Alligator deaths

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 26, 2001

Eleven people have been killed in alligator attacks since the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began keeping records in 1948:

Aug. 16, 1973: Sharon Holmes, 16, at dusk while swimming in Oscar Scherer State Park in Sarasota County. Alligator had been fed.

Sept. 28, 1977: George Leonard, 52, while swimming in the Peace River in Charlotte County. Alligator just appeared in the canal.

Sept. 10, 1978: Phillip Rastrelli, 14, while swimming across the Hidden River Canal in Martin County.

Aug. 6, 1984: Robert Crespo, 11, while swimming in a canal in St. Lucie County. Alligator in poor health.

July 13, 1987: George Cummings III, 29, while snorkeling in the Wakulla River.

June 4, 1988: Erin Glover, 4, while walking along the Hidden Lake shore in Charlotte County.

June 19, 1993: Bradley Weidenhamer, 10, while wading in the Loxahatchee River in Martin County.

Oct. 3, 1993: Grace Eberhart, 70, at Lake Serenity in Sumter County. Several alligators may have been involved.

March 21, 1997: Adam Binford, 3, after straying outside roped-off swimming area at Lake Ashby in Volusia County.

May 4, 2001: Samuel Wetmore, 70, in a pond near his home in Sarasota County.

June 23, 2001: Alexandria Murphy, 2, dragged into Lake Cannon in Polk County.

- Source: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

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