OAN’s Brooke Mallory
4:22 PM – Monday, September 25, 2023
A woman who was recently found dead with her corpse clasped in a 13-foot alligator’s jaws had been detained previously for trespassing on county wetland property.
On Saturday, the woman’s body was pulled out of the reptile, who was in a canal on a residential street in Largo, Florida, a tiny town four miles south of Clearwater. She was identified by authorities as 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham.
According to court documents, the homeless woman was previously apprehended by Pinellas County deputies on July 14th for trespassing on a county marsh only half a mile from where she was discovered dead on Friday.
After her previous legal troubles, Peckham was eventually freed by the county on September 8th and was fined $500 after entering a plea of no contest to the misdemeanor.
Records revealed that Peckham had a long history of encounters with law enforcement dating back to 2014, including repeated trespassing offenses. She was also the subject of numerous narcotics and theft prosecutions.
Investigators are still trying to determine whether the alligator caused her death or if she had overdosed on drugs and was later eaten.
The first person to see the 13-foot, 8.5-inch male alligator carrying her body was a witness who was reportedly “on his way to a job interview.” He immediately called the local fire station.
The large reptile was then “humanely killed” by authorities, however, other claims from nearby residents asserted that rescuers pulled it from the water and shot it repeatedly.
The region is close to the well-known Ridgecrest Park, which has a 5-acre lake where alligators are said to live and roam around.
According to residents who spoke to reporters, the neighborhood is frequently visited by alligators, but the one that was killed on Friday was amongst the biggest they had ever seen.
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