Woman’s body found in jaws of Florida alligator

A body which was spotted in the jaws of a 13-foot alligator in Largo, Florida, has been identified as a 41-year-old woman, authorities said Saturday.  

The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office reports that the situation unfolded a little before 2 p.m. local time Friday, when 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.

Neighbor JaMarcus Bullard told CBS affiliate WTSP that he discovered the victim in the jaws of an alligator and called 911.

“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 released. 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. 

In March, in nearby St. Petersburg, a missing 2-year-old boy was found dead in the mouth of an alligator, two days after the boy’s mother was found murdered in their family’s apartment.

The boy’s father was later charged with two counts of murder in their deaths.