The remains of an American woman, who disappeared on a vacation trip, have been discovered inside the stomach of a shark, according to the woman’s friend.
Colleen Monfore, 68, a retired mom of two from the US state of Michigan, was enjoying vacation — a seven-week diving tour with her husband, Mike — when tragedy struck on September 26. Asia Pacific Press reported that Monfore was diving near the Pulau Reong island off the coast of Indonesia’s Southwest Maluku Regency when she did not resurface.
Two weeks after Monfore disappeared in the tropical waters, a fisherman spotted a distressed shark and killed it, Fox News reported. After cutting open the shark’s stomach, the fisherman found what is believed to be Monfore’s remains along with her wet suit and bathing suit.
Initial reports suggested that a shark had killed Monfore and eaten her, but according to Monfore’s friend Kim Sass, this story is likely false.
Sass, who wrote on a Facebook post that Monfore was her “very good friend”, and shared what we know so far about the case, and how it is more likely that her friend died because of a medical issue during a dive.
A fisherman captured the shark around October 4, near Timor-Leste, a southeast Asian country which is 70 miles away from the dive site where Monfore vanished, Monfore’s remains were identifiable, she added.
“Colleen’s body was identifiable. Her fingerprints (again identifiable) are being used by our US Embassy and the local government for proof of death,” Sass wrote. “This would not be possible if the shark had attacked her weeks ago.”
While it can take days for sharks to fully digest a meal, the stomach of a shark “produces an acid that is strong enough to dissolve metal,” while “large bones and other indigestible objects are prevented from going past the stomach due to the small size of the opening to the intestine,” according to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Sass believes that the nearly eight-day gap between Monfore’s disappearance and the shark’s capture indicates that the shark likely consumed Monfore after she had already died.
“There was a down current at the turnaround site, but it was manageable,” she wrote. “I’ve easily done 1000+ dives with this gracious woman; she was an excellent diver. I don’t believe it was the environment and certainly not a shark that ended her life.”
It remains unclear how exactly Monfore died.