Timothy Satterlee Slidell, Louisiana man missing after alligator attack during Hurricane Ida. Resident remains unaccounted after having his arm ripped off.
A 71-year-old Louisiana man remains missing following an alligator attack which led to the man having his arm ripped off amid the ravages of Hurricane Ida.
Timothy Satterlee was attacked by the predator in the early hours of Monday at his home in Slidell, upon the man’s shed flooding under several feet of water during the storm surge near Lake Pontchartrain.
Search crews used a cadaver dog in their search for the victim, St. Tammany Parish sheriff’s Capt. Lance Vitter said on Thursday, but to no avail.
‘They searched until it got dark yesterday, and unfortunately we still haven’t located Mr. Satterlee,’ Vitter said according to WWL-TV. ‘There is a high probability that he is deceased, but we can’t make that call until we recover the body.’
The man’s missing wife, told of hearing splashing outside the shed and walking outside only to find the predator attacking her husband and being able to initially pull him away from the beast.
Hurricane Ida toll
From there, the woman who sought to get help after Satterlee having his arm torn off, was forced to take a boat due to the high waters and lack of cell service, WWL-TV reported.
When she returned, Satterless was missing.
Of note, blood was found at the scene, as authorities fear the man was taken out by the alligator as the man’s wife sought to get help.
Neighbors said large alligators are common in the area, near the Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge, because some residents feed them.
At least seven deaths were blamed on the storm in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, before the remnants of the weather system moved east, dumping record-breaking rain in a region that had not expected a serious blow and killing at least 28 people from Maryland to New York.
