Crocodile Suspected of Killing Woman With Dementia

Authorities in Australia were searching Friday for a crocodile suspected of killing a dementia patient who wandered from a nursing home, the AP reports. Human remains along with Anne Cameron's clothes and walking stick were found near a creek bank on Thursday two days after the 79-year-old woman wandered from a nursing home at Port Douglas in Queensland state, Police Inspector Ed Lukin said. Police suspect she wandered into tropical forest and became disoriented, triggering an extensive search. The remains were found about a mile from the nursing home. Pathologists in Cairns confirmed Friday that the remains were human, Lukin said.

While police were waiting for the results of further forensic tests, Lukin said it was "highly likely" the remains were Cameron's since no one else had been reported missing in the area. "We strongly suspect now that there has been involvement of a crocodile attack given the location of those items and the human remains ... close to a watercourse," Lukin said. State rangers set crocodile traps on Thursday night and searched surrounding waterways by helicopter and boat on Friday, he said. The woman's granddaughter Isabella Eggins posted on social media that the family "have the firm belief that my nan Anne Cameron has passed away in tragic circumstances."

(More crocodile stories.)