Homeless woman's daughter slaps down claim she taunted alligator

Daughter of homeless Florida woman eaten by 14-foot alligator insists she ‘did not TAUNT’ the beast before it dragged her into a canal – and says it attacked her from the creek when she was walking to her camp in the dark

• Sabrina Peckham, 41, was eaten by the alligator after being dragged around by the 14-foot beast into a canal on Friday in Largo, Clearwater 
• Her daughter, Breauna Dorris, has said her mother was not taunting the alligator and had been walking back to her homeless camp in the dark
• Two months before her death, Peckham was arrested on July 14 for trespassing on a county wetland just half a mile from where she was mauled 

The daughter of a homeless woman from Florida who was eaten by a  14-foot alligator has said her mother did not taunt the deadly reptile before it dragged her off into a canal killing her.

Sabrina Peckham, 41, was found in the jaws of the alligator after being dragged by the 14-foot beast into a canal on Friday in Largo, Clearwater.  A formal cause of death is still to be determined by the coroner.

Peckham’s daughter, Breauna Dorris, has now come out defending her mom saying she was likely attacked by the gator as she was walking to her homeless camp in darkness. 

‘My mother was a part of the homeless population that lived in the nearby wooded area. It is believed that she may have been walking to or from her camp site near the creek in the dark and the alligator attacked from the water,’ Dorris wrote in a Facebook post.

‘My mother, Sabrina Peckham was the victim of the alligator attack at McCay Creek (rainbow village). Please understand that we do not have all information yet as the medical examiners report is not yet finished. 

Breauna Dorris, has said her mother was not taunting an alligator before it attacked and ate her claiming instead that she had been walking back to her homeless camp in the dark

Sabrina Peckham (left) pictured with her daughter Breauna Dorris. Peckham, 41, was found in the jaws of the alligator after being dragged by the 14-foot beast into a canal on Friday

Sabrina Peckham was named as the homeless Florida woman mauled to death and dragged into a waterway by a huge alligator in Largo, Clearwater. Her formal cause of death is yet to be determined

‘Some details I would like to share is that my mother did not ‘taunt’ the alligator as some are saying in the news outlets comments. We expected to have many many more years with her. Unfortunately god has called her home sooner than our hearts were ready.’

She wrote, along with posting about the family’s GoFundMe which has managed to raise almost $5,000.

‘The past 24 hours have been filled with grief and sorrow and unbearable pain for our family.

Dorris addressed her mother directly in the heartfelt statement: ‘To my mother: I love you more than I ever expressed, I miss you more than you’ll ever know and I pray that you are looking down over me and your grandchildren. 

‘Please protect us. I’m so sorry this happened to you. I pray you are at peace and you are no longer struggling or hurting. I pray you found momo and pop and you all are watching down from above.’

‘Some details I would like to share is that my mother did not ‘taunt’ the alligator as some are saying in the news outlets comments,’ Breauna Dorris, the daughter of Sabrina Peckham said

Several local residents spotted the gruesome sight of Peckham’s death on Friday afternoon, and as the alligator dragged its prey away and began to record the scene while alerting the Largo Fire Department

The Florida alligator was found with a dead body clamped between its jaws as it made its way down a canal near Clearwater 

Over the weekend it emerged how two months before her untimely death, Peckham was arrested on July 14 for trespassing on a county wetland just half a mile from where she was mauled, reports WFLA.  She was ordered to pay $500 for that incident.  

Peckham reportedly ignored warning signs placed around the area and pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge on September 8. 

It was not the first time that she was apprehended for trespassing, as she has multiple misdemeanors to her name dating to 2014, records show. Peckham also had a history of theft convictions and run-ins with the police.

‘No matter how you put it, no one deserves to die like this,’ her daughter wrote online. 

A local resident who was driving to a job interview first witnessed the horrifying sight and called the Largo Fire Department.. 

Soon afterwards several other local residents spotted the gruesome sight as the alligator dragged its prey away with some even recording the scene.

Emergency responders, together with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, managed to pull the alligator from the water before shooting it dead, with officials describing it as having been ‘humanely killed’ following the horrific attack.

Emergency responders, along with the Florida FWC successfully removed the alligator from the water and subsequently euthanized it

The 14-foot reptile held its victim tightly between its powerful jaws as is paddled down the waterway, in the small town of Largo

Jennifer Dean, who lived nearby to where the woman was killed, said: ‘A lot of my neighbors were out here and they’re the ones that told me about the gator.

‘While we were standing here we heard a shot, I assume they killed the gator.’

Once the alligator was dead, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office were then able to retrieve the victim’s body from the water.

‘I could tell there was a body in his mouth, so I started recording,’ JaMarcus Bullard said to Bay News 9.

‘I came down to the fire department and reported it to them,’ he said.

Investigators also took time to examine the gator, which measured almost 14 feet in length.

It’s believed the deadly reptile had come from a nearby alligator-infested lake known as Ridgecrest Park.

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