An autopsy report released late Wednesday shows Erica Fox, a swimmer seen in the mouth of a shark near Monterey in December, suffered a single crushing bite to her legs and torso.
The force of the bite, which left a semicircle of tooth wounds from Fox’s knees to her abdomen, broke her pelvis in several places, the report said. She also had a gaping wound 10 inches long and five inches wide from the side of her right hip to her abdomen. A major artery in her midsection had been cut open.
Fox, a 55-year-old triathlete, was reported missing in December, after she failed to return to shore with the swim group she co-founded, the Kelp Krawlers. She had been far ahead of more than a dozen swimmers returning to Lovers Point beach in Pacific Grove.
The U.S. Coast Guard said a driver at a stop sign on his way to work called 911 to report seeing a shark burst from the water about 100 yards off Lovers Point with what he believed to be a human protruding from its mouth. The man said the shark submerged and did not resurface. A second witness also reported seeing a shark breach the water in that area.
Fox’s body was found six days later north of Santa Cruz near Wilder Ranch State Park, on the shore.
The office of the Santa Cruz County Coroner determined Fox died from “sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water due to a shark attack,” according to the autopsy report.
Her wetsuit and swimsuit were ripped open in areas corresponding to her wounds, the report said.
The report did not reveal the width of the bite. Fox, 5-foot-7-inches tall, suffered deep injuries to her right knee and both thighs, with the semicircular array of wounds continuing to her left side and cutting across to the right side of her abdomen, the report said.
Experts said at the time of the attack that the rocky coastline near Lovers Point attracts sea lions, and seals frequent the waters offshore. Both are primary prey for white sharks. Large white sharks, which can reach nearly 21 feet in length, migrate from offshore in the Pacific to the coast in October to bulk up on seals and sea lions, typically remaining through January.
In the Monterey area, 13 people have been bitten by white sharks since 1950, resulting in two deaths, nine major injuries and two minor injuries, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Most victims were divers or surfers; only two swimmers have been attacked.
Fox’s death marked the third shark-related incident at Lovers Point since June 2022, when another Kelp Krawler, Steve Bruemmer, was bitten and seriously injured while swimming. Two months later, a paddleboarder and his dog were thrown from their board but unhurt when a shark bit it from below.
Members of the Kelp Krawlers were not immediately available Thursday morning. In the wake of the attack, club member Lisa Jensen told this news organization that the group’s senior swimmers, like Fox, think of themselves as swimming in sharks’ home.
“You are far more likely to die in a car accident or even a plane accident than in a shark attack,” Jensen said at the time. “We love the ocean.”
Jensen described Fox as “an incredibly cheerful, bubbly, funny, joyful, kind human being,” who, as a swimmer, was “always out leading the pack.”