At a news conference Wednesday, Florida Wildlife and Fish Maj. Evan Laskowski said the woman was sitting in the bow of a 14-foot canoe when the attack happened. She and her husband were in about 2.5 feet of water when the boat passed over a large alligator, he said.

"The alligator thrashed and tipped the canoe over. Both individuals ended up in the water," Laskowski said. "She ended up on top of the alligator in the water and was bitten. Her husband attempted to intervene but was unsuccessful."

The woman, who was identified as 61-year-old Cynthia Diekema of Davenport, Florida, was later recovered from the water and declared dead.

Holy smokes 

Tragic

Here is some more nightmare fuel for you.  

 

H

I’m glad the closest we get is snapping turtles.

 

I’ve been thinking of bringing the canoe down on a winter vacation, not anymore.

@Ski I wondered how that happened. Initially I heard he pulled her out of the canoe. 

Tragic, people don't realize how strong gators are, they displace tons of water with the thrust of body and tail,  I've had them swim under my bass boat and rock it, they don't do it purposely, more of fleeing reaction. I'm just glad we don't have aggressive species of crocodilians like Nile Crocs or Salties!  I've stepped on one laying decoys while duck hunting!  Talk about heart skipping a beat!  Have to be aware at all times if you are in water in or around them!

Plot twist: she had a huge life insurance policy and the gator was actually the husband's accomplice.

 

Or I might be mixing too much true crime in with my bass fishing podcasts...

Man I’m glad I live in the north. Common snappers are the closest thing we get. And unless you like skinny dipping you don’t have to worry about them. 

I've kayak fished on Santee quite often before I got my boat. I've had gators go under around and even rub up against my plastic bathtub. It's unnerving but I've never seen one be aggressive unless you mess with it or throw a topwater frog or similar at it. They are always just travelling through.

What a tragedy for her and the family. I can’t imagine what the husband is going through witnessing it.

Koz and I fished Lake Kissimmee this past Winter.  Didn’t see many gators, but they are there. I believe that Kissimmee has the most gators per acre in the state of Florida (probably the country).  Real tragedy - -

16 hours ago, Dwight Hottle said:

@Ski I wondered how that happened. Initially I heard he pulled her out of the canoe. 

The couple headed out on a 14-foot canoe into Lake Kissimmee, which has the second highest population of alligators in the state with more than 16,000, according to a 2024 census from FWC. It's second only to Lake Okeechobee.

According to Laskowski, Diekema was sitting in the bow of the canoe when it passed over a large Gator in 3 feet of water, when the alligator thrashed and tipped the boat over. The couple were sent into the water. "She ended up on top of the alligator in the water and was bitten," Laskowski said. "Her husband attempted to intervene was but unsuccessful."

On 5/8/2025 at 7:12 PM, GaryH said:

What a tragedy for her and the family. I can’t imagine what the husband is going through witnessing it.

 

Horrific memories. 

I didn’t even have my boat in the water yesterday and saw a small 4’ gator swimming closely by the ramp. In an inflatable, I’m always watchful for gators. They’re ornery ‘cause they got all them teeth…and no toothbrush. 

On 5/8/2025 at 7:43 PM, FryDog62 said:

Koz and I fished Lake Kissimmee this past Winter.  Didn’t see many gators, but they are there. I believe that Kissimmee has the most gators per acre in the state of Florida (probably the country).  Real tragedy - -

During that tournament I saw what looked like a HUGE turtle sunning on a far bank. As I made my way toward it, there was a huge splash off the bank to my right. Instinctively, I knew it was a gator.

 

I saw him surface coming towards me and all I could think about is at 3.5 mph my Minn Kota is not going to outrun a gator. It wasn’t a huge gator, but it wasn’t small, either.

 

Luckily. as I kept going the gator stayed on its original track. I kept going and didn’t even bother checking out that turtle.

On 5/11/2025 at 6:58 AM, BrianMDTX said:

I didn’t even have my boat in the water yesterday and saw a small 4’ gator swimming closely by the ramp. In an inflatable, I’m always watchful for gators. They’re ornery ‘cause they got all them teeth…and no toothbrush. 

It’s their medulla oblongata 

 

I remember hearing a podcast about a duck hunter in the Everglades. Apparently, his wife and best friend were using their wedding tackle together, and the best friend shot the husband and fed him to the gators in the glades..

 

There’s a large 8/9’er that lives in one of the creeks feeding the TN River where I fish sometimes. She’s a gentle old soul. I’ve gotten fairly close, ~10’ to her. She just dives and swims away (or stalks me under my kayak). Very unnerving. That said, I grew up going to a fishing camp in central Mississippi that was at an oxbow lake of the Pearl River. Best crappie fishing I’ve ever seen. Huge population of gators. Dad got up one morning to go get coffee in the cook house (swinging screen doors for “security”). My aunt was already in there and my dad said “Barbara, how long have you been in here?” “About an hour”. “Turn around and come to the door slowly”. There was an 11’ gator hanging out under the table…

That’s a big damned gator right there!