Human remains found inside 504-pound gator identified, Louisiana officials say
UPDATE:
Human remains found in the stomach of a 12-foot alligator in southeast Louisiana have officially been identified as those of Timothy Satterlee Sr., 71, of Slidell, multiple news outlets report.
Satterlee went missing last month after he was attacked by an alligator in floodwaters caused by Hurricane Ida.
McClatchy News reached out to the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office on Thursday and is awaiting a response.
Staff made an 11-point DNA match between samples from Satterlee’s children and the remains found inside the gator, WWL-TV reported. The standard is a 16-point match.
“I’m comfortable saying the remains are that of Mr. Satterlee,” St. Tammany Parish coroner Dr. Charles Preston told Nola.com, “based on the initial history, the recovery of the suspected alligator, the matching surgeries and a pretty close match to his sons on DNA analysis.”
After the remains were found Sept. 13, Preston said his office would “use the very best technology available to positively identify” them.
ORIGINAL:
A massive alligator suspected of attacking and killing a man as he waded through floodwaters caused by Hurricane Ida has been caught, according to officials in southeast Louisiana.
Authorities trapped the animal — a scaly beast measuring 12 feet and weighing 504 pounds — on Monday morning in the area of Avery Estates in Slidell, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office wrote on Facebook. Nuisance hunters and agents with the U.S. and Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries also helped with the capture.
Once caught, the gator was found to have “what appears to be human remains” in its gut, according to deputies.
Officials had spotted the gator in a waterway near where it’s believed to have attacked “and apparently killed” 71-year-old Timothy Satterlee Sr. last month, one day after Hurricane Ida ripped through the region.
Satterlee’s wife said she was in their home when she heard a “commotion” outside, McClatchy News reported, citing a police report. She ran outside to find a “large alligator attacking her husband” and tried wrestling him from the grips of the animal’s jaws.
She pulled him from the water and onto the front steps of their home, where she left him and went to seek help. When she returned, he was gone.
“This is a horrible tragedy and my sincere condolences and sympathy goes to the Satterlee family,” St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Randy Smith said in a statement Monday. “I know today’s findings (do) not bring their loved one back, but hopefully this can bring them some sort of closure.”
The parish coroner’s office will work to determine if the remains found in the alligator are Satterlee’s.
“We will continue to keep them in our prayers,” Smith added.
This story was originally published September 13, 2021 at 2:08 PM with the headline "Human remains found inside 504-pound gator identified, Louisiana officials say."