Orange City, FL – Autopsy results are expected on Wednesday for the 62-year-old man who died while swimming at Blue Spring State Park earlier this week.
That’s the word from Florida Fish & Wildlife officials as they continue to investigate how James Okkurse died on Monday in the water near the boil.
Searchers found Okkerse’s body at the bottom of a channel around 3 hours after the 911 call came in, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
That report also showed that there was “obvious trauma” to Okkerse’s body that was “consistent with accounts of an alligator attack.”
FWC is waiting for the autopsy results to come in before making any decision on how Okkurse died.
Witnesses told FWC a large gator was spotted in the area around the time Okkurse died. FWC trappers searching the area caught and shot a 12-foot gator dead hours after Okkurse’s body was found.
The initial call for help came in just after 9am Monday after Okkerse had not been seen for about 15 minutes by 2 other people who came with him.
According to that caller, Okkerse is part of a group of people who regularly swim at the spring and was a “wonderful” swimmer.
Copyright 2015 Southern Stone Communications.