Florida woman’s family sues retirement home after an 11ft-alligator killed her

The family of an elderly woman killed by an alligator as she walked her dog near her Florida home is suing the retirement community where she lived for wrongful death.

Gloria Serge, 85, died in February 2023 after the 11ft alligator, known to residents as Henry, sprang from a retention pond at Spanish Lakes Fairways in Fort Pierce and dragged her back into the water.

The attack was captured on CCTV and reported by Inside Edition, which interviewed a neighbor describing frantic attempts to save Serge.

A lawsuit filed on behalf of Serge’s son William, the manager of her estate, contends that the alligator was a “known nuisance” to Wynne Building Corporation, the owner and operator of the 435-acre Spanish Lakes Fairways, and should have been removed.

Additionally, the filing states, Wynne neglected to install signs warning of the danger from alligators, which are common throughout Florida.

“I never could have imagined the agonizing way that my mother spent the last moments of her life,” William told reporters at a news conference announcing the lawsuit, which is seeking $50,000 in damages and a jury trial.

“The sudden, violent nature of this attack, thinking about my mom in her final moments, resulted in a whole different level of all-consuming grief.”

Gary Lesser, Williams’ attorney, said Wynne, which owns a number of retirement developments in the state, failed in its obligation to keep residents safe by not erecting signs or making mention of the alligator’s presence in its weekly newsletter. Worse,