A manicurist was killed by an alligator following a house call during South Carolina's coronavirus lockdown

• Manicurist Cynthia Covert, 58, was returning from an at-home nail appointment in South Carolina when she was killed by an alligator.
• The client told authorities that after leaving her house, Covert was drawn by curiosity to a nearby pond, NBC News reported.
• After trying to touch the alligator, she was pulled into the water and drowned, police said.
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A manicuring leaving an at-home appointment in South Carolina was killed by an alligator, NBC News reported.

After leaving the Kiawah Island home of her client on Friday, 58-year-old Cynthia Covert was drawn to a pond where she spotted an alligator, according to a sheriff's report viewed by NBC News. The alligator grabbed Covert by her leg and pulled her into the water, where she drowned, the report says.

South Carolina's nail salons have been closed under state lockdown orders, but Covert went to the Kiawah Island home of Barbara Howell on Friday to give the woman a manicure, according to NBC News.

The homeowner told authorities that Covert was acting strange and talking more than she does at the nail salon where she works.

"She saw the alligator in the pond and was fascinated," the sheriff's detective wrote in the report.

The homeowner told authorities that Covert took pictures of the alligator from a porch and then walked over to the water.

"Barbara stated that she was cleaning up the porch when she noticed Covert down by the water," the report said. "Barbara yelled to Covert that the alligator grabbed a deer the other day from that spot, and Covert replied 'I don't look like a deer' then moved to touch the alligator."

The animal then pulled Covert was pulled into the water, according to the report.

When first responders arrived and Covert's body emerged from the water, the alligator was still attached. Police eventually shot the animal and recovered the manicurist's body, NBC News reported.

"The cause of death was drowning and ruled accidental," the report said.

Read the original story at NBC News»

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