Jamie Cail, former swimming champion found dead in the US Virgin Islands

Jamie Cail, a former swimming champion from New Hampshire, has been found dead in St John, where she lived with her boyfriend, and police have launched a criminal investigation.

Cail, 42, was found unresponsive early on Feb. 21, and her boyfriend, who has not been identified, left a bar around midnight to check on her at their home, where he found her on the floor.

He and a friend carried Cail to a vehicle and drove her to the Myrah Keating-Smith Community Health Center, but she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Cail, a native of Claremont, New Hampshire, was a star swimmer who competed across the US in her youth. In 1997, she competed for the US at the Pan Pacific Championships and won a gold medal in a relay race. She also won a silver medal at the 1998-1999 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Brazil.

Cail attended the college prep Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, and several of her school records there still stand. She won several high school state championships in Huntington Beach, California, where she moved to train with the Golden West Swim Club.

Cail reportedly signed a letter of intent to swim at the University of Southern California in 1998 and was a member of the University of Maine’s swim team during the 2000-2001 season.

She reportedly worked at a coffee shop in St. John, where she lived with her boyfriend. Her family described her as a beautiful person with a huge heart, who was loving, kind, and well-loved by everyone on the island.

The police Criminal Investigation Bureau is investigating Cail’s death, and authorities were notified of a “dead on arrival” about 2:40 a.m., police said.

Jooyoung Lee, a sociologist at the University of Toronto, wrote on Twitter that he was teammates with Cail in high school and remembered her unmatched work ethic.

He 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.”