PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office death investigation of Sabrina Peckham, 41, was closed in January after the medical examiner determined she was killed by an alligator attack and not foul play, according to an agency report.

“I just can’t imagine her last moments being in the situation like that,” said Jamarcus Bullard, 21. “You got no help, nobody’s around.”

The attack happened Sept. 22 near McKay Creek in the 12000-block of 134th Avenue N. in unincorporated Largo.

Bullard was the first witness to spot the 13-foot, 8-inch alligator with Peckham’s body in its mouth. He recorded video of the gruesome scene with his cell phone and alerted authorities.

“It’s a monster,” Bullard said. “It’s like being attacked by a real life monster. A man-eater.” 

Through a public records request, Spectrum News obtained photos and reports from the sheriff’s office about the deadly and rare incident.

According to the Pinellas medical examiner's report, when deputies arrived at the scene, they could see a body under the water. The alligator surfaced, at which time it was shot twice by a sergeant.

Once deemed safe for the dive team to enter the water, they recovered human body parts from the canal. The sergeant said Peckham was partially eaten by the alligator.

The large gator was pulled out of the culvert with a pickup truck winch, loaded onto a flatbed truck and transported for a necropsy where the Florida Freshwater Fish Commission opened it up to find several human body parts. The victim was identified by her tattoos.

According to the sheriff’s office report, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission investigator said state biologists informed him American alligators process food in their stomach very quickly, so their opinion is the deceased was not inside the gator for very long. The biologists also determined it was the second largest nuisance alligator in Pinellas County history.

The medical examiner ruled Peckham’s cause of death was from blunt trauma and sharp force injuries. A toxicology report showed she had methamphetamine in her system.

The homeless woman was living in a camp in the McKay Creek brush at the time of the attack, according to the report. Peckham’s daughter, Breauna Dorris, 23, told deputies her mom had recently moved near the creek. Dorris said her mom had made several mentions of the “large alligator” and the area not being safe, but Peckham had nowhere else to go.

“I feel so bad for her family,” said Bullard. “She seemed like a beautiful, nice lady and she was just out here trying to figure out her life.”

Dorris did not respond to a request for an interview. Last September, she raised more than $14,000 on a GoFundMe page set up to pay for her mom’s cremation and burial costs. There was an outpouring of support from the community as she exceeded her $10,000 goal.

The tragic end of a human life by an alligator attack is rare in Florida, according to FWC. The likelihood of a resident being seriously injured during an unprovoked alligator incident is roughly one in 3.1 million.

According to FWC and public records, from 1973 to 2023, alligators have killed 30 people across the state. Including Peckham, 3 of those deaths were in Pinellas County. FWC spokesperson Lauren Claerbout said their report on Peckham’s death is not complete and she declined to make a biologist available for an interview.

The FWC recommends anyone concerned about an alligator should call the Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-392-4286. A contracted trapper will be dispatched to resolve the issue. The agency also recommends keeping pets on a leash away from the water, keeping a safe distance if you see a gator, never feed a gator and swimming only in designated areas during daylights hours as gators are most active between dusk and dawn.

Since the gator attack, the county has installed fencing in the culvert area around McKay Creek. Gator signs have also been posted warning people to use caution and keep their distance.

Bullard said deputies told him they saw a bigger alligator in the canal that day which swam away and he worries an attack could happen again.

“I just hope somebody sees what happened and they’re like, 'Yeah man, we don’t want to go over there. We don’t want to go into this area,'” he said. “There’s still another one out there.”