On Sunday, Massachusetts State Police enacted a search for a missing paddleboarder after a fellow paddleboarder said that the man had “struggled on the surface, went under, and didn’t surface,” according to the Associated Press. The man was later identified as 45-year-old Tafari Campbell from Dumfries, Virginia, the personal chef of former President Barack Obama, who had been visiting the home on Martha’s Vineyard. None of the Obamas were present at the time of his death.
Campbell’s body was recovered from the Edgartown Great Pond on Monday. According to the Vineyard Gazette, environmental police located his body “using sonar from a boat”:
The investigation into the Mr. Campbell’s death is being conducted by state police troopers with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office and Edgartown police.
Island police and fire officials conducted door-to-door searches in the wake of the missing persons report, as well as dives late into the night, Edgartown fire chief Alex Schaeffer wrote in a statement to the Gazette.
Firefighters also searched the pond’s shoreline by foot.
