Body of female triathlete found after ‘shark attack’ off beach
The body of a triathlete who disappeared at sea after a suspected shark attack has been found, her father has confirmed.
The father of ‘exceptional swimmer’ Erica Fox, 55, confirmed her body was recovered from a beach in Santa Cruz county in California, NBC Bay Area reported.
Rescue teams recovered a corpse from the ocean south of Davenport Beach on Saturday at around 2pm, according to the county sheriff’s office.
The discovery came a week after Fox was reported missing in nearby Pacific Grove after witnesses claimed a shark mauled her in the water.
The triathlete was taking part in a weekly morning swim club when one swimmer who returned to the shore early noticed a shark, according to The Mercury News.
A driver at a nearby stop sign reported to the US Coast Guard that he had spotted a shark breach the surface with what appeared to be a human body in its mouth.
Swimmers in the club, called Kelp Krawlers, rushed back to land but soon realised Fox was missing.
Her husband of 30 years, Jean-Francois Vanreusel, was in the group who made it back safely.
Swimmer Sharon Carey told The Mercury News: ‘It started to click that everybody was back on shore but Erica.
‘I just felt numb. I was hoping that maybe she got out of the water and then decided to walk back.’
The Coast Guard told Fox News Digital at the time that it couldn’t confirm that the case is ‘correlated with the report of a witnessed shark attack due to insufficient evidence.’
Search and rescue teams scoured the sea for 15 hours before calling off the operation.
However Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, along with independent search groups Bedrock Ocean Exploration and the Angel’s Recovery Dive Team, continued the probe.
But Saturday, California’s Fire’s San Mateo-Santa Cruz unit used a rope system to recover a body.
A day later, James Fox, Erica Fox’s father, confirmed it was his daughter.
Yet Sergeant Ryan Farotte of the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office told the Daily Mail that authorities ‘do not yet have confirmation on an ID’ of the body.
Fox was a competent swimmer who had completed two half-Ironman competitions.
She also had taken part in an annual triathlon called Escape from Alcatraz for almost 20 years, her father told NBC News.
The athlete even attended a ‘Sharktober’ seminar to learn more about the predators and appeared to be an admirer of the animals.
In one Facebook post she shared, of a shark swimming next to a scuba diver, the caption read: ‘This is the most dangerous animal in the world and next to it [is] a shark swimming peacefully.’
A member of her Kelp Kralwers group was even bitten by a shark in 2022.
Steve Bruemmer was attacked in June that year in Pacific Grove, but Fox said after the incident: ‘I feel more vulnerable riding my bike than being in the water.’
After her body was found, Angel’s Recovery diver Juan Heredia shared a heartfelt poem about Fox on Facebook.
‘You didn’t leave this world alone – you became part of it,’ he wrote. Salt, current, light, and silence now carry your story.’
He continued: ‘Swim gently, beautiful soul. The ocean keeps your soul now, and we will remember you every time the water moves. Was about time! She was found.’
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