An 88-year-old woman in South Carolina was killed by an alligator on Monday, after she slipped into a pond while gardening, officials said.
The body of Nancy Becker was discovered around 11:15 a.m. at the edge of the water in Sun City Hilton Head, a gated senior living community in Bluffton, by another resident, who told sheriff’s deputies the alligator appeared to be “guarding” the body.
“When we responded, that’s what we observed — that the alligator was basically holding her hostage, I guess,” Major Angela Viens, with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, told the station WJCL.
It took first responders two hours to retrieve Becker’s body.
The alligator, a male measuring 9 feet, 8 inches long, was captured by officials with the state Department of Natural Resources and euthanized.
An autopsy on Becker will be performed later on Tuesday.