# Missing Us Couple In Dr. Apparently Drove Car Into The Sea?



## rabs77

I read they were missing yesterday, now they claim they accidentally drove their car into the sea. This story doesn’t make sense to me.

https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/04/10/us/missing-americans-dominican-republic-friend/index.html?r=https://www.cnn.com/
*If she had known her friend was in a Dominican Republic ICU, she could have held her hand before she died*
*Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (CNN) — *A man and woman missing for two weeks likely died after a car accident in the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Although their bodies were found within days of the accident, family and friends are only now learning what happened to them.

The National Police believe the car Orlando Moore and Portia Ravenelle were in plunged into the ocean in the early hours of March 27 as they were on their way to catch a flight home.

A body fitting the description of Moore was found at sea in an advanced stage of decomposition and Ravenelle was found alive -- but she died in the ICU eight days later, police say.

"She had to die by herself," family friend Francesca Figueroa told CNN. "When one of us could have been there holding her hand."

Friends with Moore for about 25 years, Figueroa says she thinks of him as family. Both Moore and Ravenelle, friends who worked together, spent the night before their trip to the Dominican Republic at Figueroa's having dinner and watching a movie.

They were due back in New York on March 27 at 5:45 a.m., Figueroa said. When they didn't return, Figueroa says her family started looking for them.

Figueroa said she spoke to a US Embassy representative on March 31 who told her "no bodies were found, there were no dead bodies reported, no accidents, no one was in jail."

She said she was relieved. Perhaps they were just lost. 

But on Tuesday, she learned that her friends likely were in a car accident on the way to the airport to go back home.

"I am saddened it took this many days to find out," Figueroa said.



*Authorities are working to confirm the identities*


Cheryl Freeman and her boyfriend Carter Warrington pose with Ravenelle and Moore.

Airport surveillance cameras show that the couple never made it inside the airport building on the day of their flight.

Authorities said there was no evidence of foul play.

Fishermen reported seeing a vehicle at the bottom of the sea, but because of rough conditions, divers have not been able to identify the vehicle, National Police Col. Frank Félix Durán Mejia told CNN affiliate Telesistema.

Duran Mejia said an unconscious woman, who fits the description of Ravenelle, was found on the road to the international airport in Santo Domingo on March 27. She died in the Darío Contreras Hospital eight days later on April 4.

"The protocol we conduct in these cases is to take a picture of the patient or the unknown patient and we give it to the media so that family members can contact us," hospital spokesperson Darío Mañón told Telesistema.

On March 31, the body of a man fitting the description of Moore was found at sea near Sans Souci, Duran Mejia said.

The body was found in an advanced stage of decomposition and had a tattoo that read "Milano" on its right arm, police said.

Figueroa confirmed to the police on Tuesday that Moore has a tattoo with his daughter's name, "Milan," on his arm.

The bodies have not been positively identified and autopsies are pending.

But family members and friends are expecting the worst.

"Everybody is devastated. Everybody is devastated," Figueroa said. "His daughter is devastated, everybody is devastated, as I am, as my husband, as the mayor, as everybody in this town is because he's well known in this town. You go on the corner, and everybody knows Orlando."



*They planned to drive at night for early morning flight *


Cheryl Freeman and Portia Ravenelle in Samama, Dominican Republic.

Cheryl Freeman and her boyfriend said that they spent time with Moore and Ravenelle while on vacation in the resort town of Samana. Freeman said that Moore and Ravenelle had a 2 a.m. flight and were driving a rental car to the airport. 

Ravenelle expressed anxiety about driving at night and said the rental company warned them to not stop and open their windows for anyone because the locals know which cars are rentals and try to mug tourists, Freeman said.

Ravenelle repeatedly asked Moore if he was sure they had enough gas to make it to the airport. She kept checking to make sure their phones were charged enough to use the GPS, Freeman said.

After the couple left Freeman's boyfriend sent Moore an email wishing them a safe flight.

He never heard back from him.

Freeman said she did not realize the couple had gone missing until she returned home to Halifax, Nova Scotia on March 31 and discovered several emails from Ravenelle's famil


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## Rastafarai

This makes no sense. How could the female victim be at a hospital for several days without hospital personnel publicly  seeking information on her identity? Isn’t that their protocol??

Where were the police to confirm why she was there in the first place?

How is it possible to have found her boyfriend 19 miles away from the accident washed up at sea? He crawled that far away??

And no offense to the dead couple but there was no way I would drive 2 hours at night in a foreign country to get to an airport.  If they had to leave that hour, leave a day earlier and book a closer hotel and get an experienced driver to drop you to the airport.

I am sorry to see a bad decision may have cost them their lives.


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## cinnespice

Rastafarai said:


> This makes no sense. How could the female victim be at a hospital for several days without hospital personnel publicly  seeking information on her identity? Isn’t that their protocol??
> 
> Where were the police to confirm why she was there in the first place?
> 
> How is it possible to have found her boyfriend 19 miles away from the accident washed up at sea? He crawled that far away??
> 
> *And no offense to the dead couple but there was no way I would drive 2 hours at night in a foreign country to get to an airport.  If they had to leave that hour, leave a day earlier and book a closer hotel and get an experienced driver to drop you to the airport.*
> 
> I am sorry to see a bad decision may have cost them their lives.


That right there is where I would be taking a taxi or some type of car service. 
The story don't make any sense at all.


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## Ms. Tarabotti

Sometimes getting a good deal on airfare is not as important as safety.

There is no way that I would have driven at that hour to get to the airport for a 2 am flight. They could have eliminated some of the sight seeing on their last day and gotten to the airport while it was still light out and spent the hours until the flight at the airport.

The Dominican Republic is kind of sketchy depending on who you are. I think they stood out as foreigners and may have been targeted. The armed guards at the resort should have been enough of a warning to exercise caution.

 When I went there with my sisters and a group of others, I guess we looked enough like natives so that we weren't targeted a a lot. Still I was on my guard all the time, especially when 'tour guides' tried to steer into various places (where they probably got a cut for bringing in tourists). Even the day time drive to the airport was kind of scary and this was with an experienced driver.


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## Charmingchick1

This story sounds sketchy to me as well.  The article I read was saying they had no identification on them which seems strange since they were headed to the airport.   Very sad.


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## SoniT

This is very sad. It's very possible that they just had an accident especially if they were driving at night. Some of the roads in the DR are dark and bumpy. I wouldn't feel comfortable renting a car. I usually take a shuttle to and from the airport. Let me go back and read the article.


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## Crackers Phinn

Them folks was robbed, killed and dumped.   This is an account from the last people to see them alive at the resort.

_At some point in the day, Freeman said she learned that the couple had a flight around 2 a.m. out of Santo Domingo, located roughly 100 miles from their resort. Ravenelle told Freeman that they got a good deal on the airfare, but she had not realized how far it was from their hotel. 

To make it to the airport on time, the couple had rented the car they used for sightseeing, Freeman said. But Ravenelle expressed anxiety about the prospect of driving at night, Freeman said. Throughout the day, Freeman said Ravenelle was on her phone talking to the rental company about what time they would return the car. Ravenelle also said she was talking to her daughter, according to Freeman.

On the drive to El Limón, Freeman said Ravenelle told them that the rental company warned them to not stop and open their windows for anyone because the locals know which cars are rentals, and try to mug tourists.  During the drive, Ravenelle told Moore not to roll down his window for the men on speed bikes driving up next to their car, Freeman said.  On the way back to the hotel, Ravenelle repeatedly asked Moore if he was sure they had enough gas to make it to the airport. She kept checking to make sure their phones were charged enough to use the GPS, Freeman said._
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/08/americas/missing-americans-dominican-republic/index.html


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## Bronxcutie

I went to high school with the guy.  It’s very sad but they made some serious mistakes to save money.  They stayed at a resort on the poorer side of the island two hours away from the airport instead of Punta Cana.  They paid a bartender $20 so his friend could take them horseback riding.  The couple that was with them should be thanking God they are alive! There was no reason to rent a car! Those roads are dangerous! Nothing makes sense! I’ll be in Punta Cana in August and I am not leaving the resort.


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## firecracker

This is such a sad story.  I agree with you @Crackers Phinn .


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## SoopremeBeing

firecracker said:


> This is such a sad story.  I agree with you @Crackers Phinn .



Same. I smell a rat.


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## dancinstallion

rabs77 said:


> I read they were missing yesterday, now they claim they accidentally drove their car into the sea. This story doesn’t make sense to me.
> 
> https://www-m.cnn.com/2019/04/10/us/missing-americans-dominican-republic-friend/index.html?r=https://www.cnn.com/
> *If she had known her friend was in a Dominican Republic ICU, she could have held her hand before she died*
> *Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (CNN) — *A man and woman missing for two weeks likely died after a car accident in the Dominican Republic, authorities said. Although their bodies were found within days of the accident, family and friends are only now learning what happened to them.
> 
> The National Police believe the car Orlando Moore and Portia Ravenelle were in plunged into the ocean in the early hours of March 27 as they were on their way to catch a flight home.
> 
> A body fitting the description of Moore was found at sea in an advanced stage of decomposition and Ravenelle was found alive -- but she died in the ICU eight days later, police say.
> 
> "She had to die by herself," family friend Francesca Figueroa told CNN. "When one of us could have been there holding her hand."
> 
> Friends with Moore for about 25 years, Figueroa says she thinks of him as family. Both Moore and Ravenelle, friends who worked together, spent the night before their trip to the Dominican Republic at Figueroa's having dinner and watching a movie.
> 
> They were due back in New York on March 27 at 5:45 a.m., Figueroa said. When they didn't return, Figueroa says her family started looking for them.
> 
> Figueroa said she spoke to a US Embassy representative on March 31 who told her "no bodies were found, there were no dead bodies reported, no accidents, no one was in jail."
> 
> She said she was relieved. Perhaps they were just lost.
> 
> But on Tuesday, she learned that her friends likely were in a car accident on the way to the airport to go back home.
> 
> "I am saddened it took this many days to find out," Figueroa said.
> 
> 
> 
> *Authorities are working to confirm the identities*
> 
> 
> Cheryl Freeman and her boyfriend Carter Warrington pose with Ravenelle and Moore.
> 
> Airport surveillance cameras show that the couple never made it inside the airport building on the day of their flight.
> 
> Authorities said there was no evidence of foul play.
> 
> Fishermen reported seeing a vehicle at the bottom of the sea, but because of rough conditions, divers have not been able to identify the vehicle, National Police Col. Frank Félix Durán Mejia told CNN affiliate Telesistema.
> 
> Duran Mejia said an unconscious woman, who fits the description of Ravenelle, was found on the road to the international airport in Santo Domingo on March 27. She died in the Darío Contreras Hospital eight days later on April 4.
> 
> "The protocol we conduct in these cases is to take a picture of the patient or the unknown patient and we give it to the media so that family members can contact us," hospital spokesperson Darío Mañón told Telesistema.
> 
> On March 31, the body of a man fitting the description of Moore was found at sea near Sans Souci, Duran Mejia said.
> 
> The body was found in an advanced stage of decomposition and had a tattoo that read "Milano" on its right arm, police said.
> 
> Figueroa confirmed to the police on Tuesday that Moore has a tattoo with his daughter's name, "Milan," on his arm.
> 
> The bodies have not been positively identified and autopsies are pending.
> 
> But family members and friends are expecting the worst.
> 
> "Everybody is devastated. Everybody is devastated," Figueroa said. "His daughter is devastated, everybody is devastated, as I am, as my husband, as the mayor, as everybody in this town is because he's well known in this town. You go on the corner, and everybody knows Orlando."
> 
> 
> 
> *They planned to drive at night for early morning flight *
> 
> 
> Cheryl Freeman and Portia Ravenelle in Samama, Dominican Republic.
> 
> Cheryl Freeman and her boyfriend said that they spent time with Moore and Ravenelle while on vacation in the resort town of Samana. Freeman said that Moore and Ravenelle had a 2 a.m. flight and were driving a rental car


"After the couple left Freeman's boyfriend sent Moore an email wishing them a safe flight."

This is fishy. Why would the boyfriend send an email to them instead of calling or texting? 

I would never drive in the DR. You have to be a native to drive in that madness.  It is so crazy because people don't respect "right of way" down there. It is so easy to get into an accident down there.


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## Laela

^^ they were concerned about the phone draining while on the road... a call  would've used up battery and interrupted the GPS.. since he was surprised he didn't get an email back..seems they were already using that form of communication  down there.


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## dancinstallion

Laela said:


> ^^ they were concerned about the phone draining while on the road... a call  would've used up battery and interrupted the GPS.. since he was surprised he didn't get an email back..seems they were already using that form of communication  down there.



I don't buy it. It sounds like he sent that email so he can have proof with a time stamp. Maybe he knew the man's phone wouldn't ping or get the message because it was under water so he sent an email.


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## SoniT

dancinstallion said:


> I don't buy it. It sounds like he sent that email so he can have proof with a time stamp. Maybe he knew the man's phone wouldn't ping or get the message because it was under water so he sent an email.


Do you think the "friends" that they met were involved?


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## dancinstallion

SoniT said:


> Do you think the "friends" that they met were involved?



Yes I do, the friends know too many details about how the couple was worried about phones and worried about driving etc,
 they knew their friends were so worried but didn't call or get concerned about their where-abouts until family members started emailing them.

The woman was in ICU for 8days so the friend couldn't find that out and didn't find out until she passed away. It seems like the friends didn't care whether the couple made it home safely even though they all were on a trip together.
It just seems suspicious.


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## SoniT

dancinstallion said:


> Yes I do, the friends know too many details about how the couple was worried about phones and worried about driving etc,
> they knew their friends were so worried but didn't call or get concerned about their where-abouts until family members started emailing them.
> 
> The woman was in ICU for 8days so the friend couldn't find that out and didn't find out until she passed away. It seems like the friends didn't care whether the couple made it home safely even though they all were on a trip together.
> It just seems suspicious.


Yeah, I understand. I also wonder how the family knew to contact Cheryl Freeman. Based on the CNN article, the two couples met at the resort a day or two before.


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## lavaflow99

I believe there were two baseball (MLB) players from the DR who died in car accidents there (two separate incidents).  Not a good sign if the local (who were wealthy) couldn't navigate the roads.


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## Crackers Phinn

_*The National Police believe the car Orlando Moore and Portia Ravenelle were in plunged into the ocean in the early hours of March 27 as they were on their way to catch a flight home. A body fitting the description of Moore was found at sea in an advanced stage of decomposition and Ravenelle was found alive -- but she died in the ICU eight days later, police say.*_


I was looking up videos on driving in Santo Dominicao and I didn't see crazy road ways, rickety bridges or the ocean jumping in front of cars.   Like did people in a car end up in the ocean?   It sounds like they don't want to spook the tourist trade so these folks met with a tragic accident.   How they find bodies but no car?   How did she manage to live 8 days after crashing into the ocean? How dis she survive being in the ocean until they found her?  

This story don't make sense.  I hate to say it but they got car jacked, they killed dude immediately and dumped his body in one place, took the wife and did whatever they did to her and dumped her someplace else.


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## Dreamn

^^ Exactly my questions. If the car was plunged into the ocean simply from an accident, how come the people riding in it weren't found with it? Even the guy being found away from the car is weird to me. He would have had to take off his seat belt (if he were wearing one), climb out of the car, and have drowned. But even if that happened, how did the girlfriend end up on the side of the road? She jumped out before the plunge? Makes no sense.

And did yall see the pics of the car? It was mangled.  Anyway, an accident is possible, it's just all so odd...


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## Laela

It never dawned on me.. that Canadian couple did seem to know too much. But I thought they met the Canadian couple at the resort and started hanging out with them. They didn't come to the DR with them. 

Now DR police are claiming speed an alcohol were a factor.. This young couple seemed responsible.. why would they drink and speed to the airport? The story is getting even more bizarre, but I agree could be a coverup


*Alcohol, High Car Speed May Have Led to Crash Before NY Couple's Caribbean Death: Police*
*By Ray Villeda*
*Published 2 hours ago*

Orlando Moore, 41, and Portia Ravenelle, 52, flew out of Newark Liberty International Airport on March 23 for a getaway in the Dominican Republic. They were supposed to return home to Mount Vernon on March 27.

Police on Friday said they believe the Moore and Ravenelle were on their way to the airport when Moore, who was driving, lost control of their rental car and crashed into the Caribbean Sea.

Dominican Republic National Police Col. Frank Felix Duran Mejia told News 4 Moore — who had been seen drinking before the two left for the airport — was last seen on video at tolls minutes from the airport. 

*Body Found in Caribbean Is Missing NY Tourist*






A body found in the Caribbean is that of missing New York tourist Portia Ravenelle, Dominican Republic National Police confirmed Wednesday. Roseanne Colletti reports.
(Published Wednesday, April 10, 2019)
The two were running late and may have been speeding on a dark road when they lost control of the car, he said. 

Investigators believe Ravenelle was able to get out just as the car careened into the sea. Dominican police do not believe foul play was involved. 

New video on Friday showed the couple’s rental car being pulled from the Caribbean Sea.


*Body Found in Caribbean Is Missing NY Tourist: Authorities*
A body found on the side of a highway in the Dominican Republic was identified as Ravenelle's earlier this week. 

A body thought to be Moore's was found in the Caribbean Sea on March 31 inside of the vehicle Dominican officials believe was the car they had rented. That body has yet to be identified because of its condition, officials have said.

Photos of tattoos were sent to Moore's brother in the U.S. in hopes of expediting an identification. 

*Couple Found Dead in DR Believed to Be Missing NY Couple*






Orlando Moore and his girlfriend, Portia Ravenelle, haven't been heard from in two weeks.
(Published Tuesday, April 9, 2019)
Two U.S. representatives from New York have called for an FBI investigation into the couple's deaths.






dancinstallion said:


> Yes I do, the friends know too many details about how the couple was worried about phones and worried about driving etc,
> they knew their friends were so worried but didn't call or get concerned about their where-abouts until family members started emailing them.
> 
> The woman was in ICU for 8days so the friend couldn't find that out and didn't find out until she passed away. It seems like the friends didn't care whether the couple made it home safely even though they all were on a trip together.
> It just seems suspicious.


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## dancinstallion

SoniT said:


> Yeah, I understand. I also wonder how the family knew to contact Cheryl Freeman. Based on the CNN article, the two couples met at the resort a day or two before.



There is a picture with the lady sitting on Cheryl's lap, so I just thought they knew each other for a long time to be sitting on her lap. It seems too comfortable to be someone you just met. 


But if they did just meet then I can see why the friends didnt check on them right away. 
It still seems odd that they would send an email saying have a safe flight. When I am on vacation in another country I am not thinking about sending messages to a couple I just met 2 days ago.


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## sgold04

dancinstallion said:


> "After the couple left Freeman's boyfriend sent Moore an email wishing them a safe flight."
> 
> This is fishy. Why would the boyfriend send an email to them instead of calling or texting?
> 
> I would never drive in the DR. You have to be a native to drive in that madness.  It is so crazy because people don't respect "right of way" down there. It is so easy to get into an accident down there.


Maybe they didn’t have service internationally outside of areas with WiFi (which is limited on that side of the island outside of a resort or Internet cafe). I rarely add cell service while abroad. I use what’s app when I have WiFi, but most of the time I’m not using my phone


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## dancinstallion

sgold04 said:


> Maybe they didn’t have service internationally outside of areas with WiFi (which is limited on that side of the island outside of a resort or Internet cafe). I rarely add cell service while abroad. I use what’s app when I have WiFi, but most of the time I’m not using my phone




True I did the same thing,  I used what's app while down there too. But if that is true then that takes away the theory that they were using their phone for GPS to get to the airport.


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## fula97

dancinstallion said:


> There is a picture with the lady sitting on Cheryl's lap, so I just thought they knew each other for a long time to be sitting on her lap. It seems too comfortable to be someone you just met.
> 
> 
> But if they did just meet then I can see why the friends didnt check on them right away.
> It still seems odd that they would send an email saying have a safe flight. When I am on vacation in another country I am not thinking about sending messages to a couple I just met 2 days ago.


It depends on your personality. By all accounts they seem like they were an extroverted couple and a resort type environment so not that out of the normal. Drinks flowing, you vibe etc. Even the email doesn't sound off. I've sent emails/texts to people I have met on trips to have a safe flight, it was great meeting you. Let's stay in touch. 

This is unfortunate. Once they started the lock your doors, muggings etc I would have handed back the car keys and taken a cab But I also wouldn't have booked so far away. Just tragic all around


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## LdyKamz

I'm almost certain this was foul play. And shame on the people there trying to spin this story to make the couple look like irresponsible people that caused their own deaths. Driving late at night there was a bad decision but they were likely targeted and murdered.


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## sgold04

LdyKamz said:


> I'm almost certain this was foul play. And shame on the people there trying to spin this story to make the couple look like irresponsible people that caused their own deaths. Driving late at night there was a bad decision but they were likely targeted and murdered.


Yeah, I think they were robbed and murdered and DR doesn’t want to scare tourists off so they are making up another story.


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## TrulyBlessed

Another black couple found dead in the Dominican Republic 

**
*Maryland Couple Found Dead at Dominican Republic Resort*
*By Shomari Stone*
Published 2 hours ago
_
A couple from Prince George’s county, Maryland, were found dead while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, relatives said.

The bodies of Cynthia Day, 49, of Upper Marlboro, and her fiancé Nathaniel Holmes, 63, were found Thursday in their room at the Bahia Principe hotel at the resort Playa Nueva Romana, in the southeast coast of the island, The Dominican Today, a local newspaper, reported.

Sonya Jackson, Cynthia’s sister, told News4’s Shomari Stone the US Embassy confirmed the couple were found dead in the resort.

Day and Holmes, who according to relatives were engaged, had been staying at the vacation spot since May 25th, The Dominican Today reported. They were supposed to fly back home on Thursday.
Holmes’ sister said she talked to him a couple of days ago, and he told her he “was having a great time”.

The bodies showed "no signs of violence", according to The Dominican Today. Investigators have not determined the cause or manner of death.

Dajuan Holmes-Hamilton, Nathaniel Holmes' daughter, said she wants the mystery solved.

"It should have never happened", she said.

_
Also this lady was attacked in the DR recently.


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## SoniT

Wow, I wonder what happened to that couple?


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## Black Ambrosia

This is concerning. It sounded like the first couple stayed in a resort in a poor area so maybe that wasn't the best choice but is that what's happening with these other two stories? Or is there a real issue with tourist safety in the DR in general and we're not hearing about it because it's not making the news the same way it would here?


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## moneychaser

I think these folks are being robbed and murdered!


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## moneychaser




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## SoniT

I wonder if the couple from Maryland had some bad drugs or something. I'm only saying that because there were no signs of violence. I hope that their family can find out what happened and get closure. My prayers are with them.


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## moneychaser

Someone on my timeline was at the resort the same time as the MD couple!  They even posted photos with the couple in the background.  They said the Entire time there the workers and some of the guests at the resort would give them this creepy “Get Out” type of stare.  They said one of their friends passports went missing and was somehow magically found in another guests room. That same friend reported being followed on the resort one night. He said it all made sense and blew his mind when he got back and heard about this couple being murdered!  Crazy!!!


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## Black Ambrosia

moneychaser said:


> Someone on my timeline was at the resort the same time as the MD couple!  They even posted photos with the couple in the background.  They said the Entire time there the workers and some of the guests at the resort would give them this creepy “Get Out” type of stare.  They said one of their friends passports went missing and was somehow magically found in another guests room. That same friend reported being followed on the resort one night. He said it all made sense and blew his mind when he got back and heard about this couple being murdered!  Crazy!!!


What resort were they at? I want make sure my friends know to avoid it.


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## Southernbella.

SoniT said:


> I wonder if the couple from Maryland had some bad drugs or something. I'm only saying that because there were no signs of violence. I hope that their family can find out what happened and get closure. My prayers are with them.



I'm gonna wait until the bodies come home before I accept the resort/DR police version of this story. If that white lady's story is any indication, they seem quite content to cover up anything that makes them look bad.


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## SoniT

Black Ambrosia said:


> What resort were they at? I want make sure my friends know to avoid it.


They were at Grand Bahia Principe La Romana.


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## HairNinja

Welp. Dominican Republic is off my list. Considering I'm mostly a solo traveler.


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## TrulyBlessed

moneychaser said:


> Someone on my timeline was at the resort the same time as the MD couple!  They even posted photos with the couple in the background.  They said the Entire time there the workers and *some of the guests at the resort would give them this creepy “Get Out” type of stare.  *They said one of their friends passports went missing and was somehow magically found in another guests room. That same friend reported being followed on the resort one night. He said it all made sense and blew his mind when he got back and heard about this couple being murdered!  Crazy!!!



This was my experience during a recent beach hotel resort stay in Spain. The Spanish employees were fine but the white European guests creeped me out so bad with the constant staring and occasional pointing and whispering. I kept texting my family telling them I feel like the guy in Get Out. I was by myself and it came to a point where I would take my food to my room instead of eating at the resort restaurants because being treated like a walking exhibit became too much. I heard staring is a thing in Europe (although black people are targeted more) so I didn’t feel unsafe just annoyed but had I read more stories like the ones in this thread before my visit I probably would’ve freaked out. Glad to hear your friend is safe and I will never step foot in the DR!


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## moneychaser

TrulyBlessed said:


> This was my experience during a recent beach hotel resort stay in Spain. The Spanish employees were fine but the white European guests creeped me out so bad with the constant staring and occasional pointing and whispering. I kept texting my family telling them I feel like the guy in Get Out. I was by myself and it came to a point where I would take my food to my room instead of eating at the resort restaurants because being treated like a walking exhibit became too much. I heard staring is a thing in Europe (although black people are targeted more) so I didn’t feel unsafe just annoyed but had I read more stories like the ones in this thread before my visit I probably would’ve freaked out. Glad to hear your friend is safe and I will never step foot in the DR!



Yes I am never stepping foot in the DR ever again!  Insane!


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## Crackers Phinn

I don’t know what’s going on with the men working in resorts worldwide but there’s more reports of women on vacation getting sexually harassed/attacked by hotel staff than I’ve pever heard of before.   It’s not just black countries because India, Mexico, N Africa ain’t never really been safe but the islands didn’t have that kind of reputation.   It’s like over the last few years, the rapist coalition had a meeting and have decided no bleeps are given and the resorts and local police co-signed.

I honestly don’t know what to think about the white man who killed the hotel employee in Antigua.  There was just something kinda “oh well” about all the other black employees including security  not intervening.


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## dancinstallion

This is sad and scary. 

 I won't be going back to the DR.

I wish I would have been able to travel more when I was young because now-a-days and stories like this make me not want to travel. I used to think the resorts were safe and that everything would be fine as long as you stayed on the resort. These people are dying on the resort and leaving the resort.


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## sgold04

My first thought with the MD couple was carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s more common than we think at vacation locales. I could see foul play too though. 

DR has been off my list for several years due to their treatment of Haitian immigrants and dark skinned folks.


----------



## Black Ambrosia

sgold04 said:


> *DR has been off my list for several years *due to their treatment of Haitian immigrants and dark skinned folks.


Same. The only people I heard talk about the DR were black men and it hinted of sex tourism so it was never of interest.


----------



## Dposh167

what trips me out is the fact that some of these deaths/beatings are happening on pretty well known and respected resorts. You think you're safe on the resort grounds, but obviously not. I also have to bring up the rapes that happened to a few white women on some Jamaica resorts. They weren't some old rinky dink hotels. They were resort brands that I usually stay at. It's very frightening. I've been a solo traveler for a few years, and I've always had fears going alone to these out of country all inclusive resorts by myself. (i used to go with a spouse). I don't feel safe going by myself now. I would feel as if the staff on the hotel grounds would know I'm by myself and I can be targeted.


----------



## Laela

The DR is definitely off my list... Haiti's right next door, but folks flock to DR and pour their money there..

Something's definitely fishy going on concerning tourists in DR but seems the black American visitors are easier targets. Two black couples dead; one white woman beaten up. I'll have to go check to see if DR has made it on the black list yet. Puerto Rico and the VI have been off/off the list.. it behooves travelers, esp. blacks, who are traveling alone to check out things like that. We're not welcomed everywhere...


----------



## dancinstallion

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/02/us/maryland-couple-dominican-republic-death/index.html


They are saying autopsy revealed the couple had respiratory failure and pulmonary edema. Also blood pressure medications were found.

This sounds like a near drowning or chemical exposure. I highly doubt both of them died from near drowning. I also don't believe blood pressure meds have anything to due with their deaths. What else would cause excessive fluid in the lungs that would kill them both at the same time?
 Can a US medical examiner go there to do the autopsy please?


----------



## Kiowa

TrulyBlessed said:


> This was my experience during a recent beach hotel resort stay in Spain. The Spanish employees were fine but the white European guests creeped me out so bad with the constant staring and occasional pointing and whispering. I kept texting my family telling them I feel like the guy in Get Out. I was by myself and it came to a point where I would take my food to my room instead of eating at the resort restaurants because being treated like a walking exhibit became too much. I heard staring is a thing in Europe (although black people are targeted more) so I didn’t feel unsafe just annoyed but had I read more stories like the ones in this thread before my visit I probably would’ve freaked out. Glad to hear your friend is safe and I will never step foot in the DR!



Didn't bother me, but I ain't about to let those folks spoil my vacation...I stare back or point back, and don't back down...stayed at a Spanish inclusive resort, as we left one area, this one lady kept jumping up to lock the glass door behind us.  I must of went back like 6 times, knocked on the door, making her get up and open it, until she got the message..


----------



## TrulyBlessed

dancinstallion said:


> https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/02/us/maryland-couple-dominican-republic-death/index.html
> 
> 
> They are saying autopsy revealed the couple had respiratory failure and pulmonary edema. Also blood pressure medications were found.
> 
> This sounds like a near drowning or chemical exposure. I highly doubt both of them died from near drowning. I also don't believe blood pressure meds have anything to due with there deaths. What else would cause excessive fluid in the lungs that would kill them both at the same time?
> Can a US medical examiner go there to do the autopsy please?



They’re grasping at straws by trying to use blood pressure or suicide using bp meds as a cause. I’m thinking carbon monoxide poisoning or some form of chemical exposure. I wouldn’t trust any investigation being conducted by the hands of DR inhabitants. This is so sad.


----------



## SoniT

That sounds very fishy. They just both died of respritory failure and pulmonary edema??? I hope that the families can request another autopsy when the bodies are returned to the U.S.


----------



## Crackers Phinn

Dposh167 said:


> what trips me out is the fact that some of these deaths/beatings are happening on pretty well known and respected resorts. You think you're safe on the resort grounds, but obviously not. I also have to bring up the rapes that happened to a few white women on some Jamaica resorts. They weren't some old rinky dink hotels. They were resort brands that I usually stay at. It's very frightening. I've been a solo traveler for a few years, and I've always had fears going alone to these out of country all inclusive resorts by myself. (i used to go with a spouse). I don't feel safe going by myself now. I would feel as if the staff on the hotel grounds would know I'm by myself and I can be targeted.


Detroit been putting women travelers on notice about Jamaica since last year after two black women were raped at gun point by a hotel employee.  One of them got the gun away  and  shot the dude and the resort was like "what you want us to do"?
The DR, I just know of us either a honeymoon destination or sex tourism sites.   

I'm fat so I wasn't going to no islands no way.  none of this was on my radar.


----------



## Black Ambrosia

Crackers Phinn said:


> Detroit been putting women travelers on notice about Jamaica since last year after two black women were raped at gun point by a hotel employee.  One of them got the gun away  and  shot the dude and the resort was like "what you want us to do"?
> The DR, I just know of us either a honeymoon destination or sex tourism sites.
> 
> I'm fat so I wasn't going to no islands no way.  none of this was on my radar.


1 American is raped a month in Jamaica at the resorts??? If that's what's reported then there's definitely more. Whoa.


----------



## Black Ambrosia

That's it. I'm good on traveling to the Caribbean anytime soon. I know they aren't all bad but until they get the message that we need to be safe, I'm keeping my money in my wallet.

I checked Jamaica's status on the US Travel Advisory List. *It says that sexual assaults happen frequently including at all inclusive resorts. *I don't think the word is out because I haven't heard anyone talking about this.



> Exercise increased caution in Jamaica due to *crime*. Some areas have increased risk. Read the entire Travel Advisory.
> 
> Violent crimes, such as home invasions, armed robberies, sexual assaults, and homicides are common. Sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts. Local police lack the resources to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents. Emergency services vary throughout the island, and response times may vary from U.S. standards. U.S. government personnel are prohibited from traveling to areas listed below, from using public buses, and from driving outside of prescribed areas of Kingston at night.
> 
> *Do not travel* to:
> 
> 
> The below-listed areas of Kingston due to *crime*.
> The below-listed areas of Montego Bay due to *crime*.
> Spanish Town due to *crime*.
> *Kingston*
> 
> Violence and shootings occur regularly in some areas of Kingston. *Do not travel *to the following areas:
> 
> 
> Cassava Piece
> Downtown Kingston, defined as between Mountain View Avenue and Hagley Park Road, and south of Half Way Tree and Old Hope Roads. Downtown Kingston includes Trench Town, Tivoli Gardens, and Arnett Gardens.
> Grants Pen
> Standpipe
> Visit our website for Travel to High-Risk Areas.
> 
> *Montego Bay*
> 
> Violence and shootings occur regularly in some areas of Montego Bay. *Do not travel* to the following areas:
> 
> 
> Canterbury
> Clavers Street
> Flankers
> Hart Street
> Norwood
> Rose Heights
> Visit our website for Travel to High-Risk Areas.
> 
> *Spanish Town*
> 
> *Do not travel* to Spanish Town. Violence and shootings occur regularly in Spanish Town.
> 
> Visit our website for Travel to High-Risk Areas
> 
> Read the Safety and Security section on the country information page.
> 
> If you decide to travel to Jamaica:
> 
> 
> Avoid walking or driving at night.
> Avoid public buses.
> Avoid secluded places or situations.
> Do not physically resist any robbery attempt.
> Be aware of your surroundings and keep a low profile.
> Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
> Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter.
> Review the Crime and Safety Report for Jamaica.
> U.S. citizens who travel abroad should always have a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the Traveler’s Checklist.


----------



## dancinstallion

Crackers Phinn said:


> Detroit been putting women travelers on notice about Jamaica since last year after two black women were raped at gun point by a hotel employee.  One of them got the gun away  and  shot the dude and the resort was like "what you want us to do"?
> The DR, I just know of us either a honeymoon destination or sex tourism sites.
> 
> I'm fat so I wasn't going to no islands no way.  none of this was on my radar.





Black Ambrosia said:


> That's it. I'm good on traveling to the Caribbean anytime soon. I know they aren't all bad but until they get the message that we need to be safe, I'm keeping my money in my wallet.
> 
> I checked Jamaica's status on the US Travel Advisory List. *It says that sexual assaults happen frequently including at all inclusive resorts. *I don't think the word is out because I haven't heard anyone talking about this.




Man I am going to Jamaica in two weeks. I have not been excited about it. I blame ya'll for that.  But thanks for keeping us updated and aware.
This is crazy. I think they need to name the resorts so we can know where not to go.

Man all inclusive resorts were made so tourist wouldn't have to leave the resort and think about getting robbed and attacked. Now we have to worry about getting attacked on the resort too! Dis Tew Much.


----------



## Crackers Phinn

dancinstallion said:


> Man I am going to Jamaica in two weeks. I have not been excited about it. I blame ya'll for that.  But thanks for keeping us updated and aware.
> This is crazy. I think they need to name the resorts so we can know where not to go.
> 
> Man all inclusive resorts were made so tourist wouldn't have to leave the resort and think about getting robbed and attacked. Now we have to worry about getting attached on the resort too! Dis Tew Much.


I hope you have a good and safe trip.


----------



## moneychaser

When I went to Negril I was hanging at the bar with my friend and decided to head back to room because I felt extremely tipsey.  Shortly after there was a knock at my door and I opened assuming it was my friend why was it the damn bartender!


Black Ambrosia said:


> 1 American is raped a month in Jamaica at the resorts??? If that's what's reported then there's definitely more. Whoa.




Story time.  I went to Negril a few years ago with my girlfriend to celebrate her 40th.  We were drinking at the hotel bar and I decided to go to the room because I felt myself getting really drunk which was weird because I only had two drinks.  Anyway 30 mins later I hear a knock at my door and it’s the bartender!  He made my drinks strong on purpose!  Thank godness my friend was right behind him!


----------



## Black Ambrosia

moneychaser said:


> Anyway 30 mins later I hear a knock at my door and it’s the bartender!  He made my drinks strong on purpose!  Thank godness my friend was right behind him!


Sounds like he drugged you. I’m glad nothing happened to you.


----------



## dancinstallion

SANDALS Resorts in Jamaica have done cover ups and paid off victims.


 and I thought Sandals had better resorts because the prices are a lot higher.


Trip advisor now has a search button for attacks at hotels and resort according to the article. This is the right direction.

https://www.freep.com/story/news/lo...l-assault-warnings-travel-reviews/1194918001/


----------



## SoniT

I went to Jamaica last year and Punta Cana several times over for the past few years. I never had a problem and felt safe. I also took the normal precautions that I would take anywhere that I travel. I love traveling to different places and will continue to do so.


----------



## Black Ambrosia

TripAdvisor will now flag sexual assault warnings on travel reviews

TRESA BALDAS | DETROIT FREE PRESS Updated 10:49 p.m. EDT May 17, 2019

Jamaica resort rape victim speaks out
The rapes of two Detroit women at a Jamaican resort has highlighted a pervasive problem on the island getaway: sexual assaults are ignored.

After two Detroit women were raped at a >ve-star resort in Jamaica last fall, neither had any idea how common their horror was.

They didn't know that there were scores of other victims like them. They didn't know that crimes like theirs happened at fancy hotels worldwide, or that 1,100 sexual assaults were cited last year alone
in TripAdvisor reviews. *That's three tourist rapes a day.*

All the Detroit women knew was their terror, until a Free Press investigation revealed a more widespread problem that prompted TripAdvisor, the world's largest travel company, to change how it alerts travelers about sexual assault reports at hotels, resorts and various destinations.
In the wake of mounting public pressure and the Free Press investigation, TripAdvisor announced on Tuesday that it will now Pag sexual assault warnings on reviews, making it easier to >nd out which hotels and resorts have been cited for sex crimes at the hands of employees. Rather than have to read through tens of thousands of hotel reviews in search of sexual assault complaints, TripAdvisor users will now be able to click through a >lter on each property to see whether there are any reviews with safety warnings involving rapes, robberies or druggings.





The new safety measure, which was announced on Tuesday, comes months after a Free Press investigation found that sexual assaults are a long-standing and unchecked problem in Jamaica and that several resorts have tried to cover it up. Multiple victims spoke to the paper about confidentiality agreements and payoffs by resorts, and reported their assaults on TripAdvisor — though the negative reviews were buried deep on the website and difficult to find.
Related content:

Jamaica resorts covered up sexual assaults, silenced victims for years

Resorts in Jamaica are facing a 'historic' sexual assault problem

That won't be the case anymore, says TripAdvisor, noting it did some digging of its own after the Free Press investigation and made an alarming discovery: In the last year alone, TripAdvisor found 1,100 reviews that referenced sexual assault claims by travelers worldwide.





“When your article hit, we started re-evaluating our policies," said TripAdvisor spokesman Brian Hoyt, noting the 1,100 reviews citing sexual assault raised eyebrows. "One incident is horrible — 1,100 is horrific. Having read through many of these accounts, it really motivated us at TripAdvisor to make sure we do right by these survivors and help them find a way to share this information with others."

Hoyt added: "Your article is a case study for why we are doing what we are doing."

The Free Press investigation also triggered an island-wide security audit of resorts in Jamaica, which is expected to be completed in June.

*Victim speaks out*
For two Detroit women whose sexual assaults in Jamaica triggered the newspaper's investigation, TripAdvisor's changes bring comfort —but not closure.

"It makes me feel good that something is being done about it. I just wish it could have been done before this situation," said one of the victims, 33, who spent six months in therapy after being raped at gunpoint by an employee at the Hotel Riu Reggae in Montego Bay last September.

This is the part that she really wants to get out — that she was raped in a five-star resort, the one place she believed she was safe.

"Be on the lookout," the woman warns other travelers. "(Crime) isn't just outside your resort. it's actually at your resort, where you feel the most comfortable."

The woman had gone to Jamaica to celebrate her birthday when on Sept. 27,  at 11:15 p.m., a gunman crawled up the balcony outside her second-floor room, barged into the room and raped her and her friend.  The nightmare lasted for about 15 minutes until the women got hold of the gun and shot the attacker twice before he jumped off the balcony and fled.

The suspect, who was wanted for a string of nearby rapes, was arrested, charged and pleaded guilty. He will be sentenced next month.

For his victims, life has never been the same. The Detroit mother who shot him just returned to work last month. She is still afraid of the dark, of being alone and of having doors open. She has relived the nightmare daily. The first months were the worst.

"It was rough. I had nightmares. I'd get up. And I would have night-sweats," said the woman, noting her fear and anxiety started to rub off on her 3-year-old. "She said, 'Mom, you don't have to be scared. It's okay.' "

The rapes of the Detroit women are now documented on TripAdvisor, detailed in several reviews posted by visitors who were at the same resort that night and heard the gunshots. When you click on Hotel Riu Reggae now, the safety filter shows up. The reviews citing the rapes are there.

The Detroit victim takes some comfort knowing that her ordeal shined light on the sexual violence that continues to harm women travelers, and brought about change.

"I guess I was used by God," she said. "It has to stop at some point, with somebody."

*Petition demands change, gains support *
Also facilitating change at TripAdvisor is the mounting public pressure over its review platform illustrated by a Change.org petition this week, demanding it make sexual assault warnings more visible to users on its website.

An estimated 500,000 people signed the petition on behalf of a woman named Kay, who said she was raped last October in the Horn of Africa by a tour guide who came with stellar reviews on TripAdvisor. The suspect has since been arrested and charged, and is awaiting trial.

After the attack, Kay tried to warn future tourists by leaving a review on the tour guide's TripAdvisor business page. But her reviews were deleted, she said, and her emails to TripAdvisor received no response for three weeks.

A petition drive followed.

"The world’s largest travel site shouldn’t recommend women hire rapists for their next vacation," Change.org said in a statement. "TripAdvisor needs to know that Kay isn’t giving up until they make meaningful changes."

TripAdvisor does not recommend or rank businesses; all of that is done by users who visit the site.

On Wednesday, Change.org officials tried to deliver Kay's signatures to TripAdvisor's office in New York, but the company refused to accept the signatures, said Juliana Britto Schwartz, an associate campaign director with Change.org.

"No one would come down," said Schwartz, who believes TripAdvisor has "some trust to rebuild with users."

Specifically, Schwartz said that TripAdvisor needs to come up with a way for sexual assault victims to anonymously report their attacks to the travel site, whether it be through a hotline, support center or staffer who talks directly to sexual assault victims. Currently, TripAdvisor only accepts first-person reviews, which critics believe scares some victims away from reporting their crimes.

In Kay's case, Schwartz said, her friends posted reviews about the alleged rape, but TripAdvisor removed them because they were secondhand. Kay's review was flagged because it was anonymous, and it took her three weeks to reach someone at TripAdvisor for help.

"There just isn’t a process and it shouldn’t take this long, " said Schwartz, who commended TripAdvisor for making some changes, but said more are needed.

"There's a piece that is missing," Schwartz said. "If survivors are dis-incentivized from reporting, then information isn’t out there for users who are trying to learn about safety while planning a trip."

TripAdvisor said it has offered to help Kay get her story out.

“We offered Kay to write a review, she turned it down," said Hoyt, TripAdvisor's spokesperson.

According to Hoyt, TripAdvisor took down Kay's first review because it was not written in the first-person, but rather in the third-person. Company policy requires that if people want to write reviews, good or bad, they have to be firsthand experiences, not someone else saying they heard "this or that'' happened to someone on vacation: that amounts to hearsay.

According to Hoyt, Kay is concerned about anonymity, though TripAdvisor has tried to accommodate those concerns, he said.

"We offered to help her set up a second anonymous profile where she could leave a nondescript review of what happened to her, and she refused that as well," Hoyt said. "We've given her multiple opportunities to write. ... If Kay wants to write a review of what happened to her, we'd let her. She has chosen not to do that."

According to Hoyt, Kay wants TripAdvisor to pull the business listing of the person she says raped her. But the company won't do that, he said, because it has a policy to list every tourism business, good or bad, and make travelers aware of what's out there.

"We have a lot of businesses that are poorly reviewed on TripAdvisor and they would love to get pulled. But we have a policy that every business that's open be listed," Hoyt said. "If we pulled bad businesses off the site, it would enable them to operate in the shadows without any transparency."

*Related: *Jamaica audits resorts in wake of sexual assault scandal

*New Jamaica travel alert*
The Free Press investigation into tourist sexual assaults started out as a crime story about two Detroit women who said they were raped at gunpoint at a Jamaican resort last fall, but weren't believed by resort staff and police. The gunman was caught and charged — he was wanted for multiple rapes in a nearby parish — though police initially painted the case as a sex-romp gone wrong. Jamaican tourism and police officials also maintained it was an isolated incident and that sexual assaults rarely happen there.





State Department data told a different story:  From 2011-17, 78 Americans reported being raped in Jamaica — that's roughly one U.S. citizen raped a month. The victims include a Michigan woman who said she was gang raped by three resort lifeguards, her teenage friend who said she lost her virginity to a resort rapist, a Georgia mother who said she was sexually assaulted in the water by a resort employee and an au pair who said she was drugged and raped at a resort.

The State Department also has issued numerous travel alerts warning tourists about Jamaica, the most recent one in April, which states: "Exercise increased caution in Jamaica due to crime. ... Sexual assaults occur frequently, including at all-inclusive resorts."

But the details of the assaults inside the gated resorts were hard to come by. The State Department wouldn’t release specifics. Jamaican police and tourism officials were evasive.

So the Free Press spent weeks digging through U.S. court dockets and tens of thousands of  reviews on TripAdvisor, where it plugged in search terms like “rape,” “assault,” and “sexual assault” to see whether any hotel or resort had been flagged for such crimes.

Though hard to find, the stories were there. Buried within the mountain of reviews, here is some of what we found:


An 18-year-old au pair vacationing in Jamaica with a West Virginia family said she was drugged and raped at the Sandals-owned Beaches Negril Resort and Spa on July 4,  and the resort did nothing to help her.  “This resort is not a safe place for women and children,” she wrote in a lengthy TripAdvisor review before talking to the Free Press.
The West Virginia mother also took to Trip Advisor to vent and warn others about what happened to her au pair, writing: "My 18-year-old (au pair)  was given a drink directly from the bartender at Club Liquid. It was drugged. She was then taken to a bathroom by another 'guest' and raped. CHOKED. SCRATCHED and RAPED." The woman ended up removing the review after receiving notification from TripAdvisor that it had been “flagged” by another user. A Sandals payout followed: the woman and her husband received $25,000 in exchange for them signing a nondisclosure agreement , promising not to ever discuss the incident or post about it on social media.
An Atlanta mother who went to Montego Bay to celebrate her 50th birthday said she was sexually assaulted while in the ocean by a Sunscape Splash resort employee. “The water was up to my neck. I was very nervous so he kept telling me to relax … he began touching me very inappropriately, even though I said "no" he continued,” she wrote in her TripAdvisor review. She said the resort staff manipulated her into not pressing charges, warning her the criminal process would be lengthy and expensive, and convincing her to "go home and forget about it." Sunscape Splash did not respond to requests for comment, though the company responded to the Georgia woman’s review on TripAdvisor, stating:  "The safety of our guests is always our top priority ... Please reach out .... for me to better address your specific concerns."
A Kansas City woman who said she was sexually assaulted during a sailing excursion by a Sandals Ochi Beach Resort employee in October 2017. She alleges the resort rushed her into signing a nondisclosure agreement in exchange for a $4,500 trip.  "I said, 'Do I need to make a police report?' They said, 'No. You don't need to do that. We'll take care of everything.' "
A North Carolina couple whose honeymoon was ruined after a Sandals resort dancer named 'Showtime' allegedly sexually assaulted the wife on the dance floor, putting his hand up her dress, grabbing her genitalia and then forcing her hand on his private part to show his arousal. Sandals gave them a replacement, seven-night trip "as a goodwill gesture" and a complimentary couple's massage. In return, the couple signed legal forms releasing Sandals from any liability.
A woman in Minnesota wrote that she was sexually assaulted by a hotel employee at an unnamed all-inclusive hotel, but that her attacker was fired after she reported the incident. "I called the U.S. Embassy and they took my matter seriously. I had a bit of victim blaming by locals but am glad I reported it nonetheless," the woman wrote in a Nov. 1 TripAdvisor review. "I recommend caution even inside resorts — and do not ever walk around alone."
In the spring of 2014, a British mother claimed the management at Beaches Negril failed to call the police about the attempted rape of her 18-year-old daughter during a wedding trip. The suspect was a Sandals employee, but management allegedly told her, "Our hands were tied. Your daughter didn't want anyone to know." The mother demanded accountability. But after months of phone calls and emails to Sandals, the woman said Sandals offered her family three nights free accommodation at their resorts, but with a confidentiality clause. She called Sandals "despicable." Three weeks later, the Breathless resort responded: "It is both concerning and alarming to read the details of your experience which is not reflective of the kind of experience we aim to and are known to provide valued guests such as you." The outcome of that case is not known. Breathless did not respond to requests for comment.
In 2016, a Canadian traveler wrote that an entertainer who worked at the Grand Bahia Principe resort in Jamaica sexually assaulted her during a family trip in 2016. But the resort worker kept his job despite her complaint, she wrote on TripAdvisor, stating the resort "did absolutely nothing about this incident" and did not return her calls after she returned home.  Grand Bahia Principe responded to the allegation on TripAdvisor, stating in 2016: "We're surprised and concerned by your comments you have reported. We do sincerely apologize for any issues in your vacation and we will be sure to forward your concerns to our management team to investigate this matter." Grand Bahia Principe did not return calls seeking comment.





*TripAdvisor not new to controversy Safety and Security matter most*
TripAdvisor has long maintained that it is a transparent, informational travel platform that for decades has helped people plan vacations using others' reviews —  good and bad. However, it caters to travelers and businesses alike: Travelers can post negative reviews, and businesses are encouraged to respond.

The review platform, however, has triggered much controversy in recent years.

In 2017, TripAdvisor apologized to a Texas woman for deleting her review that detailed her rape by a security guard at a Mexican resort. TripAdvisor said the review was removed because it contained graphic language that violated community standards, but that it has since been reloaded on the website and that no reviews alleging sexual assault have been taken down.

TripAdvisor's apology followed a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation that revealed how TripAdvisor had deleted reviews from travelers reporting alcohol-related blackouts, rapes, injuries and deaths while vacationing at resorts in Mexico.

TripAdvisor has maintained that it did not delete any actual first-person reviews, but rather only took down comments that were posted in forums for violating various community standards that no longer exist.

"We understand that traveler needs and safety concerns will continue to evolve, and our platform will, too," said TripAdvisor President Lindsay Nelson. "We also recognize that we won’t always get it right, but we will continue to ask for feedback from our community and make changes as we go."

Nelson said informing travelers about safety issues is a top priority for TripAdvisor,   citing a recent industry study that found 67 percent of travelers say a destination's "safety and security" matter most.

“The need for better access to safety information while traveling has never been greater,” Nelson said.“For many women, members of the LGBTQ community and persons with accessibility needs — obtaining information on travel safety can be a matter of life and death.”


----------



## Black Ambrosia

I started another thread for the article because I want to make sure everyone sees it. It’s despicable that this is happening and that there’s a massive coverup.


----------



## HairNinja

I'm going to have to join a friendless singles travel group or something. I can't be out here traveling by myself. I just left Florida it was nice.

Resort staff are the first to know when I'm alone. So far in Jamaica everyone was nice, but looking back I see all my mistakes. The worse thing they can do is poison your drinks. These reports are horrible.

I've been to Cancun, Florida and Jamaica by myself. And one time I went to Jamaica with a former friend she was never around. I'm divorced and friendless.


----------



## Kiowa

HairNinja said:


> I'm going to have to join a friendless singles travel group or something. I can't be out here traveling by myself. I just left Florida it was nice.
> 
> Resort staff are the first to know when I'm alone. So far in Jamaica everyone was nice, but looking back I see all my mistakes. The worse thing they can do is poison your drinks. These reports are horrible.
> 
> I've been to Cancun, Florida and Jamaica by myself. And one time I went to Jamaica with a former friend she was never around. I'm divorced and friendless.



I travel a lot to places by myself, but it's like anything  else, got to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and don't lull yourself into a false sense of security because you are behind resort walls, or on a paradise island or something. I stayed right here at home,  and had something happen to me, but I was lucky.


----------



## Black Ambrosia

Kiowa said:


> I travel a lot to places by myself, but it's like anything  else, got to be aware of your surroundings at all times, and don't lull yourself into a false sense of security because you are behind resort walls, or on a paradise island or something. I stayed right here at home,  and had something happen to me, but I was lucky.


I agree wholeheartedly but the stories being reported aren’t about people who were caught slippin. One man climbed onto a second story balcony to rape 2 women. This is an environment where tourists are being preyed upon and I don’t think keeping your guard up is enough under the circumstances.


----------



## Kiowa

Black Ambrosia said:


> I agree wholeheartedly but the stories being reported aren’t about people who were caught slippin. One man climbed onto a second story balcony to rape 2 women. This is an environment where tourists are being preyed upon and I don’t think keeping your guard up is enough under the circumstances.



I had a friend who was staying on the 3rd floor, and was robbed, by someone shinning up the drainpipe and climbing onto her balcony. So no, I'm not naive about that, but I'm down the Islands a lot, and see a lot that makes me smh. Resort chains are also hiring a lot of contractors, and less locals and not following up on vetting of employees. Additionally, there's no accountability until there's a direct financial impact when the tourists stop coming.


----------



## HappilyLiberal

sgold04 said:


> My first thought with the MD couple was carbon monoxide poisoning. It’s more common than we think at vacation locales. I could see foul play too though.
> 
> DR has been off my list for several years *due to their treatment of Haitian immigrants and dark skinned folks*.



^^^^^THIS!


----------



## Crackers Phinn

Black Ambrosia said:


> I agree wholeheartedly but the stories being reported aren’t about people who were caught slippin. *One man climbed onto a second story balcony to rape 2 women.* This is an environment where tourists are being preyed upon and I don’t think keeping your guard up is enough under the circumstances.





Kiowa said:


> *I had a friend who was staying on the 3rd floor, and was robbed, by someone shinning up the drainpipe and climbing onto her balcony*. So no, I'm not naive about that, but I'm down the Islands a lot, and see a lot that makes me smh. Resort chains are also hiring a lot of contractors, and less locals and not following up on vetting of employees. Additionally, there's no accountability until there's a direct financial impact when the tourists stop coming.


I like to think that I'm relatively savvy and street smart but the only way to really prepare for something like this is to sit in ya room the whole trip, drinking coffee and taking No-Doze waiting on something to pop off like this right here.



But that defeats the purpose of a vacation.  Oh the irony of this gif.


----------



## Dposh167

Black Ambrosia said:


> I agree wholeheartedly but the stories being reported aren’t about people who were caught slippin. One man climbed onto a second story balcony to rape 2 women. This is an environment where tourists are being preyed upon and I don’t think keeping your guard up is enough under the circumstances.


I agree. These are people who are sleeping in their hotel rooms and walking on hotel grounds to go someplace when they are being attacked. From all the stories I read, it was normal activity for someone on vacation. But when you're on the grounds of a resort, the employees always have leverage on you. They know the grounds like the hairs on their head. They know who you're there with, and what your normal day to day activity is. If you go to the pool by yourself, or the beach, or if you eat dinner around the same time, they will notice a pattern. 

It's sad since these are resorts I used to book when I traveled to the Caribbean. I'm still traveling solo, but lately, I've only been traveling within the united states


----------



## Covagirlm

I'm thinking someone slipped something in the MD couples drinks/food planning to rob them later.  Or someone in the staff alerted an outside vendor, hotel staff is always setting guests up to get robbed. I don't even trust the safes, I used to work in a hotel and too many people have access to the master codes.
I always assume that the maids are going to go through every inch of my luggage so I try to tip them well and be friendly.

I roam around the islands alone, even dangerous ones like Trinidad and I'm starting to realize that I have a false sense of security. I bring pepper spray which is illegal in most of the Caribbean but how is that going help me if I'm in my room sleeping with the doohickey sitting in my purse?




Crackers Phinn said:


> I like to think that I'm relatively savvy and street smart but the only way to really prepare for something like this is to sit in ya room the whole trip, drinking coffee and taking No-Doze waiting on something to pop off like this right here.
> 
> 
> 
> But that defeats the purpose of a vacation.  Oh the irony of this gif.



I love to sleep with the balcony doors open but I won't be doing that anymore, I'll also have to start double checking that the doors are locked every time I leave the room


----------



## Kiowa

Covagirlm said:


> I'm thinking someone slipped something in the MD couples drinks/food planning to rob them later.  Or someone in the staff alerted an outside vendor, hotel staff is always setting guests up to get robbed. I don't even trust the safes, I used to work in a hotel and too many people have access to the master codes.
> I always assume that the maids are going to go through every inch of my luggage so I try to tip them well and be friendly.
> 
> I roam around the islands alone, even dangerous ones like Trinidad and I'm starting to realize that I have a false sense of security. I bring pepper spray which is illegal in most of the Caribbean but how is that going help me if I'm in my room sleeping with the doohickey sitting in my purse?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love to sleep with the balcony doors open but I won't be doing that anymore, I'll also have to start double checking that the doors are locked every time I leave the room



I roam around the Islands alone too...in fact, this sucks...first of all, I get profiled for travelling alone down there frequently...and now this....I'm going to be packing some Machetes, and it won't be for chopping coconuts...


----------



## dancinstallion

HairNinja said:


> I'm going to have to join a friendless singles travel group or something. I can't be out here traveling by myself. I just left Florida it was nice.
> 
> Resort staff are the first to know when I'm alone. So far in Jamaica everyone was nice, but looking back I see all my mistakes. The worse thing they can do is poison your drinks. These reports are horrible.
> 
> I've been to Cancun, Florida and Jamaica by myself. And one time I went to Jamaica with a former friend she was never around. I'm divorced and friendless.




Awe I'll be your travel friend. 

What were some of the mistakes you see that you made? No judgement.

I traveled to the DR alone for PS but I wasnt drinking or out sightseeing where I really needed to be extremely cautious.  I would have never thought of the bartender spiking the drinks.


----------



## dancinstallion

Covagirlm said:


> I'm thinking someone slipped something in the MD couples drinks/food planning to rob them later.  Or someone in the staff alerted an outside vendor, hotel staff is always setting guests up to get robbed. I don't even trust the safes, I used to work in a hotel and too many people have access to the master codes.
> I always assume that the maids are going to go through every inch of my luggage so I try to tip them well and be friendly.
> 
> I roam around the islands alone, even dangerous ones like Trinidad and I'm starting to realize that I have a false sense of security. I bring pepper spray which is illegal in most of the Caribbean but how is that going help me if I'm in my room sleeping with the doohickey sitting in my purse?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I love to sleep with the balcony doors open but I won't be doing that anymore, I'll also have to start double checking that the doors are locked every time I leave the room



Exactly! 
I was just saying how I LOVE leaving the balcony door open expecially at night to get the nice breeze in. And I love sitting out there at night drinking. These ninjas are f'ing up my good experiences. 

I am going to have to stay strapped by keeping pepper spray, a pistol, and that claw in my vagina that clamps down upon penetration.


----------



## Theresamonet

dancinstallion said:


> Exactly!
> I was just saying how I LOVE leaving the balcony door open expecially at night to get the nice breeze in. And I love sitting out there at night drinking. These ninjas are f'ing up my good experiences.
> 
> I am going to have to stay strapped by keeping pepper spray, a pistol, *and that claw in my vagina that clamps down upon penetration.*



That what??


----------



## dancinstallion

Theresamonet said:


> That what??



LOL

An anti-rape device.
I first heard about girls and women in South Africa getting it because of the high amount daily rapes that happen there. 


Another reason I refuse to go to so Africa even if I am not the target.

https://www.wired.com/2007/04/rapestoppers-ra/


----------



## Theresamonet

dancinstallion said:


> LOL
> 
> An anti-rape device.
> I first heard about girls and women in South Africa getting it because of the high amount daily rapes that happen there.
> 
> 
> Another reason I refuse to go to so Africa even if I am not the target.
> 
> https://www.wired.com/2007/04/rapestoppers-ra/



Oh, okay. I thought you learned some deadly kegel exercises or something. Lol

 I remember reading about those years ago, but I don’t think they were ever actually produced.


----------



## Kiowa

Stuff like this though...


https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/l...fiji/287-58da54c5-1739-4f01-b2e8-e5da45c3edd7

*Fort Worth couple dies on vacation in Fiji*
The family said that a healthy, active couple came down with a mysterious illness.


----------



## TrulyBlessed

Another one ladies. This woman died a few days before the recent couple. Same alleged cause of death at the same resort.

*Another American had died of respiratory failure days before couple at same Dominican Republic resort, hotel says*

*By Julia JacoboJun 4, 2019, 5:42 PM ET*





An American woman died of respiratory failure in her Dominican Republic hotel room days before a Maryland couple was found dead of the same cause at the same resort, a hotel staff member told ABC News.

Miranda Schaupp-Werner was found dead at the Grand Bahía Príncipe hotel in La Romana on May 25 -- five days before Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead in their hotel room.

Schaup-Werner died of respiratory failureand pulmonary edema, according to the hotel. An autopsy performed on the couple determined that they died of the same causes, according to the Dominican Republic National Police.





American couple Edward Nathael Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, died while staying at the Playa Nueva Romana resort in the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. Department of State confirmed to ABC News that Schaupp-Werner was an American. Police said they are aware of Schaupp-Werner's death but have not opened a criminal investigation into it because her death does not appear to be suspicious.

Police are investigating the deaths of the couple, as they were initially considered suspicious since Holmes complained of chest pains the day he died but refused to see the doctor that was called, police said.





A photograph posted to Facebook on May 28, 2019, shows Americans Nathaniel Edward Holmes and Cynthia Ann Day on vacation in the Dominican Republic, before they were found dead at a hotel there in late May 2019.

The couple's bodies showed no signs of violence, police said.

Holmes and Day arrived at the hotel on May 25 and were scheduled to depart on Thursday, police said. They were found unresponsive by hotel staff after they missed their scheduled check-out time on Thursday, according to a statement from the hotel.

"We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss," a State Department official said on regards to Holmes' and Day's deaths.

Additional information was not immediately available.

_ABC News' Conor Finnegan and Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/american-...s-couple-dominican-republic/story?id=63476454_


----------



## SoniT

That's crazy. What the heck is going on at Bahia Principe?? Did they poison the liquor in the mini bars? Carbon monoxide poisoning? I really hope that these families can find out what happened to their loved ones. That's horrible.


----------



## Theresamonet

This is crazy. The US needs to issue a travel advisory or something.


----------



## TrulyBlessed

Theresamonet said:


> This is crazy. The US needs to issue a travel advisory or something.



It’s a Level 2 at the moment. I say bump it up.

https://travel.state.gov/content/tr...ntry-Information-Pages/DominicanRepublic.html


----------



## moneychaser

That is no coincidence. Those people are being drugged and robbed!


----------



## fluffyforever

This is crazy. Its like every time I plan a vacation to someplace, news stories like these come out right before I go. Im going to DR on Monday, thankfully not to that same resort. But now I’m terrified of possible carbon monoxide poisoning, shuttle drivers, tainted alcohol, and being alone. 

Although I doubt carbon monoxide was the issue that affected two separate rooms within days, it’s still a possibility. Does open windows or running AC or fan help with that? Or should I bring my CM detector just in case?


----------



## Kiowa

fluffyforever said:


> This is crazy. Its like every time I plan a vacation to someplace, news stories like these come out right before I go. Im going to DR on Monday, thankfully not to that same resort. But now I’m terrified of possible carbon monoxide poisoning, shuttle drivers, tainted alcohol, and being alone.
> 
> Although I doubt carbon monoxide was the issue that affected two separate rooms within days, it’s still a possibility. Does open windows or running AC or fan help with that? Or should I bring my CM detector just in case?



I leave tomorrow, throwing my CM detector, alarmed door stoppers in my cases and I'll buy a couple of Machetes when I get there...


----------



## Black Ambrosia

Kiowa said:


> I leave tomorrow, throwing my CM detector, alarmed door stoppers in my cases and *I'll buy a couple of Machetes when I get there.*..








What the what? I think you're joking. If not, I hope you reconsider the trip before going this route.


----------



## dancinstallion

fluffyforever said:


> This is crazy. Its like every time I plan a vacation to someplace, news stories like these come out right before I go. Im going to DR on Monday, thankfully not to that same resort. But now I’m terrified of possible carbon monoxide poisoning, shuttle drivers, tainted alcohol, and being alone.
> 
> Although I doubt carbon monoxide was the issue that affected two separate rooms within days, it’s still a possibility. Does open windows or running AC or fan help with that? Or should I bring my CM detector just in case?



 What's wrong with shuttle drivers? We were going to take the resort's shuttle because I thought it would be safer than an Uber.


----------



## Covagirlm

dancinstallion said:


> What's wrong with shuttle drivers? We were going to take the resort's shuttle because I thought it would be safer than an Uber.




The resort's shuttle is the safest option.


----------



## sgold04

fluffyforever said:


> This is crazy. Its like every time I plan a vacation to someplace, news stories like these come out right before I go. Im going to DR on Monday, thankfully not to that same resort. But now I’m terrified of possible carbon monoxide poisoning, shuttle drivers, tainted alcohol, and being alone.
> 
> Although I doubt carbon monoxide was the issue that affected two separate rooms within days, it’s still a possibility. Does open windows or running AC or fan help with that? Or should I bring my CM detector just in case?


I now travel with a CM detector. As far as the alcohol, I dunno...maybe check trip advisor to see if people have complained of being sick at that resort.


----------



## dancinstallion

I just talked to my associate that lives in Santo Domingo DR.  I asked her what happened to the black American couple that died last month in Santo Domingo.

She thought I was talking about plastic surgery and she said only a Dominican woman died last month that went to this notorious doctor that is known for killing folks on the surgery table.

I told her no the couple was vacationing then she said
Oh yea the couple in the OP died because they drove into ocean, they were in an accident.

Then without me asking she said there is another couple that died while in their room. The police are investigating because the cameras are there and nobody went into their room.

So that is the word on the streets.


----------



## fluffyforever

dancinstallion said:


> What's wrong with shuttle drivers? We were going to take the resort's shuttle because I thought it would be safer than an Uber.


I meant drives with a driver and just me and my bf. A shuttle with other passengers I would take, like resort shuttles, but not solo like an uber.


----------



## TrulyBlessed

TrulyBlessed said:


> Another one ladies. This woman died a few days before the recent couple. Same alleged cause of death at the same resort.
> 
> *Another American had died of respiratory failure days before couple at same Dominican Republic resort, hotel says*
> 
> *By Julia JacoboJun 4, 2019, 5:42 PM ET*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> An American woman died of respiratory failure in her Dominican Republic hotel room days before a Maryland couple was found dead of the same cause at the same resort, a hotel staff member told ABC News.
> 
> Miranda Schaupp-Werner was found dead at the Grand Bahía Príncipe hotel in La Romana on May 25 -- five days before Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead in their hotel room.
> 
> Schaup-Werner died of respiratory failureand pulmonary edema, according to the hotel. An autopsy performed on the couple determined that they died of the same causes, according to the Dominican Republic National Police.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> American couple Edward Nathael Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, died while staying at the Playa Nueva Romana resort in the Dominican Republic.
> 
> The U.S. Department of State confirmed to ABC News that Schaupp-Werner was an American. Police said they are aware of Schaupp-Werner's death but have not opened a criminal investigation into it because her death does not appear to be suspicious.
> 
> Police are investigating the deaths of the couple, as they were initially considered suspicious since Holmes complained of chest pains the day he died but refused to see the doctor that was called, police said.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A photograph posted to Facebook on May 28, 2019, shows Americans Nathaniel Edward Holmes and Cynthia Ann Day on vacation in the Dominican Republic, before they were found dead at a hotel there in late May 2019.
> 
> The couple's bodies showed no signs of violence, police said.
> 
> Holmes and Day arrived at the hotel on May 25 and were scheduled to depart on Thursday, police said. They were found unresponsive by hotel staff after they missed their scheduled check-out time on Thursday, according to a statement from the hotel.
> 
> "We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss," a State Department official said on regards to Holmes' and Day's deaths.
> 
> Additional information was not immediately available.
> 
> _ABC News' Conor Finnegan and Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
> 
> https://abcnews.go.com/US/american-...s-couple-dominican-republic/story?id=63476454_



More info.

*Pennsylvania woman died days before Maryland couple at the same hotel in the Dominican Republic*




(CNN) — Five days before a Maryland couple were found dead in their hotel room in the Dominican Republic, a Pennsylvania woman collapsed and died at the same resort shortly after she checked in, a family spokesman says.

Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, had just checked in May 25 and enjoyed a drink from a minibar at the Bahia Principe Hotel in La Romana, family spokesman Jay McDonald told CNN affiliate WFMZ.

She and her husband, Dan Werner, were celebrating their ninth wedding anniversary when she suddenly collapsed in her hotel room, he said.

"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," McDonald said.

"He was understandably in shock, but the whole thing was just so stunning."

Paramedics were called, and first aid was provided, but Schaup-Werner died in the room, Dominican Republic National Police Col. Frank Felix Durán Mejia told CNN.

A cause of death has not been determined, and a toxicology report is pending, but no violence was involved, Durán Mejia said.

Prosecutors are investigating the circumstances of her death, the Dominican attorney general's office said Wednesday.






Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, collapsed and died in her hotel room May 25.
*Couple die nearly a week later*
Five days later, on May 30, Maryland couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, missed their scheduled checkout time at the same resort. Hotel employees later found them dead, police said.

When Schaup-Werner's family heard about the couple's deaths, they notified the US State Department of the similarities and requested an investigation, according to McDonald. He said Schaup-Werner was healthy before her death.

"What we thought was a freak event now we don't know," he said.

CNN has reached out to the resort for more information.

Maryland couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead May 30.

*3 Americans in 5 days*
The two families are searching for answers after the loss of their loved ones in the same resort five days apart.

In a statement to CNN, the State Department confirmed last month's deaths of the three US citizens.

"We offer our sincerest condolences to the families for their loss," it said.

After Day and Holmes died, the Dominican Republic National Police said an autopsy concluded the couple had respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the lungs.

Medications meant to treat high blood pressure were found in the room, police said. There were no signs of violence in the room.

_*All 3 checked in on same day *
Holmes and Day were engaged, and were from Prince George's County, Maryland, relatives told CNN affiliate WBAL. They were supposed to fly back home the day they were found.


Texas couple on holiday in Fiji die from unidentified illness
Days before their deaths, Holmes posted Facebook photos of him and Day enjoying their time in open waters. 

"Boat ride of a lifetime!!!" one caption said. 

The three Americans all checked into the hotel May 25 -- the same day Schaup-Werner died, the affiliate reported. The couple were checking out five days later when they were found. 

The bodies of all three Americans were transported to forensic science institutes in the Dominican Republic for examinations, officials said.

"We are deeply saddened by the incident at one of our hotels in La Romana, Dominican Republic, and want to express our deepest condolences to their family and friends," Bahia Principe Hotels said in a statement after the couple's death. 

La Romana is on the Caribbean coast and has a population of about 130,000.

CNN's Rebekah Riess, Andrea Diaz and Rosa Flores contributed to this report.

View on CNN_


----------



## Southernbella.

So all these autopsies had the exact same findings. Yeah, something ain't right.


----------



## Laela

What is the US Embassy in DR doing?? Do they have people working with the police and are at the autopsies to ensure the integrity of these investigations? .. I don't trust the DR gov't at this point.


----------



## chocolat79

Allegedly,  according to someone on another site who knows somebody who knows somebody,  the couple was murdered. But neither government is cooperating because they don't want to ruin the tourism in DR. Again, allegedly.


----------



## SoniT

chocolat79 said:


> Allegedly,  according to someone on another site who knows somebody who knows somebody,  the couple was murdered. But neither government is cooperating because they don't want to ruin the tourism in DR. Again, allegedly.


Do they know any additional information? Was anything taken from the room? Was the woman who also "died of respiratory failure" a few days earlier murdered too? Sorry for all the questions but this story is mind-boggling.


----------



## chocolat79

SoniT said:


> Do they know any additional information? Was anything taken from the room? Was the woman who also "died of respiratory failure" a few days earlier murdered too? Sorry for all the questions but this story is mind-boggling.


IDK. I couldn’t post  what I read, but basically the person that said this said the husband/fiancé was his uncle’s best friend.  But who really knows. What we do know is that this is all very fishy.


----------



## SoniT

chocolat79 said:


> IDK. I couldn’t post  what I read, but basically the person that said this said the husband/fiancé was his uncle’s best friend.  But who really knows. What we do know is that this is all very fishy.


Thanks. I agree, its very fishy. If I had reservations at that resort right now, I'd cancel.


----------



## 1QTPie

Seems like they were poisoned.


----------



## MilkChocolateOne

If you are logged into facebook, search for Elda Shepherd.  She's currently updating her page now.  She said she woke up to a man in her room. She's currently vacationing in the DR.  She has been in contact with the embassy.  I hope this isn't a hoax.  I hope she can return back to the states safely.


----------



## Covagirlm




----------



## SlimPickinz

@Covagirlm I'm happy you asked me to come with you. I really wanted to visit DR or BIM for my bday. Girllllllll!!!! I am shook


----------



## Covagirlm

Not victim blaming, she did nothing wrong but I'm annoyed that she's out there and doesn't know about google translate.



SlimPickinz said:


> @Covagirlm I'm happy you asked me to come with you. I really wanted to visit DR or BIM for my bday. Girllllllll!!!! I am shook



I can't fight but we would have been rumbling if you tried to go to DR.


----------



## Crackers Phinn

Covagirlm said:


>


If somebody at my door at 2 AM without a key and they ain't the police, I'm going back to bed without so much as cracking the door open.


----------



## Covagirlm

Crackers Phinn said:


> If somebody at my door at 2 AM without a key and they ain't the police, I'm going back to bed without so much as cracking the door open.




This has happened to me and I don't get out of bed.  It seems like she was sleeping and this guy came in with a key, not sure why she didn't lock the door or use the security latch but maybe that hotel doesn't have them.


----------



## guudhair

dancinstallion said:


> LOL
> An anti-rape device.
> I first heard about girls and women in South Africa getting it because of the high amount daily rapes that happen there.
> 
> https://www.wired.com/2007/04/rapestoppers-ra/



This should be available worldwide but I’m not surprised it didn’t make it to stores.


----------



## Covagirlm

I'm going to start traveling with a door stop alarm. They are $8 at Home Depot.


----------



## SoniT

I just saw that post on Facebook. Whenever I stay at a hotel, I always double-lock the doors and put the chain on the door even in the U.S. The hotel staff can try to access your room no matter where you are, the D.R. or the U.S.


----------



## SoniT

Covagirlm said:


> I'm going to start traveling with a door stop alarm. They are $8 at Home Depot.


Good idea!


----------



## prettyinpurple

TrulyBlessed said:


> More info.
> 
> *Pennsylvania woman died days before Maryland couple at the same hotel in the Dominican Republic*
> 
> 
> 
> 
> (CNN) — Five days before a Maryland couple were found dead in their hotel room in the Dominican Republic, a Pennsylvania woman collapsed and died at the same resort shortly after she checked in, a family spokesman says.
> 
> Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, had just checked in May 25 and enjoyed a drink from a minibar at the Bahia Principe Hotel in La Romana, family spokesman Jay McDonald told CNN affiliate WFMZ.
> 
> She and her husband, Dan Werner, were celebrating their ninth wedding anniversary when she suddenly collapsed in her hotel room, he said.
> 
> "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," McDonald said.
> 
> "He was understandably in shock, but the whole thing was just so stunning."
> 
> Paramedics were called, and first aid was provided, but Schaup-Werner died in the room, Dominican Republic National Police Col. Frank Felix Durán Mejia told CNN.
> 
> A cause of death has not been determined, and a toxicology report is pending, but no violence was involved, Durán Mejia said.
> 
> Prosecutors are investigating the circumstances of her death, the Dominican attorney general's office said Wednesday.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, collapsed and died in her hotel room May 25.
> *Couple die nearly a week later*
> Five days later, on May 30, Maryland couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, missed their scheduled checkout time at the same resort. Hotel employees later found them dead, police said.
> 
> When Schaup-Werner's family heard about the couple's deaths, they notified the US State Department of the similarities and requested an investigation, according to McDonald. He said Schaup-Werner was healthy before her death.
> 
> "What we thought was a freak event now we don't know," he said.
> 
> CNN has reached out to the resort for more information.
> 
> Maryland couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead May 30.
> 
> *3 Americans in 5 days*
> The two families are searching for answers after the loss of their loved ones in the same resort five days apart.
> 
> In a statement to CNN, the State Department confirmed last month's deaths of the three US citizens.
> 
> "We offer our sincerest condolences to the families for their loss," it said.
> 
> After Day and Holmes died, the Dominican Republic National Police said an autopsy concluded the couple had respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the lungs.
> 
> Medications meant to treat high blood pressure were found in the room, police said. There were no signs of violence in the room.
> 
> _*All 3 checked in on same day *
> Holmes and Day were engaged, and were from Prince George's County, Maryland, relatives told CNN affiliate WBAL. They were supposed to fly back home the day they were found.
> 
> 
> Texas couple on holiday in Fiji die from unidentified illness
> Days before their deaths, Holmes posted Facebook photos of him and Day enjoying their time in open waters.
> 
> "Boat ride of a lifetime!!!" one caption said.
> 
> The three Americans all checked into the hotel May 25 -- the same day Schaup-Werner died, the affiliate reported. The couple were checking out five days later when they were found.
> 
> The bodies of all three Americans were transported to forensic science institutes in the Dominican Republic for examinations, officials said.
> 
> "We are deeply saddened by the incident at one of our hotels in La Romana, Dominican Republic, and want to express our deepest condolences to their family and friends," Bahia Principe Hotels said in a statement after the couple's death.
> 
> La Romana is on the Caribbean coast and has a population of about 130,000.
> 
> CNN's Rebekah Riess, Andrea Diaz and Rosa Flores contributed to this report.
> 
> View on CNN_


Last night's news had a story about a woman's husband who died the same way.  They were visiting, he seemed fine, and then died.  I'm not sure which hotel/resort  it was.  Unfortunately she did not have another autopsy done when his body returned to the states, and then they cremated him.  She regrets that now.

Also in a weird concidence, that wife went to high school with Cynthia Day.

So we know of at least 4 Americans who supposedly died of respiratory failure and pulmonary edema while vacationing in the DR.

This is too much.  I wonder if it's happening to people from other countries as well (if they even visit DR as much as Americans do).

As other people stated, the DR was never on my list due to colorism/racism issues.  This is more reason to keep it off my list.


----------



## Crackers Phinn

MilkChocolateOne said:


> If you are logged into facebook, search for Elda Shepherd.  She's currently updating her page now.  She said she woke up to a man in her room. She's currently vacationing in the DR.  She has been in contact with the embassy.  I hope this isn't a hoax.  I hope she can return back to the states safely.


It's trending on Twitter but you got Dominicans all up in the comments talking about this could happen anywhere.  Okay, maybe it can but why is it happening so often where ya'll at right now?  Get your brothers, uncles and cousins together before they mess up the whole islands money.  
Do you know how bad life has to be for somebody to say this?


----------



## Ms. Tarabotti

I'm glad that I went safely there a couple of years ago.

I have no desire to revisit the island anytime soon.

Ladies, be careful of what you eat and drink and who comes to your door.


----------



## Ms. Tarabotti

chocolat79 said:


> Allegedly,  according to someone on another site who knows somebody who knows somebody,  the couple was murdered. But neither government is cooperating because they don't want to ruin the tourism in DR. Again, allegedly.



So they'd rather let tourists die rather than issues alerts? I would think that the possibility of dying on the island would be enough to ruin their tourist industry.


----------



## Crackers Phinn

Ms. Tarabotti said:


> *So they'd rather let tourists die rather than issues alerts?* I would think that the possibility of dying on the island would be enough to ruin their tourist industry.


I think that's pretty standard in places where they either can't or won't do anything to fix the problem.   Maybe in their eyes 1 American raped per month or a few missing  or dead couples here or there is a low enough number to overlook when there are hundreds coming every day.


----------



## meka72

Crackers Phinn said:


> Do you know how bad life has to be for somebody to say this?


----------



## Covagirlm

Ms. Tarabotti said:


> I'm glad that I went safely there a couple of years ago.
> 
> I have no desire to revisit the island anytime soon.
> 
> Ladies, be careful of what you eat and drink and who comes to your door.




I do not know how to be careful of what I eat on vacation, they are going to have to kill me.


----------



## meka72

Covagirlm said:


> I do not know how to be careful of what I eat on vacation, they are going to have to kill me.


I thought the same thing. If they put roofies in my food, I might be in trouble.


----------



## TrulyBlessed

*https://www.foxnews.com/world/colorado-couple-lawsuit-chemicals-dominican-republic-resort-ill*

*Colorado couple files suit alleging chemicals at Dominican Republic resort made them critically ill*
Elizabeth Llorente3 hrs ago
A Colorado couple has filed a lawsuit in the Dominican Republic against the hotel chain where at least four American tourists have died in the past year, alleging that they fell ill because of pesticides while staying at one of the chain's properties last year.

The Grand Bahia Principe La Romana, the hotel where the couple -- Kaylynn Knull and Tom Schwander -- say they stayed, is where a Maryland couple was found deadin their room on May 30.

“I honestly believe the truth needs to be told,” Knull told the Denver Channel. “This sounds way too similar at the same resort.”

They said they opted to file the lawsuit, seeking $1 million, after the resort denied their request that they name the chemicals they use while gardening, or refund their money.

*PENNSYLVANIA WOMAN, 51, DIED IN SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES AS THREE AMERICAN TOURISTS AT DOMINICAN RESORT A YEAR AGO*

"As soon as we came back to the room, we noticed it smelled like somebody had dumped paint everywhere," said Knull. "We were drooling excessively. My eyes would not stop watering."

She continued: "That night, we both woke up soaked in sweat at like four in the morning and kind of terrified. And we booked a flight home before the sun came up."

They said that once back home in the United States, a doctor diagnosed “likely organophosphate poisoning,” referring to pesticides. Knull speculated the chemicals are used on plants around the property.


*MARYLAND COUPLE FOUND DEAD IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC HOTEL ROOM *

"I was having the worst intestinal cramping I have ever experienced. It felt like a chainsaw going through my gut," she said.

The couple did not respond to calls and texts from Fox News on Thursday.

The Bahia Principe Hotels & Resort declined to comment on the couple’s allegations, saying it does not address matters that are in litigation.

Meanwhile, Dawn McCoy, a woman from the Washington D.C. area, told the Fox News affiliate that her husband, David Harrison, 45, died while on vacation in the Dominican Republic last year. Authorities in the Dominican Republic said that the cause was a mix of pulmonary edema and a heart attack. It is unclear what hotel or resort he stayed at.

“He just kept saying he didn’t feel right... he didn’t feel good,” said McCoy, who added that her husband had been in good health.

“The hotel doctor cost almost $3,000 and they would not let us check out until I paid that,” said McCoy. “It’s like a scab reopened.”

Her husband was cremated – a move she says she regrets because it precluded getting a second autopsy in the U.S.

Knull and Schwander's allegations, as well news of Harrison's death, are just the latest to blight the Dominican tourist hotspot.

*DOMINICAN RESORT CLAIMS US TOURIST WENT PUBLIC WITH ASSAULT ALLEGATION AFTER IT REFUSED HER DEMAND FOR $2.2 MILLION*

The family of Pennsylvania woman Yvette Monique Sport, 51, told Fox29 Philadelphia she died in her room at the same hotel chain. Relatives said Sport was visiting the popular vacation destination last June, staying at the Bahia Principe Resort in Punta Cana. They say that Sport had a drink from the mini bar inside her room, later went to bed, and never woke up.

Her death certificate listed “heart attack” as the cause.

"She was 51 years of age, relatively healthy, no reason for her to go on vacation and die so suddenly," her sister, Felecia Nieves, told Fox29.

News of her death came after it was reported that another U.S. tourist, Miranda Schaup-Werner, from Allentown, Pa., died in her room on May 25 at the Bahia Principe Bouganville,  almost adjacent to the La Romana property. She died five days before Maryland couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Day were found dead in their room at the Bahia Principe Hotel in La Romana.

An attorney for the Maryland couple told reporters Thursday that statements by Dominican authorities that they turned over health records to them showing health problems were untrue.

Meanwhile, the Dominican Republic Tourism Ministry announced it is giving hotels 60 days to install security cameras. And the Dominican Attorney General's Office released a report saying the cases all appear to be unrelated.


----------



## SoniT

Pesticides are probably the culprit, at least regarding the deaths at the Bahia Principe resort.


----------



## prettyinpurple

More details about the Maryland couple and the woman from Pennsylvania.

"Dominican government officials released more-detailed autopsy results Thursday for three American tourists who died at adjacent beach resorts owned by the same hotel company during the last week of May.

All three victims experienced eerily similar symptoms and internal trauma before their deaths, according to a news release from Dominican authorities. Pathologists said autopsies showed the three had internal hemorrhaging, pulmonary edema and enlarged hearts.

Toxicology reports are pending."

From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...945ae5db8fb_story.html?utm_term=.45da56b086e6


----------



## blackgurll

And the hits keep coming.
*Woman says husband died in Dominican Republic last year under similar circumstances as woman, couple*


https://www.yahoo.com/news/woman-says-husband-died-dominican-152358439.html

A widow is speaking out on her husband's sudden 2018 death after multiple tourists died in a Dominican Republic resort under similar suspicious conditions.
Dawn McCoy, of Charles County, Md., told WTTG she was preparing to travel to the Caribbean nation on July 14 to commemorate the one year anniversary of her husband David Harrison's passing when she learned that an American couple, Nate Holmes and Cynthia Day, recently died on the island.
"When it came up that they died from the same exact thing as my husband I thought 'No, no.... there's no way two people could die of the same exact thing,'" McCoy told the station.
:::
McCoy says her husband, who was 45 years old and reportedly in good health when he suddenly died, complained he was feeling ill one night before bed and woke up in distress early in the morning.


----------



## SoniT

^^ I read about that one yesterday.  So these are all deaths or illnesses that occurred at the Bahia Principe resorts. Bahia Principe has resorts in multiple locations all over the world. I would never book a vacation at a Bahia Principe resort until an investigation is done. I know a few people who stayed there and had a great time.

- Maryland couple who were found dead in their room.
- Pennsylvania woman who died after having a drink in her room's mini bar (5 days before Maryland couple).
- Another Pennsylvania woman who died in 2018 after having a drink from mini bar - went to sleep and never woke up
- Man who died in 2018, went to bed and woke up in distress
- Colorado couple who fell violently ill supposedly due to pesticides sprayed at the resort.


----------



## Laela

wow..they need to shut that place down.


----------



## Bronxcutie

Already canceled my DR trip.  I’ll be going to the Bahamas.


----------



## dancinstallion

Wrong thread.


----------



## SoniT

Bronxcutie said:


> Already canceled my DR trip.  I’ll be going to the Bahamas.


I love the Bahamas. Enjoy!


----------



## TrulyBlessed

This is crazy and he’s from the DR


----------



## Black Ambrosia

This is the like a scene in the movies where someone double crosses the devil and everything they touch turns to ish. All that's missing is an outbreak or a coup.


----------



## Miss_Luna

It sounds like they are watering their drinks down with a chemical that has lethal doses, especially if it's all-inclusive. They save money, but they're probably using an alcohol-based chemical so you can't tell the difference. 

Like Slumdog Millionaire, but instead of water bottles they're using a chemical in a vodka bottle.


----------



## Ms. Tarabotti

TrulyBlessed said:


> This is crazy and he’s from the DR



Why would you shot Big Papi? He's trying to help his fellow Dominicans.


----------



## blackgurll

And another one. At what body count does this place get shut down?

*California man died in April at Dominican Republic resort after drink from hotel room minibar, family says*

A fourth U.S. tourist died after he fell critically and suddenly ill at an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic about a month before three others died in their rooms, Fox News has learned.

Robert Bell Wallace, 67, of California, became ill almost immediately after he had a scotch from the room minibar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort in Punta Cana, his niece, Chloe Arnold, told Fox News on Sunday. He was in the Dominican Republic to attend his stepson’s wedding.

Arnold said her uncle, an avid traveler, had been in relatively good health and just the month before had been skiing in Lake Tahoe.


----------



## TrulyBlessed

blackgurll said:


> And another one. At what body count does this place get shut down?
> 
> *California man died in April at Dominican Republic resort after drink from hotel room minibar, family says*
> 
> A fourth U.S. tourist died after he fell critically and suddenly ill at an all-inclusive resort in the Dominican Republic about a month before three others died in their rooms, Fox News has learned.
> 
> Robert Bell Wallace, 67, of California, became ill almost immediately after he had a scotch from the room minibar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino resort in Punta Cana, his niece, Chloe Arnold, told Fox News on Sunday. He was in the Dominican Republic to attend his stepson’s wedding.
> 
> Arnold said her uncle, an avid traveler, had been in relatively good health and just the month before had been skiing in Lake Tahoe.



Smh. I believe all of these deaths and poisonings have been happening at an alarming rate for years but people were being convinced they were isolated incidents. Now with stories finally making it in the news and social media everything is coming to a head. I see some Dominicans on social media getting annoyed talking about stuff like this has been happening for years and people need to move on. Like what?  Whether one person or hundreds, going to a foreign country to die is not acceptable. I hope people keep sharing their stories and save lives.


----------



## SoniT

I never had issues with the mini bar drinks but I will say that the food in the D.R. is hit or miss. Some of it looked suspect to me so I didn't eat it. I was concerned about the meats, cheese, and produce sitting out at the buffets. Even though it was refrigerated or on ice I still felt uncomfortable eating it because lot of the restaurants are open air and it's very hot outside. Before I go on vacations, I always read Trip Advisor and a lot of people had stomach issues after visiting resorts in the D.R. I packed some Pepti-Bismol just in case and thankfully I didn't have any problems. I enjoyed the food more at other tropical places that I've visited - Jamaica, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Cancun, etc.


----------



## TrulyBlessed

*New York Woman Vomited Blood After Drink At Dominican Republic Resort Where 3 Americans Died*
*'I Believe These People Were Poisoned. I Would've Been Poisoned Had I Not Held It In My Mouth... It Took Effect Really Fast.'*
June 8, 2019 at 11:50 pm
*NEW YORK (CBSNewYork)* – A Brooklyn woman is claiming she vomited blood after drinking a beverage from her hotel room’s mini bar in the Dominican Republic.

She says it was at the same resort where three American tourists died last month, reports CBS2’s Reena Roy.

Awilda Montes believes her 7UP bottle was actually filled with bleach when she was on vacation.

She initially thought it might’ve been some kind of accident or mix up, but now with the recent news of three people dying at the same resort, this could be something criminal

*Mysterious Deaths In The Dominican Republic*

It was supposed to be a romantic getaway with her boyfriend at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville Resort last October.

Just a few hours into Montes’ vacation she was rushed to the hospital.

“You finally get those days off you look forward to and something like this will happen?” said Montes. “You just don’t expect this.”

She says it all started when she opened a bottle of 7UP from her hotel room’s mini bar. She noticed it didn’t have fizz and assumed it was simply flat, but quickly tasted what she believed was bleach.

“I was cautious when I took a gulp of it,” said Montes. “I immediately felt it burn me, burn my mouth, burn my tongue.

“My mouth was on fire,” she said. “When I spit it out in bathroom sink it was blood. I was just irrigating my mouth.”

The hotel staff brought her to a local clinic where doctors treated her for the pain and vomiting.

Montes says the resort apologized, offering upscale dinner reservations and a couples’ massage.






Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville Resort (credit: CBS2)

The resort is where three American tourists were found dead last month: 41-year-old Miranda Schaup-Werner collapsed and died after also drinking a beverage from the mini bar, according to her family.
Five days later, a Maryland couple were found unresponsive in their room at a sister hotel in the same resort. They showed no signs of violence, and relatives say they were healthy.

“At the time I didn’t think it was done deliberately,” Montes said about her experience. “Until I saw the news and realized there has to be some kind of correlation with what happened to me and what happened to them.

“I believe these people were poisoned,” she said. “I would’ve been poisoned had I not held it in my mouth and spit it (out) because it took effect really fast.”

In a statement, the resort claims Miranda Schaup-Werner died of a heart attack. A family spokesman says she was treated for a heart issue years ago but was recently in good health.

“We don’t have any answers of what happened down there,” said neighbor Mike Saraceni.

The FBI confirms it is investigating the sudden deaths. Preliminary autopsies indicate all three had the same cause: fluid in the lungs and respiratory failure.

Resort officials tell CBS News the deaths are unrelated. CBS2 has reached out to them for information in Montes’ case and are waiting to hear back.

https://newyork.cbslocal.com/2019/0...ink-dominican-republic-resort-americans-died/


----------



## Ms. Tarabotti

I guess that it is good that I am too cheap to drink anything from the mini bar in hotels.

Are they watering down all the drinks or do some people not get sick from the contamination?


----------



## SlimPickinz

Ms. Tarabotti said:


> I guess that it is good that I am too cheap to drink anything from the mini bar in hotels.
> 
> Are they watering down all the drinks or do some people not get sick from the contamination?


At all-inclusive resorts like this one, everything in the room is included.


----------



## Ms. Tarabotti

*American Suddenly Died in Dominican Republic Weeks Before 3 Others, and FBI Will Investigate*



Steve Helling
PeopleJune 10, 2019




Colorado Couple Says They Became Violently Sick at Dominican Resort Where 3 Americans Died
Meredith Videos




Scroll back up to restore default view.


“He was fine,” Arnold 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.”

He died three days later, and Arnold claims that authorities have not given them a cause of death. “We have so many questions,” she said. “We don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

View image on Twitter





KRON4 News

✔@kron4news

JUST IN: US State Dept confirms a 4th American tourist death in the Dominican Republic.

He has been identified as Robert Bell Wallace, a native of the Bay Area https://www.kron4.com/news/world/4th-us-tourist-native-to-bay-area-dies-in-dominican-republic-resort/2066034314 …


1
9:45 AM - Jun 10, 2019

See KRON4 News's other Tweets


According to the autopsy report, the couple suffered respiratory failure and fluid accumulation in their lungs, with Day also suffering a cerebral edema, though the cause of the fatal episodes was not clear and toxicology results are still pending.





Twitter; Facebook

According to a lawsuit filed by the couple, their room smelled of chemicals. They say they experienced headaches, nausea, cramping and diarrhea.

*FBI Will Conduct Tests at Resort Where 3 Americans Died*

RELATED: Pennsylvania Woman Died at Same Dominican Republic Hotel 5 Days Before Engaged Couple Found Dead





Miranda Schaup-Werner and Daniel Werner

RELATED: Engaged Couple’s Death at Dominican Resort Was ‘Unusual,’ Says Official; Toxicology Results Pending

_• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click&nbsp;the assault of a woman at another resort — were isolated cases.

“We have 2.7 million Americans who come to the country and the statistics is that this is a very … unique event,” Bernstein said. “They come to visit the beautiful beaches and enjoy the great culture. Unfortunately sometimes those things happen to people.”

The resorts did not respond Monday to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

_
So now the FBI will be getting involved.


----------



## SoniT

All of these stories are getting mixed up together in the various articles. I think the last one was the guy who died in April after drinking from the mini bar at the Hard Rock resort. I read that the bodies of the couple from Maryland have returned to the U.S. and their families have requested to have additional autopsies done. That's good and hopefully they can accurately determine the cause of death.


----------



## Southernbella.




----------



## Laela

^^ EH? say what, now!?!


----------



## bellatiamarie

I been cool on the DR because of how they treat Haitians but I most certainly ain’t ever gotta step foot in the place now.


----------



## SoniT

Southernbella. said:


>


Another one??? Also, the "I Was Poisoned" website has numerous reports from people who got sick at some of these resorts, mainly the Hard Rock in Punta Cana.


----------



## fluffyforever

I’m down here now at a resort. Last night on the local news they featured the black engaged couple and attributed their deaths to possible overdoses of oxicotin and something to treat rheumatoid arthritis that they had prescriptions for treatment.  No mention of these other cases. 

Also last night, SO and I were walking late at night and a golf cart with pesticides was driving around spraying everything. I had a real panicked as it drove pass me twice fumigating and I inhaled so much of it trying to just walk back to my room. I’m so pissed they just fumigate so sloppily (roads and sidewalks while people are walking’)


----------



## Laela

Apparently..not only Americans ..the witness stories are trickling in... 

*‘COULD HAVE BEEN US’ *
*Brit couple ‘poisoned by air con’ at resort in Dominican Republic where four tourists mysteriously died*

EXCLUSIVE

By Mark Hodge

12 Jun 2019, 19:01
Updated: 12 Jun 2019, 19:48
A BRIT mum was hospitalised after breathing in “chemical” fumes at a hotel resort in the Dominican Republic where four tourists have died in recent months.

Sara Taylor, 53, from Poole, Dorset, and her family were forced to move rooms at the Grand Bahia Principe resort on May 29 when they began choking on the toxic air in their suite.




Sara and Kevin Taylor suffered health problems after breathing in fumes at the Grand Bahia Principe in the Dominican RepublicCredit: Sara Taylor



Hotel staff sealed off rooms in the couple's apartment block using sellotape around the door frame



Sara's family said they smelt 'chemical' fumes in their room and demanded to be moved
The following morning, American couple Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49, were found dead in their beds at the hotel.

A total of six tourists have died at resorts on the Caribbean island in recent months – four at the Grand Bahia and its sister hotel Luxury Bahia Príncipe Bouganville which are five minutes walk from each other.

Sara and her husband Kevin, 59, believe the fumes they smelt had come into the room through the air conditioning vent.

The British mum told The Sun Online that her entire family – including Kevin's son, his partner and their nine-year-old boy - suffered health problems after spending no more than 30 minutes in the conjoining room.

She says she attended A&E shortly after returning home to the UK after suffering breathing problems.

Sara said: “We all had headaches, a couple of us had diarrhoea, my husband had heart palpatations and I had problems with my breathing.

“But I thought it was the humidity of the holiday and the change in diet.

“We arrived back in the UK on June 6 and I was still getting breathing problems and I was using my inhaler a lot more.




The British housewife says that 11 of the 16 rooms in her block were sealed offCredit: Sara Taylor



The morning after the British family were moved another couple at the resort were found dead
Credit: Sara Taylor
“When we arrived back in the UK on June 6, I rang 111 to get medical advice and they told me I should go straight to Accident and Emergency.

“When I arrived at the hospital they gave me an ECG, chest x-rays, blood tests and gave me a nebuliser  to help with my breathing.

“The doctors believe the symptoms I was having were the result of me breathing in these chemicals - whatever they were - in our room."

On the evening her family were moved suite, Sara went back to the apartment block, named Villa 25, and photographed the room doors which were sealed with “thick sellotape.”

She says that 11 of the 16 rooms were sealed and had ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs on them – yet the hotel still allowed her family to live in the building for the first week of their holiday.

Sara fears that if her family had stayed in the room, or had fallen asleep before the fumes had filled the suite, they would have died.

She is relieved her husband, who owns a company which installs and maintains air conditioners, recognised the danger and demanded they move building.

The Brit said: “If we had stayed in those rooms that night - we wouldn't be here now.

“We feel devastated that we didn’t knock on the other doors now to see if they had the same problem as us

“Our thoughts are with all those who lost their lives and their families and friends

“I don't want anyone to have to go through their family members going on holiday and not coming home like those poor Americans did.”

Sara, who married Kevin in the Dominican Republic in 2008, says hotel staff refused to tell them why the rooms had been sealed off.

She insisted she will demand a refund from her holiday tour operator TUI, formerly Thomsons.

An ex-FBI boss has called for a major investigation into the recent spate of deaths at the resorts in the Dominican Republic.

*'Poisoning' deaths at resorts in the Dominican Republic*

Robert Bell Wallace, 67, died on Aprl 13 after he became sick and "urinated blood" after he had one whisky from his room minibar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana.
American David Harrison, 45, of Maryland, died in July last year at the same Hard Rock Hotel resort after a sudden heart attack.
 His heartbroken widow Dawn McCoy said her husband was mumbling inanely and complained of a "very potent, strange smell".
Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, collapsed died in her room after having a drink from her minibar at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville in La Romana, 70 miles west of Punta Cana
Five days later, Edward Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49, were found dead in their room at the neighbouring Grand Bahia Principe resort.
And it has since emerged Yvette Monique Short, 51, passed away she had a drink from the minibar.
It wasn’t clear if Mr Holmes and Ms Day drank from the minibar, and their deaths were attributed by officials to respiratory failure.
Former bureau deputy assistant director Danny Coulson told FOX News: "It doesn't make much sense.

"This thing doesn't pass the smell test. These people didn't have simultaneous heart attacks.

"There needs to be a major investigation."

Authorities from both the US and the Dominican Republic are currently on the ground investigating the deaths amid fears the tourists may have been poisoned.

Coulson offered his opinion on the case, saying he believed "environmental issues" were to blame.

He explained that pesticide restrictions were "pretty liberal" in the region.

"If you've been to one of these hotels they spray [pesticides] all the time."
The former law enforcement chief urged authorities to release toxicology reports of the victims.

A total of 30 million tourists have visited the island in the past five years and 2.7 million US tourists visit the popular holiday destination every year.

179,000 British nationals visited the Dominican Republic in 2017.


----------



## Laela

Please be careful ..and I wish you a safe trip back home.



fluffyforever said:


> I’m down here now at a resort. Last night on the local news they featured the black engaged couple and attributed their deaths to possible overdoses of oxicotin and something to treat rheumatoid arthritis that they had prescriptions for treatment.  No mention of these other cases.
> 
> Also last night, SO and I were walking late at night and a golf cart with pesticides was driving around spraying everything. I had a real panicked as it drove pass me twice fumigating and I inhaled so much of it trying to just walk back to my room. I’m so pissed they just fumigate so sloppily (roads and sidewalks while people are walking’)


----------



## TrulyBlessed

Laela said:


> Apparently..not only Americans ..the witness stories are trickling in...
> 
> *‘COULD HAVE BEEN US’ *
> *Brit couple ‘poisoned by air con’ at resort in Dominican Republic where four tourists mysteriously died*
> 
> EXCLUSIVE
> 
> By Mark Hodge
> 
> 12 Jun 2019, 19:01
> Updated: 12 Jun 2019, 19:48
> A BRIT mum was hospitalised after breathing in “chemical” fumes at a hotel resort in the Dominican Republic where four tourists have died in recent months.
> 
> Sara Taylor, 53, from Poole, Dorset, and her family were forced to move rooms at the Grand Bahia Principe resort on May 29 when they began choking on the toxic air in their suite.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Sara and Kevin Taylor suffered health problems after breathing in fumes at the Grand Bahia Principe in the Dominican RepublicCredit: Sara Taylor
> 
> 
> 
> Hotel staff sealed off rooms in the couple's apartment block using sellotape around the door frame
> 
> 
> 
> Sara's family said they smelt 'chemical' fumes in their room and demanded to be moved
> The following morning, American couple Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49, were found dead in their beds at the hotel.
> 
> A total of six tourists have died at resorts on the Caribbean island in recent months – four at the Grand Bahia and its sister hotel Luxury Bahia Príncipe Bouganville which are five minutes walk from each other.
> 
> Sara and her husband Kevin, 59, believe the fumes they smelt had come into the room through the air conditioning vent.
> 
> The British mum told The Sun Online that her entire family – including Kevin's son, his partner and their nine-year-old boy - suffered health problems after spending no more than 30 minutes in the conjoining room.
> 
> She says she attended A&E shortly after returning home to the UK after suffering breathing problems.
> 
> Sara said: “We all had headaches, a couple of us had diarrhoea, my husband had heart palpatations and I had problems with my breathing.
> 
> “But I thought it was the humidity of the holiday and the change in diet.
> 
> “We arrived back in the UK on June 6 and I was still getting breathing problems and I was using my inhaler a lot more.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The British housewife says that 11 of the 16 rooms in her block were sealed offCredit: Sara Taylor
> 
> 
> 
> The morning after the British family were moved another couple at the resort were found dead
> Credit: Sara Taylor
> “When we arrived back in the UK on June 6, I rang 111 to get medical advice and they told me I should go straight to Accident and Emergency.
> 
> “When I arrived at the hospital they gave me an ECG, chest x-rays, blood tests and gave me a nebuliser  to help with my breathing.
> 
> “The doctors believe the symptoms I was having were the result of me breathing in these chemicals - whatever they were - in our room."
> 
> On the evening her family were moved suite, Sara went back to the apartment block, named Villa 25, and photographed the room doors which were sealed with “thick sellotape.”
> 
> She says that 11 of the 16 rooms were sealed and had ‘Do Not Disturb’ signs on them – yet the hotel still allowed her family to live in the building for the first week of their holiday.
> 
> Sara fears that if her family had stayed in the room, or had fallen asleep before the fumes had filled the suite, they would have died.
> 
> She is relieved her husband, who owns a company which installs and maintains air conditioners, recognised the danger and demanded they move building.
> 
> The Brit said: “If we had stayed in those rooms that night - we wouldn't be here now.
> 
> “We feel devastated that we didn’t knock on the other doors now to see if they had the same problem as us
> 
> “Our thoughts are with all those who lost their lives and their families and friends
> 
> “I don't want anyone to have to go through their family members going on holiday and not coming home like those poor Americans did.”
> 
> Sara, who married Kevin in the Dominican Republic in 2008, says hotel staff refused to tell them why the rooms had been sealed off.
> 
> She insisted she will demand a refund from her holiday tour operator TUI, formerly Thomsons.
> 
> An ex-FBI boss has called for a major investigation into the recent spate of deaths at the resorts in the Dominican Republic.
> 
> *'Poisoning' deaths at resorts in the Dominican Republic*
> 
> Robert Bell Wallace, 67, died on Aprl 13 after he became sick and "urinated blood" after he had one whisky from his room minibar at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana.
> American David Harrison, 45, of Maryland, died in July last year at the same Hard Rock Hotel resort after a sudden heart attack.
> His heartbroken widow Dawn McCoy said her husband was mumbling inanely and complained of a "very potent, strange smell".
> Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, collapsed died in her room after having a drink from her minibar at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville in La Romana, 70 miles west of Punta Cana
> Five days later, Edward Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49, were found dead in their room at the neighbouring Grand Bahia Principe resort.
> And it has since emerged Yvette Monique Short, 51, passed away she had a drink from the minibar.
> It wasn’t clear if Mr Holmes and Ms Day drank from the minibar, and their deaths were attributed by officials to respiratory failure.
> Former bureau deputy assistant director Danny Coulson told FOX News: "It doesn't make much sense.
> 
> "This thing doesn't pass the smell test. These people didn't have simultaneous heart attacks.
> 
> "There needs to be a major investigation."
> 
> Authorities from both the US and the Dominican Republic are currently on the ground investigating the deaths amid fears the tourists may have been poisoned.
> 
> Coulson offered his opinion on the case, saying he believed "environmental issues" were to blame.
> 
> He explained that pesticide restrictions were "pretty liberal" in the region.
> 
> "If you've been to one of these hotels they spray [pesticides] all the time."
> The former law enforcement chief urged authorities to release toxicology reports of the victims.
> 
> A total of 30 million tourists have visited the island in the past five years and 2.7 million US tourists visit the popular holiday destination every year.
> 
> 179,000 British nationals visited the Dominican Republic in 2017.



This is so infuriating! Bahia Principe resorts in the DR need to be shut down and the employees belong in prison.



fluffyforever said:


> I’m down here now at a resort. *Last night on the local news they featured the black engaged couple and attributed their deaths to possible overdoses of oxicotin and something to treat rheumatoid arthritis that they had prescriptions for treatment. * No mention of these other cases.
> 
> Also last night, SO and I were walking late at night and a golf cart with pesticides was driving around spraying everything. I had a real panicked as it drove pass me twice fumigating and I inhaled so much of it trying to just walk back to my room. I’m so pissed they just fumigate so sloppily (roads and sidewalks while people are walking’)



They’re full of it  What a twisted country. Wishing you safe travels.


----------



## blackgurll

TrulyBlessed said:


> This is so infuriating! Bahia Principe resorts in the DR need to be shut down and the employees belong in prison.



It's happened at Hard Rock Cafe, too. From the story about the death of Barbara Corcoran's brother:


> The news of John's death comes in the wake of suspicious deaths of Americans in Dominican Republic hotels starting in June 2018. T*wo Americans died at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Punta Cana while four have died at various Bahia Principe resort*s. It is unclear at which resort John was staying.





TrulyBlessed said:


> They’re full of it  What a twisted country.


Tourism is so critical to the economy that they don't want to acknowledge there's a problem and stop the $$$. If they know what's good for their bottom line, they will isolate and close just the resorts that are problematic. Seems fairly easy... unless the problem is even more widespread than the reports now trickling out suggest.


----------



## Alta Angel

This happened to me years ago in Canada.  People would literally stop, turn around, and point everywhere I went.  I didn't know if it was because I was Black, 6'1, or something else.  It was creepy.



TrulyBlessed said:


> This was my experience during a recent beach hotel resort stay in Spain. The Spanish employees were fine but the white European guests creeped me out so bad with the constant staring and occasional pointing and whispering. I kept texting my family telling them I feel like the guy in Get Out. I was by myself and it came to a point where I would take my food to my room instead of eating at the resort restaurants because being treated like a walking exhibit became too much. I heard staring is a thing in Europe (although black people are targeted more) so I didn’t feel unsafe just annoyed but had I read more stories like the ones in this thread before my visit I probably would’ve freaked out. Glad to hear your friend is safe and I will never step foot in the DR!


----------



## Keen

Alta Angel said:


> This happened to me years ago in Canada.  People would literally stop, turn around, and point everywhere I went.  I didn't know if it was because I was Black, 6'1, or something else.  It was creepy.


It happened to me when I was in China. I just stare right back until they look away. You take my picture, I take your picture.  If I'm not by myself, you point at me, I point right back.

People literally try all different type of ways to get me in their pictures.  Some were bold enough to ask. Nope, I'm not part of the exhibit.


----------



## Loving

Oh we're talking about Bahia Principe huh? They built their Jamaican hotel a few years ago, and let me just say Jamaicans who know the history will not stay at that resort, no matter how low their local rates get. Let me just leave this right here....http://www.northcoasttimesja.com/?p=5348

Article contents pasted below for those who don't want to click. I chose this article because it condenses all the 'incidents'. Something is not right about that place.

*More questions about those Grand Bahia Principe Hotel related tragedies*

Grand Bahia Principe Hotel is not strange to controversial or tragic news.

A fatal crash that involved a coaster bus owned by the hotel which resulted in the death of two employees on Tuesday night, November 22, was not the first time that employees from the hotel died in fatal crashes.

Approximately ten workers have died in road fatalities since last year.

The common thread that connects them all is that they were employed to the Grand Bahia Principe Hotel.

*SPANISH WORKERS KILLED *

One of the most horrific crashes to involve employees of the hotel was on March 1, 2015.

It claimed the lives of four Spanish-speaking overseas workers employed to the hotel. *T*he Toyota Yaris motor car, in which the four men were travelling, crashed into a tractor trailer on the Braco main road in Trelawny.

The four dead men were identified as: Sergio Gonzales, Garvin Arias and Ruiz Farael of the Dominican Republic and Oliver Torres of Spain.

Reports from the Trelawny police were that at about 4:35 a.m., the four were travelling east, from Montego Bay when the car drifted into the path of the International truck which was heading in the opposite direction.

The truck overturned but the unidentified driver and a female passenger apparently suffered only minor injuries and were treated at the nearby Falmouth Public General Hospital and sent home.

It was reported that blood, crushed bones and chunks of human flesh scattered across the crash site, which signaled the horrifying evidence of the violence of the smash that police immediately attributed to bad road conditions caused by early morning showers and possible speeding in an area known as an accident zone.

*FOUR WORKERS KILLED TOO *

Tuesday night, June 21, 2016, it was a similar story. Four workers of Grand Bahia Principe Hotel died as a result of injuries in a three vehicle collision on the Llandovery main road in St Ann often referred to as a crash hot spot.

Those killed at that time were: 21-year-old Michael Glasgow of Village Green, St Ann’s Bay, St Ann; 22-year-old Eric Forbes of Steerfield, St Ann; 24-year-old Jaynor Powell of Charles Town, St Mary and Teisha Douglas from St Thomas.

Reports vary about what happened, but it was believed that the Honda Civic — which had six persons on board and was being driven by Glasgow — was overtaking a car when it got out of control and collided into a truck travelling in the opposite direction. The Honda Civic was shoved into a Toyota Corolla motorcar.

All six passengers in the Honda Civic motorcar were cut from the vehicle and rushed to the St. Ann’s Bay Hospital.

Eric Forbes, Jaynor Powell and Teisha Douglas were among those who were pronounced dead at the hospital.

The driver, Michael Glasgow died some hours following the crash on Wednesday afternoon, June 22.

*TWO FEMALE WORKERS KILLED TOO*

Fast forward five months later and employees of the Grand Bahia Principe Hotel are grieving yet again.

The hotel’s coaster bus crashed into a parked truck on Tuesday night, November 22 killing two young female workers in the prime of their life.

Those killed in the crash were: 23-year-old Jodian Duncan, a waitress of Exchange, St Ann and 24-year-old Shanique Grey, a member of the kitchen staff, from Oracabessa, St Mary.

Reports indicate that at about 11:45 p.m., Duncan and Grey were among ten passengers on board a 29-seater Grand Bahia Principe staff bus travelling east towards Ocho Rios.

The bus later collided into a truck, which was parked in the vicinity of the Pearly Beach property on the Dunn’s River main road.

Jodian Duncan died on spot and had to be cut from the wreckage, while the other female died at the St Ann’s Bay Hospital.

Eight other employees of the hotel and the driver were treated at the hospital and released.

The Road Safety Unit (RSU) says preliminary investigations indicate that faulty judgment on the part of the bus driver caused an accident.

The driver was warned for prosecution as investigators are still collecting statements in the matter.

*SUSPICIONS *

Several suspicions and speculations and stories about the supernatural have swirled in the public arena since that fatal crash which has caused people to reflect on several Bahia related incidents.

The hotel stands high, beautiful and majestic in Pear Tree Bottom, Runaway Bay, St Ann, but tragedies seem to accompany the hotel from days gone by with its construction.  In August 2, 2006, construction was suspended due to an incident which resulted in the death of one worker and injuries to some 15 employees.
The death and injuries resulted from the collapse of a concrete structure being erected, towards the end of the work day, at about 5:00 p.m., on August 2, 2006. The persons who were injured were being treated at the St. Ann’s Bay Hospital.

Then in October, 2015, when the hotel was being expanded, another construction worker died, but this was not heavily reported in the media.

Also during the construction of the hotel, there were reports of persons seeing ghosts on the site


----------



## LadyBugsy

Maybe something’s wrong with the water? Seems like every case involved iced alcoholic beverages.


----------



## Black Ambrosia

How long before we hear about this negatively impacting tourism in these areas? I want it to hurt the resorts.


----------



## Laela

Another one... why her son have to get her ashes back???


*NY woman, 53, died on vacation in Dominican Republic; son demands answers*
*By Frank Miles | Fox News






A New York woman, 53, is the latest American tourist to die in the Dominican Republic, long one of the top Caribbean destinations for U.S. travelers.

Leyla Cox of New Brighton went on vacation June 5 and was expected to return on June 12, as The Staten Island Advance reported.


Cox, who had traveled alone before, was found dead of a heart attack in her hotel room, according to the news outlet.





Leyla Cox went on vacation June 5 and was expected to return on June 12. (Facebook)

“We can confirm the death of U.S. citizen Leyla Cox in the Dominican Republic on June 11. Out of respect for family members and loved ones we cannot comment further,” a State Department official confirmed to Fox News.

COLORADO COUPLE FILES SUIT ALLEGING CHEMICALS AT DOMINICAN REPUBLIC RESORT MADE THEM CRITICALLY ILL

So far, at least six American tourists have died under oddly similar circumstances -- four this year, two last year -- in the Dominican Republic, a rash of deaths of seemingly healthy people.

“I am overwhelmed and confused and in shock,” William, 25, her only child, said. “With everything going on in the news right now, we think she’s a casualty of what’s been happening."

His mom’s coworker posted a tribute on Facebook.


Peggy McGinley Reilly wrote: “She turned 53 on Saturday. I want the world to know, that another US Citizen passed away in this vacation destination, that as far as I know is not being held accountable for the past transgressions. Hopefully this will be investigated.”

On Wednesday, Dominican tourism officials said they wanted to reassure U.S. tourists that U.S. federal agents and health specialists have been taking an active role investigating the deaths.

The Tourism Ministry said it wanted to “extend its sincerest condolences to the families and friends of those affected in the tragic events that have been reported over the last few weeks in the country.”

The FBI was conducting deeper analyses of toxicological results, warning that conclusions may take up to a month and urging “patience during this process.”

Leyla’s son said his family didn’t have the money to figure out any mysteries over his mother’s death.

“They’ve put me against a wall where I don’t have a choice,” he said. “Our own toxicology report would cost copious amounts of money.”

He added, “I have to get her ashes back.”


*


----------



## Laela

I think the U.S. should fly family members to the resorts when "mysterious deaths" occur so they can bring the bodies back themselves. I know there's a lot of red tape involved, but this is something that should be looked in to. The son had been told he couldn't get a toxicology report because  the machine was " broken" .. The FBI needs to deep-dive, stat! How are people still dying while the FBI is investigating??


----------



## TrulyBlessed

Laela said:


> Another one... why her son have to get her ashes back???
> 
> 
> *NY woman, 53, died on vacation in Dominican Republic; son demands answers*
> *By Frank Miles | Fox News
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> A New York woman, 53, is the latest American tourist to die in the Dominican Republic, long one of the top Caribbean destinations for U.S. travelers.
> 
> Leyla Cox of New Brighton went on vacation June 5 and was expected to return on June 12, as The Staten Island Advance reported.
> 
> 
> Cox, who had traveled alone before, was found dead of a heart attack in her hotel room, according to the news outlet.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Leyla Cox went on vacation June 5 and was expected to return on June 12. (Facebook)
> 
> “We can confirm the death of U.S. citizen Leyla Cox in the Dominican Republic on June 11. Out of respect for family members and loved ones we cannot comment further,” a State Department official confirmed to Fox News.
> 
> COLORADO COUPLE FILES SUIT ALLEGING CHEMICALS AT DOMINICAN REPUBLIC RESORT MADE THEM CRITICALLY ILL
> 
> So far, at least six American tourists have died under oddly similar circumstances -- four this year, two last year -- in the Dominican Republic, a rash of deaths of seemingly healthy people.
> 
> “I am overwhelmed and confused and in shock,” William, 25, her only child, said. “With everything going on in the news right now, we think she’s a casualty of what’s been happening."
> 
> His mom’s coworker posted a tribute on Facebook.
> 
> 
> Peggy McGinley Reilly wrote: “She turned 53 on Saturday. I want the world to know, that another US Citizen passed away in this vacation destination, that as far as I know is not being held accountable for the past transgressions. Hopefully this will be investigated.”
> 
> On Wednesday, Dominican tourism officials said they wanted to reassure U.S. tourists that U.S. federal agents and health specialists have been taking an active role investigating the deaths.
> 
> The Tourism Ministry said it wanted to “extend its sincerest condolences to the families and friends of those affected in the tragic events that have been reported over the last few weeks in the country.”
> 
> The FBI was conducting deeper analyses of toxicological results, warning that conclusions may take up to a month and urging “patience during this process.”
> 
> Leyla’s son said his family didn’t have the money to figure out any mysteries over his mother’s death.
> 
> “They’ve put me against a wall where I don’t have a choice,” he said. “Our own toxicology report would cost copious amounts of money.”
> 
> He added, “I have to get her ashes back.”
> 
> *



The ashes part concerns me as well...

First let me say that I hate this is happening at all to anyone of any race but I’m glad that the victims are not limited to black people. When white bodies are involved things seem be taken more seriously and acted upon quicker. Had this been limited to only black victims who knows how long it would’ve taken to get the FBI and other U.S. federal agents involved.


----------



## SoniT

I saw that the latest woman who died was staying at Excellence resort. The others were at Bahia Principe and Hard Rock. The Shark Tank lady clarified the news reports about her brother. She said that her brother was not staying at a hotel and had an existing condition. She said that the news reports are lumping his death together with the others. I think at this point any time someone dies in D.R., there's going to be a news story about it. A woman was swept away by a rip current and there was a news story about "another death in Dominican Republic." I hope that the FBI releases their findings so we can know what's going on.


----------



## BrownSkin2

I went to the Dominican Republic in 2014 and stayed at the Bahia Principle Resort in Punta Cuna. It was an all-inclusive deal and had a fabulous time.

I will not be going back any time soon! This is all so sad and suspicious. 

There was also reports that the Dominican Republic charge alot of money to ship dead bodies back. It was insinuated that's a business.


----------



## cinnespice

I went to DR in 2015 and never planned on going back.
Nothing bad happened but the way they treat Haitians does not sit right me at all.
I have quite a few friends that are Dominican so I'm not going to say I don't like them but after going there and reading up on the past it's too much.
For some reason when I went there I barely ate. I lived on bottled water, bread, cheese and maybe some fruit. Like to the point my friends kept asking if I was OK. My stomach just wouldn't let me for some reason I had a taste for nothing. I barely drank alcohol.
At the end of  it 2 out of the 4 of us had tummy issues.

I will be on a cruise in August and my family choose a port in DR. I have already told my family like if your going on excursion that is up to you but I'm good.
My sister and I have decided not go pass the cruise port. We may walk around a bit in and comeback. We may just enjoy the boat all day.

Too much suspicious stuff in a short period of time has gone down, but then again they hide stuff too.


----------



## SoniT

cinnespice said:


> For some reason when I went there I barely ate. I lived on bottled water, bread, cheese and maybe some fruit. Like to the point my friends kept asking if I was OK. My stomach just wouldn't let me for some reason I had a taste for nothing. I barely drank alcohol.
> At the end of  it 2 out of the 4 of us had tummy issues.


I was also cautious about what I ate. I can't put my finger on it but the food tasted different. Even something like steak and a baked potato tasted different than it does at home. For breakfast, I only ate croissants or other types of bread. The bacon tasted different than what I'm used to. I brought coffee creamer from home and used it for my coffee. It's hard to explain about the food but there's something different about it that I've never experienced in other locations.  The presentation is absolutely beautiful but it doesn't taste quite right. I wonder if that's why so many people have stomach issues when they visit. I think my favorite a la carte restaurant was the Hibachi and the rest were hit or miss.


----------



## TrulyBlessed




----------



## Kiowa

Just left, and headed to Europe..Europe has a bad problem with fake alcohol too....I won't be drinking anything though, as I developed some kind of ear situation, and have lost my hearing in one ear, and hearing in other one is going down hill.
I wouldn't even be able to hear anyone sneaking up on me...


----------



## moneychaser

I don’t think it’s the alcohol based on what that guy posted on my timeline about the weird stares and being followed around the resort.  I think they are drugging folks and robbing them.


----------



## Reinventing21

I think there is more than one issue with more than one cause, and now it all coming to light all at once.


----------



## SoniT

Reinventing21 said:


> I think there is more than one issue with more than one cause, and now it all coming to light all at once.


I agree. The media is reporting on every tragic story that comes out of the Dominican Republic right now involving tourists - either sickness or death. The strangest one was the couple who were found dead in their room. That was very odd. Its possible that there could be different causes for each of the 7 or 8 deaths - pesticides, tainted alcohol, plain old natural causes, or something else.


----------



## Laela

I'm curious about the folks bringing back duty free liquor from there.. and if anyone had mysteriously died in US right after a trip from DR over the years. It's  unfortunate  Dominicans are like oh well..  'this happens all the time..'
.. 




TrulyBlessed said:


>


----------



## blackgurll

Why are people still going to this place? All these deaths and the attempts at hiding/distorting the stories should give any person concern.
Will Cox says he was told a toxicology test could not be done during his mother's autopsy *because the machines are broken.*


----------



## Covagirlm

The liquor at resorts has always been shady because imported liquor is very expensive and they cut corners but that's not the issue here...these people are being targeted.


----------



## SoniT

Another death. A man from New Jersey died at a different resort   This is very weird. They need to get to the bottom of what's going on.

https://www.essence.com/news/joseph-joe-allen-dominican-republic-sudden-death/


----------



## douglala

SoniT said:


> I was also cautious about what I ate. I can't put my finger on it but the food tasted different. Even something like steak and a baked potato tasted different than it does at home. For breakfast, I only ate croissants or other types of bread. The bacon tasted different than what I'm used to. I brought coffee creamer from home and used it for my coffee. It's hard to explain about the food but there's something different about it that I've never experienced in other locations.  The presentation is absolutely beautiful but it doesn't taste quite right. I wonder if that's why so many people have stomach issues when they visit. I think my favorite a la carte restaurant was the Hibachi and the rest were hit or miss.



Yup everything tasted different. Even their bottled drinks tasted way different to me. Their cokes/Pepsi in what appeared to be a sealed bottle had this extra sweetness that we don’t get here. 

I stayed at the Bahia and had to dump a few drinks bc of the suspicious way the bartender made the drink.


----------



## Southernbella.

June 17, 2019, 9:57 AM ET / Source: TODAY
By Scott Stump


A group of Jimmy Buffett fans say they spent their time in paradise wasting away with a mysterious illness during a trip to the Dominican Republic.

Their reports of illness come after at least six American tourists have died while vacationing in the Dominican Republic since the beginning of this year.

According to the group's travel agent, 47 of the 114 trip members came down with extreme diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness and headaches

*Dana Flowers, a member of the Central Oklahoma Parrothead Association (who also serves as the group’s travel agent), tells PEOPLE that 47 of the 114 people on the the trip got sick, with many unable to leave their rooms. He said some are still not feeling “normal” two months later.*

“We went [to Hotel Riu Palace Macao] for the week — some longer, some shorter,” he tells PEOPLE. “We were enjoying the beach and the pool, and about 3 or 4 days into the trip we started hearing about people getting sick. They were getting diarrhea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches.”

*RELATED:* Mysterious Dominican Republic Tourist Deaths: The Victims So Far

Flowers says the group initially chalked the mystery ailment up to food poisoning, but their symptoms began to worsen. Flowers, who was among those affected by the illness, claims he lost 14 pounds over the course of 19 days. “It was some of the worst sick I’ve ever been, and I don’t normally ever get sick,” he says.


*Flowers claims that everyone who grew ill in his group either swam in one specific pool or drank at the swim-up bar. *When members of the group sought treatment from the on-site doctor, Flowers claims, ”Most of them got an IV, then were prescribed a medicine for parasites. [They] didn’t do any testing, they just automatically gave them medicine for parasites.”


----------



## msbettyboop

Another one happened ladies - https://thegedsection.com/black-ame...american-tourist-to-die-in-dominican-republic


----------



## ColibriNoir

msbettyboop said:


> Another one happened ladies - https://thegedsection.com/black-ame...american-tourist-to-die-in-dominican-republic


Oh no! I’m Haitian and don’t intend on ever going to the DR due to the poor treatment of my compatriots but this situation with deaths at these resorts is really unsettling.


----------



## Peppermynt

Another person returning from DR ill:

https://www.thecut.com/2019/06/melissa-rycroft-is-sick-after-trip-to-dominican-republic.html



> *A Bachelor Star Is the Latest Person to Fall Ill After Visiting Dominican Republic*
> 
> Former _Bachelor_ star Melissa Rycroft is the latest person to come down with a mysterious sickness following a trip to the Dominican Republic, where a growing number of Americans have been falling suspiciously — and in some cases, deathly — ill.
> 
> On Monday, a source told “Page Six” that Rycroft has been “very sick” ever since vacationing with her family at the Nickelodeon Resort in Punta Cana earlier this month. While not many details surrounding her illness have been reported, one of Rycroft’s representatives told “Page Six” that she has had “major stomach issues since returning from the Dominican Republic.”
> 
> “She got an upset stomach on the second day of vacation, but it passed. Once they came home, she got severe cramping,” the representative said. “It has lasted for over a week, and she’s currently getting tested for possible parasites and any other infections. She’s assuming it’s something foodborne, but no one else in her family is ill.”
> 
> Rycroft also opened up about her condition on Instagram, where she’s posted two photos with captions about not feeling well. Next to a photo of herself at a doctor’s office, she wrote, “After a really rough week, I have been put on a liquid diet, and given meds for my severe cramping.”
> 
> Though Rycroft is reportedly not too concerned yet, her sickness comes at a time when a mounting number of Americans are falling ill — and in some cases, dying — during or after trips to the Dominican Republic. In the past few months, at least nine people have been found dead in their hotel rooms on the island, and countless others have come down with serious sicknesses. While an FBI investigation into the deaths is still ongoing, experts believe the symptoms are “consistent with poisoning.” (Local authorities are currently investigating whether bootleg alcohol is the source of the worrying trend.)
> 
> “It’s rare for travelers to die of unknown causes like this, and to have a high number of them in a relatively short period of time is alarming, shocking, sad,” Tom Inglesby, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told the _Times_. “It’s something that investigators should be able to get to the bottom of.”


----------



## Laela

These reports are making my head spin...


----------



## SoniT

The deaths are concerning but at this point some of the reports about people getting sick is media sensationalism (in my opinion). If someone dies, yeah that's a very big deal but I don't need to know every time someone gets diarrhea or stomach cramps on vacation. Tummy trouble in Dominican Republic is common enough that theres a website on how to avoid tummy issues. 

https://www.passporthealthglobal.co...void-tummy-tangles-in-the-dominican-republic/


----------



## demlew

Y'all! Another lady died on Tuesday with fluid on her lungs!
https://nypost.com/2019/06/20/bride-dies-after-return-from-dominican-republic-honeymoon/

A Louisana bride who went on her honeymoon to the Dominican Republic mysteriously died less than a week after she returned, according to a report.

Susan Simoneaux of Luling died Tuesday in a local hospital after traveling to Punta Cana, a resort town where several Americans have died and dozens more have fallen ill, news station WWL-TV reported.

“I would have never went if I would have known,” said her husband, Keith Williams. “I did not know, to be honest with you.”

Her cause of death hasn’t been determined, but the newlywed’s symptoms were strikingly similar to those of three tourists who died last month while visiting the beach oasis.

Simoneaux had fluid in her lungs when she died — as did Pennsylvania psychotherapist Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, when she fatally collapsed at the Bahía Príncipe resort in La Romana.

Schaup-Werner died from a heart attack May 25 in her room after having a drink from the minibar.

Five days later, Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were also found dead with fluid in their lungs at the same resort. The engaged Maryland couple’s cause of death was ruled respiratory failure and pulmonary edema.

Simoneaux’s family said an autopsy will be ordered, according to WWL-TV.

Friends took to social media to pay tribute to the newlywed with photos from her wedding.

“Pictures speak a 1,000 words. Look at my friends on their wedding day May 11, 2019,” Ronjae Mott wrote on Facebook. “Now her husband, Keith has to prepare for his wife funeral.”


----------



## TrulyBlessed

*Two more Americans reported dead after Dominican Republic vacations*
*By Amanda Woods*
By Amanda Woods

June 21, 2019 | 10:18am




Chris Palmer and Barbara Maser-Mitchell Facebook

Two more Americans — a man from Kansas and a woman from Pennsylvania — died during vacations in the Dominican Republic, amid a recent spate of tourist deaths in the country, according to a new report.

The families of Chris Palmer — a 41-year-old Army veteran from Kansas who died on April 18, 2018, and Barbara Diane Maser-Mitchell, a 69-year-old retired nurse from Pennsylvania who died on Sept. 17, 2016 — came forward to Fox News to report their deaths.

The State Department confirmed the deaths to the network Thursday.

Both Palmer and Maser-Mitchell died of heart attacks, according to official determinations by Dominican authorities, the report said.

Palmer was staying at the Villa Cocotal Palma resort in Punta Cana, according to Fox News. He’d been working at a Mexican resort and went to the Dominican Republic in hopes of selling timeshares and teaching scuba diving there, friends and family said.




Chris with daughter Meghan PalmerFacebook
He was a salesman and scuba diving instructor who loved traveling, his daughter, Meghan Palmer, told Fox.

In reports given to Palmer’s family, obtained by the outlet, Dominican authorities said that he had pulmonary edema. But those who knew him feared that wasn’t the whole story.

“As soon as he died, I wondered if he was poisoned, if he was drugged,” Bernadette Hiller, his one-time girlfriend who remained a close friend, told the network. “He was healthy as a horse.”

At some point during his stay, Palmer told his friends he had a bad headache, Palmer told the outlet.

He was found dead in his room after aspirating his own vomit, Dominican authorities said, according to the report.

Like many others whose relatives have recently died in the country, Palmer’s loved ones said they felt pressured to get his body cremated.

“We are devastated and are seeking answers,” Hiller told Fox. “This was so sudden and unexpected. This has been a nightmare for his family.”




Facebook
Maser-Mitchell died during her stay at the Excellence resort in Punta Cana, where she celebrated her birthday with her son and his long-time companion, according to the report.

She started to feel sick on her second day there, after having cocktails, her son’s companion, Terry Mackey, told the outlet.

The next day, Maser-Mitchell wasn’t any better and decided not to join them for breakfast.

She drank in moderation — but never to excess, Mackey said.

“In the 15 years I knew her, she never suffered aftereffects,” Mackey told Fox.

The family contacted the resort doctor, who suggested the woman go to the hospital — which she at first declined, and then agreed to go. In the ambulance, she went into cardiac arrest.

“I was sitting in the ambulance with her, holding her hand the whole time,” Mackey told the outlet.




Barbara Maser-MitchellClassmates.com
The woman’s corpse was in such bad shape when it arrived in the US that relatives couldn’t view her, according to Mackey. Dominican authorities had allegedly claimed that the body had not been properly preserved.

Before the trip, Maser-Mitchell went for a medical exam, where she was given the all-clear to go on vacation, Mackey added.

Maser-Mitchell was in generally good health, and it wasn’t clear if she drank anything from the room minibar, Mackey told the network.

“She was a [licensed practical nurse], she knew the symptoms of a heart attack, she would have known,” Mackey said. “She didn’t present symptoms of a heart attack.”

Dominican authorities are expected to hold a Friday press conference in which they will detail final autopsy reports on the recent wave of deaths among US tourists in the country.

The resorts did not immediately return requests for comment.

https://nypost.com/2019/06/21/two-more-americans-reported-dead-after-dominican-republic-vacations/


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## SoniT

Wait a minute, the people in the above article died in 2016 and 2018?? It's  something weird going on with the media. A lot of these articles are coming from NY Post.


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## TrulyBlessed

What kind of trash explanation is this? Throw the whole country away at this point.


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## Crackers Phinn

TrulyBlessed said:


> What kind of trash explanation is this? Throw the whole country away at this point.


They ought to be ashamed of themselves.


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## Laela

As I thought...they're gonna start digging up people who had vacationed to DR but died after returning to the U.S.  I think that list will grow. If they came forward, other families likely are looking hard at their relatives' deaths in the past...



SoniT said:


> Wait a minute, the people in the above article died in 2016 and 2018?? It's  something weird going on with the media. A lot of these articles are coming from NY Post.


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## lavaflow99

Laela said:


> As I thought...they're gonna start digging up people who had vacationed to DR but died after returning to the U.S.  I think that list will grow. If they came forward, other families likely are looking hard at their relatives' deaths in the past...



And it will only sensationalize the story even more and throw the numbers off. 

People die on vacation every day.  Morbid but true and that is less concerning to me. 

I am more interested in knowing how many people died in the DR this year only and how that number compares to other years.


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## LdyKamz

I've been following this thread and between all these deaths and the rapes that were mentioned earlier in this thread y'all done made me too afraid to go anywhere. 



lavaflow99 said:


> And it will only sensationalize the story even more and throw the numbers off.
> 
> People die on vacation every day.  Morbid but true and that is less concerning to me.
> *
> I am more interested in knowing how many people died in the DR this year only and how that number compares to other year*s.



If several people have been dying consistently after visiting the DR, considering we're only halfway through the year, the number of deaths this year could be comparatively lower than previous years. I do think the other deaths need to be taken into account when investigating this. However, the media needs to chill on reporting every single incident because it does nothing but incite panic especially since the authorities are still figuring out what's going on. Until then, I will keep myself away from the DR.


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## TrulyBlessed




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## Laela

*Another American tourist dies in the Dominican Republic*

BY BRIAN PASCUS
JUNE 24, 2019 / 8:50 AM / CBS NEWS

An American died last week while vacationing in the Dominican Republic, bringing the total number of U.S. citizens who died while traveling on the island to at least eight this year and 11 in the past year. Vittorio Caruso, 56, died on June 17 while vacationing on the island, CBS News New York reported.


The State Department confirmed to CBS New York that Caruso, a recently retired owner of a pizza shop from Glen Cove, N.Y., died on vacation there this month, but his cause of death is unknown at this time. Caruso's family was too distraught to speak on camera to CBS but said the Dominican Republic has given them conflicting information about where and when he died.

According to Fox News, Caruso was scheduled to return on June 27. He was vacationing at the Boca Chico Resort in Santo Domingo. Caruso's sister-in-law told Fox News, "he was brought by ambulance to the hospital in respiratory distress after drinking something."






Vittorio Caruso in an undated photo before his death on June 17, 2019. 
CBS NEW YORK

Caruso's family told the New York Post that he was "very healthy" and that "he went to the doctor before he left, and he had no problems."

CBS News has reported on what we know so far about the multiple American tourist deaths in the Dominican Republic this year and last year. Some of the deaths reportedly occurred after the visitors complained of feeling ill after eating a meal or drinking out of the hotel minibar. The U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo said there is no proof at this point the deaths are linked. Several of the deaths were reported to be a heart attack, which health officials say is the most common cause of death for Americans on vacation.

CBS News spoke last week with César Duverany, a spokesperson for the Dominican Republic's foreign ministry, who said the cases are isolated out of more than 6 million tourists, and that this doesn't mean the country is unsafe. He noted that the government has a special body focused on tourism safety, with protocols in place that have not changed.

On Friday, the island's tourism minister said  the tourist deaths were a medically and statistically normal phenomenon. "We want the truth to prevail," Tourism Minister Francisco Javier García said. "There is nothing to hide here."

The FBI has a team in the Dominican Republic investigating the American deaths.

First published on June 24, 2019 / 8:50 AM

© 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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## cinnespice

ColibriNoir said:


> Oh no! I’m Haitian and don’t intend on ever going to the DR due to the poor treatment of my compatriots but this situation with deaths at these resorts is really unsettling.


I said this on a facebook page and got jumped on by 2 Latina girls, asking me if i'm Haitian and why am I being so black.
My sister told me to be cool, cause if she didn't i might have said some stuff that I meant. 
Yeah whatever I know different and I'm grown so your opinions don't' sway me. 
On our cruise we have a stop in DR so a lot of people are concerned and want the boat to change itinerary.
But you have people in group who are like no it's safe, it happened on the other side of the island and blah blah blah.
I'm like something is dead wrong and you trying to convince me otherwise.
And I'm like no thank you. I might get off and walk around but i'm not eating, drinking or spending money there.
I been to DR i'm good.


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## Ms. Tarabotti

lavaflow99 said:


> And it will only sensationalize the story even more and throw the numbers off.
> 
> People die on vacation every day.  Morbid but true and that is less concerning to me.
> 
> I am more interested in knowing how many people died in the DR this year only and how that number compares to other years.



Yes, people die every day on vacation. But when you have a number of seemingly healthy people dying in similar ways at a particular area, it warrants further investigation. True, these people may have had underlying conditions that were aggravated by being in a foreign country but every possibility should be investigated- alcohol poisoning, insecticide use,  the robbing and murdering of tourists, the emergence of a new disease. etc.

I wonder if these deaths are occurring only at the all inclusive resorts. When I went with my sisters friends, we stayed at a two rustic villas where local women cooked for us each week night. We had to leave shopping lists for them so that they could go to the local market to get food. Is it only confined to the all inclusives for some reason? Are the locals getting sick or just the tourists? Maybe some CDC scientists should be there as well.


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## natural2008

cinnespice said:


> I said this on a facebook page and got jumped on by 2 Latina girls, asking me if i'm Haitian and why am I being so black.
> My sister told me to be cool, cause if she didn't i might have said some stuff that I meant.
> Yeah whatever I know different and I'm grown so your opinions don't' sway me.
> On our cruise we have a stop in DR so a lot of people are concerned and want the boat to change itinerary.
> But you have people in group who are like no it's safe, it happened on the other side of the island and blah blah blah.
> I'm like something is dead wrong and you trying to convince me otherwise.
> And I'm like no thank you. I might get off and walk around but i'm not eating, drinking or spending money there.
> I been to DR i'm good.



Stay on the boat, relax, and read you a good book.


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## TrulyBlessed

Good grief


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## SoniT

Ms. Tarabotti said:


> Yes, people die every day on vacation. But when you have a number of seemingly healthy people dying in similar ways at a particular area, it warrants further investigation. True, these people may have had underlying conditions that were aggravated by being in a foreign country but every possibility should be investigated- alcohol poisoning, insecticide use,  the robbing and murdering of tourists, the emergence of a new disease. etc.
> 
> I wonder if these deaths are occurring only at the all inclusive resorts. When I went with my sisters friends, we stayed at a two rustic villas where local women cooked for us each week night. We had to leave shopping lists for them so that they could go to the local market to get food. Is it only confined to the all inclusives for some reason? Are the locals getting sick or just the tourists? Maybe some CDC scientists should be there as well.


Based on the various reports (mainly from Fox and NY Post), the locals aren't getting sick. They're only reporting on the tourists. I still think there's some fear-mongering going on but I also don't have an upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic planned at this time. I might feel differently if I did.


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## TrulyBlessed

*Delta allows passengers to Dominican Republic to cancel their flights*
New York(CNN Business) — Delta Air Lines is giving passengers to one of the Dominican Republic's airports the right to change or cancel tickets without the usual penalty.

The flights covered by the waiver are those going to and from Punta Cana, on the eastern tip of the Island, where several American tourists have died in the last year. 

Delta (DAL) said it is granting the waiver for travel through August 15, and if passengers are going to rebook they must begin travel no later than November 20. But if passengers cancel the flight altogether, they will get a credit that they can use on Delta for a period of one year from the original booking date. 

The airline said it is granting the waiver"due to recent events" in Punta Cana. Delta said it is working with passengers traveling to the two other Dominican airports — those serving Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros — on a case-by-case basis. Other airlines, such as American (AAL), JetBlue (JBLU) and Sun Country, also say they will work with passengers wanting to change or cancel Dominican flights on a case-by-case basis.

Flight cancellations to and from the Dominican Republic are soaring, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. New bookings to the island are off sharply since the beginning of June. 

Between June 1 and June 19, cancellations increased 51% compared to the same period a year ago. The pace of cancellations has picked up even more than that in recent days with cancellations more than double year ago levels on June 18 and 19.

New bookings for July and August to the Dominican Republic from the United States have fallen by 74.3% compared to the same period in 2018. Bookings were up 2.8% in April and May, before the news coverage of the deaths began.

David Tarsh, a spokeperson for ForwardKeys, said the decline is similar to what happens sometimes after violence strikes a country. "You can get a long continued problem or things can recover quite quickly, depending on whether people see the threat as being contained or ongoing. The problem you have here is the uncertainty, because the deaths are a mystery."




Your questions about the Dominican Republic tourist deaths, answered
Bookings to rival tourism destinations have jumped, Tarsh noted. June bookings for summer flights are up 45% to the Bahamas, up 31% to Aruba and up 26% to Jamaica.

At least 10 American citizens have died in the Dominican Republic in the last year, according to the US State Department, victims' families and the involved resorts.

That includes two visitors to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, a third who was staying at Bahia Principe and a fourth who died in her hotel room at Excellence Resorts on June 10.

At least some of the deaths are believed to have been from natural causes, and so far a connection between the deaths has not been established.

The loss of tourism is a huge problem for the Dominican economy. Tarsh said 17% of the nation's gross domestic product is tied to tourism.

Dominican Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garciacalls on Friday called the spate of deaths "exaggerated."

"It's not true that there has been an avalanche of American tourists dying in our country, and it's not true that we have mysterious deaths," he said. He denied Americans are canceling their vacations to the Dominican Republic.

_-- CNN's Doug Criss and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report_

https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/25/business/dominican-republic-delta-trnd/index.html


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## Kiowa

TrulyBlessed said:


> Good grief



What are the conditions in the local hospitals? I know I've gotten sick while overseas, and I'd rather them airlift me back to the US, rather than treat me at local hospitals where even the locals poo-poo the medical treatment being provided there..


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## Laela

Good to see airlines cooperating with passengers..
That poor Colorado man.. my heart hurts for his family. It's as if the DR authorities knowingly kept him there to die...so he doesn't land on US soil to get treated and evidence discovered.


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## Crackers Phinn

TrulyBlessed said:


> *Delta allows passengers to Dominican Republic to cancel their flights*
> New York(CNN Business) — Delta Air Lines is giving passengers to one of the Dominican Republic's airports the right to change or cancel tickets without the usual penalty.
> 
> The flights covered by the waiver are those going to and from Punta Cana, on the eastern tip of the Island, where several American tourists have died in the last year.
> 
> Delta (DAL) said it is granting the waiver for travel through August 15, and if passengers are going to rebook they must begin travel no later than November 20. But if passengers cancel the flight altogether, they will get a credit that they can use on Delta for a period of one year from the original booking date.
> 
> The airline said it is granting the waiver"due to recent events" in Punta Cana. Delta said it is working with passengers traveling to the two other Dominican airports — those serving Santo Domingo and Santiago de los Caballeros — on a case-by-case basis. Other airlines, such as American (AAL), JetBlue (JBLU) and Sun Country, also say they will work with passengers wanting to change or cancel Dominican flights on a case-by-case basis.
> 
> Flight cancellations to and from the Dominican Republic are soaring, according to travel analytics firm ForwardKeys. New bookings to the island are off sharply since the beginning of June.
> 
> Between June 1 and June 19, cancellations increased 51% compared to the same period a year ago. The pace of cancellations has picked up even more than that in recent days with cancellations more than double year ago levels on June 18 and 19.
> 
> New bookings for July and August to the Dominican Republic from the United States have fallen by 74.3% compared to the same period in 2018. Bookings were up 2.8% in April and May, before the news coverage of the deaths began.
> 
> David Tarsh, a spokeperson for ForwardKeys, said the decline is similar to what happens sometimes after violence strikes a country. "You can get a long continued problem or things can recover quite quickly, depending on whether people see the threat as being contained or ongoing. The problem you have here is the uncertainty, because the deaths are a mystery."
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Your questions about the Dominican Republic tourist deaths, answered
> Bookings to rival tourism destinations have jumped, Tarsh noted. June bookings for summer flights are up 45% to the Bahamas, up 31% to Aruba and up 26% to Jamaica.
> 
> At least 10 American citizens have died in the Dominican Republic in the last year, according to the US State Department, victims' families and the involved resorts.
> 
> That includes two visitors to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, a third who was staying at Bahia Principe and a fourth who died in her hotel room at Excellence Resorts on June 10.
> 
> At least some of the deaths are believed to have been from natural causes, and so far a connection between the deaths has not been established.
> 
> The loss of tourism is a huge problem for the Dominican economy. Tarsh said 17% of the nation's gross domestic product is tied to tourism.
> 
> Dominican Tourism Minister Francisco Javier Garciacalls on Friday called the spate of deaths "exaggerated."
> 
> "It's not true that there has been an avalanche of American tourists dying in our country, and it's not true that we have mysterious deaths," he said. He denied Americans are canceling their vacations to the Dominican Republic.
> 
> _-- CNN's Doug Criss and Ray Sanchez contributed to this report_
> 
> https://www.cnn.com/2019/06/25/business/dominican-republic-delta-trnd/index.html


This is a good thing for Delta, hopefully other airlines will follow.  I hope at least black folks will cancel their trips.   The most recent black victim went after these poisoning stories occurred and probably thought it was just hype or a conspiracy theory.   Nope. Nope. Nope.   The DR ain't safe and it's better to lose the trip money if you have to than your life..


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## Southernbella.

I wish I could link an acquaintance's IG post. She's in DR right now and people were commenting about the deaths on her pics so she did a follow-up post saying when it's her time to go, she'll go and until then, she isn't gonna be afraid to live her life.


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## Laela

^^ Aw man... my prayer is for the safety of all those vacationing there as we speak, that God protects them from this evil and bring them home safely to their loved ones.


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## msbettyboop

So 29 Canadians have died in DR in 2019. Definitely can't wait to go there now...


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## TrulyBlessed




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## Laela

^^thought I'd post more details.. this is sad... that last quote is very insensitive IMHO

*Georgia man dies in Dominican Republic after drinking soda that didn't 'taste right'*
JUSTIN CHAN, AOL.COM
Jul 15th 2019 2:57PM

Yet another American tourist has died suspiciously in the Dominican Republic, bringing the total number of mysterious deaths in the Caribbean country to well over 10. 

Tracy Jerome Jester Jr., 31, of Forsyth, Ga., passed away on March 17 while vacationing with his sister at a resort, the U.S. State Department and his family told ABC News on Sunday. 

"We can confirm the death of a U.S. citizen in the Dominican Republic in March 2019," a state department spokesman said in a statement. "We offer our sincerest condolences to the family for their loss. Out of respect for the family during this difficult time, we do not have additional information to provide."

Jester, who had been dealing with lupus, reportedly suffered from a "respiratory illness" after he had gone sightseeing. He had planned to return home the next morning but his sister called the night of March 16 to say he was vomiting and couldn't breathe, his mother Melody Moore said. 

"I was panicking because I couldn’t get to my children," she recalled. 

Jester's sister told her mother that he "just dropped to his knees and started throwing up blood, and was calling for Mama," Moore said. Several hours later, he purportedly passed away.

In a separate interview with WSB-TV, Moore said that her son had drunk a soda and had told her that it didn't "taste right." She is now convinced that his death is connected to the over 10 questionable deaths that have either involved the consumption of alcohol or the use of hotel amenities. 

"Being a mom, I want to go to where he was, where he died at last," she said. "Something is wrong, my son is gone. Something is really wrong."

Most recently, Denver resident Khalid Adkins passed away in the Dominican Republic after he allegedly dripped with sweat and vomited in a plane's bathroom as he tried to return home.

Other victims include New Yorker Donette Edge Cannon, Pennsylvania woman Yvette Monique Sport, Maryland resident David Harrison, Californian Robert Wallace, Ohio resident Jerry Curran, Pennsylvania resident Miranda Schaup-Werner, Maryland couple Edward Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Day, California resident Robert Turlock, New York resident Leyla Cox and New Jersey resident Joseph Allen.

The FBI is currently assisting Dominican authorities with their investigation into several of the deaths, although Dominican officials have persistently downplayedconcerns over their country's safety. 

In an interview with Fox News last month, Ministry of Public Health spokesman Carlos Suero dismissed the notion that foul play was involved. 

*"We had about 14 deaths last year here of U.S. tourists, and no one said a word," he said. "Now everyone is making a big deal of these."*


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## TrulyBlessed




----------



## lavaflow99

TrulyBlessed said:


>



Unbelievable. I have decided I won’t do an all inclusive every again. And I doubt I’ll go to a Caribbean or Mexican resort. Except via cruise ship and won’t be eating or drinking on these islands while there.


----------

