Families Of U.S. Tourists Who Died At Bahamas Sandals Resort Demand Second Autopsy

Three American tourists mysteriously died recently at the Sandals Resort in the Bahamas earlier this month, and their families are now demanding a second autopsy after a Bahamian pathologist completes the first one.

The victims were a married couple, Michael and Robbie Phillips, and Alabama man Vincent Chiarella. Chiarella’s wife, Donnis, is alive but remains unresponsive and was airlifted to a Florida hospital. The police said they complained of feeling ill the night before, and showed no signs of trauma besides evidence of minor convulsions.

Current theories that investigators are exploring are that they might have consumed old or contaminated food, or that insecticides were somehow involved because some guests had complained of there being a “strong odor” of insecticide at the resort.

According to Bahama’s Minister of Health and Wellness Dr. Michael Darville, the country hopes to “get to the bottom” of the tourist deaths. “There’s still some investigations ongoing at the Sandals resort. We also have the pathologists in-country who have done their job and samples were sent to a very reliable lab in the U.S.,” said Darville.

He also added that they are awaiting the results of toxicology reports, and that “there were requests by family members of the deceased to bring in a pathologist from abroad to do another autopsy.” He said that the requests are being “entertained.”

Darville also added that they will be fulfilling the families’ requests to ship the bodies back to the U.S. soon, though they have to embalm them first to prevent decomposition during the trip.