The man’s message is delivered with urgency but clarity.
“I’m at this park next to Davie called Silver Lakes Rotary. I think an alligator got this lady,” the caller told a 911 dispatcher last Friday after a woman was attacked by a 12-foot, 6-inch alligator at Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park.
On Thursday, Davie police released the 911 call made just moments after Shizuka Matsuki, 47, of Plantation was attacked and killed while she was walking her three dogs on a path around a pond at the park. Silver Lakes Rotary is just west of Florida’s Turnpike near the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Divers from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission found Matsuki’s body Friday night.
“You think an alligator got a lady?” the dispatcher asked the man, who would give his first name when prompted but asked for anonymity.
“Two dogs came running back to the parking lot. One dog is still hanging out in the water, and I seen a huge alligator,” the man said, as he stood near Matsuki’s car in the lot he said.
He offered a description of the vehicle, “a black, hybrid Prius,” and of the woman he had seen on the path just before she vanished.
“She was an Oriental lady. She was wearing dark shorts and a dark shirt and had dark hair,” he said.
After several prompts from the dispatcher to get an address and settling for a location, the caller said, “There’s a big alligator hanging out right there and she’s nowhere to be found. I watched her go in and didn’t see her get out.”
Silver Lakes Rotary Nature Park has been closed since Matsuki was attacked. Davie is adding signs in area parks to warn of gators.
———
© 2018 Miami Herald
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
