Current:Home > MyParents of US swimming champ suggest foul play in her death -PureWealth Academy
Parents of US swimming champ suggest foul play in her death
View
Date:2025-04-17 12:26:49
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! (53)
Related
- DoorDash steps up driver ID checks after traffic safety complaints
- Kindness across state lines: Immigrants' kids in Philly are helping migrants' kids in Texas
- White Christmas Star Anne Whitfield Dead at 85 After Unexpected Accident
- House Republicans demand info from FBI about Alexander Smirnov, informant charged with lying about Bidens
- IOC's decision to separate speed climbing from other disciplines paying off
- For an Indigenous woman, discovering an ancestor's remains mixed both trauma and healing
- The Smokehouse Creek Fire in the Texas Panhandle has already burned 1.1 million acres. Here are the largest wildfires in U.S. history.
- As Texas crews battle largest wildfire in state history, more fire weather ahead: Live updates
- Southern California rocked by series of earthquakes: Is a bigger one brewing?
- Bethany Joy Lenz Reveals Name of Alleged Cult She Says She Belonged To
Ranking
- Why we love Bear Pond Books, a ski town bookstore with a French bulldog 'Staff Pup'
- 10,000 cattle expected to be slaughtered by the Smokehouse Creek Fire, reports say
- Toyota recalls 381,000 Tacoma trucks in the U.S. over potential rear-axle shaft defect
- Video captures rare sighting: A wolverine running through an Oregon field
- Judge says Mexican ex-official tried to bribe inmates in a bid for new US drug trial
- Fanatics founder Michael Rubin says company unfairly blamed for controversial new MLB uniforms
- National Pig Day: Piglet used as 'football' in game of catch finds forever home after rescue
- Returning to Ukraine's front line, CBS News finds towns falling to Russia, and troops begging for help
Recommendation
Jorge Ramos reveals his final day with 'Noticiero Univision': 'It's been quite a ride'
Firefighters face difficult weather conditions as they battle the largest wildfire in Texas history
Missouri police charge man with 2 counts first-degree murder after officer, court employee shot
Rihanna Performs First Full Concert in 8 Years at Billionaire Ambani Family’s Pre-Wedding Event in India
Family of explorer who died in the Titan sub implosion seeks $50M-plus in wrongful death lawsuit
Millie Bobby Brown Puzzles Fans With Her New Accent
Health care company ties Russian-linked cybercriminals to prescriptions breach
Ultra-processed foods may raise risk of diabetes, heart disease — even early death: study