Police officers hunting for an alligator that killed a 71-year-old grandfather have found human remains inside the reptile.
The animal was suspected of killing Timothy Satterlee during Hurricane Ida.
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office in Slidell, Louisiana, said in a statement that they have found human remains, believed to be those of Satterlee’s, inside the alligator.
The reptile was caught after three weeks of hunting that started after the 71-year-old grandfather was killed.
According to reports, hurricane Ida flooded Satterlee’s home that he shared with his wife Sandy on August 30.
The grandfather was attacked by the alligator when he went outside to check the shed. Heartbroken Sandy said she’d watched the reptile rip her husband’s arm off before it drowned him underwater.
“St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s deputies with the Special Operation Division, along with U. S. and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents, captured a 12 foot long alligator, weighing a startling 504 pounds in the area of Avery Estates,” the sheriff’s office said on its Facebook page.
“It was near the location where Timothy Satterlee Sr. went missing on Monday, August 30, 2021, one day after Hurricane Ida hit South Louisiana, creating destruction across the region.
“Sheriff Smith vowed from the beginning of the investigation into Satterlee’s disappearance that the agency would use all of the resources and manpower available to bring some sort of closure to the family.”
“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 post continued.
“This morning, their hard work paid off with the capture of the alligator that is suspected to be the one who attacked Satterlee.”
St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Smith also shared his condolences with the grieving family.
“This is a horrible tragedy and my sincere condolences and sympathy goes to the Satterlee family,” he said in a statement.
“I know todays findings does not bring their loved one back, but hopefully this can bring them some sort of closure. 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.
“We will continue to keep them in our prayers.”
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