Police have identified a woman whose remains were found in the mouth of a 13ft alligator in Florida.
The body of 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham was pulled from a canal in Largo, about 20 miles west of Tampa, after a witness spotted her in the alligator’s mouth, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said.
The animal was “humanely killed”, the sheriff’s office said, and the coroner’s office will perform a post-mortem examination to determine the official cause of death, but it is suspected Ms Peckham was killed by the alligator.
Sabrina Peckham (L), pictured with her daughter Breauna Dorris, has been identified as the victim
Ms Peckham’s daughter said her mother was homeless and lived near the water, and countered claims her mother had been taunting the animal.
Breauna Dorris wrote on Facebook: “Some details I would like to share is that my mother did not ‘taunt’ the alligator as some are saying in the news outlets comments.
“My mother was a part of the homeless population that lived in the nearby wooded area.
“It is believed that she may have been walking to or from her campsite near the creek in the dark and the alligator attacked from the water.”
She added: “No matter how you put it, no one deserves to die like this.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Ms Peckham to raise money for funeral costs, which has raised nearly $6,000 so far.
Witness ‘threw a rock at the alligator’
The alligator was spotted by Jamarcus Bullard, who saw the reptile and a body in the water on Friday afternoon.
“I threw a rock at the gator just to see if it was really a gator,” he told a TV affiliate of NBC News, Sky News’ US partner network.
“It pulled the body, like it was holding on to the lower part of the torso, and pulled it under the water.”
Jamarcus Bullard said he saw the alligator and a body in the water. Pic: NBC
Mr Bullard said he started recording on his phone and contacted the authorities.
The discovery has left some locals nervous, with Jennifer Dean telling TV station WFLA that her children frequently walk by the canal.