{"id":9009,"date":"2026-01-11T06:57:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:57:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=9009"},"modified":"2026-01-11T06:57:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T12:57:07","slug":"detroit-lakes-woman-killed-in-st-croix-shark-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/detroit-lakes-woman-killed-in-st-croix-shark-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Detroit Lakes: Woman Killed in St. Croix Shark Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Detroit Lakes<\/strong> (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>) \u2014 A Detroit Lakes woman died after a suspected shark attack in the U.S. Virgin Islands, officials said.<\/p>\n

The Virgin Islands Police Department identified the woman as 56-year-old Arlene Lillis of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Police said the attack happened Thursday afternoon near Dorsch Beach on St. Croix.<\/p>\n

What the police say happened<\/h2>\n

Police said the 911 call center received several calls at about 4:28 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026.<\/p>\n

Callers reported a woman was bitten by a shark near the beach, police said.<\/p>\n

Marine units and emergency crews were sent to the scene.<\/p>\n

Fire officials confirmed the woman lost an arm during the attack, police said.<\/p>\n

She was taken to a hospital for treatment.<\/p>\n

Police said she later died from her injuries.<\/p>\n

Rescue efforts described by a witness<\/h2>\n

Christopher Carroll said he rushed to help after hearing screams near the shoreline.<\/p>\n

He said he swam Lillis back toward shore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI swam her back to shore as quickly as I could,\u201d Carroll said.<\/p>\n

Carroll said others helped pull her onto the beach.<\/p>\n

\"Arlene
Arlene Lillis<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Investigation remains open<\/h2>\n

Police said early reports mentioned a possible second victim.<\/p>\n

St. Croix Rescue searched the beach area, police said.<\/p>\n

Rescuers did not find another victim during the search.<\/p>\n

Officials have not confirmed the type of shark involved.<\/p>\n

The investigation is ongoing, police said.<\/p>\n

Safety information for beachgoers<\/h2>\n

Officials said shark sightings can happen in the region.<\/p>\n

They also said bites are rare.<\/p>\n

The Florida Museum\u2019s International Shark Attack File tracks confirmed attacks worldwide.<\/p>\n

The National Park Service also lists basic shark safety tips for swimmers.<\/p>\n

How to share information<\/h2>\n

Anyone with information can call 911 in the U.S. Virgin Islands.<\/p>\n

Police also asked people to contact the Criminal Investigation Bureau at 340-778-2211.<\/p>\n

The VIPD public update is posted here: VIPD press release<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Detroit Lakes (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A Detroit Lakes woman died after a suspected shark attack in the U.S. Virgin Islands, officials said. The Virgin Islands Police Department identified the woman as 56-year-old Arlene Lillis of Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. Police said the attack happened Thursday afternoon near Dorsch Beach on St. Croix. What the police say happened… Continue reading Detroit Lakes: Woman Killed in St. Croix Shark Attack<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9013,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[14],"tags":[8590,1164,8599,8598,8601,929,914,8593,8600,2362,926,818,682,8597,8280,8594,1452,8591,8592,790,8596,8595,620],"class_list":["post-9009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa-news","tag-arlene-lillis","tag-attack","tag-beach-safety","tag-christopher-carroll","tag-croix","tag-detroit","tag-detroit-lakes","tag-dorsch-beach","tag-international-shark-attack-file","tag-killed","tag-lakes","tag-minnesota","tag-news","tag-rescue-efforts","tag-shark","tag-shark-attack","tag-st","tag-st-croix","tag-u-s-virgin-islands","tag-usa","tag-vipd","tag-virgin-islands-police-department","tag-woman","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9014,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009\/revisions\/9014"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}