A disturbing incident in South Florida led police to a very grim discovery.
Law enforcement were called on Friday afternoon when it was reported that a massive 13-foot, 8.5-inch long male alligator was carrying human remains in its mouth in Unincorporated Largo, Florida.
Witness Jamarcus Bullard told WFLA he saw the alligator and a body by a canal. “I threw a rock at the gator just to see if it was really a gator, and it was, and it just pulled the body,” he told the outlet. “It was holding onto the lower part of the torso and just pulled it under water.”
Bullard immediately contacted the police and began recording the alligator on his phone.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office Dive Team and the Wildlife Conservation Commission were called in to respond to the situation.
Bullard explained that the responders were able to capture the alligator with a long stick-like device and pulled its head out of the water before shooting it. “Once they reeled it all the way out, they stretched it out and measured it 13 feet long and they shot it again,” he said.
The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, with assistance from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, announced in a press release that the alligator was "humanely killed" and subsequently removed from the water.
The remains of the deceased adult were also recovered during the operation.
The victim was identified as 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham. The cause of her death is still under investigation.
“I walk this way for work, there and back, and I’ll always look both ways just in case like an alligator or something like that,” said Bullard.
