A dead body was found on Saturday There is a local triathlete near California’s Central Coast who went missing during his weekly swim in Monterey Bay. His father confirmed.
Erica Fox, 55, of nearby Pebble Beach, was reported missing Dec. 21 while swimming with fellow athletes. Two people told authorities they saw a shark in the water and it appeared to attack a swimmer.
A body was found near Davenport in Santa Cruz County, about 30 miles north of where she disappeared Dec. 21, Sgt. Ryan Farote of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said.
Fox’s father confirmed this nbc bay area That it was his daughter’s body.
The California Department of Forestry and the fire protection unit for San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties said multiple agencies helped set up a hoist system to recover the body from the beach south of Davenport. post on x Early Saturday afternoon.
On December 22, the initial effort to find Fox was suspended after a 15-hour search that included aircraft, drones, boats and divers from the Coast Guard, Pacific Grove Police, Monterey Fire Department, Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and Cal Fire, officials said.
Coast Guard spokesman Christopher Sappi said on December 22 that a witness reported they were driving to work and stopped at a stop sign when they saw in the distance a shark enter the water with what appeared to be a body in its jaws.
The shark went under the water and did not immediately return to the surface, Sappi said, citing witnesses.
Shark attacks are rare in California, with 230 attacks occurring since 1950, resulting in 16 deaths before Fox’s death, according to California Department of Fish and Wildlife. It says that while maritime activities have increased since mid-century, including the explosive growth of surfing in the early 1960s, those figures have not increased.
Although the type of shark involved in the sightings is unknown, the Department of Fish and Wildlife said at least 200 of the state’s 230 attacks have involved white sharks, which thrive in cold waters made habitable by them. Self-regulating body temperature.
Authorities said Fox was among a group of 17 people participating in the weekly Sunday swim in the bay on Dec. 21 when she went missing from Lovers Point, near the top of the Monterey Peninsula in the city of Pacific Grove. His fellow swimmers made it to shore safely after the incident, officials said.
Erica Fox had competed in two Half-Ironmans, several triathlons, and participated in an annual triathlon called Escape from Alcatraz for two decades, her father James Fox said on Dec. 22.
Fox said, she and her husband were together for 30 years and he was kind, empathetic and disciplined.
“Swimming was his specialty,” he said. “She just loved him.”
Eric Mendoza And Linda Takahashi Contribution,
