The body of a missing Texas woman was found inside the jaws of an alligator as it was still eating her remains.
The woman, believed to be in her 60s, was found dead along the banks of the Horsepen Bayou in Clear Lake around 8.40am Tuesday, less than 12 hours after she went missing.
Houston police officers had been searching the area for the missing woman when they discovered an alligator chewing on her body.
An officer shot the animal dead to prevent it from doing more damage to the remains, the department’s homicide division confirmed. A dive team then recovered the body and alligator from the bayou.
Police have not yet revealed the victim’s identity and say her cause of death will be determined following an autopsy.
The victim’s husband reported her missing early Tuesday morning after having last seen her when she left for a walk around 7.30pm Monday. She never returned home.
Her body was found in the alligator’s jaws near Coastal Oak Drive, not far from her Brook Forest Drive home, KHOU-11 reported.
It is unclear at this time if the victim was killed by the alligator.
Photographs captured by a Clear Lake resident show how at least a dozen response officers were called to the bayou. Witnesses allege police spent hours at the scene.
Texas game wardens assisted with the recovery efforts, according to the Law Enforcement Division with Texas Parks and Wildlife.
Angela Derous, who was fishing in the bayou Tuesday night, told ABC 13 that alligators reside in the water.
‘They live down there. We see 8 feet, 10 feet babies. I know which banks to stay away from and where they like to lay in the sun,’ she explained. ‘That’s the first time I’ve heard of that happening down here. It’s a little scary.’
Maggie Berger, a spokesperson for the Law Enforcement Division with Texas Parks and Wildlife, told DailyMail.com that Houston police are investigating the incident and ‘will be the lead agency moving forward’.
She added: ‘Our thoughts are with the woman’s family during this time.’
Officials say that fatal alligator attacks are very rare in Texas with the last one recorded in 2015 when a 28-year-old man was killed while swimming in the Adams Bayou in Orange.
That incident was reportedly the first fatal alligator attack in more than 90 years.