By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The body of a 41-year-old US woman was on Saturday found between the jaws of a four-metre long alligator in Florida.
The authorities in Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office reported that the situation unfolded before 2pm local time Friday, a report by CBS indicates.
The police 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.
Her neighbour 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.
The police and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers responded and “humanely killed” the alligator, then loaded it onto the back of a truck.
A dive team was dispatched to recover Peckham’s body from the canal.
Peckham’s next of kin were contacted after the grisly find, and police are continuing to investigate the circumstances that led to her death.
An autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death.
