Swimming Champ's Family Releases 'Graphic' Photos of Body to Dispute Fentanyl OD as Cause of Death

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"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," a family member said in a statement, disputing the official cause of death from the Virgin Islands Police Department.

The family of Jamie Cail, a former US swimming champion who died in the Virgin Islands earlier this year, is speaking out against officials claiming an accidental fentanyl overdose is to blame.

Cail, 42, died back in February on St. John, where she was working at a local coffee shop. Her boyfriend, who has not been identified, discovered her unresponsive at home shortly after midnight and took her to a nearby clinic.

Though she was given CPR, she died at the clinic.

Last week, the Virgin Islands Police Department released the findings from Cail's autopsy report from the Medical Examiner's Office -- which listed her cause of death as "Fentanyl intoxication with aspiration of gastric content." Her manner of death was also listed as accidental.

Speaking with Insider this week, Cail's family disputed the results, believing there's "definitely foul play" at hand.

"We know that Jamie did not ingest fentanyl intentionally," Jessica DeVries, who identified herself as Cail's cousin and spokesperson for the family, told the outlet. Adding that the family feels "completely failed" by local police, DeVries said, "We want transparency and we want justice."

"Jamie was not a fentanyl user or an opioid user of any kind. She did not do drugs," added DeVries. "She was a national, international swimmer who deserves the honor of that because she was amazing and dedicated her life to that."

The family also released photos taken of Cail's body after her autopsy to the outlet, though Insider declined to publish them "due to their graphic nature." They noted, however, that the former swimmer's "left eye appears to be heavily bruised and there is a mark on her nose" in the images.

"Her face is bashed in. Did fentanyl do that to her?" asked DeVries. "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."

She went on to say the family is "completely devastated to have Jamie's name tarnished in this way," believing that "somebody put their hands on Jamie."

TooFab has reached out to both the Virgin Island's Medical Examiner and Police Department for comment.