Louisiana woman, 59, dies a week after returning from her Dominican Republic honeymoon with fluid on her lungs - as the FBI begins testing samples from a resort mini bar to see if alcohol is to blame for the deaths of eight other Americans
- Susan Simoneaux, 59, died on Tuesday in New Orleans after being rushed to hospital with fluid on her lungs
- Her death came a week after she returned from her honeymoon in the Dominican Republic with her husband
- News of her death came as the alcohol from at least one mini bar at the Bahia Principe Resort in Punta Cana was being tested
- The Ministry of Health in the Dominican Republic said the FBI was helping them with the investigation to determine what could be causing the deaths
- Authorities who are scrambling to get to the bottom of the deaths are investigating whether they were possibly poisoned by bootleg liquor
- Officials in the Dominican Republic have insisted that the deaths are all isolated incidents but most were health before their sudden deaths
- Several of them are known to have drank from their hotel room minibars before becoming extremely ill
A Louisiana woman has died a week after returning from her honeymoon in the Dominican Republic as it's revealed the FBI is testing samples from a resort mini bar to see if alcohol is to blame for a string of deaths on the Caribbean island.
Susan Simoneaux, 59, died on Tuesday in New Orleans after being rushed to hospital with fluid on her lungs.
Her death came a week after she returned from her honeymoon in Punta Cana with her husband Keith Williams, 4WWL reports.
Her husband said he didn't know about the eight Americans who have died in the Dominican Republic over the past year.
'I would have never went if I would have known,' he said.
While her cause of death has not yet been determined, Simoneaux's symptoms are similar to three tourists who died at one resort last month.
All four have died with fluid on their lungs.
Susan Simoneaux, 59, died on Tuesday in New Orleans after being rushed to hospital with fluid on her lungs. Her death came a week after she returned from her honeymoon in the Dominican Republic with her husband Keith Williams
The alcohol from at least one mini bar at the Bahia Principe Resort in Punta Cana is currently being tested after eight Americans have died at multiple hotels within the past year
News of Simoneaux's death came as the alcohol from at least one mini bar at the Bahia Principe Resort in Punta Cana was being tested.
The Ministry of Health in the Dominican Republic said the FBI was helping them with the investigation to determine what could be causing the string of deaths and illnesses.
FBI agents are also helping with toxicology tests on three of the Americans who have died, communications director Carlos Suero told CNN .
Suero said that samples are taken from mini bars whenever someone dies in a hotel room and they are tested for bacteria.
Water from the hotel showers and sinks are also examined.
The FBI last week revealed it was investigating the deaths and would be taking blood samples from those who died to test back at its Virginia research center.
Authorities who are scrambling to get to the bottom of the deaths are investigating whether they were possibly poisoned by bootleg liquor.
Officials in the Dominican Republic have insisted that the deaths are all isolated incidents but most of the victims were apparently healthy adults before their sudden deaths.
Several of them are known to have drank from their hotel room minibars before becoming extremely ill.
Simoneaux's husband said he didn't know about the eight Americans who have died in the Dominican Republic over the past year and wouldn't have gone if he did. The couple had been together 10 years before getting married last month
The eight tourists who have died in the past year include: Joseph Allen, 55, David Harrison, 45, Robert Bell Wallace, 67, Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41; Couple Nathaniel Edward Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49; Yvette Monique Sport, 51 and Leyla Cox, 53
Three of them have died at the Grand Bahia Príncipe La Romana, two at the Hard Rock in Punta Cana (above), one at Excellence Resorts in Punta Cana, one at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville and one at the Terra Linda hotel
The eight tourists who have died in the past year include: Joseph Allen, 55, David Harrison, 45, Robert Bell Wallace, 67, Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41; Couple Nathaniel Edward Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49; Yvette Monique Sport, 51 and Leyla Cox, 53.
Three of them have died at the Grand Bahia Príncipe La Romana, two at the Hard Rock in Punta Cana, one at Excellence Resorts in Punta Cana, one at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville and one at the Terra Linda hotel.
Many others have also reported falling sick on their vacations but survived.
In a separate interview with Fox News on Tuesday, the Ministry of Health spokesman dismissed concerns about the mysterious deaths as 'hysteria' designed to hurt the Caribbean island's tourism industry.
'It's all a hysteria against the Dominican Republic, to hurt our tourism, this is a very competitive industry and we get millions of tourists, we are a popular destination. People are taking aim at us.'
'The testing results are all negative, everything – the food, the alcohol, the air – is normal, there is no alteration of the alcohol.'
Joseph Allen, 55, of Avenel, New Jersey, was found dead in his hotel room at the Terra Linda hotel in Sosua earlier this month.
New York woman Leyla Cox, 53, was found dead in her hotel room on June 10 - the day after her birthday.
Her son William has claimed that no toxicology report was carried out on his mother because all the country's machines are broken.
Three people who died last month all arrived in the seaside resort area of San Pedro de Macoris on May 25.
Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41, of Pennsylvannia, booked a room with her husband at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville hotel.
She lost consciousness on the day of her arrival after going out on the balcony. She could not be revived by her husband or hotel medical staff.
Schaup-Werner died within hours of consuming a drink from a resort minibar.
Maryland couple Cynthia Day, 49, and Edward Holmes, 63, were staying in the adjacent Grand Bahia Principe La Romana hotel.
They were found dead on May 30 in their room by hotel staff.
The three victims died of respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, while Schaup-Werner also had a heart attack, according to the Dominican Prosecutor's Office.
VICTIMS (left to right, top to bottom): Leyla Cox, Robert Bell Wallace, Yvette Monique Sport, Miranda Schaup-Werner, David Harrison, Joseph Allen, Cynthia Day and Nathaniel Holmes
Robert Wallace, a 67-year-old from California, died at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in the resort town of Punta Cana on April 14.
His niece said he had just drank a Scotch from his minibar before falling ill. He died four days later.
'He started feeling very sick, he had blood in his urine and stool right afterward,' his niece Chloe Arnold told Fox News said.
Pennsylvania woman Yvette Monique Sport, 51, died in June 2018 after drinking from the minibar at a Bahia Principe hotel in Punta Cana.
Her family said Sport, who was healthy up until her death, had the drink, went to sleep and never woke up.
Maryland man David Harrison, 45, died at the same at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in July 2018. He was on vacation with his wife Dawn McCoy to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
He woke up struggling to breathe and covered in sweat before dying hours later. His wife said he had visited the doctor before the trip who'd given him a clean bill of health.
McCoy said she initially accepted that her husband succumbed to a heart attack, as she was told, but now questions it.
