Powerful Shark Bite Blamed For Death Of Swimmer On CA Coast, Autopsy Shows

The woman's body was found after it washed ashore north of Santa Cruz six days after she didn't return from swimming at Lovers Point.

By Corey Washington, Patch Staff

Aug 4, 2026 12:45 PM PDT

MONTEREY, CA — A single, devastating shark bite is believed to have led to the death of a 55-year-old woman who died last year near Monterey during a group swim trip, according to a recently-released autopsy report.

Erica Fox was killed after a shark bit her with such force it fractured her pelvis and severed a major artery before the woman drowned in December, according to the autopsy report released by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner's Office.

Fox died from "sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water due to a shark attack," according to the autopsy report.

Her body was found after it washed ashore north of Santa Cruz near Wilder Ranch State Park six days after she didn't return from swimming at Lovers Point.

Fox, who reportedly was a triathlete and experienced swimmer, was reported missing after she didn't return to the shore with the swim group she co-founded, the Kelp Krawlers.

Fox's body had deep injuries to the abdomen, both thighs and the right knee. There were also tears in her swimsuit and wetsuit corresponding with her injuries, according to the report.

Fox's "shark band" was also still attached to her ankle when her body was discovered, the East Bay Times reported.

The band was reportedly intended to repel sharks with a magnetic technology that is supposed to overwhelm their electroreceptors.

The autopsy report did not identify the species of the shark believed to have killed Fox.

Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University Long Beach, told the Monterey Herald on Thursday that the shark bite was consistent with his theory a great white shark mistook the woman for a seal or sea lion.

"The only explanation we can come up with in cases like this is that the shark made a mistake," Lowe said. "It mistook a person for a seal or a sea lion."

Fox was the third person to be attacked by a shark at Lovers Point since June 2022.

California has recorded at least 235 attacks along its 840-mile coastline since 1950, including 17 fatalities. Nearly 87 percent of all recorded shark attacks involved white sharks.

Though shark attacks on humans remain rare, records indicated a peak of 10 shark incidents occurred in California last year.

Warmer ocean temperatures, an ongoing marine heat wave and changing nursery habitat are creating conditions similar to 2015, when juvenile great white shark activity surged along the California coast, Lowe told Patch in June.

Researchers were already seeing signs of a similar pattern this year. Ocean temperatures off California have been unusually warm for this time of year, and the Shark Lab began seeing baby white sharks in February — earlier than the April timing researchers would normally expect, Lowe said.

By July and August, when nearshore waters typically peak in temperature, more sharks could move north or settle into temporary nursery areas along the coast.

"This is becoming a perfect storm," Lowe said. "This is what we think is going to make SoCal the white shark Mecca this summer."

Patch Local Editor Chris Lindahl contributed to this report.