A California triathlete whose physique washed ashore every week after she vanished throughout a bunch ocean swim off the Monterey coast was killed in a grotesque shark assault, in line with a newly launched report.
Erica Fox, 55, disappeared in December 2025 whereas swimming with 14 others within the frigid waters off Monterey.
Per week later, her physique was found about 25 miles away close to Davenport Seashore in Santa Cruz County, nonetheless partially wearing her black wetsuit, the report mentioned.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner’s workplace revealed this week that Fox was killed by “sharp and blunt power accidents and submersion in water attributable to a shark assault,” the Monterey Herald reported.
Authorities mentioned that Fox’s swimsuit and wetsuit had been torn the place her accidents occurred, with a “semi-circle of tooth wounds” extending from her stomach to her knees.
The report mentioned that the one chew from her torso to her legs from the shark fractured her pelvis and “severed a significant artery.”
Chris Lowe, a professor of marine biology with the Shark Lab at California State College Lengthy Seashore, mentioned he suspects the shark thought Fox was a seal or sea lion.
“The one clarification we are able to give you in instances like that is that the shark made a mistake,” Lowe mentioned. “It mistook an individual for a seal or a sea lion.”
“This was an enormous shark. I believe she was most likely knocked unconscious instantly. It was a horrible trauma.”
Fox was taking part in a weekly swim with a membership she co-founded along with her husband Jean-Francis Vanreusel — referred to as the Kelp Krawlers in Pacific Grove — when the group feared a “massive splash” was an attacking shark, KSBW reported.
Whereas the opposite swimmers all made it again to shore, Fox remained lacking.
The post-mortem seems to verify witness studies on the time of seeing a shark with a human physique in its jaws earlier than it submerged, per the Coast Guard.
A publish Fox as soon as shared on social media confirmed an image of a diver swimming alongside an incredible white shark.
“That is essentially the most DANGEROUS ANIMAL on the planet, and by his aspect, a SHARK swims peacefully,” the publish was captioned.
The Fb web page for the Kelp Crawlers contains images of Fox and the swimmers within the group with a message on the prime that mentioned it’s closed.
There’s additionally feedback speaking about Fox’s tragedy, showing to again up Lowe’s idea that the shark didn’t know she was a human.
“So Unhappy About Erica Fox. Has anybody ever investigated growing a moist go well with that appears much less like, black define of prey, and possibly like another factor?” one particular person wrote.
“Perhaps a Orcas sample or have the scent of Orcas come for the moist go well with.”
“Scientists at Macquarie College not too long ago discovered that horizontal stripes of regular LED lights positioned on the underside of objects can successfully deter nice white shark assaults,” one other added, noting a report in The LighthouseTechnology Networks.
Fox’s dying is now the third shark assault at Lover’s Level since June 2022, when fellow Kelp Krawler member, Steve Bruemmer, then 62, was bitten on the leg and solely survived after he was rescued by close by paddleboarders, in line with Monterey County Now.
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