Former Swimming Star Jamie Cail's Cause of Death Revealed
Police in the U.S. Virgin Islands have released the cause of death of Jamie Cail, the former champion swimmer who died in St. John in February.
Cail, 42, died of accidental fentanyl poisoning, according to the island’s medical examiner, the Virgin Islands Police Department said in a news release.
“The report stated the cause of death is fentanyl intoxication with aspiration of gastric content. Manner of death is accidental,” according to the Virgin Islands Police Department.
Authorities had initially opened a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the New Hampshire native’s death, they said earlier this year.
Cail was found unresponsive in the home she shared with her boyfriend in the early hours of February 21, according to a police report.
The boyfriend, whose name was not released by authorities, told police that he found Cail on the floor after he returned home from a bar to check on her around 12:08 a.m.
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With assistance from a friend, Cail’s boyfriend transported her to Myrah Keating-Smith Clinic in St. John where CPR was rendered.
Police were informed of her death at 2:39 a.m., authorities said.
In 1997, the former athlete won a gold medal in the 800 free relay on the U.S. team at the Pan Pacific Championships on a team that included 12-time Olympic medalist Jenny Thompson.
Cail was a California high school state champion in the 200-meter individual medley and the 500 free, and went on to swim at the University of Southern California.
According to ABC affiliate WMUR-TV, she had been working at a local coffee shop before her death.
"She was just a very beautiful person," a friend told the outlet. "She had a huge heart. She was really loving and kind and well-loved and popular on the island and everybody knows her."
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