St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s deputies with the Special Operation Division, along with U. S. and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries agents, captured a 12 foot long alligator, weighing a startling 504 pounds in the area of Avery Estates. It was near the location where Timothy Satterlee Sr. went missing on Monday, August 30, 2021, one day after Hurricane Ida hit South Louisiana, creating destruction across the region.
Sheriff Smith vowed from the beginning of the investigation into Satterlee’s disappearance that the agency would use all of the resources and manpower available to bring some sort of closure to the family. For the last three weeks, members of the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office Special Operations Division, along with State and Federal partners, worked tirelessly searching the area in hopes of locating Satterlee, or the alligator that attacked him. This morning, their hard work paid off with the capture of the alligator that is suspected to be the one who attacked Satterlee.
This past weekend U.S. Wildlife agents observed a large alligator in a waterway near where the incident occurred. Deputies and agents, with the assistance of two Louisiana Department of Wildlife licensed nuisance hunters, Phillip "Andy" McClurkan and Eric Dumas, set traps to catch the alligator. The alligator was caught this morning by one of the traps and brought to a secure site to be searched. Once the alligator was searched, it was discovered to have what appears to be human remains inside its stomach. Investigators will work with the St. Tammany Parish Coroner’s Office to verify those remains belong to Timothy Satterlee.
Sheriff Smith would like to thank the U. S. Fisheries and Wildlife agents, Louisiana Wildlife and Fishery agents, Louisiana Search and Rescue agents with their cadaver scenting K-9, and the licensed nuisance hunters for assisting with the search and ultimate capture of the alligator.
“This is a horrible tragedy and my sincere condolences and sympathy goes to the Satterlee family. I know today's findings does not bring their loved one back, but hopefully this can bring them some sort of closure. I am very proud of the hard, non-stop work, of my deputies and the other agencies who assisted, and I hope their persistence in finding this alligator will help the family with coping with their loss. We will continue to keep them in our prayers,” Sheriff Smith said.