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Cause Of Death In Question For Body Found As Gators Fed

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DAVIE (CBSMiami) – Davie police are waiting on the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office to fill in some blanks concerning a body found Monday in Southwest Ranches with at least one alligator feeding on it.

The body was found by two fisherman in a canal west of U.S. 27, just north of Sheridan Street.

Police said the man's body, which appeared to have been in the water for a while, was largely intact. They believe the man was dead before the gators began to feed on his body.

A day after the gruesome find two Davie police officers found something of significance along the canal bank. Crime scene investigators were called and documented the evidence.

Police have not said what was found.

"I thought that was surreal, pretty crazy," R.J. Icenhour who lives nearby.

Police sharpshooters stood guard as a dive team pulled what was left of the body from the water Monday night. Davie officers attempted to scare off the alligators so they could recover the body. Although they retreated, the gators didn't go far.

Donna Curcio works nearby and has seen her share of alligators in the Everglades.

"Gators are a force not to be reckoned with," said Curcio.

It will be up to the medical examiner's office to give the police a place to start as they try to figure out who the man was and how he ended up there.

"What happened to them? How did they end up here? Could it be a homicide, could it be a suicide, could it be natural, a fisherman? We don't know. That's what the next step is to figure that out," police spokesman Sgt. Pablo Castaneda said.

The body was reportedly badly decomposed and in rough condition.

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