A lifeless body which has been identified as a 41-year-old woman was discovered in the jaws of a 13-foot alligator in Largo, Florida yesterday, Africa Today News, New York reports.
According to CBS, the authorities in Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office reported that the situation unfolded before 2 pm local time yesterday.
The deputies were called to an unincorporated part of Largo — located in the Tampa Bay area — after the body of the victim, later identified as Sabrina Peckham, was spotted in a waterway.
Peckham’s neighbor JaMarcus Bullard told CBS affiliate WTSP that he discovered the victim in the jaws of an alligator and called 911.
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“It (the alligator) lifted up out of the water with the body, like it was just clamped onto it, and it like swam backwards, like, under to the bottom of the canal to the other side,” Bullard said.
“I just couldn’t believe it was real,” he added.
Deputies and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers responded and “humanely killed” the alligator, the sheriff’s office said.
A dive team then recovered Peckham’s remains from the canal.
No further details on the circumstances leading up to the discovery were published.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the Pinellas County medical examiner is still working to determine the manner and cause of her death, the sheriff’s office said, and the investigation into the case ongoing.