Severed Thumb Found in Fish Is Returned to Owner

GREEN RIVER, Wyo. —  A severed thumb that turned up in the stomach of a lake trout has been traced to the person who lost it in a boating accident last summer.

Sweetwater County Coroner Mike Vase said Thursday he had confirmed that the digit found earlier this month belongs to Robert Lindsey, 32, of Green River.

“I’ll probably just put it on a shelf to show people,” Lindsey said Friday. “I’ll probably keep it in a jar.”

Lindsey said he was at Flaming Gorge Reservoir south of Green River last July when he dived from his boat to help a friend’s daughter who had fallen into the water. The boat went over him and the propeller cut off his thumb, index and middle finger.

The two other fingers were found and reattached, Lindsey said. More than six months later, on Feb. 13, a fisherman hooked the trout and the thumb was found in the fish’s stomach.

Lindsey said he called the coroner’s office after hearing about the find. “At first he (Vase) didn’t believe me,” Lindsey said.

“As soon as I saw it, I was pretty sure it was mine,” he added.