Body of triathlete apparently killed by shark found on California beach | California

California firefighters found the body of a California triathlete on a beach northwest of Santa Cruz, nearly a week after she went missing, amid speculation she was killed by a shark.

The remains of Erica Fox were found on Saturday, her father and husband confirmed to local media. Fox, 55, was part of a group of more than a dozen swimmers who set out from Lovers Point, near Monterey, Calif., on Dec. 21, but she never returned to land. A witness passing through the area reported to authorities seeing a shark with what appeared to be a human body in its mouth emerge from the water, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The disappearance and reports of the shark drew public attention and authorities’ efforts to locate Fox. On Sunday, Fox’s husband, Jean-François Vanreusel, and other members of her swim club held a memorial walk along the Lovers Point coast. Fox’s father, who confirmed the death to NBC Bay Area, described his daughter as an empathetic and kind person who loved to swim and had participated in numerous triathlons, including the annual Escape From Alcatraz challenge.

Authorities launched a large-scale search and rescue operation last week involving several U.S. Coast Guard boat crews as well as responders from local fire and police departments to search for Fox. The Coast Guard suspended its search for Fox last Monday after a 15-hour operation covering approximately 84 nautical miles.

California firefighters announced Saturday that they had recovered a body on Davenport Beach, just south of Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office released a statement the same day, citing an ongoing investigation into the death.

“Today, at approximately 2:00 p.m., a body was found in the ocean south of Davenport Beach. Due to the proximity to the recent shark attack victim in Monterey County, our agency is working closely with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and the Pacific Grove Police Department regarding the recovery,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said.

Editor and fellow swimmer Sara Rubin, writing in Monterey County Weekly, described Fox as a friend and passionate athlete who found peace in the Pacific Ocean.

“Twenty years ago, Erica Fox and a friend began swimming every Sunday at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove. Since then, many books have been written about the science of swimming and its effects on our brains. But Erica never needed a book to tell her what she knew from experience: swimming in the ocean is a balm for the body and mind, an adventure as much as a meditation.” Rubin wrote. “She developed a deeply intimate relationship with the Pacific Ocean, not by studying it or looking at it, but by immersing herself in it, again and again, on turbulent days and gloriously calm days, traveling what I can only guess are thousands of miles.”

Rubin said Fox “understands the risk” of swimming in an ocean with a population of great white sharks, and that she “would object to this being considered an attack, and she would instead urge us to call it an incident — animal behavior is just that.”

Although many species of sharks live off the coast of California, violent incidents with humans are extremely rare. Before Fox’s death, there were 16 shark-related deaths in California over the past 75 years.