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”.
Family ‘absolutely shook to the core'
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.
Virgin Islands' ex-police commissioner called on public for help with criminal investigations
Rodney Querrard, former commissioner to the US Virgin Islands Police Department, wrote an op-ed for The Virgin Islands Daily News that was published a day after the death of Jamie Cail in which he made an appeal to the public to come forward with any information about homicides on the island, Fox News reports.
Without mentioning Cail’s death, which is being investigated as a criminal case but about which details remain scarce, Mr Querrard appealed for witnesses and evidence to help solve major crimes, saying it was difficult for the police to substantiate suspicions without public support.
He said there have already been five homicides in the jurisdiction since the start of the new year and asked: "Why is this happening? Why is this continuing to happen? Why do so many cases go unsolved?
“The only answer I have is, as long as we continue to be complacent and see (don’t see), and hear (don’t hear), it will continue.”
He said that the majority of violence in the territory arose from conflicts between criminal gangs and drug dealers but warned that such figures would be emboldened if residents stayed silent.
He advised readers to call in anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers USVI at 1-800-222-TIPS to help investigators.
USA Swimming issues statement following Cail’s death
The managing director of the National Team, Lindsay Mintenko, said in a statement that “USA Swimming is saddened to hear of Jamie Cail’s passing. Jamie was a proud member of our National Teams in the late 1990s and was a cherished teammate”.
“We extend our condolences to Jamie’s friends and family,” she added, according to WMUR.
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.
Investigators ‘anxiously awaiting’ autopsy results as probe continues
Investigators for the US Virgin Islands Police Department are “anxiously awaiting” Jamie Cail’s autopsy and toxicology result, according to officials.
Glen Dratte, director of communications for the department, told CNN that it was “crucial” to be accurate.
He told the news network that all deaths were looked into by the Criminal Investigations Bureau but added that there was “a lot of moving parts” in the probe.
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
Jamie Cail: Family and friends pay tribute following death of former swimming champion
Friends and family have paid tribute to a former champion swimmer who died after being found unresponsive at her home in the US Virgin Islands.
Jamie Cail, 42, was found on the floor by her boyfriend on 21 February after he left a bar to check up on her, according to officials.
Authorities say that the unnamed boyfriend and a friend carried Cail to a vehicle and drove her to the Myrah Keating-Smith Community Health Center.
“Once at the clinic, CPR was rendered and 911 was notified, however, the female succumbed to her ailment,” police said in a statement. Investigators have now launched a criminal investigation into her death.
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 both the University of Southern California and the University of Maine.
Read more:
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
Photos show Cail’s swimming career
University of Maine athletics issues statement following death of Jamie Cail
Jamie Cail graduated from the University of Maine in 2003.
“University of Maine athletics is saddened to learn of the death of former Black Bear swimmer, Jamie Cail,” the school said in a statement to CNN. “The University of Maine community asks everyone to keep Jamie’s family and friends in their thoughts.”
‘Rest in peace to a real one’
Jamie Cail’s former high school swim teammate Jooyoung Lee took to Twitter to mourn her sudden death.
Mr Lee, a gun crime expert at the University of Toronto, wrote: “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.”
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