A 10-foot alligator killed a 69-year-old woman in South Carolina – before being found guarding its victim’s mutilated body.
The woman, who has not yet been identified, was walking her dog when the beast attacked on Tuesday morning, in the second fatal gator attack in the county in under a year.
The gator was found guarding the victim’s mutilated body at the edge of a lagoon near her home and Spanish Wells Golf Club on Hilton Head Island.
‘Rescue efforts were made and an alligator appeared and was guarding the woman, interrupting emergency efforts,’ the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
The gator was safely removed from the area and euthanized. The woman’s body was recovered and an autopsy is planned for Wednesday.
This marked the second fatal alligator attack in the same county in less than a year – after an 88-year-old woman was killed in August 2022.
Police along with Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue, Beaufort County Coroner’s Office and Spanish Wells security personnel were called in at around 9.30am for a report of a possible alligator attack near a lagoon bordering the golf course.
Despite rescue efforts being made in an attempt to save the woman, the alligator reappeared and guarded the woman, disrupting the emergency response.
The woman was found unresponsive and presumed dead.
The woman’s body was recovered and the gator was removed safely from the area. The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office is expected to perform an autopsy on the woman on Wednesday.
It is unclear at this point where the woman was taken into the water. The condition of the woman’s dog is also unknown at this time.
Hilton Head Island is in upscale neighborhood in Beaufort County and is consistently ranked one of the best places to live in South Carolina.
Alligator encounters and attacks have increased in recent years across the US, especially in Florida and South Carolina.
South Carolina went years without having many alligator attacks, until 2022, when the state reported five alligator attacks in the year, two of which were fatal.
