Current:Home > MyParents of US swimming champ suggest foul play in her death -ValueCore
Parents of US swimming champ suggest foul play in her death
View
Date:2025-04-27 20:54:14
The parents of former American swimming champ Jamie Cail said they are demanding answers about their daughter's death in the U.S. Virgin Islands and refuting autopsy findings that an accidental drug overdose killed her in February.
In an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Wednesday, Cail's parents, Pat and Gary Cail, slammed the police investigation into their daughter's death in February, claiming critical evidence was "completely overlooked" and suggesting foul play may have been involved.
"What we are looking for is justice for Jamie. We're looking for truth," Pat Cail said.
Jamie Cail, who was raised in Maine and lived in the U.S. Virgin Islands for nearly two decades, was found unresponsive in February in a residence she shared with her boyfriend in St. John, the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department said in a statement.
Cail's boyfriend, whose name was withheld by police, told investigators he found Cail, 42, unconscious after he left a bar and went back to their residence to check on her just after midnight on Feb. 21, according to police. The boyfriend told police he and a friend immediately rushed Jamie Cail to the Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center, where she was pronounced dead, police said.
Toxicology results from the autopsy found that Cail died of "fentanyl intoxication with aspiration of gastric content," according to a statement the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department released in August.
"Manner of death is accidental," the police department said in a statement, citing an Aug. 22 report from the medical examiner's office.
But Cail's parents said they believe their daughter's death was no accident and claim police have not been forthcoming with information. They said they haven't been given an official copy of the autopsy report despite repeated requests to obtain one.
"There is no way that she had fentanyl in her voluntarily," Gary Cail said.
MORE: Death of former American swimming champion probed in Virgin Islands
Pat Cail added that her daughter "never did drugs. Never."
The parents shared with "GMA" graphic photos of their daughter they said were taken by a person they authorized to go to a funeral home to view the body.
"She had a black eye. She appeared to have had a blunt trauma to the forehead. It appeared that her nose had been broken. Her lips had blood around them," Pat Cail said, describing the images.
MORE: Tributes pour in for former US swimmer amid death investigation
Gary Cail said, "We don't know if there's anything else on the rest of the body because we don't have the autopsy report."
ABC News has reached out to the U.S. Virgin Island Police Department for comment.
Jamie Cail was a star swimmer for much of her youth in Claremont, New Hampshire. As a teenager, she was a member of an 800-meter relay team that won a gold medal at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships and in 1998 she notched a silver medal at the Swimming World Cup in Brazil.
Her parents said compounding their grief is the knowledge that their daughter was preparing to leave the U.S. Virgin Islands on March 14 to return to New Hampshire.
"She was coming home," Pat Cail said. "It makes no sense."
veryGood! (57)
Related
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- Toddlers and Tiaras' Eden Wood Is All Grown Up Graduating High School As Valedictorian
- OB-GYN shortage expected to get worse as medical students fear prosecution in states with abortion restrictions
- Summer House Reunion: It's Lindsay Hubbard and Carl Radke vs. Everyone Else in Explosive Trailer
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- 'I am hearing anti-aircraft fire,' says a doctor in Sudan as he depicts medical crisis
- Vanderpump Rules' Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix Honor Friend Ali Rafiq After His Death
- A Smart Grid Primer: Complex and Costly, but Vital to a Warming World
- Tarte Shape Tape Concealer Sells Once Every 4 Seconds: Get 50% Off Before It's Gone
- After failing to land Lionel Messi, Al Hilal makes record bid for Kylian Mbappe
Ranking
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Deforestation Is Getting Worse, 5 Years After Countries and Companies Vowed to Stop It
- Study finds gun assault rates doubled for children in 4 major cities during pandemic
- What happened to the missing Titanic sub? Our reporter who rode on vessel explains possible scenarios
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Small U.S. Solar Businesses Suffering from Tariffs on Imported Chinese Panels
- Judge overseeing Trump documents case sets Aug. 14 trial date, but date is likely to change
- Paris Hilton Mourns Death of “Little Angel” Dog Harajuku Bitch
Recommendation
Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
Florida county under quarantine after giant African land snail spotted
Brooklyn’s Self-Powered Solar Building: A Game-Changer for Green Construction?
The truth about teens, social media and the mental health crisis
Juan Soto praise of Mets' future a tough sight for Yankees, but World Series goal remains
Vanderpump Rules' Tom Sandoval and Ariana Madix Honor Friend Ali Rafiq After His Death
Khloe Kardashian Shares Adorable Cousin Crew Photo With True, Dream, Chicago and Psalm
Judge overseeing Trump documents case sets Aug. 14 trial date, but date is likely to change