Despite reports of an attack,
Deputies look to ID woman found dead in east Orange
a body found in an east Orange pond did not show signs of an alligator encounter, deputies said.
Deputies patrolling an east Orange County retention pond Thursday morning were looking for a boy who was last seen screaming for help — possibly while being attacked by an alligator.
Instead, they found the body of a young woman who showed no signs of being bitten. Now authorities are trying to figure out the woman’s identity and why she was in the pond.
Deputies first received a call around noon Wednesday. A man whose house is adjacent to the pond reported seeing a young, shirtless boy “flailing around” in the water, sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Williamson said.
The man grabbed a pair of binoculars and was able to see the person struggling to stay afloat and calling for help, Williamson said. The man told authorities he heard the person say, “It bit me,” several times.
The pond is known to have alligators. One 10-year resident of the neighborhood, David Gensler, said he had seen one he estimated to be 15 feet long while fishing for catfish in the pond.
Dozens of emergency vehicles — including helicopters, boats and alligator trappers — responded to the scene just off Colonial Drive and Goldenrod Road. Deputies searched the pond using sonar equipment. They didn’t find a body Wednesday afternoon, but they did find a six-foot alligator — too small to inflict serious damage on a human.
Chad Weber, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Com-