Pennsylvania Woman Died at Same Dominican Republic Resort 5 Days Before Engaged Couple Found Dead

For the second time in less than a week, an American was discovered dead inside a Dominican Republic hotel.

Miranda Schaup-Werner fainted and died in her hotel room at the Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville hotel in La Romana, according to Fox News.

The 41-year-old psychotherapist from Allentown, Pennsylvania, had just checked into her room with husband Daniel Werner and was looking forward to a quiet trip to celebrate their 9th wedding anniversary, but they never had the chance.

Miranda’s family is now looking for answers after an engaged pair from Maryland was discovered dead in their hotel at the neighboring Grand Bahia Principe La Romana, just five days after Miranda’s unexpected death. (Both hotels are part of the same resort and share a phone number.)

“Daniel and the rest of us are in shock. “She was perfectly content, and everything seemed fine,” Daniel’s brother-in-law, Jay McDonald, told Fox News. “Initially, the strong parallel was puzzling… It immediately raised severe concerns for us.”

 

McDonald told the source that Miranda and Daniel planned to spend five days in the Dominican Republic and looked thrilled with the island and resort from the moment they arrived.

“They enjoyed vacationing in that part of the world, in the Caribbean,” he told the site. “They came on May 25, Saturday. They seemed to enjoy the location. If you look at the images [on Facebook] and how they were presented, it’s evident they were delighted to be there.”

As they were getting situated in their hotel room, McDonald said Miranda “decided to relax with a drink from the minibar” and mixed a bottle of alcohol with a soda. But less than an hour later, things took a turn for the worst.

“Suddenly, she called out to Dan and he came right over and she was unable to breathe. She collapsed, she couldn’t communicate,” he recalled to Fox News. “He did his best to try and resuscitate, to help her.”

After attempting CPR, Daniel called for help. After paramedics arrived, they administered an epinephrine injection, typically used to treat life-threatening allergic reactions. Despite their efforts, Miranda was declared dead soon after.

“It was very sudden,” he noted. “[Daniel] said one moment [Miranda was] taking pictures, smiling, happy and the next moment, in extreme pain and collapsing… she had no known health issues that I knew of.”

While Miranda’s family was dealing with her “bizarre, mysterious” death, McDonald said they learned that Edward Nathaniel Holmes and Cynthia Ann Day, a couple from Maryland, had also died at a nearby hotel at the same resort just five days after Miranda.

After missing their scheduled check out on May 30, the pair was found unresponsive by hotel staff in their room, with no signs of violence.

McDonald said Miranda’s cause of death was respiratory failure and pulmonary edema, or fluid accumulation in the lungs, the same one listed as the cause of death for the Holmes and Day.

“That was beyond coincidence,” McDonald told Fox News. “They died five days after, and the cause was determined to be the same, this just puts this whole thing through the stratosphere — something is going on, and we want to know what it is.”

However, in a Wednesday statement obtained by PEOPLE, the resort disputed this characterization, saying that according to statements from the National Institute of Forensic Sciences and the National Police Investigations Unit, Schaup-Werner’s cause of death was determined to be a heart attack, and that Werner confirmed to authorities his wife had a heart condition.

Univision reports that Robin Bernstein, the ambassador of the United States to the Dominican Republic, said the incidents were isolated cases — an assertion also made by the resort in its Wednesday statement.

“We have 2.7 million Americans who come to the country and the statistics is that this is a very … unique event,” Bernstein said. “They come to visit the beautiful beaches and enjoy the great culture. Unfortunately sometimes those things happen to people.”

In its Wednesday statement, the hotel said, “In both circumstances, established security protocols were followed, and we have maintained open communication with the authorities to provide information and clarification for each case.”

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