“Everglades: Single mom goes missing.” That was the headline that rocked Florida one sweltering summer morning. Anna Mitchell, who was 30 years old, was a devoted mother to her son Lucas, who was one year old. She had intended to go on a short trip to Everglades National Park. Her friends remembered how happy she was. She had always loved nature and wanted to show her baby how beautiful the marshes were. But she never came back that day.
The cops said that Anna’s car was parked neatly near the park’s entrance. Anna was not there, but her pocketbook and baby bag were. There was just a stroller left near a trailhead, and there were no tracks heading away from it. Quickly, panic spread. How could a young mother suddenly leave in the middle of the day?
For weeks, search teams looked through the park. Drones, bloodhounds, and boats looked for anything in the marshes. There were posters all across Florida with a picture of Anna’s happy face on them. One was taken just a few days before she kissed her kid on the couch as he was giggling. Lucas’s granny had been taking care of him while they were gone, but the whole family was sad about the loss. Elaine, Anna’s mother, couldn’t believe that her daughter had just disappeared. She cried and added, “Something happened out there.” “She wouldn’t just go.”
The case turned cold as months went by with no news of her. People in the region spoke about what might have happened to her. They thought she might have gotten lost in the deep marsh, been attacked by an alligator, or run into someone dangerous. The rangers shook their heads. More individuals died in the Everglades than most people knew. A year later, Anna’s family was still upset and didn’t know what had happened.
While they were out on a typical patrol in the wetlands, the rangers discovered a big Burmese python sleeping on a rock that the sun had warmed. The snake’s tummy was far bigger than the swamp bunnies or birds it usually ate. When the officers discovered out, they were afraid. People had been tagging and tracking the snake for months, but no one really paid attention to it until today. The bulge didn’t seem right.
When wildlife officials seized the snake to look at it, they had no idea it held the terrible clue to a family’s year-long search for a missing person.
When wildlife officials transferred the python to a safe spot, they were careful. It was one of the biggest snakes caught in the Everglades that year. It was about 18 feet long and weighed more than 200 pounds. Even rangers who had been doing this for a long time were worried about its growing belly. “That’s not a hog,” one of them said as the team got set to do the necropsy. Everyone in the room knew that Burmese pythons had taken over the Everglades, but this one seemed different.
When the test began, bits and pieces of the truth came out. There was a bulge in the room that shocked everyone. It wasn’t a deer or a wild pig. The python’s stomach was filled of the bones, pieces of fabric, and jewelry of a woman who had died. The strong lighting still made the jewelry shine.
It didn’t take long for forensic experts to connect the discovery to the woman who had been missing for a year. The necklace was a little silver locket with the name “Lucas” on it. It looked a lot like the one Anna Mitchell always wore in pictures. They asked Elaine, her mom, to tell them what it was. She broke down when she saw the locket and gripped it like it was her daughter’s heart.
The news shook up the whole neighborhood. For months, people have been making crazy speculations about what happened to Anna. Some people assumed Anna had been taken against her will, while others thought she had chosen to go away. There was no denying the sad answer now. One of the Everglades’ most dangerous beasts had assaulted Anna.
But the people who were looking into it couldn’t quit thinking about how she had found the python in the first place. Experts say that Burmese pythons stalk their prey. They wait quietly, hidden in the dense grass, and then attack very quickly. Anna might have thought it was safe to wander a short distance off the route because she was alone herself and didn’t have her baby with her. One wrong move near where the snake was lurking meant certain death for her.
When officials made their announcement, reporters flocked around the entrance to the park. “Python Found With Human Remains of Missing Mom” was a story that made headlines all throughout the country. As conservationists kept warning about the invasive species, Anna’s family had to face the painful fact of her last moments. Elaine clutched Lucas more tightly than ever. “He’ll never know his mother,” she murmured softly. “But he will know that she cared about him.” Games that everyone in the family can play