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A FORMER top cop in the Virgin Islands has asked the public for help solving crimes after the mysterious death of a former American swimming champion.
Rodney Querrard, the Islands’ former commissioner of the Police Department, wrote an op-ed about unsolved cases after Jamie Cail was found dead.
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Local police said the 42-year-old was found unresponsive by her boyfriend last week in the St John’s home they shared.
Writing for the Virgin Islands Daily News, Querrard noted there have already been five homicides in 2023 in the islands.
He said the tendency of witnesses to keep silent emboldens criminals, adding that most of the violence on the islands involves turf wars between rival gangs or drug dealers.
Querrand did not mention Cail’s death but called on the community to come forward with any information that could help solve homicides in the islands.
Cops say Jamie Cail, 42, was found dead last week by her boyfriend.
Police have not named Cail’s boyfriend, but Fox News identified him as 34-year-old Kamal “Six Pack” Thomas.
The outlet also reported that Thomas, a Georgia native, was convicted along with three other men in a 2007 attack that left 21-year-old tourist James “Jamie” Cockayne dead.
Cockayne’s mother Jeanie told Fox News: “It’s very difficult to get justice in the Virgin Islands.”
Local police said Cail’s boyfriend told authorities that he was at a bar and went back to the home he shared with Cail to check on her.
“Upon arrival, he discovered his girlfriend on the floor,” said police.
The man and a friend drove Cail to a clinic but life-saving efforts were unsuccessful and the athlete was pronounced dead.
“Once at the clinic, CPR was rendered and 911 was notified, however, the female succumbed to her ailment,” said police.
Her death is under investigation and police are asking anyone with information to contact the Criminal Investigation Bureau.
Cail was born in Claremont, New Hampshire, and was a swimming prodigy for much of her life.
In 1997, a teenaged Cail competed for the U.S. at the Pan Pacific Championships, winning a gold medal as part of a relay race there, according to Swim Swam.
She also earned a silver medal at the 1998-1999 World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Brazil.
Cail later moved to Huntington Beach, California, and trained with the Golden West Swim Club.
Before her death, Cail worked at a coffee shop, where she was known to interact with many people in the community.
Investigators are now “anxiously awaiting” results of her autopsy and toxicology report, CNN reported.
