Florida Man Died From Meth Overdose Before Alligator Ate Him

Another day, another weird story from Florida.

A man was found eaten by an alligator over the summer, but a medical examiner’s report found that he already died from a meth overdose before the reptile consumed him. Michael Ford, 45, was discovered in a canal in Fort Meade back in June. The man was originally thought to have drowned.

“It is my opinion that Michael Glenn Ford II died as a result of a methamphetamine intoxication,” District Medical Examiner Stephen Nelson wrote in an autopsy report, according to NBC News. “The manner of death is accident.” Authorities found Ford’s hand and foot inside the gator.

“The decedent’s injuries and amputations lack sufficient associated blood to suggest they were made while alive,” the report continued. He was naked when he was discovered and his clothes were not near the scene.

The gator was shot and killed by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and was brought to the Medical Examiner’s Office alongside Ford. “It’s a large alligator. It was 11 foot, 10 inches long and it weighed approximately 449 pounds,” Ashley Tyer, the FWC’s public information officer, told WFLA then.

Florida’s gators are no joke. An 11-foot reptile broke into someone’s kitchen back in June. Mary Wischhusen, 77, told the Tampa Bay Times that she was walking to the restroom at 3:30 AM when she saw the reptile in her house. “All I had was a vision of a huge head, a big head looking at me saying, ‘Hey,'” she said. “I don’t know why he wanted my red wine, but he got my red wine.”