Costa Rican authorities are now investigating the possibility that the son of Yankees star Brett Gardner may have died from an allergic reaction to medication he was given after ruling out asphyxiation as the cause of death for the 14-year-old.
The teen and his entire family were prescribed medication by a doctor after they all fell ill from the food they ate at a restaurant in Costa Rica, where they were vacationing, ABC News reported.
“The hotel staff dispatched a medical team immediately, including a licensed doctor, which arrived to handle the emergency situation,” the Arenas Del Mar Resort said in a statement to ABC News. “Our hotel protocol at Arenas Del Mar does not allow for hotel staff to provide any medication to guests.”
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Miller Gardner died in his sleep on Friday after the family got sick from a dinner at a restaurant near their $2,000 per night resort in Manuel Antonio, on Thursday, according to a Costa Rican source close to the investigation.
Officials initially thought Miller Gardner had died from asphyxiation, but they determined this was not the case because his respiratory tract was clear. The early theory was that the teen choked to death as he had vomited in bed.
Since an autopsy has not been completed yet, any leads are considered preliminary, ABC News noted. Due to the considerable demand for autopsies in Costa Rica —in part due to the country’s high murder rate —it could take up to three months to complete the autopsy, the Costa Rican National Police said Tuesday.
“We are deeply saddened by this loss, and our hearts go out to the family,” a spokesperson for the Arenas Del Mar Resort said in an earlier statement. “The factors that led to this tragic incident are unknown, and we are fully cooperating with authorities as they investigate.”
“We have so many questions and so few answers at this point,” the Gardners said in a Sunday statement released by the Yankees.
Authorities do not think Miller Gardner’s death is suspicious at this point in the investigation, and it is not yet clear if the teen’s death is linked to food poisoning. He is survived by his baseball star dad, Brett Gardner, his mother Jessica, and his brother Hunter.
