The body of a triathlete who was fatally attacked by a shark off the California coast has been recovered, one week after she disappeared while swimming alongside her husband, according to reports.
Erica Fox’s body was discovered Saturday afternoon, still wearing her black wetsuit, south of Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz — roughly 25 miles from where she was last seen, her devastated husband said.
Jean-Francis Vanreusel said he was swimming about 100 yards behind his wife, alongside 13 other members of a local swim club, on Dec. 21 when a shark suddenly seized his wife of 30 years and pulled her under, he told the Mercury News.
Erica Fox’s body was recovered Saturday afternoon, still wearing her black wetsuit, south of Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz.
Witnesses said they saw a shark surface with a human body in its mouth before disappearing beneath the water, according to a Coast Guard official cited by ABC News.
“She didn’t want to live in fear,” Vanreusel told the Mercury News during a somber procession along the coastline Sunday, as dozens of fellow Kelp Krawlers members honored her with a final mile-long swim.
“She lived her life fully.”
Vanreusel said Fox, 55, was found with a “shark band” still strapped to her ankle — an electromagnetic device designed to repel sharks like the one that ultimately killed her.
Her death marked just the second fatal shark attack at Lovers Point in 73 years — and the first since a 17-year-old boy was killed there in December 1952, according to the Mercury News.
Rescue teams recovered a body from the ocean south of Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz around 2 p.m. Saturday, the county sheriff’s office reported. Monterey County Sheriff's Office
The triathlete disappeared from the waters off the California coast after a shark attack. Monterey County Sheriff's Office
It’s also the second attack on a Kelp Krawler member — the swim club Fox co-founded — in just three and a half years. Steve Bruemmer was bitten on the leg during the earlier incident and survived only after nearby paddleboarders rushed to his rescue.
"Will people get back in the ocean? Will they get back in the ocean, but not here?" wondered Sharen Carey, who has been a member of the Kelp Krawlers for more than a decade.
“I don’t think anyone knows at the moment, because I think we’re all just still in shock, disbelief and grief, not knowing what we need to do next, except to love and support each other.”
