By Todd Leskanic
The Pasco Tribune
HOLIDAY, Fla. — The call came just after 4 p.m. Tuesday.
“Someone is stuck in the muddy waters of the lake, and I know for a fact there’s an alligator there,” says Alexia Cuartas, whose home on Koala Drive borders the lake.
Asked for more specifics by a Pasco County sheriff’s dispatcher, Cuartas says, “I can’t see him. He’s just yelling for help. I went out on my deck and I asked, ‘Hello, hello,’ and he said, ‘Please help me. I’m stuck in the mud.’”
Three deputies began searching around the lake along with communications operator Raquel Arredondo. They heard faint sounds.
“I didn’t hear anything that sounded human,” veteran Deputy Keith Krapfl said Wednesday. “When I heard it, I thought it was an animal.”
Krapfl, Arredondo and Deputy Jessica Hammond made their way through heavy brush and closer to the swampy mangroves. Krapfl caught sight of a head sticking up out of the water in the deep mangroves. He and Hammond waded into waist-deep water and went toward the woman.
Hammond immediately identified her as Kathleen Ann Shino, 62, who had been reported missing by her family Sunday.
Shino had scrapes on her arms and hands, and the appearance of her skin indicated she had been in the water for many hours. Paramedics were called and needed a chain saw to remove large branches to free Shino from the muck.
Krapfl said Shino didn’t speak and kept motioning toward her throat. She was transferred in stable condition to Community Hospital in New Port Richey, where she remained Wednesday.
It isn’t clear why Shino was in the lake, which isn’t far from her home in a neighborhood east of U.S. 19 near Flora Avenue. The lake sits behind an abandoned strip mall and is bordered on one side by a thick strip of mangroves.
Sheriff’s spokesman Kevin Doll said Shino has medical issues. He wouldn’t elaborate, other than to say she does not have Alzheimer’s disease.
Shino’s family last had spoken with her Friday.
Krapfl said the credit for saving Shino should go to Cuartas and her daughter, who made simultaneous calls to authorities once they heard the cries for help. Krapfl said the women were in about the only place where Shino’s voice could have been heard.
“I wouldn’t have driven by or walked by,” he said. “This was not an area that would have been accessible to police.”
Cuartas’ daughter, Alexandra Echazabal, said she and her mother were working in the yard and just about to go inside when they heard an unusual sound. At first, they thought it was birds or a frog.
They soon realized it was someone crying for help. They ran inside and called the sheriff’s office and 911.
“It’s what anyone would do,” Echazabal said. “I can’t imagine anyone not calling for an ambulance to assist someone that’s calling out for help.”
Shino’s daughter issued a statement on behalf of the family.
“We are thrilled to have our mom safe,” Kristi Fusco said, offering thanks to the sheriff’s office, as well as “the 911 caller who alerted authorities and to the countless volunteers who assisted us over the past few days with the search efforts.
“At this time, we wish for our privacy so that we can focus on our mother’s healing and comfort.”
Copyight 2011 The Tribune Co. Publishes The Tampa Tribune