Colleen Monfore, a 68-year-old retired woman and mother of two from Holland, Michigan, went missing on September 26, 2024, during a dive with six friends near Pulau Reong Island, Indonesia, after getting caught in a strong current. Despite efforts from her guide to retrieve her, Monfore was swept away from her group and was lost in the ocean.
An eight-day search for Monfore ended without any leads. However, on October 3, a fisherman in Timor-Leste, roughly 70 miles from the location where Monfore was last seen, caught a shark that he believed had ingested either debris or a fishing net. Unexpectedly, he found human remains, portions of a black wetsuit, and a bathing suit inside the shark’s stomach. “The shark was caught but it was not in normal health. I thought it had swallowed plastic or a fishing net,” the fisherman noted.
Monfore was positively identified through her fingerprints, according to Rick Sass, a close friend of the family who has remained in touch with them during these trying times.
In a Facebook post, Kim Sass, Rick’s wife, mentioned that while there was a down current at the turnaround site, it was not unmanageable. Having completed over a thousand dives with Monfore, she did not believe that the environment or a shark was responsible for her demise.
Rick Sass, who, along with his wife, ran a dive shop for over four decades, went on to say that Monfore was an experienced diver. She had accompanied them on various diving trips over the past 30 years to locations such as Bali, the Philippines, and Bikini Atoll. Her husband, Mike, suspects she may have encountered a health issue while in the water, and only later was eaten by the shark.
After reviewing dive photos, discussing the incident with Mike Monfore, and analyzing data from his dive computer, the Sasses believed that Monfore likely got separated from the group due to turbulent waters causing them to turn back. They believe she did not die from a shark attack. Rick noted that she was approximately 24 feet underwater with about half a tank of air left when she vanished.
Rick also shared that Mike Monfore is grappling with his wife’s death and the challenge of repatriating her remains. The 12-hour time difference with Indonesia has resulted in Mike taking calls throughout the night, adding to his sleeplessness amidst this distressing situation.
Authorities in Indonesia have confirmed that an investigation into the matter is currently in progress.