"She did not do drugs" - Jamie Cail's family defends her integrity by denying all allegations of her death being a fentanyl-related overdose
After authorities recently ruled that Jamie Cail died because of an accidental fentanyl-related overdose, her family has come out to state that she never did drugs and that her death was not an accident.
Cail passed away in February this year on the island of St. John. According to a police report, her boyfriend, whose name has not been released by authorities, found her on the floor of their home when he went to check on her after midnight.
She was immediately taken to the Myrah Keating-Smith Community Health Center where she was given CPR but ultimately "succumbed to her ailment" and passed away.
The US Virgin Islands Police Department took to social media on August 26 to state that the former US swimming champion's death has been ruled accidental and fentanyl-related.
"On Tuesday August 22, 2023, the Virgin Islands Police Department received a copy of Jamie Cail’s Autopsy Report from the Medical Examiner’s Office. The report stated the Cause of Death is Fentanyl intoxication with aspiration of gastric content. Manner of death is Accidental," the statement read.
Cail's family has now come out to state that her death was not accidental and insisted that her post-mortem photos show that she had been beaten. They also brushed aside all reports of her drug usage.
"We know that Jamie did not ingest fentanyl intentionally. There is definitely foul play," Cail's cousin Jessica DeVries told Insider.
"We have decided to release the photo because we need everybody to understand that Jamie was not a fentanyl user — that she had actually been beaten. Jamie's face was smashed in, the top of her skull and her nose. Her face is bashed in. Did fentanyl do that to her?" she added.
DeVries further said that her family wants justice and that the US Virgin Islands Police Department must still give them either the police report or the full autopsy report.
She also stated that the family is "devastated" to have Cail's legacy tarnished by allegations of drug usage.
"We want transparency and we want justice. [The family] is completely devastated to have Jamie's name tarnished in this way. Jamie was not a fentanyl user or an opioid user of any kind. She did not do drugs. She was a national, international swimmer who deserves the honor of that because she was amazing and dedicated her life to that," she expressed.
Jamie Cail's career highlights
Jamie Cail was a California high school state champion in the 200-meter individual medley and the 500 freestyle.
She rose to fame when she won a gold medal in the 4x200-meter freestyle relay at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships. The team, incidentally, included 12-time Olympic medalist Jenny Thompson.
She then enrolled at the University of Maine and competed as part of the college's swim team in the 2000-2001 academic year. In November 1998, as part of the US Swimming National B Team, she won a silver medal in the women’s 800-meter freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Brazil.