ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. -- A St. Lucie County firefighter accused of taking a crash victim's foot has resigned after telling investigators she would use the foot to train her cadaver dog.

Cindy Economou trains cadaver dogs used to locate and follow the scent of decomposing human flesh.

Economou claims she asked a supervisor if she could take the foot and the chief told her, "I don't want to know."

The details from a Fire District internal investigation were released Thursday. The report says she told investigators she took the foot belonging to a car crash victim from Melbourne on Sept. 19 and was storing it in her home freezer.

It's the Fire District's policy to take a severed body part with the patient to the hospital if there is any chance of reattachment, or the body part goes to the medical examiner's office.

The 38-year-old Economou resigned on Wednesday. She joined the agency in 1994.