LAKELAND, FL — Wildlife officers from the state of Florida have named the woman who was killed by an alligator while kayaking on Lake Kissimmee in central Florida.
Maj. Evan Laskowski of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says Cynthia Diekema, 61, of Davenport, Florida, died when the canoe she was riding in with her husband slid over a big alligator that was hidden below them in about 2.5 feet of water. Wildlife officials say the event happened around 4 p.m.
“This is not thought to be a predatory incident,” Laskowski said at a news conference in Tampa, Florida, on May 7. “It was just a defence incident where they came upon the alligator under the water’s edge, and when the canoe struck it, it caused a reaction.”
The couple got into a 14-foot boat near the start of Tiger Creek in Lake Kissimmee. According to a 2024 census from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there are more than 16,000 alligators in Lake Kissimmee, making it the second most populous lake in the state. Only Lake Okeechobee is bigger.
The alligator swam around and flipped the canoe over, Laskowski says. Diekema was sitting in the bow of the boat. They were told to go into the water.
“She ended up on top of the alligator in the water and was bitten,” said Laskowski. “Her husband attempted to intervene but was unsuccessful.”
Laskowski says that Diekema’s body was later found by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers after being seen by a Polk County Sheriff’s Office chopper.
The incident is being fully looked into by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, according to Roger Young, the executive head of the commission.
That’s the second time in two months that an alligator has bitten someone in that area. A woman was bitten on the elbow in March on the same creek that links Tiger Lake to Lake Kissimmee.
Two alligators were caught and killed in the area.
The Ledger, which is part of the USA TODAY Network, got a computer-aided dispatch report from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office that showed state wildlife officials calling for help at 4:05 p.m. For two possible alligator victims, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission called for a unit and emergency medical staff.
“Man advised his wife had been killed by an alligator,” the dispatch report said of the call to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office at 3:59 p.m. Polk County sheriff’s officers didn’t have access to much else information right away.
There was a report from the husband at 4:35 p.m. that “he last saw victim in the gator’s mouth before she disappeared.” First responders at the scene had help from the air, and later, drones were sent to the area to help look for Diekema.
Polk County sheriff’s officers in a helicopter saw Diekema from above at 5:04 p.m. and said the alligator still had her in its mouth.
“The gator actively has the victim,” the 5:05 p.m. alert report said. Soon after, police from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission pulled Diekema’s body from the water just as the alligator went back under.
Officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said they hired a hunter who has caught two alligators in the area near Lake Kissimmee since the attack.
Laskowski said the first alligator was the same size as the one that attacked the couple and was 11 feet, 4 inches long. A second alligator that was 10 to 11 feet long was also caught and killed.
On the afternoon of May 7, state wildlife agents and trappers stayed close to the scene to look for alligators in the size range that was a worry.