VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Canadian investigators have linked one of the five feet that mysteriously washed ashore in British Columbia to a depressed man who went missing a year ago.

Sgt. Pierre Lemaitre of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said investigators used DNA testing to match the foot to the man, who is not being immediately identified out of respect to the family. Lemaitre added more information about the investigation will be released on Monday.

The family "wanted the time to reach out to their immediate family and share the news among themselves," Lemaitre said.

Since last year, detached feet began appearing, floating within a few miles of each other along island shorelines in the Strait of Georgia near Vancouver. The bizarre findings baffled Canadian officials.

The first foot was found nearly a year ago on Jedidiah Island in the Strait of Georgia. Within days, another right foot was found inside a man's Reebok sneaker on nearby Gabriola Island.

The third foot was found in the same area, on the east side of Valdez Island in February. The fourth foot was found in May on Kirkland Island in the Fraser River, less than a mile from a the site where the fifth foot was found later on.

Last month, a sixth foot was found, but it turned to be a hoax -- someone stuffed a running shoe with an animal paw.

So far, investigators have concluded that two of the five feet belonged to one man and that one foot was from a woman. Canadian authorities have said they are reviewing around 300 missing person files.

Lemaitre would not comment on reports that a U.S. coroner in Washington state's San Juan Islands had found a footless body in his care. The San Juan Islands lie just south of the Strait of Georgia.

Canadian television has reported that Randy Gaylord, the coroner, found a man's body, but without feet, just five months before the first foot washed ashore. Lemaitre said Canadian investigators are looking into Gaylord's tip.

The disembodied feet have been the subject of speculation and wild conspiracy theories.

But Curtis Ebbesmeyer, an oceanographer based in Seattle said when a human body is submerged in the ocean, main parts like arms, legs, hands, feet and the head are usually what come off the body.

Ebbesmeyer said the feet could have been severed or detached from their bodies on their own.

Dr. John Butt, a forensic pathologist based in Vancouver, B.C., said the reason the feet were discovered at all is because they were tightly laced in buoyant running shoes, which floated to the surface.