Deputies: 88-Year-Old Woman Killed by Alligator in South Carolina – 2nd Fatal Attack in State This Year

An elderly South Carolina woman was killed by an alligator on Monday after she slipped into a pond, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

Nancy Becker, 88, was gardening in a retirement community at Sun City Hilton Head when at some point, she slipped and fell into the edge of a community pond. Moments later, she was fatally attacked by a nine-foot, eight-inch alligator, the Island Packet reported.

Deputies with the sheriff’s office responded to the attack at around 11:15 a.m. and could not initially retrieve her body, as the alligator was noted to be “guarding” it.

“When we responded, that’s what we observed — that the alligator was basically holding her hostage, I guess. I don’t know what the appropriate term would be. But was guarding her and did not want people close by,” said Major Angela Viens, a spokeswoman for Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, via WYFF.

Deputies were able to retrieve the woman’s body at around 1:00 p.m.

The alligator was captured and euthanized hours later by personnel with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

“I’m very, very sorry to hear that anybody was killed. That’s dreadful. That’s terrible,” a Sun City resident told WYFF. “But there are so many warnings. And we’re always being told to look out.”

This is the second fatal alligator attack in South Carolina and the third confirmed deadly attack in the nation this year after one was recorded in Florida.

In June, an alligator dragged a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, resident into a pond, where authorities later recovered the deceased body.

An elderly Florida woman was also fatally attacked by two alligators in a pond in Englewood this past July.

A man was also found in Largo, Florida, with three missing limbs near a lake infested with alligators in June, according to authorities via Spectrum News 9. The man was seen swimming in the lake two weeks before in a photograph and was known to do it frequently. A medical examiner is yet to confirm the official cause of the man’s death.

You can follow Ethan Letkeman on Twitter at @EthanLetkeman.