Current and former employees at Rancho Pescadero, the luxury hotel in Mexico where a couple from Orange County was found dead this week, said that resort managers ignored repeated signs of a possible gas leak for months, The Los Angeles Times is reporting.
The bodies of John Heathco, 41, and Abby Lutz, 28, were found in their room at the hotel in Mexico’s Baja California Sur state on Tuesday, and preliminary reports suggest the couple died due to inhalation of gas.
Hotel managers ignored complaints about the strong smell of gas from both guests and employees for months, both current and former workers at Rancho Pescadero told the L.A. Times. Carbon monoxide detectors were reportedly disabled after repeated complaints from guests about the loud alarms.
According to a current employee at the hotel, a housekeeper cleaning the couple’s room fell ill due to suspected gas poisoning. Additionally, two sibling firefighters that responded to the hotel room immediately got sick, according to a GoFundMe set up to raise money for their treatment.
Lutz’s family claims that she and Heathco spent the night before their death in the hospital because they thought they had food poisoning.
Heathco founded LES Labs, a nutritional supplement company based in Newport Beach. Abby Lutz, who was originally from Utah, was working as a nanny.
Gas leaks from faulty lines have happened in Mexico before; the death of the Orange County couple follows the death of three Americans due to carbon monoxide poisoning at an Airbnb in Mexico City last year.