FBI Rules Out Tainted Alcohol In Three Dominican Republic Tourist Deaths
The FBI ruled that the deaths of three Americans, who died just days apart in the Dominican Republic, were the result of natural causes and not tainted alcohol, according to multiple news reports.
In June, the FBI assisted local authorities in toxicology tests of three of the nine U.S. citizens who have died in the Caribbean nation in the past year, CNN previously reported.
The autopsies were performed on Edward Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Day, a Maryland couple, and Miranda Schaup-Werner. Schaup-Werner died at the Grand Bahia Principe in La Romana in May while celebrating her wedding anniversary.
Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead in their room at the Grand Bahia Principe just five days later. All three deaths, as we reported at the time, had the same cause: respiratory failure and pulmonary edema. Dominican officials said at the time that the deaths “weren’t violent.”
The deaths (along with several hospitalizations and other violent incidents) stirred up a flurry of canceled trips and left travelers questioning if it was safe to vacation in the Dominican Republic.
It was previously reported that dozens of tourists, including 15-year old Candela Saccone, have suddenly become violently ill while visiting the Dominican Republic since March and nearly 50 of them were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino where Wallace died.
Also, a Georgia mother claimed that her son, Tracy Jester, Jr. became ill and died at one of the Dominican Republic resorts.
The bodies of a New York couple reported missing for weeks were found off the coast of the Dominican Republic in April. According to reports the pair, Orlando Moore, 40, and Portia Ravenelle, 52, died in a car crash en route to the airport to catch a flight home.
So there are still many unanswered questions, and hopefully investigators will get to the bottom of it all.
