Tragedy struck during a family vacation when Miller Gardner, the 14-year-old son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, tragically passed away in Costa Rica. Initially, the death was believed to be caused by asphyxiation due to food poisoning; however, Costa Rican officials have since provided a grim update suggesting carbon monoxide poisoning as the likely culprit. According to NBC New York, high levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the hotel room where the Gardners stayed.
With the conflicting symptoms affecting the family upon returning from a restaurant, it was noted by Juan Pablo Alvarado Garcia, with Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Agency, that the hotel's medical team treated them and administered medicine. This information was detailed in the NBC New York report, though specifics of the treatment were not elaborated on. During the ongoing investigation, the room's gas levels were measured at a staggering 600 parts per million, a stark contrast to the expected zero in the resort area, as reported by the same source.
The hotel, having a "specialized machine room" next door to the family's room, could have been the source of the contamination, authorities suggested. In a statement shared by The New York Post, Randall Zúñiga, the general director of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ), mentioned, "It’s also important to note that next to [the family’s] room there is a specialized machine room, from which it is believed some form of contamination may have reached the guest rooms, potentially causing the incident."
Despite the efforts to revive him on the morning of his death, doctors, as told The Post, said they spent a harrowing 30 minutes trying to bring the teenager back. Meanwhile, the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort, the accommodation venue for the Gardners, and where they dined the night before the incident, has seen tourism take a nosedive in response to the series of unfortunate events. This comes on the heels of another similar, horrifying incident involving American tourists in Belize, per The New York Post.
Awaiting conclusive results from toxicology reports, the current investigative findings point squarely at carbon monoxide contamination as being responsible.Brett and Jessica Gardner, in a statement obtained by NBC New York, shared their overwhelming grief and said they “have so many questions and so few answers at this point.”
