How Deep Does This Go?

Remembering Tafari Campbell and asking questions

Tafari Campbell was working for the Obamas in Martha’s Vineyard as their personal chef when he drowned while paddleboarding on July 23, 2023 in Edgartown Great Pond. Judicial Watch sent out a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on August 9, 2023 to gain further information on this untimely and rather inexplicable death. The FOIA program in the District of Columbia released 31 pages on December 11, 2023 about Campbell’s death which documents “the incident.” The document release included 31 pages of mostly emails with some redactions, 2 pages redacted in their entirety, and a statement that there was a video which was not to be released.

The back-and-forth emails from various Secret Service entities offer some insight into what transpired at the time, a kind of bureaucratic play-by-play. The fact that the Secret Service was there is not surprising. Former Presidents are entitled to Secret Service details for the rest of their lives, so the fact the Secret Service was quickly on the scene is a reflection of the fact that Campbell worked for the Obamas and drowned in a pond near the Obama property.

The documents state that Agent Anthony Guglielmi of the Secret Service heard some radio calls around 7:30 p.m. on July 25, 2023 about a possible drowning. A couple of agents rushed to the scene. There, they met a person described as a “white female” who was visibly upset. Piecing her story together, she said first that she had gone paddleboarding with Tafari Campbell that evening. She knew him from work. They each had their own paddleboard and they were within sight of each other. She said he fell off his paddleboard and submerged. She went to him in the water and tried to help him, but could not pull him out of the water. By her account, Tafari Campbell went under the water, struggled briefly, and never came back up.

This person’s name and details are redacted in all but one place. In that one place the black marker failed to cross out, the white woman is called Ms. Taylor. She was described in other portions of the documents as a “staffer” who was new to the team. It suggests she was a Secret Service agent new to this detail.

Ms. Taylor ran for help when she realized she could not save Tafari Campbell. She was able to point out where the incident occurred and agents found a ball cap and the paddle that belonged to Campbell in that vicinity. His board had meanwhile drifted to the shoreline.

It was about 7:30 p.m. when Tafari Campbell went under the water and about 7:45 when the agents began to search for him. The sun set that day about 6 p.m. so it was already dark and getting darker. The official incident report filed by Secret Service agent John Crunkilton, Jr., said the search was officially called off for the night at 10:30 p.m.

Now here is where the report gets strange. While most of the redactions were the names of people, likely to protect privacy, the depth of the water was redacted. For instance, it says that the agents went to the “point of incident” and found the water was murky (visibility about 1 foot) and although the water’s depth was stated, it was redacted. This seems like an odd detail to omit and it tells me that there was a need to hide this bit of information.

The next morning, the agents set up a grid search. One agent was assigned to look at the deeper areas, while Anthony Guglielmi “walked in the water at the shallow points near the point of incident.” So this agent was walking (not swimming or diving) in the water near where the death occurred. That suggests to me that it was not deep water.

In fact, the average depth of Edgartown Great Pond is about 3.5 to 4 feet. Since the incident occurred relatively near shore, it is doubtful that the depth near the shore would be greater than average. Typically, water near the shore will be shallower than water at the center of the pond. However, no maps have been provided as to where the body of Campbell was found and the only statement of how deep the water was at that point is redacted.

A dive team got to work around 10:30 the next morning using sonar and a triangulation strategy. The fact that divers were used suggests the water was deeper. The body of the late Tafari Campbell was found according to the agent’s report “just feet away from the area where we had been searching.” Strange things start to add up.

• They couldn’t find the body the night before despite searching for hours in the exact area where it was located

• They didn’t bother with a dive team and sonar until mid-morning the next day; why wasn’t a dive team deployed as soon as the sun came up?

• One agent walked in the water near where the body was found, but divers were working under the water to find the body. Were divers in very shallow water?

The report of Ms. Taylor said that Tafari fell off his paddleboard (he was not tethered to it nor was he wearing a life jacket). Ms. Taylor saw signs in the water that he struggled for a few seconds. She pushed a paddleboard toward him but reported he was “unable to grab it.” Then he just stop struggling. When agents arrived on the scene, Ms. Taylor told them Tafari had drowned, but it appears she based her remarks on the fact that he submerged and never reappeared at the surface.

The Obama home overlooks Edgartown Great Pond and both Campbell and Taylor worked there or had work affiliations to the Obamas. The FOIA materials are as cloudy as Edgartown Pond water as to where the Obamas were. At first, one email from a Secret Service agent said the Obamas were not at home, but later, apparently Barack Obama was at home and asked some questions of the Secret Service in a face-to-face interview. Obama was linked to the drowning from the outset because of where the drowning occurred (it’s the part of Edgartown Great Pond closest to the Obama estate) and who Campbell was. Barack Obama was reported to be at Wilson’s Landing, on the waterfront, with the local fire department and other agencies when the body was recovered. Obama was officially briefed on the event. Michelle Obama is not mentioned in any of the materials; it is not known if she was even at the house at the time.

The story has all but died. A search for local newspaper articles on Campbell and his untimely death turned up nothing after August 5, 2023. The national media has dropped the story.

A tribute to Campbell published in a local newspaper says his body was found about 100 feet from shore in water that was 8 feet deep. This is the only mention of the depth of the water in the materials available so far, but it’s from a newspaper article and not an official report. It would seem that drowning so close to shore in a shallow pond would be close to impossible, particularly since Campbell knew how to swim, even if the water was 8 feet deep. But what if the water was just 4 feet deep? That’s even more unbelievable.

Tafari Campbell seemed confident enough in his ability to paddleboard that he did not use the ankle tether to the board or put on life jacket; both are often done, even by experienced paddleboarders. Tafari was going out at night without these safety measures, which reflects either inexperience or confidence.

• The water was murky, the sun had set, but neither Taylor nor Campbell had gone far from shore. It was not so dark that Ms. Taylor could not see Campbell slip off the board.

• A healthy young man and competent swimmer would not suddenly fall off a paddleboard and sink like a stone without at least struggling, yet Taylor said he struggled only “a few seconds” and then gave up.

• There is no report in these materials that Tafari Campbell said anything as he slipped or cried for help.

• Most healthy young men can hold their breath for far longer than a few seconds, so it seems unlikely that Campbell would lose consciousness in a matter of moments after going under water.

The only explanations that I can see for slipping off a board and sinking like a rock without much struggle would be a sudden medical emergency (such as a heart attack or stroke), intoxication, or trauma (such as hitting his head on the board or something else). These things would fully explain how Campbell might have fallen off the board and just sank unconscious to the bottom of the pond. An unconscious man could indeed drown in a few feet of water and not struggle. However, the autopsy report has not been released even though, by law, Massachusetts is obliged to release it. His “cause of death” was released according to CNN on August 23, 2023, and it reads, “submersion in a body of water” and by manner, it was an “accident.”

I’m not a medical doctor, but submersion in a body of water is not a cause of death. I’ve been submerged in a body of water plenty of times, and if you count swimming pools, I’ve been submerged under water a couple of times this week. And I did not die. You can die by drowning, but that is far more than submersion.

The Massachusetts State Police found “no evidence” that the death was suspicious and point out quickly that they found no signs of trauma. Sometimes you know where to look when they tell you where not to look.

The Massachusetts government performs official autopsies but will not release them to just anyone; in most cases, you have to be a surviving spouse, an attorney, or some kind of investigator. There is allegedly an autopsy report of Tafari Campbell, and this autopsy report would show manner of death, reveal any obvious trauma to the body, and report on medical conditions, such as whether or not he had had a heart attack. The toxicology report is also important since it would show if he was inebriated at the time of his death or if he had taken something which might have caused his death. This could be an illicit drug but it could also be some food, drug, or medication which caused an allergic reaction. The toxicology report is not available to the public. You have better chances of finding the lost Ark of the Covenant than Tafari Campbell’s autopsy and toxicology report. They say the Vatican Library is a fortress of secrecy—well the Massachusetts government could give them a run for their money.

Edgartown Great Pond is huge—it spans over 890 acres when it reaches maximum capacity, and it’s one of 16 so-called “great ponds” on Martha’s Vineyard. It has a barrier beach, a natural strip of land, that separates it from the Atlantic Ocean just beyond. From time to time, ocean water is deliberately let into the pond to refresh it and lower temperatures, which makes the pond water brackish, that is, a combination of water that’s saltier than fresh and fresher than saltwater.

It is not a conspiracy theory to say that Tafari Campbell’s death is suspicious.

• A man who can swim does not fall of a paddleboard into a pond and never re-surface, never even really thrash around

• The redaction of pond depth is mysterious; but if Campbell drowned in water in which he could have stood up in—that makes this death very perplexing

• The fact that neither an autopsy or toxicology report were released seems suspicious because these documents may shed light on what happened

• The non-release of the autopsy runs against Massachusetts state laws, but Massachusetts has historically always been a state that protected Democrats. Is that what’s going on?

Tell us how deep the water was and let us read the autopsy and toxicology reports, and this matter can be laid to rest. Perhaps there is a reasonable explanation. Perhaps something happened that caused him to be unable to swim upon plunging into the water. Perhaps a medical malady took his life and he just happened to drown. The fact that there are loose ends that are not being tied up speaks volumes. And if Tafari Campbell truly died in a weird way—say he had a heart attack, fell off the paddleboard, and clunked his head on the way down—why not give the family and the nation the peace of mind of saying what actually happened.

People who have nothing to hide do not hide autopsy reports.