Officials in Texas have found the remains of a missing woman in the jaws of an alligator, who was still eating the deceased when she was found.
According to CBS News, a woman believed to be in her 60s was found dead along the banks of the Horsepen Bayou in Clear Lake around 8:40AM on Tuesday (May 28).
Her body was discovered in the alligator's jaws near Coastal Oak Drive, not far from her Brook Forest Drive home, KHOU-11 reported.
Authorities have not revealed the victim's identity and the cause of death, as it will be determined following an autopsy.
The victim was found less than 12 hours after her husband reported her missing early on Tuesday morning. He told police that his wife went for a walk around 7:30PM on Monday (May 27) and never returned home.
Houston police issued a statement about the tragedy, which read: "HPD patrol officers located the remains of a woman in the jaws of an alligator in the Horsepen Bayou, just west of El Dorado Boulevard while searching the area for a woman reported missing."
Officials said that a sergeant shot and killed the animal "to prevent it from doing more damage to the remains," per the press release.
Alligator attacks are rare in Texas. Angela Derous, who was fishing in the bayou that same fateful day, said that the animals reside in the local water.
"(Alligators) live down there. We see 8 feet, 10 feet babies. I know which banks to stay away from and where they like to lay in the sun," Derous told ABC-13. "That's the first time I've heard of that happening down here. It's a little scary."
Maggie Berger, a spokesperson for the Law Enforcement Division with Texas Parks and Wildlife, informed the Daily Mail that police "will be the lead agency moving forward," adding: "Our thoughts are with the woman's family during this time."
A similar incident occurred eight months ago in Largo, Florida, when 41-year-old Sabrina Peckham was discovered deceased and trapped in the body of a 13-foot male alligator who had attacked her and dragged her to a nearby body of water along a residential street.
A police report published by Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office stated that on September 22 at approximately 1:50PM, local authorities responded to the area of 134th Avenue North and 121st Street North in Unincorporated Largo, following a report of a body seen in the waterway.
A local witness, Jamarcus Bullard, told reporters that he was walking to a job interview when he spotted the vicious animal with what initially looked like a mannequin in its mouth.
"It was my first time seeing a gator in real life so I was like it's pretty cool, but once I saw what it had I was like 'Is that like a mannequin?'" he said, per BBC. Bullard then threw a rock at the predator and watched it drag the woman's body underwater.
After the report was made, police finally found the predator, and along with the assistance of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, they removed it from the area and "humanely killed" it.
