“There’s no question in my mind the child was drowned by the alligator,” Orange County Sheriff, Jerry Demings, told reporters, adding that Lane’s body had been found “in the immediate area of where he was last seen” after the boy’s father, Matt Graves, had unsuccessfully tried to pull his son out of the alligator’s mouth.
Members of the sheriff’s office dive team located the remains of the toddler around 3:30 p.m. on June 15, which was nearly 17 hours after the reptile snatched the boy, Jerry said. The body was discovered intact, he added. The parents of the child, who had since been unnamed, were then identified as Matt and Melissa Graves of Elkhorn, Nebraska.
The 2-year-old boy grabbed by alligator at Disney hotel has been found dead, a source says https://t.co/SyWdOq9L87 https://t.co/xLMVr0orfE
— CNN (@CNN) June 15, 2016
The family of five was vacationing at Disney World in Orlando when the attack occurred in the man-made lake at around 9 p.m. on June 14. “It was a tough message to deliver to them,” the sheriff said about telling the parents they had found their son’s body. He added that the parents asked him to thank all the members of the public who prayed for the safe discovery of their little boy.
PICS: Shocking Celebrity Deaths of 2016
In order to find Lane, more than 50 law enforcement officers searched through the night in the lagoon where the family had been enjoying an outdoor movie night just hours earlier. The alligator snatched the child while he was wading in the water.
So far, divers found and euthanized five alligators in the lagoon and authorities have said that they will be analyzing the animals’ bite marks to determine whether one of them grabbed the boy, Omaha.com reported.
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