Two-year-old Lane Graves was filling up his bucket with water for a sand castle when he was attacked at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort’s beach.
Now, in an official investigation conducted by The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, two witness accounts change almost everything about what happened on the night of June 14th.
Shawna Giacomini of North Carolina said that she was at the same beach at 8:15 p.m. with her two daughters, about 15 minutes before the attack
“The daughters saw an alligator about 5 feet from shore, near the marsh,” according to the report.
“The eldest daughter told the WDW AV/Movie Coordinator about the alligator. The person she told ran to a man whose shirt said ‘Coordinator’ and told him about the alligator.
“The Giacomini’s went to the store and when they returned, the attack had already occurred.”
Another guest, Afred Smith sent an email to the investigators on June 15th. He recalled seeing (then taking a photo of) an alligator from his balcony at the Grand Floridian just before 7:45 p.m.
Smith wrote that he pointed the alligator out to an Disney employee, and just before the attack occurred, he saw children wading ankle deep in the lagoon while a screening of Zootopia was being shown on the beach.
Just as he was going out to warn everyone on the beach, Smith said he heard Graves’ mother “scream.”
The Graves family had stated back in June that they were not looking to sue Walt Disney World over what happened. However, these new accounts of possible neglect on resort employee’s part could change everything.
“Melissa and I are broken,” Matt and his wife said said in a statement after the toddler’s body was found.
“We will solely be focused on the future health of our family and will not be pursuing a lawsuit against Disney.”
Matt Graves tried to wrestle his son’s body out of the alligator’s jaws, but the animal was able to swim away with its victim. Lane’s body was found the next day under 6-7 feet of water by police officers.