Household Says Girl’s Physique Discovered Close to Santa Cruz Is That of Lacking Swimmer Probably Killed By Shark

The physique of a lady was discovered Saturday on a distant seashore north of Santa Cruz, and it’s seemingly that of Erica Fox, the 55-year-old lady who disappeared whereas swimming with an ocean swimmers’ group final week.

Authorities recovered a physique Saturday on a distant “pocket beach” in Wilder Ranch, close to the city of Davenport, California, north of Santa Cruz, and the daddy of lacking swimmer Erica Fox has confirmed that it’s his daughter’s stays. As James Fox told local television station KSBW, based mostly on the wetsuit and watch discovered on the physique, he believes that is Erica’s physique, although the county coroner has not but launched an official identification.

Separately, Fox’s husband, Jean-Francois Vanreusel, confirmed the identification to the Mercury News, saying that Fox’s physique was discovered with the white “shark band” nonetheless round her ankle — an electromagnetic gadget that’s meant to keep at bay shark assaults. Vanreusel was swimming about 100 yards behind his spouse on the time of the assault, and he says, “She didn’t want to live in fear. She lived her life fully.”

Vanreusel led a vigil with fellow swimmers in Pacific Grove on Sunday.

Fox, a Pebble Beach resident and an avid swimmer and triathlete, was swimming with a bunch she co-founded referred to as the Kelp Krawlers on Sunday, December 21, off Lovers’ Point close to Pacific Grove, because the group did each Sunday. Other swimmers reported listening to a loud splash, and a minimum of one eyewitness mentioned they noticed a shark breach within the space with what seemed to be a human physique in its mouth.

When Fox didn’t return with the group to shore, a search was launched that lined 84 sq. nautical miles, which was in the end suspended final Monday.

Where the physique was discovered Saturday was about 30 miles north of the Monterey County space the place the group had been swimming.

The Santa Cruz County Coroner will in the end launch the reason for dying for the individual they discovered Saturday, believed to be Fox.

Ironically, as the NY Post previously noted, Fox had posted a photograph to a social media account exhibiting a human diver swimming alongside an incredible white shark, with the caption, “This is the most DANGEROUS ANIMAL in the world, and by his side, a SHARK swims peacefully… Share if you agree.”

Fox was a embellished triathlete who had participated within the Escape From Alcatraz triathlon yearly for 20 years.

Following her disappearance and presumed dying, buddy and fellow ocean swimmer Sara Rubin wrote of Fox, “Multiple books have been written about the science of swimming and what it does for our brains. But Erica never needed a book to tell her what she knew through experience: Swimming in the ocean is a balm for body and mind, an adventure as much as a meditation.”

While consultants preserve that shark assaults on people are exceedingly uncommon, that is the second such assault to affect the Kelp Krawlers group in three years. As the Mercury News notes, one other member, Steve Bruemmer, was attacked and left with severe leg injuries in June 2022.

Previously: Swimmer in Suspected Monterey Shark Attack Was a Triathlete, Swam at Same Beach for 20 Years