The body of an 8-year-old boy, who was mauled and decapitated by a crocodile in Costa Rica, was found weeks later in the crocodile’s belly.
When the tragedy struck, the boy, Julio Otero Fernandez, was playing at his home near the Matina River, located in Limon, Costa Rica. On October 30, while paddling in a shallow part where the water was only knee level, a crocodile suddenly appeared and attacked him before dragging him deeper into the river.
That was the last time the boy was seen alive. On Saturday, almost a month after the gruesome death, an unknown hunter shot and killed a crocodile near where the child met his death.
Locals then took the reptile and cut it open, revealing strands of human hair and bones believed to be the child’s.
During their planned fishing trip, the eight-year-old boy spent time with his family, his parents, four siblings, and a few other relatives. He was standing in the knee-deep water at around 2 pm when the giant reptile launched its attack on him.
While describing the brutal attack, an eyewitness told local reporters that the crocodile shook Fernandez vigorously, decapitated him, and dragged him into the river.
The boy’s parents, Don Julio Otero, his father, and his mother, Margini Fernandez Flores, helplessly watched as their boy was grabbed, decapitated, and then dragged under by the reptile.
A local news outlet reported that Otero said that the local law enforcement officers who responded to the scene of the horrible murder refused to shoot the crocodile dead. They said they did not have any authority to shoot it.
He told the reporter that he felt the authorities abandoned him, adding that they viewed an animal’s life as worth more than his son’s.
The couple, originally from Nicaragua, recently relocated their family to Costa Rica to work on a banana plantation. After the incident, they plan to move back to Nicaragua and take their four surviving kids to keep them safe from another crocodile attack.
Fernandez’s mom, Flores, said that she found it impossible to continue living in their house in Matina because the house kept reminding her of her son Julio.
She also said that a big reason for her wanting to leave is because authorities protect crocodiles, which can leave the river and attack people, adding that the thought of another similar tragedy was overwhelming.
The identity of the hunter that shot the crocodile remains unknown, as he fled the scene after shooting it dead, which is illegal in the country.
Fernandez’s mother said she was relieved that the killer crocodile had been shot dead. She said that she wished all crocodiles in the nation would get killed so no other family would face the same tragedy.
