Woman dead after gator attack in Fort Myers
Trai' La' Trash
Woman dead after gator attack in Fort Myers
By MIKE HOYEM
mho...@news-press.com
A 20-year-old Georgia woman who apparently went swimming early Sunday in a
south Fort Myers lake was killed by an alligator.
Michelle Reeves, of Roswell was found floating face-down in a lake near the
Cypress Cove development at Lee Memorial Healthpark.
The college student's right arm was bitten off at the elbow and there were
other injuries indicating she was attacked by a gator, said Lee County
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Ileana LiMarzi.
"She was also bitten on her left arm and there were a couple of puncture
wounds on her upper body as well," LiMarzi said.
Reeves - who was the second woman to be killed by an alligator in Lee County
since July 21 - was in Fort Myers with her father visiting her grandparents.
Cypress Cove is a large residential area on the Lee Memorial Healthpark
campus that's flanked by several large lakes.
Reeves, said, LiMarzi, "had made several remarks to her family during the
day Saturday that she wanted to go swimming in that lake."
She was last seen at about 2:30 a.m., LiMarzi said. At 10 a.m., her father
discovered her was missing. While searching for her, he found his daughter's
nightgown on the ground next to the lake.
The father called 911 about 11:30 a.m. After Lee County Sheriff's deputies
arrived to take a missing person report, the father found his daughter,
LiMarzi said.
Officials with the Florida Fish and Freshwater Game Commission were on the
scene most of the afternoon.
Paula Owens, the agency's duty officer in Tallahassee, said an alligator was
removed from the area Sunday.
"The alligator was captured," Owens said, adding that she couldn't release
any more details.
Cypress Cove security officer James Straub had little comment on the
incident.
"I don't think anyone here knows the details other than there was an
alligator attack," Straub said.
Located at 13000 Cypress Cove Drive, Cypress Cove is an assisted living
facility that offers a variety of living arrangements.
In late July, trappers from the state wildlife commission removed a 7-foot,
2-inch alligator from a lake in the area.
Cypress Cove is about 3 miles from the Kelly Greens subdivision, where
trappers removed a 7-foot, 10-inch gator in July.
Both gators were removed after landscaper Janie Melsek, 54, was attacked
July 21 by an 11-foot, 9-inch alligator as she worked near a pond on
Sanibel.
Rescuers managed to pull Melsek from the gator's grip, but she died two days
later from a massive infection.
Melsek's death was the first fatal attack on Sanibel since Sept. 11, 2001,
when a gator killed Robert Steele, 81.
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