Photo: St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
Human remains were found inside a massive alligator that is suspected of attacking a Louisiana man asHurricane Idaslammed into the state last month.
According to theSt. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office, crews captured a 12-foot-long alligator weighing over 500 pounds near the location 71-year-old Timothy Satterlee went missing following an attack.
“For the last three weeks, members of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Division, along with State and Federal partners, worked tirelessly searching the area in hopes of locating Satterlee, or the alligator that attacked him,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Monday.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office/Facebook
“This morning, their hard work paid off with the capture of the alligator that is suspected to be the one who attacked Satterlee,” they added.
Over the weekend, licensed hunters Phillip McClurke and Eric Dumas located an alligator in a waterway near the location of the attack and set up traps to capture it. Once it was caught, they found “what [appeared] to be human remains” inside its stomach, the office said.
“This is a horrible tragedy and my sincere condolences and sympathy goes to the Satterlee family,” St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith said in astatement. “I know today’s findings does not bring their loved one back, but hopefully this can bring them some sort of closure.”
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According to the sheriff’s office, the coroner will attempt to verify the remains as Satterlee’s with help from investigators.
“I am 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,” Smith said. “We will continue to keep them in our prayers.”
source: people.com
