Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Obamas’ Chef, Tafari Campbell, seen swimming with great ability in swimming pool before he drowned in paddle boarding incident at Martha’s Vineyard.
Videos on the former Whitehouse chefs’ Instagram prove that he had a strong swimming ability and was able to do back stroke, breast stroke and front crawl.
Yet drown in 8ft of water at Obamas Martha’s Vineyard estate.
Witnesses first told cops Sunday night that a man – later identified as Campbell – went underwater and then briefly reappeared as he struggled to stay afloat, before submerging again around 7.46pm.
The witness – who was not identified – was paddle boarding on Edgartown Great Pond with Campbell.
In the aftermath of the call, Chief Alex Schaeffer of the Edgartown Fire Department told the Vineyard Gazette, island police and firefighters conducted door-to-door searches. Firefighters also searched the pond’s shoreline on foot.
The search efforts resumed Monday morning for the venerated chef who was last seen wearing all black without a lifejacket.
His paddle board and hat were recovered Sunday – and his body was found at around 10am Monday.
The body of a former White House sous chef who worked for former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama was found dead in a pond behind their Martha’s Vineyard estate.
Massachusetts State Police identified the body as Tafari Campbell, 45, of Dumfries, Virginia. Campbell was paddleboarding on Edgartown Great Pond on Sunday when he went missing, police said. A 911 call for the incident came from the Obamas’ home, the Daily Mail reported. Police said the former president and first lady were not at home at the time of the incident.
Campbell had been employed by the Obamas since they left the White House in 2017.
“Tafari was a beloved part of our family,” the Obamas said in a news release, according to the Chicago Sun Times. “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. In the years that followed, we got to know him as a warm, fun, extraordinarily kind person who made all of our lives a little brighter.
The US Coast Guard, Edgartown Fire, Air Wing, detectives and Dukes County Sheriff’s Department were all part of the rescue mission.’
A command post was later set up at Wilson’s Landing, which is across the narrow Cove from Obama’s mansion.
Just after midday, Edgartown Police Department confirmed that Wilson’s Landing had been reopened. Edgartown Great Pond is an 890 acre body of water.
The investigation into the man’s death is being conducted by state police with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office and Edgartown police.
The body of the former White House sous chef who worked for ex-President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle was recovered Monday in the waters near their Martha’s Vineyard estate, Massachusetts police said.
Tafari Campbell, 45, known as one of the chefs who brewed White House honey ale beer while Obama was in office — using honey from Michelle Obama’s famous South Lawn garden — went to work for the former first couple when they left the White House.
Divers from Massachusetts State Police recovered Campbell’s body. The Martha’s Vineyard Times reported Campbell was last seen wearing all black without a life preserver. His paddleboard and hat were recovered Sunday night.
According to a state police news release, the body was located shortly before 10 a.m. Monday by Massachusetts Environmental Police Officers using side-scan sonar from a boat in 8 feet of water and 100 feet from the shore.
The search for the body took place just yards from the Obamas’ estate, a seven-bedroom, 6,982-square-foot mansion they purchased in 2019 for $11.75 million.
State police said at 7:46 p.m. Sunday: “Martha’s Vineyard police and fire agencies responded to Great Pond in the vicinity of Turkeyland Cove for a call for a male paddle boarder who had gone into the water, appeared to briefly struggle to stay on the surface, and then submerged and did not resurface.
“Another paddleboarder was on the pond with him at the time and observed him go under the water.”
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