Authorities have confirmed that 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham was the woman whose lifeless body was found in the mouth of a 13 foot, 8.5 inch alligator near a canal in Largo, Florida, last Friday.
Peckham’s daughter Breauna Dorris, 23, took to social media to express her “unbearable pain,” saying “god has called [Peckham] home sooner than our hearts were ready.” Dorris added, “To my mother: I love you more than I ever expressed, I miss you more than you’ll ever know and I pray that you are looking down over me and your grandchildren.”
Dorris believes that her mother, part of the area’s homeless population, was likely attacked by the alligator while walking to or from her campsite at night. She also dispelled online rumors claiming her mother had taunted the alligator.
Describing her mother as “one hundred percent selfless,” Dorris noted that despite being homeless, her mother would give others “the last piece of food off her plate” and “the shirt off her back if she needed to.”
The alligator attack first came to light after a man on his way to a job interview noticed the alligator carrying human remains in its mouth. The man immediately reported the incident to a nearby fire department, who then alerted the police.
Authorities said the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, assisted by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “humanely killed” the alligator and removed it from the waterway.
Peckham had reportedly been arrested on July 14 for trespassing and was released from jail on September 8 after pleading no contest to the misdemeanor. The whereabouts of Peckham for the two weeks leading up to her tragic death remain unknown.
To cover the costs of cremation and burial, Dorris has initiated a GoFundMe campaign, which has raised nearly $10,000 as of Monday afternoon. The fundraising page states, “Our family is in shambles trying to cope with this kind of loss. Sabrina only being 41 and homeless at the time had no funeral or death arrangements set up.”
Peckham’s death raises safety concerns near Florida’s waterways, serving as a poignant reminder of the hazards faced particularly by vulnerable populations, like the homeless, who live close to wildlife habitats.
RELATED: