What an awful story out of Southeast Asia:
Colleen, 68, went missing while on a diving trip in Indonesia with her husband Michael. She was last seen Sept. 26, according to friends and family.
Almost two weeks later, fishermen in East Timor caught an agitated shark and cut human remains — reportedly belonging to Colleen — out of its stomach. The shark was killed more than 70 miles from where Colleen disappeared.
A search for Colleen was conducted for 8 days and finally called off on Oct. 3.
Several days later, a fisherman near East Timor "captured a shark" that was "not in normal health." The fisherman "thought it had swallowed plastic or a fishing net," but upon cutting the fish open discovered Monfore's remains.
Fingerprint analysis on the remains matched Colleen's records.
An Indonesian official, meanwhile, told media that the attack "was not in Indonesian territory."
What's not clear is if Monfore's tragic death was because of the shark or something else:
Kim Sass, a close friend and fellow diver, took to social media Monday, Oct. 7, explaining she and Colleen's family believe she died of a medical issue during the trip, and was eaten by the shark long afterward. Kim's husband, Rick Sass, spoke to The New York Post.
Kim and Rick ran a dive shop for 40 years.
According to reporting from The Post, the Monfores were on a seven-week diving tour in Indonesia when Colleen disappeared during a group dive. Rick told The Post that Colleen's remains were identified by fingerprints.
'Mike thinks she suffered some kind of medical issue in the water,' Rick said.
Multiple news outlets have mistakenly claimed that Colleen was from South Dakota. Though she has family there, she is from Holland, Michigan, a town on Lake Michigan. She and her husband have two children and four grand children.
Here is the direct quote from Kim Sass with a few more technical details:
Sass had this to say about the shark:
Colleen's husband [Michael] said she would had [sic] been heartsick to know a shark died because of her and that her death is giving sharks, once again, a bad name.
Meanwhile, Michael is trying to deal with the logistics of bringing back his wife's remains.
'He's hardly been sleeping at all, partly because he's up on the phone with Indonesia, which is a 12-hour time difference,' Rick said. 'He's answering phone calls in the middle of the night and talking to us during the day, and just not being able to sleep because of this horrible thing that happened.'
Praying this family can bring her home to rest. 😔
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