A preliminary report from the Orange County medical examiner has revealed how Florida wildlife authorities confirmed they had caught the correct alligator that killed 31-year-old Brittany Clark. Investigators matched a row of teeth on the 12-foot reptile's head to the bite marks left on Clark's left arm, providing the grim forensic link between the animal and the fatal attack near Orlando.

Clark was killed on 28 June while swimming in the Econlockhatchee River in the Little Big Econ State Forest, where she had been hiking with her boyfriend, Chance Allison, along with friends and her dogs. Standing in just three feet of water, she was suddenly attacked by the alligator, which grabbed her arm and pulled her into a "death roll" — a violent spinning behaviour. Allison tried to wrestle the animal away and was himself pulled into the water; he eventually freed her, but she had suffered severe injuries, including a partially severed left arm and an open fracture to her right arm.