Houston authorities, while searching for a missing woman, discovered human remains in the jaws of an alligator. The identity of the remains has yet to be confirmed.
To prevent further damage to the remains, authorities shot and killed an alligator found nearby. A diver subsequently recovered the remains from the dead alligator.
Houston police are awaiting autopsy results but suspect the remains belong to a woman in her 60s. Investigators aim to determine if the alligator caused her death or if it was scavenging her remains post-mortem.
Similar incidents in Florida
Similar incidents have occurred in Florida. Eight months ago in Largo, a 13-foot alligator was killed after being found with human remains in its mouth. The remains were later identified as 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham. Earlier, a 10-foot alligator killed an 85-year-old woman in Fort Pierce while she was walking her dog.
Alligator attacks are relatively rare in Texas compared to Florida. The last fatal alligator attack in Texas was in 2015, when a 28-year-old man was killed while swimming in Orange, Texas, according to ABC 13.