Man Found Dead In Alligator’s Mouth Identified

 LAKELAND, FL — The man whose body was found in an alligator’s jaws on Tuesday has been identified.

According to Lakeland Police, the victim is Richard Zachary Taylor, 72. Taylor had no known address, but reportedly has been living in the Lakeland area for about a decade. He was originally from South Carolina, the police department wrote in an email to media.

“Manner and cause of death is still undetermined and detectives are waiting on additional test results and the toxicology report form the Medical Examiner’s Office,” the email from Sgt. Gary Gross stated. “Detectives are also working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission on the investigation.”

Taylor’s identity was confirmed through the use of fingerprints, Gross said.

Taylor’s body was pulled from Lake Hunter Tuesday afternoon after a person reported seeing an alligator with what appeared to be a human body in its mouth.

When police arrived on the scene, they confirmed what the resident saw and began the process of trying to recover the person.

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While Tuesday's discovery remains under investigation, Gross reported his agency had received several calls in the past few days related to Lake Hunter. On June 4, a call came in to the police department around 8:53 a.m. from a person who said a pair of pants and backpack had been found at the Lake Hunter Boat Ramp, 650 Sikes Blvd., Gross said.

That caller also mentioned seeing an aggressive alligator near the boat ramp during the week. Police responded to the area around 10:01 a.m. and did not see anyone in the water. Gross said police also used the fire department's boat to search the surrounding lake, but nothing out of the ordinary, including an aggressive gator, was found.

The June 4 call was followed by another one on June 5 around 5:16 p.m. Police say someone reported seeing "something large floating in Lake Hunter with an alligator circling it," an email from Gross noted. Police once again checked the lake area, but didn't see anything out of place.

The call on Tuesday that led to the discovery of the man's body came in around 1:40 p.m.

This is the second time in recent weeks a Lakeland alligator has been involved in a rather grisly case. In May, a 21-year-old man had part of his left arm bitten off by a gator. The man jumped into a lake while trying to avoid police who were searching for him at his mother’s request.

At some point, the man dove into the lake and swam across, Gross told Patch in May. Fortunately, a Polk County Sheriff’s helicopter spotted him when he came out of the water, enabling immediate life-saving action.

“Three quarters of his left arm (was) bitten off by an alligator,” Gross said. “It probably just happened and the officers luckily saw him.”

The fast sighting, Gross said, probably “saved his life.”

Late last year, an alligator reportedly ate a burglarysuspect in Brevard County.

Despite the state’s bustling alligator population, serious attacks and fatalities are not common in Florida. Between 1948 and 2013, there were 22 fatalities recorded, according to FWC records. During that period, a total of 122 minor bites and 235 major bites were also logged. The last fatal alligator attack on record prior to this year occurred in 2007.

Alligator-related human fatalities might not be common, but encounters with the creatures are. Those encounters add up to so many over the course of any given year that the state has set up its own hotline to accept nuisance alligator calls. That number is 1-866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286).

In 2013 alone, the state fielded 15,036 nuisance alligator calls, which resulted in the removal of 6,605 creatures.

Photo courtesy of the Lakeland Police Department