Michael Ford II, 45, of Wauchula, became the focus of an investigation on June 27 after deputies from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report regarding a dead body. The remains were found by an employee of a local phosphate mining company Mosaic, Fox 13 reported.
The gator, which was spotted close to the body, was 11 feet 10 inches and weighed 450 pounds, the Florida Wildlife Commission (FWC) said at the time.
Yesterday, the Medical Examiner’s Office for Polk, Hardee and Highlands Counties said in a report that meth had been ruled as the official cause of death during the Ford autopsy, WTSP reported.
The alligator is believed to have fed on the remains after the victim had already passed away.
Wildlife experts were able to trap and kill the alligator suspected of attacking the man, and a necropsy later confirmed a hand and foot belonging to the victim were inside the reptile at the time of its death. The Mosaic property is located just off Peeples Road, west of Fort Meade, the sheriff’s office confirmed via Twitter.
Deputies said in June that a preliminary autopsy showed “lacerations and injuries caused by the gator” and officials initially believed the cause of death to be drowning, The Ledger reported. It still remains unknown why Ford was on the property. He was not employed by Mosaic.
“Sometimes people trespass on Mosaic property and fish,” Carrie Horstman, public information officer of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, told Bay News 9 at the time. “This person could’ve been fishing. Who knows why he was out there. Hopefully we’ll be able to figure all of that out.”
The sheriff’s office, FWC and medical examiner have been contacted for comment.
In June, investigators said the victim’s family had not heard from him for about four days. A truck that was discovered in the area was found to belong to a friend, who was not named by police. A 911 call released by law enforcement indicated the remains were found in a “hydraulic ditch.”
Alligators are found in all 67 counties across Florida, the FWC says in an online factsheet, noting that the state has a “healthy and stable population of about 1.3 million alligators of every size.”
“Alligators are opportunistic feeders and will eat animals that are readily available to them. They prefer to go after prey they can overpower easily. Opportunity is the primary factor that causes an alligator to pursue prey. Alligators seldom bite people for reasons other than food,” it says.
