If it just me, or is this a horribly written article? If I were familiar with the story to begin with, I would understand what she was saying. But since this was all new to me, her desperate attempts at innuendo confuse the reader into wondering what actually was going on in the 1st half of the article.
You're right:
Any good MSM "journalist" could have made it clear that the mother or grandfather was at fault here, and the nearest Florida panther was miles away...