American elderly woman ambushed and killed by 9 - foot alligator while walking her dog in South Carolina 

69-year-old Holly Jenkins was mauled by the beast near a lagoon bordering a golf course in the Spanish Wells community where she lived

By Edward Era Barbacena 

A South Carolina woman died Tuesday after being attacked by an alligator.

Early on Independence Day morning, 69-year-old Holly Jenkins left her home in the Hilton Head community of Spanish Wells to take her dog on a walk. But family members became concerned when the dog returned home without her.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m., a family member spotted Jenkins, unresponsive, near the edge of a lagoon and phoned emergency responders. Police finally managed to recover Jenkins' lifeless body only after dealing with an aggressive gator, the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office explained in a news release.

"Rescue efforts were made and an alligator appeared and was guarding the woman, interrupting emergency efforts," the release said. "The gator was safely removed from the area and the woman’s body was recovered."

South Carolina Department of Natural Resources officials eventually removed the alligator — a 9-foot, 9-inch male — and euthanized it.