Tod Goodyear said 22-year-old Matthew Riggins told his girlfriend he would be in Barefoot Bay to commit burglaries with another suspect.
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Florida investigators say forensic evidence confirms an 11-foot alligator attacked and killed a burglary suspect as he fled from deputies.
On the evening of November 10 local residents in Barefoot Bay had called the police to report two men dressed in black who’d been acting suspiciously behind their homes.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office dive team also reported encountering the same gator while recovering the man’s body. The officers searched the area, and reported hearing someone yelling, but could not determine where the voice was coming from. Several days later, the remains of his body were found in the lake, and an 11 foot alligator “behaving aggressively”. His injuries were consistent with an alligator attack. His girlfriend called police the next day to report him missing when he never returned home, Brevard Sheriff’s officials say.
“He probably went into the lake to hide from the officers and the dog, and came across that gator”, Major Goodyear said.
The animal was caught and put down by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
The county medical examiner found proof of how Riggins was killed inside the gator’s stomach.
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Neither Riggins nor the other man was ever located by deputies.
