The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Massachusetts determined that Tafari Campbell, a former sous cook in the White House, drowned accidentally after being “submerged in a body of water.”
Massachusetts doesn’t make autopsy results available to the public, according to Timothy McGuirk, a spokesman for the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, who talked to The Washington Post. The chief medical examiner determined that Campbell’s death was an accident, nonetheless.
According to The Boston Herald, the Massachusetts State Police’s initial investigation found no indication that the death of 45-year-old Campbell was suspicious. According to the Herald, investigators did not discover any outward wounds or violence on the body.
On July 23, Campbell, a father of two who worked as a personal chef for the Obamas’ Martha’s Vineyard residence Katama and former first lady Michelle Obama, perished in a paddle surfing accident.
Another paddle boarder on the pond informed authorities that the chef, who was from Dumfries, Virginia, lost his balance while standing on a paddle board and went into the water, according to the Herald. According to the Herald, the other paddle boarder tried to swim to Campbell but was unable to do it in time.
On July 24, just before 10 a.m. ET, divers on Edgartown Great Road found Campbell’s body, according to a news release from the Massachusetts State Police.
According to the department’s press release, “MSP Underwater Recovery Unit divers made the recovery after the victim’s body was located by Massachusetts Environmental Police Officers deploying side-scan sonar from a boat,” noting the recovery was made “approximately 100 feet from shore at a depth of about eight feet.”
Mr. Campbell was visiting Martha’s Vineyard when he passed away, MSP later said in a statement. At the time of the accident, President and Mrs. Obama were not at home.
The Obamas gave us a joint statement in which they wrote, “When we first met him, he was a talented sous chef at the White House — creative and passionate about food, and its ability to bring people together.” We grew to know him as a pleasant, jovial, incredibly kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter in the years that followed.
We asked Tafari to stay with us as we prepared to depart the White House because of this, and he graciously consented, the statement said. Since then, he has been a part of our lives, and his passing has shattered our hearts.
To mourn the loss of a very lovely man, they said, “today we join everyone who knew and loved Tafari, especially his wife Sherise and their twin boys, Xavier and Savin.
His wife Sherise posted on Instagram on July 24 that her “heart is broken. My life has changed, and so has the life of my family. Please offer up prayers for me and my family as we cope with the death of my husband.
Sherise, the owner of the Sweet Sage baking and catering business, stated in another post that orders were being postponed because of “the recent tragedy in our family.”
