Patriot Report
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Fatal attack confirmed: Missing triathlete Erica Fox was killed in a shark attack while swimming off the California coast with her husband and local swim club.
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Remains recovered: Fox’s body was found a week later still wearing her wetsuit and shark deterrent band, roughly 25 miles from where she disappeared.
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Community shaken: The deadly incident marks the area’s first fatal shark attack in more than 70 years and has left local swimmers in shock.
This is the kind of headline that makes even the most seasoned ocean swimmers stop and think twice. A routine open-water swim turned into an absolute nightmare off the California coast, ending with a devoted wife, athlete, and community leader taken in a horrifying shark attack. In an era obsessed with “living fearlessly,” this tragedy is a sobering reminder that nature does not care about slogans, technology, or good intentions. One moment, Erica Fox was swimming alongside her husband. The next, she was gone.
Remains of missing triathlete found in Santa Cruz after shark spotted with human body in its mouth https://t.co/lS3xdOmjps pic.twitter.com/MHVUPLgJht
— New York Post (@nypost) December 29, 2025
New York Post reports:
“The body of the triathlete killed in a shark attack off the California coast has been recovered a week after she vanished while swimming with her husband, according to reports.
Erica Fox’s corpse was found Saturday afternoon still clad in her black wetsuit south of Davenport Beach in Santa Cruz — about 25 miles from where she was last seen, her heartbroken husband said.
Jean-Francis Vanreusel was swimming about 100 yards behind his wife with 13 other members of a local swimming club on Dec. 21 when a shark dragged his wife of 30 years into the water, he told Mercury News.
Witnesses reported seeing a shark with a human body in its jaws before it submerged, a Coast Guard official said, ABC News reported.”
Tragedies like this cut through politics, headlines, and hashtags and land right where reality lives. A woman who loved the ocean and refused to live in fear paid the ultimate price, leaving behind a grieving husband and a stunned community. As the waters calm and the headlines fade, one truth remains unmovable: nature is powerful, unforgiving, and utterly indifferent to our sense of control.
Photo credit: Monterey County Sheriff’s Office