Alligator killed after human body pulled from Florida waterway
Authorities have identified the victim, but additional details have not yet been released.
Editor’s note: This story contains descriptions of events that some readers may find disturbing.
PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A woman is dead and an alligator killed after a possible gator attack in Florida late last week.
Shortly before 2 p.m. Friday, authorities were called to a canal in Largo for a person reported deceased in the area.
A representative with the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to Nexstar's WFLA that the incident involved an alligator. The gator, which measured 13 feet, 8.5 inches long, was "humanely killed" by deputies and removed from the waterway. A human's body was also pulled from the water.
The victim has been identified as Sabrina Peckham, 41, by Pinellas County deputies. Peckham's cause of death is pending, per the Medical Examiner's Office.
According to an arrest document, Peckham was arrested in July for trespassing on a county wetland. The address included in the report is just blocks from where her remains were found by authorities.
Details about the apparent attack are unclear.
Jamarcus Bullard told WFLA he spotted the alligator in the Largo canal, as well as the human remains, Friday afternoon.
“I threw a rock at the gator just to see if it was really a gator and like it pulled the body, like it was holding on to the lower part of the torso, and pulled it under the water,” Bullard recounted.
From there, Bullard said the gator showed off its might as deputies and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission tried to capture it.
“They put a rope around its neck and put it on a pully of a truck,” he said. “They were reeling it in, but it started to pull the truck in the water so the guy was like we just got to get it out a different way.”
Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is assisting the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office in the investigation.
WFLA's Nathaniel Rodriguez, Kevin Accettulla, and Justin Schecker contributed to this report.