Authorities have identified the victim of a fatal shark attack off the Northern California coast as open-water swimmer Erica Fox, officials said Monday. The Monterey-area swimmer’s body was recovered Saturday from the ocean south of Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz County, according to the Santa Cruz County sheriff’s office.
Fox was 55 and had been missing since she went for a swim Dec. 21 in Monterey Bay, the sheriff’s office said. She swam with her husband and other members of Kelp Krawlers, an open-water swimming club she co-founded.
At a vigil Sunday, her husband, Jean-Francois Vanreusel, told the Mercury News that Fox “didn’t want to live in fear.” He said she “lived her life fully,” leading a gathering that he used to commemorate his wife of 30 years.
Vanreusel did not witness the attack himself, but the Mercury News reported that two people on shore saw it. In comments to the newspaper, Vanreusel said Fox was still wearing her white Garmin watch after her death was discovered.
He also said a “shark band” remained attached to Fox’s ankle. The band is an electromagnetic device that is marketed as meant to ward off sharks, according to the account Vanreusel gave the Mercury News. The Mercury News also reported that Fox was a triathlete who had completed two Half Ironmans and numerous other triathlons.
Fox’s death comes amid renewed attention to shark-deterrent devices in the swimming community. The Mercury News reported that after a club member, Steve Bruemmer, was attacked by a great white shark in 2022 and severely injured, many swimmers began wearing similar electromagnetic “Sharkbanz” devices—though most swimmers understood they might do little against a high-speed attack from below.
Bruemmer, who told the crowd he pledged never to swim in the ocean again, took part in the vigil using walking sticks. He told attendees: “I was also bitten by a shark,” and said he could tell “it doesn’t hurt.” He said he did not understand why, but that “it’s not physically painful to be badly bitten,” adding that he believed Fox “was not suffering in pain” in her final moments.
He also urged those gathered to consider the lessons he said moments like that reinforce. “There are also lessons, things we know that we’re reminded of in moments like this,” Bruemmer said, “and one is that tomorrow is not guaranteed.”
The fatality marked the second shark-attack death at Lovers Point in 73 years, according to the Mercury News. The earlier fatality in the area was reported to involve a 17-year-old boy who was swimming there on Dec. 7, 1952.
In the wake of Fox’s death, members of the Kelp Krawlers said they were shaken because it was the second shark attack fatality involving a club member. In addition to Bruemmer’s 2022 attack, the Mercury News reported that Fox’s death followed the incident that has left the group bracing for the risks of open-water swimming even as some have added deterrent technology.