Carbon Monocide or Fentanyl?
Todo Santos has a bunch of small low-brow lodging where artists, surfers and hobos hang out.
The weather is never cold enough to run heaters. If there were gas leaks, why are other rooms not affected?
Chemical poisoning could have a number of causes, including food, drugs.
Mexican resort ignored gas leak problems
Don't sleep in any Hyatt property in Mexico. Just to be safe, don't sleep in any hotel in Mexico.
I just hate to sleep in tiny, windowless rooms like those in Cascada and Rizo. You don't want your wife, children, relatives and friends read local papers' obituary, saying you died in a flea-bag putas hotel.
Mexican resort where 2 Californians died ignored gas leak problems, employees say.
Workers on strike outside Rancho Pescadero, a luxury beachfront hotel in Pescadero in the Mexican state of Baja California Sur where two Californians died of carbon monoxide poisoning Tuesday. (Meghan Dhaliwal / For The Times).
BY KATE LINTHICUM, ALEXANDRA E. PETRI.
June 16,2023 UPDATED 3:51 PM PT.
MEXICO CITY — Current and former employees at a luxury hotel in Mexico where two Americans were found dead this week said managers of the resort ignored repeated signs of a possible gas leak and disabled carbon monoxide detectors to stop their alarms from disturbing guests.
Ricardo Carbajal, a former night manager at Rancho Pescadero, a $600-a-night beachfront boutique hotel owned by Hyatt, said carbon monoxide detectors sounded frequently over a period of about three months late last year, probably because of leaks in a system that delivers gas to outdoor fire pits.
In January, Carbajal said, after repeated complaints from guests about the loud alarms, hotel managers disabled the detectors.
"They knew there were problems with gas leaks," said Carbajal, who stopped working at the resort in March after a dispute over pay. "Everyone was aware of the alarms and that the detectors were off. ".
Three current employees who spoke on condition of anonymity also said the detectors were disabled. One of them, who works in the hotel spa, said they believed it was only the sound of the detectors that was deactivated and that hotel security guards continued to receive alerts when the devices detected gas.
Those current employees and another, who all spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared for their jobs, said hotel managers for months ignored complaints about the strong smell of gas from both guests and employees.
"Housekeepers reported gas leaks, security reported gas leaks, maintenance workers reported gas leaks," said one of the employees. The employee said that a few days before the guests were found dead, a housekeeper cleaning their room fell ill because of suspected gas poisoning.
The bodies of John Heathco and Abby Lutz, both of California, were discovered Tuesday night inside their room at Rancho Pescadero, which reopened after extensive renovations about a year ago in the beach community of El Pescadero, an hour north of Cabo San Lucas.
Autopsies suggest the two died of "intoxication by an undetermined substance," prosecutors in Mexico's Baja California Sur state told the Associated Press.
Local police initially reported that gas inhalation was suspected as the cause of death.
Hyatt officials previously said they do not believe the deaths were related to problems with the hotel infrastructure or a gas leak. They did not respond to requests for comment Friday regarding disabled carbon monoxide alarms at the resort.
New accounts from two paramedics who responded to the deaths lend credence to the theory that gas poisoning was likely to blame.
Fernando Valencia Sotelo and Grisel Valencia Sotelo, firefighters who are also siblings, arrived at the hotel late Tuesday after staff discovered the bodies of Heathco and Lutz.
The two firefighters immediately fell ill upon entering the couple's hotel room, according to a GoFundMe account established to raise money for their medical care. They were being treated at a hospital Friday and undergoing studies to see whether they suffered neurological damage.
They were on vacation in Mexico City. Then all three died of carbon monoxide poisoning in an Airbnb Nov. 10,2022.
In an interview with "Good Morning America," Lutz's stepmother, Racquel Lutz, said the young woman had told her family Monday evening that she and Heathco had spent the previous night in the hospital because they felt sick and thought they had food poisoning. Lutz said they had been given fluids intravenously and were feeling better.
"She texted her father Monday night to say goodnight, love you, and then we hadn't heard from her again," Racquel Lutz said.
Chad Richeson, Abby Lutz's uncle — who is acting as a spokesperson for the family — said that Lutz and Heathco spent time at the pool Monday but it was not clear how much time they spent in their room.
The Lutz family was traveling to Mexico on Friday to "to bring Abby home" and was not available for further comment, Richeson said.
Abby Lutz did not mention any unusual or powerful smells to her family, Richeson said. Neither the hotel nor Hyatt has reached out to the Lutzes, he said.
In a statement, her family described Lutz, who lived in Newport Beach, as "a light to everyone around her" who was known for her smile and laugh and for "making everyone feel special. ".
"It is our hope that more information will come to light to explain what happened to Abby, and why," the statement said. "This information will help us gain closure, and may prevent this type of incident from happening in the future. We don't wish for anyone else to go through this tragedy. ".
Died alone in a windowless room Putas hotel
My wingman told me one of his friends (likely an attorney) sold off all properties, cut off all contacts with family and relatives, only a few close friends, moved to Tijuana, spent all his time and money in putas bars. I heard no reasons why he made that decision.
When he ran out of money, he killed himself in a windowless room in a noname shithole hotel on O'Campo across from the Mercado de Artesenia.
Sure hope none of us will be drawn down that path.
