Florida man sees woman's torso in alligator's mouth

An unusual investigation is underway in the Tampa Bay area after a woman was found dead inside an alligator's mouth.

Authorities said Ja'Marcus Bullard witnessed the gator carrying the body during his walk.

Bullard was walking to work when he saw the woman inside an alligator's mouth. He said he didn't believe what he was seeing.

"I just happened to look over into this lake and I saw the alligator head, but then once I looked closer, it had like a bottom, like torso, in its mouth," Bullard said. "My brain was trying to like not believe it. But like, it was real."

Crews pulled the gator out of McKay creek, just north of Ridgecrest Park, and witnesses said it was killed.

"They told us it was 13 feet long and it was a second gator that was bigger," Bullard said. "The helicopters picked up a heat signature from the infrared, but they couldn't get it."

Officials identified the remains as 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham, It is still unclear if Peckham was killed by the alligator or if she had died earlier.

Neighbors who live in and walk around the neighborhood said they're still afraid, especially since a lot of kids walk from school along the same path.

"My kids walk by there all the time, so it's really scary," said Jennifer Dean, who lives nearby.

"It's scary and it's a lot of kids that come from school and they walk this way," Bullard said. "They don't have any like gates or anything."

The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission are investigating the incident.