Missing Persons Centre.

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