Authorities captured a 504-pound alligator suspected of attacking and killing a 71-year-old man in Louisiana during Hurricane Ida.
The 12-foot reptile was found in the Avery Estates area near Slidell, a town on Lake Pontchartrain, off New Orleans, according to the St. Sheriff’s Parish Sheriff’s Office. Tammany. It was near the site where Mr. Timothy Satterlee, a man who survived the devastating wrath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, disappeared into the waters of Ida on August 30th.
“The alligator has been caught this morning by one of the traps and has been taken to a safe view to be searched,” the sheriff’s office said Monday. “Once the alligator was searched, it was discovered that what appeared to be human remains inside the stomach.”
Investigators said they would work with the St. Louis Parish Forensic Office. Tammany to check if the remains belonged to Satterlee.
The victim’s wife told lawmakers that a commotion prompted her to take to the streets when she witnessed the attack and hurried to help her husband, the sheriff’s office said. Authorities said he pulled him out of the floods immediately after the attack and entered the home to collect first aid supplies.
Slidell firefighter spokesman Jason Gaubert said the man had lost an arm.
“When she … realized the severity of her injuries, she immediately got into her canoe (boat) and went to higher ground, which was about a mile away, to call for help.” , the sheriff’s office previously said. “When she returned, her husband was no longer lying on the stairs.”
Sheriff Randy Smith called the incident a “horrible tragedy.”
“I know today’s findings do not reclaim your loved one, but I hope this could lead to some sort of closure,” he said in a statement.