Ex-White House chef's death was accidental, police say

Former White House executive chef Walter Scheib, whose body was discovered near a New Mexico mountain hiking trail this week, died of an accidental drowning, police confirmed Tuesday.

Scheib, 61 the former top chef for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, was found on Sunday near the Yerba Canyon Trailhead, north of Taos, N.M., several days after he had gone missing.

His body — hidden by dense vegetation and a steep rocky decline — was found approximately 25 yards off the hiking trail, New Mexico State Police said.

Police said that Scheib, who spent more than a decade in the White House kitchen, was found by a National Guard team submerged in a mountain drainage flowing with surface runoff. The New Mexico Office of Medical Investigator's conducted the autopsy and concluded the cause of death was drowning and was accidental.

Scheib, who had recently moved into the area, left for a hike on June 13, according to New Mexico State Police.

A family member reported him missing on June 16, police said. That same day, Scheib's vehicle was found at a trailhead in Yerba Canyon. A 4-mile trail beginning there climbs about 3,700 feet to an altitude of just over 12,000 feet, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Authorities from several agencies made attempts over several days to locate Scheib, but the search was complicated by the area's thick vegetation as well as thunderstorms. New Mexico State Police were able to hone in on an area on Friday after receiving cellphone data.

During his time serving two presidents, he presided over a kitchen that was charged with cooking just about everything that was consumed at the White House — from a bag of popcorn to an ornate State dinner for 900.

The chef, who had headed kitchens at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., and the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., was relatively unknown when first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton hired him in 1994. He kept the job until 2005, when he was forced out by first lady Laura Bush.

In addition to cooking for two presidents and their families, Scheib also served visiting world leaders such as France's Jacque Chirac, Russia's Boris Yeltsin and South Africa's Nelson Mandela.