Woman Wakes Up To Dead Boyfriend In Bed Next To Her One Day After He Was Bitten By Cottonmouth Snake

28 May, 2015 by Jennifer Van Laar

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A Missouri man refused to get medical treatment for an apparent snake bite, and that was a deadly mistake. The next morning his girlfriend woke up, but he didn’t.

Gilbert De Leon, 37, was bitten on each of his legs while in the water at James River – at the Delaware Access southwest of Nixa – with his girlfriend, Shellie Johns.

‘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,’ Christian County Coroner Brad Cole told the Springfield News-Leader.

‘I’m not sure what kind of snake bit him, but the only venomous water snake I’m aware of is a cottonmouth.’

Cole said that De Leon ignored his girlfriend’s pleas to go to hospital. ‘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.’

Judging the bites on De Leon’s legs, the snake was only small, Cole added.

Officials say they did not find anything in the house that gave them reason to suspect the death was caused by anything but a snake bite.

Missouri is home to five species of venomous snakes, including cottonmouths, copperheads and three species of rattlesnakes.

The coroner added that it looked like the man tried to treat the snake bites himself. While attempting to take care of oneself can be a good thing, there are definite instances in which proper medical care should be sought.