Last week, Florida officials were forced to kill an almost 14-foot-long male alligator after it was spotted with a human body in its mouth.
The identity of the female victim was not immediately known. However, on Monday, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office reported the victim was 41-year-old Sabrina Peckman of Largo, Florida.
Peckman’s daughter, Breauna Dorris posted on Facebook that she was experiencing “unbearable pain.”
Dorris wrote: “The past 24 hours have been filled with grief and sorrow and unbearable pain for our family.”
The Facebook post added: “My mother, Sabrina Peckham was the victim of the alligator attack at McCay Creek. 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.”
Dorris concluded her heartfelt post noting: “No matter how you put it, no one deserves to die like this. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I pray you are at peace and you are no longer struggling or hurting.”
Fox News reported Peckham’s body was recovered with the help of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission personnel and that a “makeshift memorial and flowers are now at the scene” where the alligator was killed.
JaMarcus Bullard, the man who reported the horrific scene, told Spectrum Bay News 9: “I could tell there was a body in his mouth, so I started recording. I came down to the fire department and reported it to them.”
Of her mother, Dorris noted: “She was homeless herself. But that didn’t matter. She would give you the last piece of food off her plate. She would give you the shirt off her back if she needed to.”
A GoFundMe account has been established.
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