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Finger found in oxtail, deli owner suspects 'hoax'
The finger is shown still attached to the fork.
TAMPA (Bay News 9) -- Tampa couple Connie Edwards and Tommy Smith say that a finger came with some oxtail they bought at the House of Meats in Tampa.
"They boiled it and them and two other family members were taking pieces out of the pot, periodically and eating it," said the couple's attorney Thomas Parnell.
"When Miss Edwards began to eat the piece she noticed what appeared to be a piece of gristle attached to the meat," he said. "So, she took the fork and she pulled it off because she didn't want to consume it. And she looked at it closer and it appeared to be a human finger."
The incident happened in June, according to Parnell.
A few days ago, the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed it was, indeed, a human finger. But they can't prove who it belongs to because all the DNA was cooked away.
Parnell said the couple would get their blood tested to see if they contracted any diseases.
"We haven't had them tested until we knew it was human," Parnell said. "But now that it's been determined that it is, they're undergoing blood work to determine whether there's anything they may have contracted."
Tampa police say no employees at the meat packing company that supplies House of Meats are missing any fingers. Without DNA from the finger, they've closed the case.
The House of Meats owner says it's impossible that finger was mixed in with the oxtail they sell.
"I believe it's a hoax," said House of Meats owner Josh Eubank. "I believe the odds of it getting into the oxtail, from the process of how oxtail is done here and at the factory, it's very unlikely that it came from the oxtail."
His meat cutters showed Bay News 9 their hands, proving they have all ten of their fingers. Eubank also showed Bay News 9 the oxtail process from when it arrives in a box to how it ends up on the shelf.
"Everything comes into us frozen, the oxtail," Eubank said. "And we cut it and sell it frozen. So, there's another reason why I know that it didn't come from here. Because we don't ever refreeze it, thaw it, or refreeze it. And number two, if somebody loses a finger, you're picking up that finger and you're going to a hospital."
But the couple's attorney says he stands by his clients' story.
"I believe these people and that finger was in that meat," he said.
The family's attorney says he's waiting for test results on his clients' health before deciding whether to file a lawsuit.
In 2005, a woman in Nevada claimed there was a finger in her chili from Wendy's, which turned out to be a hoax.
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