UPDATED 6/7/19 10:30 a.m. ET:
In the wake of the investigation into the mysterious deaths of three Americans at a resort in the Dominican Republic, a couple from Colorado has said that they too became sick during their stay in 2018. Kaylynn Knull and boyfriend Tom Schwander filed a lawsuit against the Grand Bahia Principe Hotel La Romana resort earlier this year after they suspected they had fallen ill as a result of the insecticides released into the central air conditioning system.
During an interview with CNN, Knull said that she was angered when she heard the news of the three recent deaths. "My blood boiled. It made me want to scream. It made me want to cry," she said. "There's something going on. What happened to us may be related to what happened to them."
UPDATED 6/6/19 5:40 p.m. ET:
Government officials in the Dominican Republic have released the autopsy results for the three Americans who died while visiting neighboring beach resorts, the Washington Post reports. According to the results, all three victims suffered similar complications, including hemorrhaging, pulmonary edema and enlarged hearts.
The FBI is reportedly providing Dominican officials with “technical assistance with the toxicology reports."
See original story below.
A woman from Pennsylvania mysteriously died at a resort in the Dominican Republic, days before a couple from Maryland were found dead at the same resort.
41-year-old Miranda Schaup-Werner was celebrating her nine-year wedding anniversary at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville hotel in the Dominican Republic late last month when she collapsed after having a drink from the mini-bar. "At one point, she was sitting there happily smiling and taking pictures and the next moment she was in acute pain and called out for Dan and she collapsed," Jay McDonald, a family spokesperson, told WFMZ.
Just five days later, engaged American couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Ann Day missed their checkout time and were found dead in their hotel room at the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana. As People notes, the two hotels are part of the same resort and located directly next to one another.
After hearing about the couple's passing, the Werner family began rethinking whether Miranda's death was a one-off accident. "What we thought was a freak event now we don't know," McDonald said. The family has reached out to the State Department requesting they conduct an investigation.
Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts, the resort operator, has said there doesn't appear to be any correlation between "these two unfortunate incidents."
Republic National Police confirmed the autopsies for Holmes and Day revealed they experienced respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, which is fluid buildup in the lungs. Werner's family has stated that she died of the same lung condition as the couple from Maryland.
"Mrs. Schaup-Werner's cause of death was determined to be a heart attack, aligning with official statements provided by Mr. Werner, who confirmed she had a history of heart conditions," The Grand Bahia said in a statement.
Werner, Holmes, and Day checked into their rooms on the same day, May 25, which is the day Werner collapsed. The U.S. State Department confirmed that Holmes and Day were found in their hotel room five days later.
