iStock/ufuka(NEW YORK) — The company behind a resort in the Dominican Republic where three Americans died within a few days of one another is firing back against “serious insults and threats.”
In a statement, Bahia Principe Hotels & Resorts began by noting that they are “collaborating completely” with investigators and will continue to do so.
Because of the ongoing investigation, they address those cases directly in the statement, but they did slam the “inaccurate and false information” that they say has circulated in the wake of the incidents.
The resort company’s said the alleged misinformation that has been circulating related to the case has impacted the hotel chain, which they said has “suffered great damage to its image and reputation.”
“Serious insults and threats have been levied on some of our more than 15,000 employees and their families, who are the backbone of our company and before whom we cannot stand idle on the sidelines,” the statement reads.
“We reiterate that we completely disagree with the dissemination of false information issued publicly which threatens the image and reputation of the company and the integrity and rights of our employees and their families, reserving, where necessary, the right to take the appropriate legal action,” the statement reads.
Just days before an American couple was found dead in their hotel room at the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana resort in the Dominican Republic, another American in another hotel at the same resort died.
The two hotels are adjacent to one another on the same resort on the island’s southern coast.
Jay McDonald, a spokesperson for the family of the first woman who died, Miranda Schaupp-Werner, 41, said the family became alarmed when they discovered the proximity between the two incidents.
Schaupp-Werner died “suddenly and inexplicably” in her hotel room at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville after having a drink from the in-room mini bar, McDonald said.
The other two Americans, Edward Nathaniel Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Ann Day, 49, were found dead in their hotel room after missing their scheduled check-out time.
The preliminary results of the autopsies were released by the Dominican Republic’s attorney general’s office on Thursday. The report did not reveal the conclusive cause of death as that will come once the full toxicology and histopathological report are completed, which could take up to a month. The preliminary autopsy results revealed that Miranda Schaupp-Werner had a narrowing of one of her coronary arteries. Holmes had cirrhosis of the liver, and a large liver as well as lung swelling. Day also had an enlarged liver as well as a large heart, as well as brain and lung swelling.
The U.S. Department of State has told ABC News it is monitoring the local investigations into the three deaths, but said in a statement on Tuesday that “at this point, we are not aware of any connection between these incidents.”
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