A sheriff said charges are unlikely against a Nebraska couple after an alligator killed their 2-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 Wednesday there was no indication Will and Melissa Graves of suburban Omaha, Nebraska, committed any crime that contributed to the reptile grabbing their son, Lane Graves.
“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 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 said.
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 hometown of Elkhorn, Nebraska, friends and neighbors reacted with disbelief and shock.
The principal of their church parish described the Graves parents 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 1 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 1 or 2 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 that the alligator was 4 feet to 7 feet long. One of the five gators that searchers removed from the water may have been responsible for the attack, he said.
The beach where the reptile grabbed the child is part of the luxury Grand Floridian resort, across the lake from Magic Kingdom. The lake, which stretches over about 200 acres and reaches a depth of 14 feet, feeds into a series of canals that wind through the entire Disney property.
More than 50 law enforcement personnel searched the well-tended lagoon along with an alligator tracker and marine units equipped with sonar to search the lake’s sandy, mostly flat bottom. The sheriff said a dive team found the child’s remains.
Though Florida has grown to the nation’s third-most populous state, fatal alligator attacks remain rare. Before the child’s death, 23 people had been killed by wild alligators in Florida since 1973, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission statistics.
The grim news was only the latest for Orlando, a city struck by tragedy in the past few days.
On Sunday, a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, leaving 49 people dead in the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. On Friday night, Christina Grimmie, 22, a contestant on season six of “The Voice,” was fatally shot as she signed autographs after a show in Orlando.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
While the sign did not alert the adults to the possibility of alligators being in the lake, I question the wisdom of allowing a toddler play in such relatively deep water after dark. (For a toddler two feet of water is fairly deep.) Adults need to understand that a no swimming sign may be placed in the water for more reasons than the absence of a lifeguard.
The adults failed to think and they now have a dead child. I feel for the parents, but I hope other parents will learn from this incident.
I’m not aware that the absence of a life guard creates a “no swimming” situation. Usually, if the guard’s gone, there’s a “swim at your own risk” sign, assuming the area ever has a guard in the first place. On the other hand, why would you need a life guard where you don’t allow swimming?
If it was a “no swimming” area, why was there a lifeguard stationed there?
there is a pool right next to the beach, i suppose that`s where the life guard was
there is a pool close to the beach, i suppose that`s where the life guard was. here in florida any lake could have 1 or more of the bad guys in it. strange why the little boy was even in the water?
No matter how one tries to make sense of this tragedy, it is so utterly beyond the pale and heartbreaking for everyone.
When I first heard the news and learned the family was from NE, I thought “Oh, those salt of the earth folks who live in the corn belt of this country have no idea how dangerous any large body of water can be; actually for many reasons.” As a native Oregonian who now lives at the Oregon Coast, my dad was born in the pioneer town of Elkhorn, NE (1914) so I’ve been there and saw how when his cousins came out to visit us in the PNW for his 90th birthday, there was one in her 80’s who was so taken aback because she had ‘never before then’ seen such gigantic ocean (on either coast) let alone gone wading in such frothy, frigid water. After all, due to geographical limitation of their regional place of birth, they were farmers who tilled the land and knew all there was to grow the finest wheat, soy and corn.
In other words, besides any out-of-area visitor’s tendency to be rather overwhelmed by the beauty and grandeur (day or night)…there is also a ton of curiosity about the novelty or allure of whatever the new or unfamiliar environment. Therefore, when it has been via such long self-promoting and higher profile “host” (the resort development) who has also long known the array of unsuspected dangers (i.e. nearby wild animals, some gators apparently being fed from hotel windows (like sea gulls are here), when is most unsafe time to be near the water (dawn, dusk, etc.) and their temporary “guests” from outside such regional enticement certainly do not…there is no sound logic or moral ground that can support how these now devastated parents could be considered for charges brought “against them.” I mean, to secondarily assault the victims via such twisted thinking would be beyond obscene.
Thus, just as we as individuals are taught or come to know through trial and error of a bad experience that turned out better than expected…such as throwing a dinner party that included alcohol and then knowing NOT to allow a guest who has overindulged to get in their car to drive themselves home…neither can this resort host, the Disney corporation, be let off the hook of what is THEIR inherent responsibility in so far as ‘amply appropriate precautionary measures’; no matter how many “no swimming” signs were posted. For this (likely) starry eyed family to have ventured out at such time of night, seemingly all on their own…it is glaringly obvious how they were likely not given any, if even barely adequate ‘warning’ about what to watch (out) for while visiting such wildly natural AND unpredictable vacation property.
My most heartfelt sympathies go out to this family and all who love them.
The original story said the child was in water only 6 to 12 inches deep, not two feet. Looks like an attempt to place blame on the parents. If anyone should be charged it should be the Disney Corporation for allowing guests to swim or wade in waters known to contain alligators!