Foot found near Fort Sumter belonged to woman last seen in August of 2020

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - The Charleston County coroner has identified a foot found near Fort Sumter last year as a 57-year-old woman.

In a press conference Wednesday, Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal identified the victim as Janet Robinson originally from Mississippi but had moved to the Goose Creek area.

O’Neal says her office was able to make the identification thanks to DNA submitted to a group that can compare genealogical profiles to databases where individuals had uploaded their DNA to try and get a comparison. The DNA was submitted to Othram, a lab based in Texas, on June 21 and the coroner’s office received the results in September. The coroner says DNA had originally been submitted in November of 2020 to the University of North Texas in order to create a DNA profile for CODIS, or Combined DNA Index System, but results from that submission have not been returned.

O’Neal says that authorities recovered a second foot on March 17 wearing the same shoe as the foot recovered on October 25, 2020, but the rest of Robinson’s remains have not been found.

Officials say they have been unable to determine the cause of death.

O’Neal said they were able to determine that Robinson was last seen on August 3, 2020, and that based on the condition of the first foot that was found on October 25 of that year that Robinson had been deceased for a least four weeks.

Officials with the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office say their marine patrol division initially responded to a shoe that washed up near the fort and found the foot inside of it in October 2020.

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