‘Swam away with the victim’: Report details ‘thrashing gator’ incident that left woman dead
The woman who died after an alligator attack in May was bitten in the torso after being knocked into the water from a canoe
By Dacia Johnson
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POLK COUNTY, Florida (WESH) — The woman who died after an alligator attack in May was bitten in the torso after being knocked into the water from a canoe, according to a newly released report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Division of Law Enforcement.
The victim, Cynthia Kay Diekem, 61, was seated in the front of a canoe and paddling north along Tiger Creek near Lake Kissimmee State Park when she and her husband “unknowingly approached an approximately 11-foot alligator submerged in approximately 2.5 feet of water,” the report says.
The alligator thrashed when the canoe passed over it, which caused the victim and her husband to be thrown into the water.
“The victim was immediately bitten on the torso, and efforts by her husband to assist her were unsuccessful,” FWC’s report says. “The alligator performed a death roll and swam away with the victim.”
Woman killed by alligator in FloridaWoman thrown from canoe by thrashing gator, falls into water where she was attacked and killed The victim’s body was later located and recovered by FWC officers.
An approximately 11-foot-4-inch bull alligator, believed to be involved in the incident, was located at the scene and removed from the wild by FWC officers and alligator trappers.
The incident remains under investigation.
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