Gruesome Alligator Attacks in the US
The state of Florida, where most fatal attacks occur, began keeping records of alligator attacks in 1948. All occurred in the South, where alligators are common in wetlands and tidal marshes.
Here are 45 factual and fatal alligator attacks that have occurred in the US starting with the most recent attacks in 2023.
Fatal Attacks
Before we dive into the details, there are two things to note: Not every attack is fatal, and water isn’t the only danger zone.
Although not everyone loses their lives after being attacked by an alligator, doctors say an alligator’s mouth is one of the dirtiest places imaginable—bacteria thrive there.
A lot of people who initially survive alligator attacks end up passing days later from infections.
Matthew Field, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Water Isn’t the Only Danger Zone
You don’t have to be in the water for an alligator to attack. They routinely eat wading birds, or smaller animals that hang out along the shoreline, like raccoons and dogs.
They will also willingly climb up on shore to approach their victims.
Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
September 23, 2023
Sabrina Peckman, 41, was a homeless woman who had been previously apprehended for trespassing on wetland property only two months before she was attacked.
She didn’t learn her lesson, and her consequences were fatal.
Rhododendrites, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sabrina Peckman
Peckman’s body was found in an irrigation canal in Largo, Florida, when a witness spotted a 14-foot-long alligator with a human torso clenched in its jaws.
Drewpiter, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
July 4, 2023
Holly Jenkins, aged 69, was walking her dogs in her neighborhood of Spanish Wells in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina when she was attacked by an alligator.
The alligator didn’t just attack and let go, though.
Holly Jenkins
First responders were not able to immediately reach Jenkins because the alligator had crawled out of the water and was “guarding” her unalive body.
Several hours later, the alligator was euthanized and the woman’s body was retrieved.
Gareth Rasberry, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
February 20, 2023
Gloria Serge, was an 85-year-old woman who was walking her dog next to a pond at the Spanish Lakes Fairways retirement community in Fort Pierce, Florida when an alligator emerged from the water and attacked her dog.
As most pet owners would, she impulsively tried to protect her dog.
JonathanPuello, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Gloria Serge
Serge tried to save her dog, which only turned the alligator’s focus onto her. Unfortunately, she lost her life and her dog survived.
Jamie41, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
August 15, 2022
Nancy Becker, aged 88, was a victim of an alligator attack in her own backyard in her gated community in Bluffton, South Carolina.
Her body was discovered while it was being guarded by the 10-foot-long alligator.
Mike Tilley, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
July 15, 2022
Rose Marie Wiegand, another elderly woman aged 80, was attacked by two alligators when she fell into a pond along a golf course in Englewood, Florida.
June 24, 2022
Micheal Burstein, aged 75, was tragically dragged into a pond in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina by an alligator. His body was later recovered and it was determined that he drowned.
David R. Tribble, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
May 31, 2022
Sean McGuinness, aged 47, often dipped into an alligator-infested lake at John S. Taylor Park in Largo, Florida, in search of flying discs from a nearby disc golf course. He would collect the discs and resell them.
Then one evening he went in and did not come back out.
Philipp Michel Reichold, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Sean McGuinness
Around 8:00am, a person walking their dog found his dismembered body along the shoreline with three of his limbs missing.
Authorities believed the man went into the lake sometime during the night as his body did not appear to have been in the water for long.
Philipp Michel Reichold, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
August 30, 2021
Timothy Satterlee, aged 71, was attacked in floodwaters of Hurricane Ida near the city of Slidell, Louisiana.
The man’s wife witnessed the 12-foot-long alligator bite his arm off before dragging him away to his demise.
Christine Ho, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
The Satterlee Attack
The alligator believed to have attacked Satterlee was captured and euthanized a few weeks later. Human remains were found in its stomach.
Although Louisianna has approximately 1.5 million alligators, this was their only known fatal alligator attack.
May 1, 2020
Cynthia Covert, aged 58, was pulled underwater and drowned by an alligator in a pond behind her home near Salt Cedar Lane, Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
olekinderhook, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
August 20, 2018
Cassandra Cline, was 45 years old when she was dragged to her demise while walking her dog near a golf course in the gated community of Sea Pines in Hilton Head, South Carolina.
Witnesses described the brutal attack.
Cassandra Cline
Witnesses reported seeing the woman trying to protect her dog when the alligator suddenly turned on her and forcibly pulled her into the lagoon to her demise.
The dog was unharmed.
June 8, 2018
Shizuka Matsuki, aged 47, was dragged to her demise and then dismembered by an alligator, while walking her dogs at Silver Lake Rotary Nature Park in Davie, Florida.
July 29, 2016
Bonnie Walker, was 90-years-old when she was attacked by an alligator near a pond close to Brookdale Senior Living Center in Charleston, South Carolina.
Her body was later recovered, and was apaprently difficult to see.
Bonny Walker
Walker’s brutally attacked body was found along the pond’s shore hours later, and the coroner concluded she passed from “multiple sharp and blunt force injuries”.
June 14, 2016
Lane Graves was a two-year-old boy who lost his life after being dragged by a large 4-7 foot long underwater in the Seven Seas Lagoon at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Florida.
His parents jumped in immediately to save him.
Raman Patel, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Lane Graves
The toddler’s parents tried everything they could to rescue him but then his father was attacked by a second alligator.
The boy’s body was found nearby the next day.
June 5, 2016
The dismembered body of 72-year-old Richard Zachary Taylor, was found in the mouth of an alligator near Lake Hunter in Lakeland, Florida.
His body was already decomposing, suggesting he had been in the water a couple days, or longer.
Butter142, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Richard Zachary Taylor
A trapper caught the alligator, and it was taken care of. The rest of Taylor’s body parts were found in the alligator’s stomach.
Further search ensued for other alligators, but no more were caught.
November 13, 2015
22-year-old Matthew Riggins’ body was recovered by divers in a pond in Micco, Florida Barefoot Bay community ten days after he was reported missing.
But that’s not all.
Matthew Riggins
The young man had been burglarizing homes and harassing people in the area in the weeks before he was attacked, and partially eaten, by an 11-foot alligator.
Locals expressed an “uneasy sense of relief” that the man would no longer be returning.
October 19, 2015
James Okkerse, aged 62, was attacked by a 12-foot alligator when he was snorkeling at Blue Spring State Park near Orange City, Florida.
His body was ripped apart, and he did not survive.
Michael Rivera, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
July 4, 2015
28-year-old Tommie Woodward, made a silly mistake that cost him his life.
After an 11-foot alligator appeared at Burkart's Marina in Orange, Texas, bystanders were told to stay out of the water.
But Woodward didn’t listen.
Wilafa, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Tommie Woodward
Woodward mocked the alligator, and jumped into the water not far from the deadly creature and he was immediately pulled underwater.
His body was later found with severe trauma to the chest.
This was the first recorded fatal alligator attack in Texas since 1836.
U.S. Geological Survey, Flickr
November 13, 2007
Justo Padron, a 36-year-old man was fleeing authorities when he jumped into a retention pond beside the Miccosukee Resort and Convention Center near Miami and was attacked by a 9-foot alligator.
He did not survive.
October 5, 2007
83-year-old Gwen Williams, was a Canadian woman who was house sitting for her daughter at The Landings on Skidaway Island, east of Savannah, Georgia when her body was found floating in a lagoon 500 feet behind her daughter’s home.
The search continued, though.
Gwen Williams
The woman’s body was discovered, but was missing limbs. A search continued which resulted in the capture and euthanizing of the alligator.
Autopsy results, along with necropsy of an alligator, determined that she was attacked and partially eaten by an 8-foot alligator.
May 14, 2006
Annemarie Campbell was 23 years old when she was attacked by an alligator in a springhead at Juniper Wayside Park in Florida.
It was a traumatizing experience for her friends.
judygva, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Annemarie Campbell
Campbell had been attacked while snorkeling, and her friends and relatives pulled her lifeless body out of the 12-foot-long, 407-pound alligator’s mouth after an awful struggle.
The alligator was trapped and euthanized.
May 14, 2006
On the same day, also in Florida, parts 43-year-old Judy W. Cooper’s body were found in a canal in Pinellas County.
She had been in the water for about three days.
Judy W. Cooper
Autopsy reports determined she was fatally attacked by an alligator. A search ensued and an 8-foot alligator was captured. Her arm and hand were found in its stomach.
May 10, 2008
28-year-old Yovy Suarez Jiménez’s dismembered body was found floating in a canal between Markham County Park and State Road 84 in Sunrise, Florida.
She was known to jog in the area frequently.
Yovy Suarez Jiménez
Jiménez was attacked by a 9-foot-long alligator while jogging the previous evening, and dragged into the water where it tore her apart.
July 15, 2005
Kevin Albert Murray, aged 41, lost his life while swimming in the Apollo waterway in Port Charlotte, Florida. He was attacked by a 12-foot-long alligator.
March 15, 2005
A fisherman discovered 56-year-old Don Owen’s body about 12 miles from his Lakeland, Florida home. He had been missing since March 9.
Trappers later caught an 9-foot-long alligator and recovered some of Owen's body parts.
September 26, 2004
20-year-old Michelle Reeves, was swimming in a retention pond at Lee Memorial Health Park in Lee County, Florida when she was fatally attacked by a 7-foot-long alligator.
June 21, 2004
Janie Melsek, 54, was attacked by a 12-foot-long alligator while working on landscaping along Poinciana Circle Sanibel, Florida.
She managed to escape, and survive—or so she thought.
Janie Melsek
Melsek initially survived the attack, but sadly, she passed during surgery from an infection that acquired after being in the water with open wounds for too long.
olekinderhook, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
June 18, 2003
12-year-old Brian Griffin was swimming in the Dead River near a boat ramp when he was fatally attacked by a 10-foot-long alligator.
His friends watched in horror as his body was thrashed around before being pulled underwater.
September 11, 2001
Robert Steele was an 81-year-old man who was walking his dog on a trail between two wetlands near the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel, Florida when he was attacked by an alligator.
His leg was bitten off below the knee and he lost too much blood to survive.
June 23, 2001
A two-year-old girl named Alexandria Murphy wandered away from her fenced back yard on Lake Cannon in Winter Haven, Florida.
She was fatally attacked by an alligator only 700 feet from her home.
May 4, 2001
70-year-old Samuel Wetmore was suffering from dementia when he wandered from his home in Sarasota County, Florida.
He was fatally attacked in a pond not far from home, by an 8-foot-long alligator.
March 21, 1997
Three-year-old, Adam Binford had wandered outside a roped-off area in Lake Ashby, Volusia County, Florida.
In only minutes, his family’s lives changed forever.
SelfieCity, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Adam Binford
Only a mere moment after crossing the fence, little Adam was attacked by an 11-foot alligator. His family reported having only seconds to respond.
The alligator held the little boy’s lifeless body for 20 long hours before wildlife officials stepped in and shot the alligator.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, flickr
October 3, 1993
Grace Eberhart, aged 70, was attacked by alligator at Lake Serenity in Florida. The alligator got ahold of her by her neck and head and thrashed her around, breaking her neck, before it let go and fled under water.
Djngsf, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
June 19, 1993
Bradley Weidenhamer, was only ten years old when he was fatally attacked while wading into the Loxahatchee River at Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County, Florida.
It was an awful experience with many witnesses.
Bradley Weidenhamer
Young Bradley was on a canoe-trip with his Little League team when downed trees blocked the river. The adults stopped to move the trees, and the children played in shallow waters close by.
Bradley Weidenhamer Cont’d
Only a few moments after leaving his canoe, a large alligator grabbed Bradley by the head and pulled him underwater.
His group used their paddles to beat on the alligator until it let go, but unfortunately the boy had already passed from severe head and neck injuries.
June 4, 1988
Another young tragedy occurred when four-year-old Erin Glover was fatally attacked while walking along the shore of man-made Hidden Lake in Charlotte County, Florida.
Apparently, the 10-foot-long alligator had lost its fear of people after it was being fed by locals.
Florida Fish and Wildlife, Flickr
Erin Glover
The alligator grabbed the girl while she was walking her puppy along the shoreline, and refused to give up the body until it was shot by wildlife officials hours later.
Her 9-year-old brother and his friend witnessed the tragic accident.
July 13, 1987
George Cummings III was 29-years-old when he was fatally attacked by an 11-foot-long alligator while snorkeling in the Wakulla Springs State Park, Wakulla County, Florida.
Reweaver33, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
May 4, 1985
27-year-old Paul Mirabito was fatally attacked while diving and harassing small alligators in a canal near West Palm Beach, Florida.
Kenneth Cole Schneider, Flickr
August 6, 1984
An 11-year-old boy named Robert Crespo was swimming in a canal in St. Lucie County, Florida when he was fatally attacked by a 12-foot-long, 550-pound alligator.
Local fishermen and boaters watched in horror as game officers frantically tried to shoot the alligator to save the boy.
Leonard J. DeFrancisci, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
September 10, 1978
14-year-old Phillip Rastrelli was fatally attacked while swimming across the Hidden River Canal off Bessie Creek in Martin County, Florida.
September 28, 1977
George Leonard, 52, was fatally attacked by an 8-foot-long alligator while swimming in the Peace River Canal in Charlotte County, Florida.
He survived for three days before succumbing to his injuries.
Florida Fish and Wildlife, Flickr
August 16, 1973
16-year-old Sharon Holmes was also fatally attacked while swimming. It was approaching nightfall when Holmes decided to swim from shore to a floating dock, when an 11-foot alligator met her halfway.
June 1957
Young, nine-year-old Allen Rice had gone missing from his Eau Gallie, Florida home. It was several days before parts of his mutilated body was discovered by the Civil Air Patrol on the banks of Horse Creek.
A nearby alligator was trapped and euthanized, and more of the boy’s body parts were found inside its stomach.
Florida Fish and Wildlife, Flickr
August 1899
Teenager, Delano Wood was only 16-years-old when he was attacked by an alligator while swimming in a creek near Jacksonville, Florida.
He managed to escape the alligator’s jaws, but unfortunately, he succumbed to his injuries shortly after making it to shore.
Florida Fish and Wildlife, Flickr
April 1836
A settler named Gray B. King from Nashville was traveling with his family and slaves in Texas when he jumped into the water to push free a ferry which had run aground.
He was quickly attacked and pulled under water by an alligator. Neither the animal or the man resurfaced.
August 10, 1734
Jacques du Bois was a blacksmith at Fort St. Jean Baptiste, near Natchitoches, Louisiana. His body was found on the banks of the Cane River.
Autopsy reports determined he was fatally attacked by an alligator.
jc.winkler, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
1685
A slave, known by the name of Dumesnil, who belonged to French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was tragically and fatally attacked by an alligator while crossing the Colorado River in Texas.
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