The Associated Press
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.—A sheriff said charges are unlikely against a Nebraska couple after an alligator killed their two-year-old son by snatching him out of shallow water at a Walt Disney World beach.
But the entertainment giant is reviewing whether to add gator warning signs.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings told The Associated Press after a news conference yesterday there was no indication Matt and Melissa Graves of suburban Omaha, Neb. committed any crime that contributed to the reptile grabbing their son, Lane.
“There’s nothing in this case to indicate that there was anything extraordinary [in terms of neglect by the parents],” Demings said.
Demings said his department and the state wildlife agency would look into the issue of signs around Seven Seas Lagoon, where Disney had posted “no swimming” signs but no warnings about the presence of alligators.
Searchers removed five of the reptiles from the water while looking for the child, who was attacked at a small beach area near nightfall on Tuesday.
A Disney representative, speaking on condition of anonymity because the company had yet to prepare a formal statement, said Disney would “thoroughly review” the sign issue in the future.
Beaches that were closed during the search remained off limits to visitors, the company added.
Divers found the child’s body about 16 hours after authorities first got the call that a reptile had taken the boy at Seven Seas Lagoon, which borders the Magic Kingdom theme park.
The park is one of the world’s most popular tourist spots, drawing millions of visitors annually.
Demings said it appeared the gator drowned the child and left the body near the spot where he was last seen.
An autopsy was planned.
“Of course the family was distraught, but also I believe somewhat relieved that his body was found intact,” Demings told a news conference.
A family friend released a statement on behalf of the Graves thanking well-wishers for their “thoughts and hope-filled prayers.”
CEO Michael Iaccarino of Infogroup, a marketing company where Matt Graves is chief data officer, said Graves’ family “is the light of his life.”
In the family’s Omaha neighbourhood of Elkhorn, friends and neighbours reacted with disbelief and shock.
The principal of their church parish described the couple as caring and attentive parents.
“The St. Patrick’s Parish and school community is just flat out devastated,” Norman Hale, principal of St. Patrick’s Parish Catholic School, told Omaha station KMTV.
Wildlife officials said the attack was a rarity in a state with a gator population estimated at one million.
But it still shocked visitors in a city built on tourism.
“It’s the most magical place on Earth, supposedly,” said Michelle Stone, a Detroit-area resident visiting Disney for 10 days with her two children.
“To come here with your family and [be] having this great time . . . there are no words.”
In a statement from Disney World Resort president George A. Kalogridis, the company said it was “doing what we can” to help the family.
Authorities said the boy waded into no more than one or two feet of water in the lagoon around nightfall Tuesday when he was taken from a small beach.
The boy’s father desperately tried to fight off the gator, suffering cuts on a hand, but he could not save his son.
Neither could a nearby lifeguard, officials said.
Nick Wiley with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said witnesses estimated the alligator was four-seven feet long.
One of the five gators that searchers removed from the water may have been responsible for the attack, he added.
