Officials are investigating the death of a man discovered floating in a canal on Mosaic property in Fort Meade with some of his remains found inside an alligator.
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, a Mosaic employee found the body of 45-year-old Michael Ford II as well as an alligator with body parts in its mouth.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission trapped and killed the alligator to perform a necropsy, which revealed that one of Ford's hands and one of his feet were in the gator's stomach.
An autopsy revealed Ford had other injuries caused by the gator and apparently drowned, though an official cause of death has yet to be determined.
