Body found in Orange County pond isn't the teen from previously reported alligator attack

The unscathed body of a woman was found in an east Orange County retention pond by deputies searching for a teenage boy seen screaming and flailing in the water.

Around 6:30 a.m. Thursday, a deputy on the Orange County Sheriff's Office Marine Unit saw the body of a female in her late teens to early 20s floating in the pond, says sheriff's spokesperson Jeff Williamson.

"There appears to be no damage to the body," Williamson says. "No alligator bites, no damage to the face or anything like that. It's in perfect condition – just deceased."

The body was found 50 yards from the shore of the pond. The Sheriff's Office said detectives are working to identify the woman, and that it was "possible the victim was homeless."

Deputies were already at the retention pond in a neighborhood off Colonial Drive on Wednesday responding to a possible drowning.

A witness who lives near the edge of the pond at the intersection of Fabian Avenue and Regan Avenue says he saw a teenage boy without a shirt about 20 yards from the shoreline in the pond.

The boy was reportedly screaming and struggling to stay afloat in the water, yelling multiple times, "It bit me." The witness says the teenager went underwater and did not resurface.

Williamson says a small alligator was spotted in the retention pond, but there is "no evidence that its presence is related to the possible drowning at this time."

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