Two months prior, the woman who was found dead pinned between a 14-foot alligator’s jaws had been detained for trespassing on county wetland property.
The victim being dragged by the beast in a canal along a residential street in Largo, a small town only four miles south of Clearwater, was identified by police as Sabrina Peckham, 41, on Saturday.
According to court documents, the homeless woman was apprehended by Pinellas County deputies on July 14 at around 6:30 a.m. for trespassing onto a county wetland just half a mile from where she was discovered dead on Friday.
Peckman disregarded warning signs against illegal entry that were posted.
She was released from the county on September 8 and was given a $500 fine after entering a plea of no contest to the misdemeanor.
Where the homeless woman went in the two weeks prior to being found dead in the waterway is unknown.
Records reveal she had a history of encounters with law enforcement going back to 2014, including multiple trespassing charges.
Peckman was also charged with numerous drug and theft convictions.
If the gator kil*led Peckman, the cause of death is still under investigation by investigators.
The first person to see the 13-foot, 8.5-inch male alligator carrying her body was a witness who was on his way to a job interview. He immediately called the nearby fire department.
The large reptile was “humanely kil*led” by authorities, despite claims from neighbors that rescuers pulled it from the water and shot it repeatedly.
The region is close to the well-liked Ridgecrest Park, which has a 5-acre lake where alligators are rumored to live.
According to neighbors, the neighborhood is frequently visited by alligators, but the one killed on Friday was among the biggest they had ever seen.
