Dutch police have found two feet in a river close to Dordrecht, but one is from a 75-year-old woman who disappeared in 2024 and the other from a 16-year-old boy who vanished in 2023.

The foot from the elderly woman was found in January but the find has only just been made public. The woman, Marijke de Groot, had been missing since March 2024 when her bike was found on the bank of the Dordtse Kil river.

Police say it is a total coincidence that her foot, still encased in a shoe, was found in almost the same place as that of Yoran, 16. His foot and shoe were found last week by a passerby.

He vanished in December 2023 after failing to return home after an evening out at a local youth club. His bike was found a day later on the cycle path and his jacket was fished out of the Beneden Merwede river a few days later. The Merwede flows into the Dordtse Kil.

“There is a considerable current [in the river] and that is likely to have had an impact, a police spokesman said.

The spokesman said there is reason to suspect that either death could be the result of a crime and a major search of the area on Monday did not result in any more human parts.

“It is not out of the ordinary just to find feet,” forensic pathologist Frank van der Goot told the AD. “If the joints go, the foot falls off and the less flesh on the bone the more quickly the body breaks apart.”

Shoes also keep the bones together, he said.