SOUTHWEST RANCHES, Fla. – A body found in a Southwest Ranches canal surrounded by alligators has been removed and transferred to the medical examiner's office, WPLG reports.
Davie police said two fishermen came across the remains Monday evening in the water along U.S. Highway 27 between Sheridan Street and Stirling Road. By the time officers arrived, a group of alligators had gathered nearby.
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"We found human remains," Davie police Sgt. Pablo Castaneda said. "We don't know how long it's been here, but it seems like they've been here for awhile."
Police are unsure if the body is that of a man or a woman or what the victim's cause of death may have been, but they suspect that the gators "nibbled" on the body at some point.
"Could it be a homicide? Could it be a suicide? Could it have been natural...? We don't know," Castaneda said.
Officers armed with rifles were positioned near the canal bank in case the gators returned and posed a threat to divers working to remove the body.