Jamie Cail death – live: Swimmer’s autopsy results awaited as ex-police commissioner’s appeal for help revealed
Retired athlete found dead in US Virgin Islands on 21 February
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Investigators for the US Virgin Islands Police Department are “anxiously awaiting” Jamie Cail’s autopsy and toxicology results.
Glen Dratte, director of communications for the department, told CNN it was “crucial” to be accurate.
He said that all deaths were looked into by the Criminal Investigations Bureau but added that there were “a lot of moving parts” in the probe.
Cail, 42, was found unresponsive by her boyfriend in their St John home at 12.08am on 21 February, police said.
Cail’s partner and a friend took her to a clinic where she was given CPR before being pronounced dead. A cause of death has not been revealed.
Cail, from New Hampshire, was a top high school and university athlete who was part of a relay team that won a gold medal at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships. She later swam for the University of Maine.
According to police, her unnamed boyfriend had been out at a bar on the night that she died.
Distraught family and friends paid tribute to Cail as a “beautiful person” with a “huge heart”.
‘We are all devastated as a family,’ cousin writes
Jessica DeVries wrote on Facebook that Ms Cail was her cousin.
“We are all devastated as a family. Pat and Gary, Jamie’s parents are living in Maine,” she wrote.
“They are absolutely shook to the core. We are all mourning together and are unbelievably grateful and blessed by the outpouring of love and uplifting experiences you are sharing with us,” she added.
A celebrated athlete mysteriously died in the Virgin Islands. Here’s everything we know about Jamie Cail’s sudden death
One of the top high school swimmers of the 1990s has been found dead in the US Virgin Islands. Jamie Cail was only 42 years old and the cause of death remains a mystery.
The body of the retired swimming champion was discovered in the home she shared with her boyfriend in St John on 21 February, local police say.
Ms Cail, originally from Claremont, New Hampshire, was part of a relay team that won a gold medal at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships before she enrolled at the University of Maine and competed as part of its swim team in the 2000/01 academic year, according to ABC News.
She’s being remembered as “one of the best high school swimmers in the country in the 1990s”.
This is everything we know about Jamie Cail:
Everything we know about the death of US swimmer Jamie Cail
Top high school and university athlete found unresponsive by boyfriend at shared residence in US Virgin Islands on 21 February, Gustaf Kilander and Joe Sommerlad report
VIDEO: Sudden death of former US swim champ Jamie Cail under investigation
Photos show Cail’s swimming career
Family and friends pay tribute following death of former swimming champion
Friends and family have paid tribute to the former champion swimmer on social media.
Here’s Graeme Massie’s report.
Family and friends pay tribute following death of former swimming champion Jamie Cail
Cail, 42, died after being found unresponsive on floor of home in US Virgin Islands by boyfriend
A celebrated athlete mysteriously died in the Virgin Islands. Here’s everything we know about Jamie Cail’s sudden death
Top high school and university athlete found unresponsive by boyfriend at shared residence in US Virgin Islands on 21 February.
Everything we know about the death of US swimmer Jamie Cail
Top high school and university athlete found unresponsive by boyfriend at shared residence in US Virgin Islands on 21 February, Gustaf Kilander and Joe Sommerlad report
Report: Cardiac arrest may be to blame for Jamie Cail’s death
Police in the US Virgin Islands have reportedly told WMUR in Jamie Cail’s home state of New Hampshire that staff at the clinic that attempted to revive her indicated that she may have passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest, according to the network’s reporter Arielle Mitropoulos.
An autopsy has now been scheduled to definitively determine her cause of death.
The scarcity of information surrounding the case has already led armchair true crime fans on Twitter to irresponsibly and baselessly speculate about the role of Ms Cail’s boyfriend in the tragedy and the possibility that an adverse reaction to a Covid vaccine might be to blame but it is worth reiterating that it is far too soon to say anything definite.
Loved ones remember Cail
“She was just a very beautiful person,” a friend told ABC affiliate WMUR out of Manchester, New Hampshire. “She had a huge heart. She was really loving and kind and well-loved and popular on the island and everybody knows her.”
“Everyone from the, you know, older generational, local families to the younger people, everybody loved her,” the friend said, adding that Ms Cail had been working at a coffee shop on the island.
Ex-swimmer shares memories of former teammate
“Very sad to hear that my [high school] friend and teammate, Jamie Cail ... has passed away,” he tweeted.
“Jamie had an unmatched work ethic. She left everything in each practice and became a world-class distance swimmer through grit. Rest in peace to a real one,” he added.
“I remember we used to do dry land training to supplement swimming. One set was 10 x 1 minute rapid jumps while holding weights over one’s head. Most of us would hold 10 pound weights. Jamie would hoist a 45 pound plate above her head and push through pain. She was a real one,” he said.
He added that “my friend, Ashley Ellis (on the far left) shared with me on Facebook that I took this photo after they broke the national high school record in the women’s 4 x 100 Freestyle relay. Just feeling all kinds of sad today, realizing how life takes us all in different directions”.
Case under investigation
Local police said in their statement announcing her death that the case is under review by the Criminal Investigation Bureau but has offered few other details.
Mr Cail’s boyfriend, who remains unnamed, returned from a bar at around 12.08am on Tuesday “to check on his girlfriend,” finding his partner lying unresponsive on the floor, the police statement said.
A friend helped him to get her into a car and she was taken to the nearby Myrah Keating-Smith Clinic.
She was declared dead on arrival at the scene, after CPR attempts and a call to 911. Her boyfriend identified her after her death was declared. Police were notified of her death at around 2.39am, authorities said.