Mythical Cement Shoes Seen For First Time

choi

Michael Wilson, Cement Shoes, Fabled Anchor to Watery Grave, Surface in Brooklyn. New York Times, May 5, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/0 ... dy-in-brooklyn.html

Quote:

"The body of Peter Martinez, 28 * * * had washed up near Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. At one end, his head was wrapped in duct tape. At the other, where his feet should be, was a five-gallon bucket filled with rock-hard concrete — a mix of cement, sand, gravel and water — encasing his legs up to the shins.

"He had been reported missing in February by his girlfriend. It seems that strong currents dragged Mr Martinez, despite the homemade anchor, to shore [on MOnday, May 2] * * * Mr Martinez's last outfit — gray sweatpants, blue boxer shorts and a black jacket — was intact, and his tattoo of the Virgin Mary holding a rose was still visible.

"Making a pair of cement shoes sounds easy enough. * * * But there is one more important ingredient: time. An amount of uninterrupted time not commonly associated with murderers looking to cover their tracks. * * * Concrete hardens quickly in warm temperatures [and yet] Mr Martinez disappeared in February.

"The discovery of his remains, the actual sighting of a thing of legend, may be the moment for which Mr Martinez will be forever known.

Note:
(a) "One would be hard-pressed to think of a worse way to die than being fitted, as the saying goes, for cement shoes — fate hardening with every passing minute until the time comes to be dumped, feet first, into a watery grave, never to be seen again."

The "hardening" is a pun, simultaneously alluding to cement.
(b) mythical/ mythic
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mythic
(definitions 2 and 3)