Human remains found inside alligator suspected of Hurricane Ida attack
Sheriff expresses sympathies with family of missing man, who was attacked last week
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Your support makes all the difference.An alligator that was suspected of killing a 71-year-old man from Louisiana has been captured in floodwaters from last week’s Hurricane Ida, with investigators already locating human remains inside the creature’s stomach.
Agents from St Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office in Covington, Louisiana, had been searching floodwaters for three weeks before finding the alligator this weekend.
A special operations division returned to the location on Monday and captured the animal, according to the sheriff’s office, who received help from state and federal bodies, as well as licenced hunters Phillip Mc Clurke and Eric Dumas, who set traps to catch the alligator.
The animal, which reportedly weighed 504 pounds and was 12 feet in length, was located near to where Timothy Satterlee Sr went missing on 30 August — a day after Hurricaine Ida hit Louisiana with fierce rain and flash flooding.
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On Facebook, the sheriff’s office said investigators found “what appears to be human remains inside its stomach”, after searching the alligator.
They were sent to the coroner’s office in St Tammany Parish for examination — and to verify whether or not the remains belong to Mr Satterlee Sr.
“This is a horrible tragedy and my sincere condolences and sympathy goes to the Satterlee family,” said sheriff Randy Smith in a statement.
“I know today’s findings does not bring their loved one back, but hopefully this can bring them some sort of closure.”
He added that he was “very proud of the hard, non-stop work, of my deputies and the other agencies who assisted, and I hope their persistence in finding this alligator will help the family with coping with their loss”.
As reported by Fox8, Mr Satterlee was walking along floodwaters with his wife when he was attacked by an alligator last week.
She allegedly returned from seeking medical assistance to find her husband had vanished.
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