The mysterious circumstances behind the death of Miller Gardner continues to bring more twists and turns in the shocking story.
A day after Costa Rican authorities said that carbon monoxide most likely played a role in the death of the teenager, the resort fired back at any claim the room was contaminated with deadly carbon monoxide.
“The levels in the hotel room were non-existent and non-lethal. There was an error in this initial reporting,” the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort told the New York Post.
The statement refutes an announcement made by Costa Rican authorities on Monday that there were “high levels of carbon monoxide contamination” in the room where 14-year-old Miller Gardner — son of former New York Yankees star Brett Gardner — was found dead on the morning of March 21.
While Randall Zuniga, general director of Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigative Agency, said that the FBI is “closely coordinated” with the investigation, Arenas Del Mar also told the Post that no one from the American agency was on-site as of Tuesday afternoon.
According to the outlet, the resort didn’t deny that investigators found carbon monoxide, but claimed the high levels only were detected in a “mechanical room that guests do not occupy.”
The resort added that the room has been closed “out of an abundance of caution” as they “await for conclusive results to confirm the cause of this unfortunate death.”
Zuniga said on Monday that the Gardner family’s room was next to the mechanical room in question, which could have led to “contamination.”
“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,” Zuniga said in Spanish at a virtual press conference.
The joint investigation by the OIJ and FBI remains ongoing as final toxicology results have yet to be processed, Zuniga added.
Further, It is believed that an autopsy could take two or three months to be completed, due to a backlog in the Central American country.
“Nonetheless, the initial investigative findings indicate that the incident was due to this contamination, with levels as high as 600 parts per million detected — when the appropriate level in this case should be zero,” he said.
Miller died suddenly while the family was on vacation at the resort near Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific side of the Central American nation.
He and other members of the family fell ill after eating a meal at the resort and Miller was found dead in his bed the following morning.
Initial reports suggested that Miller likely died of asphyxiation in his sleep due to food poisoning, but that theory was ruled out when an examination found nothing blocking his airways, though there was vomit beside him.
Authorities also reportedly have considered the teen died from an allergic reaction to medication.
A source close to the investigation told ABC News there is a possibility Miller had a reaction to medication he was given after feeling sick.
According to the Post, the resort has slashed its prices as the investigation rolls along, with reservations that had cost $1,900 per night down to $1,429 while the cheapest rooms are down to $849, as listed on the Arenas Del Mar website.