(Wes Johnson, Springfield News-Leader (Missouri))
A Nixa, Missouri, man who waded into the James River on Friday was bitten on both legs by a venomous snake and died Saturday.
Christian County Coroner Brad Cole said Gilbert De Leon, 37, and his girlfriend were at the Delaware Access southwest of Nixa on Friday afternoon when the incident happened.
"His girlfriend reported that he yelled he'd been bitten by a snake and got out of the river to find he'd been bitten twice — once on each leg," Cole said. "I'm not sure what kind of snake bit him, but the only venomous water snake I'm aware of is a cottonmouth. It could have been something else, but we just don't know."
Cole said that despite his girlfriend's pleas for De Leon to go to a hospital, the man refused and instead went home.
"That evening he got lethargic but just wouldn't go to a hospital," Cole said. "They went to bed and she reported he was snoring more loudly than usual. The next morning when she woke up, she found him dead."
Cole said the fang marks were 3/4 of an inch wide, which indicated to him it was not a large snake that bit De Leon. He suspects the man died from the snake bites, but has not ruled a cause of death.
"We've sent off for lab tests that will take about eight weeks to get back," Cole said. "The lab won't tell us anything about a snake bite, but it will say if there was a drug overdose or alcohol overdose. However, I didn't find anything else that looked to me like the cause of death was anything other than a snake bite."
Cole said it was the first possible snake bite fatality he had seen in his career.
Missouri is home to five species of venomous snakes, including cottonmouths, copperheads and three species of rattlesnakes.
