Mysteries make for great TV, but that's because they tend to get solved by determined, insightful detectives. Unfortunately, in real life, some mysteries never get cracked, even by the most determined, insightful, and experienced detectives.
Will anyone ever solve this mystery? It's hard to say. There might not even be a neat and tidy solution — it could all be coincidence. But the FBI is investigating a strange series of deaths all the same.
The most recently revealed victim is Robert Wallace, 67, of California, who became ill almost immediately after drinking scotch from the minibar in his room at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana, Fox News reported. Wallace's niece, Chloe Arnold, told Fox that her uncle had been in relatively good health up to then and was an avid traveler.
"He and his wife arrived there at around midnight on April 10," she said. "On April 11 he had scotch from the minibar. He started feeling very sick, he had blood in his urine and stool right afterward."
After a hotel doctor checked him out, Wallace was hospitalized on April 13, and he passed away April 14. Wallace's family only started being particularly concerned after hearing about other mysterious deaths in the Dominican Republic weeks later.
In the Dominican with her husband, Pennsylvania's Miranda Schaup-Werner collapsed and died within minutes of taking a drink from the minibar in her room at the Grand Bahia Principe in La Romana, WFMZ reported. An autopsy later determined she had suffered a heart attack, according to CNN, but toxicology results were not available yet.
When hotel staff went to check on Maryland couple Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Day, they were dead. Authorities say Holmes had an existing condition, including cirrhosis of the liver and an enlarged heart, and both he and Day had internal bleeding and fluid in their lungs, and Day had fluid in her brain. An autopsy concluded they had pulmonary edema and respiratory failure.
The family of David Harrison, also of Maryland, is questioning his death after reading of those other deaths. Harrison's widow, Dawn McCoy, said he died of pulmonary edema and a heart attack. She said that he felt sick one night, went to bed, and woke up covered in sweat.
"He couldn't sit up, and he was making noises that you couldn't make out," she told WTOP. "He was struggling quite a bit to get out of bed and talk. I tried to communicate with him but all he could do was mumble."
Felicia Nieves is suspicious now about the death of her sister, Yvette Monique Sport, who died at a Bahia Principe resort in Punta Cana in June 2018. Nieves says Sport's official cause of death was a heart attack, but that doesn't tell the whole story.
"We were promised within three months that we would receive a toxicology report. To this day, which is almost a year now, we've got nothing," she told Fox 29. Now Nieves and her family want some answers.
"There is something...something dirty at the bottom of all of this," she told CBS News. "She was 51 years of age, relatively healthy, no reason for her to go on vacation and just die so suddenly."
"To date, there are no indications of any correlation between these two unfortunate incidents," their statement read. "We disapprove of any speculation and conjecture ont he possible causes of death and urge all to respect the families while the investigation is ongoing."
As CBS News reported, a fear factor is taking its toll. Marci Hudson told CBS that she and her boyfriend canceled their upcoming trip to Punta Cana, saying "It was pretty much like a no-brainer. They don't really have a clear explanation as to what's happening...we're not even gonna risk it. We don't want to be next."
The Dominican Republic is an incredibly popular destination — 2.2 million Americans visited the Dominican last year. The number of deaths considering how many people vacation there is remarkably low. But the nature of these mysterious deaths seems to have people spooked.
The U.S. State Department's travel advisory system ranks the Dominican Republic level two out of four, meaning visitors should "exercise increased caution."
