What a tragedy! I haven't seen anything on my news. But how horrific!

Gray, yes there are many pieces of this puzzle that do not make sense.

We don't know all the details and possibly never will.

Unfortunately DR is one of those places where it would be best to stay within a resort compound for safety reasons.

I "liked" your post, but I don't like it....if you know what i mean. This is both tragic and fascinating...something is very wrong, here...

I read the story when they were still missing. The woman was so worried about having to drive to the airport 100 miles away for their 2 am flight.

It also makes no sense that the hospital didn't identify her. They might have checked to see if they were American, being black. I hadn't heard that their bodies were found far apart.

Yes, I agree with you. The info, regarding how and where they were found, doesn't add up to me. Hopefully, further details will come to light. I highly doubt it, though.

https://nypost.com/2019/04/13/alcohol-high-speed-may-have-played-role-in-couples-fatal-dominican-republic-crash/

They had gone out to dinner the night before with the couple from Nova Scotia who was interviewed. Doesn't make much sense that he was drunk since his girlfriend was so anxious about traveling to the airport and the couple didn't report that he was drunk. They left the other couple about 9pm to pack and head to the airport, which didn't sound like enough time to make the flight traveling on island roads.

very tragic indeed. the article above doesn't seem to have as much info as the original poster and some on here. I guess there is more info out there. I do not follow about checking if American because they are black; the DR has many blacks. That car looks totalled and then some. :(

As does America and other island nations. If no one reported her missing, they might question whether she was local and explore the possibility that she was a tourist.

Family members did report them missing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/04/11/caribbean-mystery-vacationing-couple-vanished-found-dead/?utm_term=.2e8de0a03362

Now their deaths as well as several others are being investigated by the FBI.

Sounds very fishy.

ABC report

I was listening to our local talk radio station yesterday. One of the program hosts said she and her DH had just gotten back from the DR. They were talking about the couple, the lady that is now posting on social media about getting kidnapped, raped and left for dead and the older man that died "after drinking (something) from the mini bar." She said the social media lady had asked the resort for 2M to keep quiet about the attack. They didn't pay, so she's gone public. If she hadn't been beaten to a pulp her story might sound fishy.

One thing the radio show host said about her trip - she got a small drink from the mini bar and it didn't "pop pop pop." It was not sealed, so she poured it out/did not drink and washed her hands. But she didn't report it to the hotel. She said they stayed one of the nice all in inclusive resorts and didn't worry about her safety, but (as always) pays attention to what's going on around her.

They speculated on why so many deaths the last 12 months. Serial killer? Terrorism against Americans. Ruled out disgruntled employee since everyone has not stayed at the same resort. Will be interesting to see what happens with the FBI investigating. Of course it could turn out just like the Natalee Holloway investigation and get nowhere. Our children went through K-12 with Natalee. She was between our younger two in age, so that case wasn't just close to home, it was home.

Edited to add: I just watched the video pudgeder linked. Wow, so the resort is trying to say it is normal for a middle aged married couple to both die of health issues on the same day. SMH

Another think the radio talk show host said was "respiratory failure" was the cause of several deaths.

I'm confused...didn't the woman die? If so, who wanted the resort to pay hush money (and SO glad they didn't...jeez)

Penny, no she survived.

Victim speaks out

There are more and more stories coming out about this. It is frightening. We were in DR in February and I feel lucky we made it out alive! I had said before I'm not interested in going back ( I was really sick with respiratory issues while there...but I have serious asthma). Now, I'm definitely not going back!

Ah so this is a different woman than in the original post...Sorry, I got confused.

Yeah...I wouldn't want to go, either, jmck.

I went to the DR for a destination wedding - didn’t want to but felt obligated. Nothing about it made me think I’d ever have an interest in going back. All this other stuff reinforces my opinion of the place.

I was in the DR last year. We didn't love it. The resort we stayed in, Dreams Punta Cana, was supposed to be high end, but fell short of that bar by a lot. Lots of promises, little delivery and we felt they cut a lot of corners. We won't be back either.

Sorry for the confusion, pennydesign. I was going to find a link, but the dogs summoned.

Here's a story where the hotel says she was asking for 2.2M

My DD and SIL in have been to the DR twice in the last 2 years. They have enjoyed it but it does concern me if they want to go back. They do not drink from the minibars or venture out by themselves. They also talk about all the security visible in the resorts where they have stayed so maybe that varies.

But I also think you need to have your head on where ever you are US or out of country. We were in Italy last year when I was the first on a very small elevator, followed by 3 middle age non American men. I gave the "get in here now" look to my DH who then squeezed in with us. He hadn't thought about doing it until he saw my eyes but then totally got my point. You can't be too careful anymore unfortunately.

I think there have been at least five seperate incidents in DR. The first couple from NY in March that Graywings posted about, the woman who was beat up at the Majectic Ellegance in Punta Cana that Allison posted about, and 2 or 3 seperate issues in the La Romana area (including the supposed respiratory failure). It's a bit shocking really. We've never been to DR but have been to several AI resorts in Cuba and Mexico. I always had a feeling of relative safety while on the resort property, within reason of course - - but if even drinking from the minibar can potentially make you sick.... Wow. The photos and story from the woman in Punta Cana really bothered me, it was on my mind for days. I hadn't read the update WRT to her allegedly asking the resort for money (which really doesn't change how I feel about it very much).

We were in the DR last year, actually stayed at the same resort where the woman was found beaten up. The resort was nice, we never felt uncomfortable or had any sickness. However, one trip to DR was enough as after a couple of days relaxing I was bored, not much I wanted to do on the island and the water was too rough for most of the water sports we enjoy. Much preferred Jamaica.

All the problems even give me more reason not to return. Glad the FBI is investigating too many strange deaths over a short period of time.

I wonder if they are misusing insecticides both in the rooms and on the grounds. That might explain all that died of heart attack and respiratory failure.

I believe someone is poisoning the drinks in the mini bars. No "pop, pop" when you open a "new" bottle? People dying shortly after consuming?

I'd venture to say the insecticides are IN the drinks.

I heard this morning 3 more families have come forward. bpath mentions one of them. Two died of heart attacks. Granted, deaths during vacation can and do happen, but....

That whole place sounds like a mess. Now it comes out that the baseball player who was shot apparently was targeted by someone who paid thugs to do it. I haven’t followed this story closely, but good grief, one of your own!

Bpath, I heard about Barbara Corcoran’s brother too. Maybe related and similar circumstances, maybe not, but still.

I have had no desire to go there, and certainly not now! We're both way too fair to spend time at a resort like that.

Hawaii is starting to sound VERY nice again!

I have LESS THAN ZERO % desire to see the DR. Mexico?! Only if I have a HEAVILY armed SWAT TEAM with me.

Faron

Come to Iceland. Crime is practically nonexistent here. :)

We were there about 20 years ago, and it was lovely. However, and maybe it improved over the past 20 years, we were told that going off the resort property was to be done with caution. So , we enjoyed where we were but did not venture around much more. The appeal was an all inclusive resort (which was just magnificent).

The Dominican government is truly giving a classic example of how NOT to handle things. It's a bad situation, but their handling of it or lack of handling? is what is making this so much worse.

Latest story is that 47 people on a group visit in April got sick, all Americans. It can't be isolated to Americans. Canadians and many others visit DR. Are there similar reports for them?

This from one of my friends who owns an insurance company...one of her underwriters who went on her honeymoon

”Well family and friends - we left for our honeymoon on Friday and after a rough couple of days, we are back in the States and home today. We had heard and read some worrisome articles about visiting Punta Cana but decided to carry on with our plans. I became violently ill Saturday evening and was in and out of consciousness, vomiting every 15-20 minutes for 6 hours. I finally made it to the hospital and was diagnosed with a bacterial blood infection (from what: we don’t know), given fluids and antibiotics. My white blood cell count was a 3.3 with a normal range being 25-45. We stayed at the Hard Rock and realized quickly that a lot of other guests were experiencing the same symptoms and being taken to the hospital. We are safe and we are on our way to a hospital here to get checked out. Please be safe, share this post and understand that this is a real issue. HardRock punta cana”

So scary....

WTH is going on there?? Just by numbers there will be people getting ill on any vacation in any location, be they Americans or otherwise. But this seems to be outside the normal numbers and not just reporting histrionics, doesn't it? I mean, how many people get 'tourista' when visiting Mexico even though we all know don't drink the water, don't eat fruit etc. It still happens but we aren't hearing news reports and I'm going to guess there are more American tourists going to Mexico than the DR, don't you think?

Well, let's do some math: 6 mio tourists/year in the DR, of whom there are 2.2 mio Americans. The odds of dying for a 50 year-old man within one year are .50%. This would make it 11,000/year or 30/day. For 50 year-old women it's .32%, or about 19/day.

So, now let's say that the 50 year-olds traveling to the DR are healthier, 8 deaths for this year so far still does not seem like an epidemic.

(For comparison, in 2016, Mexico, 75 Americans murdered, with total number traveling, 31 mio), https://www.forbes.com/sites/garystoller/2018/02/21/mexico-where-more-americans-are-murdered-than-in-all-other-countries-combined/#43f0ae49de37

7 questions/answers, https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/06/17/questions-about-unexplained-tourist-deaths-dominican-republic-answered/?utm_term=.9dc4841b7129

We stayed at the Hard Rock and realized quickly that a lot of other guests were experiencing the same symptoms and being taken to the hospital. We are safe and we are on our way to a hospital here to get checked out. Please be safe, share this post and understand that this is a real issue. HardRock punta cana

At least 2 of the deaths being discussed occured at the Hard Rock Punta Cana also - one of an apparent heart attack and another from undetermined causes.

A group off recent Deer Creek High School graduates and some of their parents traveled from Oklahoma to the Dominican Republic for their senior trip, only to become violently ill on their second day.

Just saw this!

Yesterday's NY Times,

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/23/us/dominican-republic-tourist-deaths.html

This is tough because there is increased risk of heart attack after large meals, and there are increased heart attacks on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Superbowl Sunday. Also, high alcohol intake can cause atrial fibrillation. Combine that with people who may have underlying heart disease, combined with maybe diabetes and other factors, and maybe the number of deaths is not that unusual given the number of tourists. You also have to worry about carbon monoxide.

Still, I have no desire to go there.

From the NYTimes article:

Autopsies showed that the deaths of the Maryland couple were a result of respiratory failure brought on by pulmonary edema — fluid in the lungs. But attempts to explain how that happened quickly became confusing. Several bottles of medication were found in their room. The spokesman for the Ministry of Public Health, Carlos Suero, told Fox News that Mr. Holmes died first, and Ms. Day died afterward, “probably from the shock of seeing the person beside her dead.”

Hard to believe this one. I would want my loved one flown back to the states for autopsy.

The ignorance in Suero's comment is appalling. Does not engender any level of trust in their Ministry of Public Health.

Combine that with people who may have underlying heart disease, combined with maybe diabetes and other factors, and maybe the number of deaths is not that unusual given the number of tourists.

Gsciencechick, I think you make a valid point, and somewhat agree with what you're saying... but I also wonder why nothing like the chain of events this year have seeminlgy ever happened before (unless we just haven't heard about it?? people have been going to the DR for years). Also, if these deaths were simply overstimulated tourists who are eating & drinking too much on vacation, with or without underlying health issues - I would think there would be similar stories coming from the other areas where all inclusive resorts are popular - Jamaica, Cuba, Mexico, etc.

smhinnb, you definitely have a point! On the other hand, frequently, the media create a story by connecting unrelated events.

For instance, death on cruises is a lot more prevalent, but we don't hear about this --- unless there's a major virus outbreak. Or, for instance, a lot more American tourists are murdered in Mexico, or the suspicious deaths/sicknesses related to tainted alcohol, https://projects.jsonline.com/topics/mexico-blackouts-investigation/

Also, the lack of information is concerning, and some of these folks seemed to be healthy people. Carbon monoxide would be another possibility. I don't know.

Over the past several days, I've caught portions of news reports that have to do with a couple (I think there was more than one being reported) tour bus crashes by third-party operators in connection with the cruise lines. Now, I know for a fact that these accidents are nothing "new" -- I cruised decades ago and remember a story about an overturned bus of tourists way back then, so it happens and has BEEN happening -- but suddenly there's a rush to put these tragic travel stories out there. It's like one just piggybacks off the other. Weird.