Dec. 30 (UPI) — The body of a missing woman believed to have been attacked by a shark was recovered on a California beach about 25 miles from where she went missing Dec. 21.
Erica Fox, 55, a triathlete from Monterey County, Calif., went missing during a group swim off Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Witnesses reported seeing a splash before she disappeared, and people in the area had reported seeing a shark. Rescue teams spent 15 hours searching and covering 84 square nautical miles. They suspended the search on Dec. 22.
Fox’s body was recovered Saturday about 25 miles from where she went missing.
James Fox, her father, told KSBW-TV that her body was found on a “remote pocket beach” and was identified by her clothing.
California Fire San Mateo-Santa Cruz Unit said it used a rope system to pull Fox’s body up the bluffs by the water.
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Jean-Francois Vanreusel, Fox’s husband, told The Mercury News that she was still in her wetsuit and wearing a Garmin watch and a “shark band” that was attached to her ankle. Shark bands are designed to deter sharks.
“She didn’t want to live in fear,” Vanreusel told the newspaper. “She lived her life fully.”
Sharks are not unusual in the area.
“Monterey does have its tendencies to get bites in that area,” Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach, told CBS News Bay Area.
“On average we have about three injury-related shark bites in California each year,” Lowe said. “Your probability of being bitten is the same as like winning Powerball.
“Despite all we’ve learned about white sharks, we still don’t really know why they occasionally bite people unprovoked,” Lowe said.
Lowe added that sharks come to the Monterey area in winter months to feed on elephant seals.
Fox’s swim group, the Kelp Crawlers, told CBS they had a memorial for her on Sunday. They plan to be back in the water this weekend.
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