Missing Triathlete May Have Been Killed by Shark Attack in California

California’s coastal community is reeling after 55-year-old triathlete Erica Fox vanished during a group swim off Monterey’s Lover’s Point — with witnesses claiming they saw a shark dragging a human underwater.

Fox, an experienced open-water swimmer and founder of the “Kelp Krawlers” club, was swimming with 15 others Sunday when she suddenly disappeared. Coast Guard crews scoured 84 square nautical miles in a frantic 15-hour search before suspending the mission.

“She was doing something she really loved,” her father, James Fox, told NBC News, describing his daughter as “wonderful and caring.” Fellow swimmer Sharon Carey said she hoped Fox had “walked back to shore,” but now fears the worst.

A chilling detail: witnesses reported a “large splash” and one person claimed to have seen a shark with a human in its mouth before it submerged again, according to SFGate.

Fox’s story has struck an eerie chord because she once shared a Facebook post claiming humans were more dangerous than sharks. “This is the most dangerous animal in the world — and by his side, a shark swims peacefully,” the post read.

In a 2022 interview, Fox said she felt “more at risk cycling than swimming” and described humans as “the ocean’s humbled guests.”

Over her athletic career, Fox completed multiple triathlons and Ironman challenges, including the grueling “Escape from Alcatraz” event for 20 straight years.

Her suspected attack comes just three years after another swimmer, Steve Bruemmer, narrowly survived a shark encounter in the same area — an incident that eerily mirrors Fox’s fate.

Authorities have not yet recovered Fox’s body.

Source: NBC News, SFGate, The Independent