Coroner reveals cause of death in California shark attack

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office has released the cause of death for a swimmer found on a remote beach in Santa Cruz County after she went missing following a suspected shark attack in Pacific Grove on Dec. 21.Video above from past coverage. Erica Fox’s cause of death was determined to be “sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water due to a shark attack. The manner of death has been ruled an accident.” Fox, 55, was the co-founder of Kelp Krawlers, a swim group that traditionally swims at Lovers Point every Sunday.She went missing during the group’s weekly swim with about a dozen other swimmers. The group returned to shore, but Fox was missing.Fox’s father, James Fox, confirmed to KSBW 8 that the woman recovered on a “remote pocket beach” in Wilder Ranch was his daughter. He said she was identified by the clothing she was wearing. Witnesses reported seeing a large splash and a possible shark encounter near Lovers Point around noon on Dec. 21.A driver told the U.S. Coast Guard they saw a shark breach with what appeared to be a human body, then disappear underwater. Another swimmer in the group later also confirmed Fox was unaccounted for. Just six days later, CAL FIRE CZU said it assisted in recovering a woman’s body from the water at a beach south of Davenport, near Wilder Ranch—about 45 miles north of Pacific Grove.The size of the shark has not been determined.

DAVENPORT, Calif. —

The Santa Cruz County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office has released the cause of death for a swimmer found on a remote beach in Santa Cruz County after she went missing following a suspected shark attack in Pacific Grove on Dec. 21.

Video above from past coverage.

Erica Fox’s cause of death was determined to be “sharp and blunt force injuries and submersion in water due to a shark attack. The manner of death has been ruled an accident.”

Fox, 55, was the co-founder of Kelp Krawlers, a swim group that traditionally swims at Lovers Point every Sunday.

She went missing during the group’s weekly swim with about a dozen other swimmers. The group returned to shore, but Fox was missing.

Fox’s father, James Fox, confirmed to KSBW 8 that the woman recovered on a “remote pocket beach” in Wilder Ranch was his daughter. He said she was identified by the clothing she was wearing.

Witnesses reported seeing a large splash and a possible shark encounter near Lovers Point around noon on Dec. 21.

A driver told the U.S. Coast Guard they saw a shark breach with what appeared to be a human body, then disappear underwater. Another swimmer in the group later also confirmed Fox was unaccounted for.

Just six days later, CAL FIRE CZU said it assisted in recovering a woman’s body from the water at a beach south of Davenport, near Wilder Ranch—about 45 miles north of Pacific Grove.

The size of the shark has not been determined.