Luxury hotel where OC couple was found dead closes as Hyatt launches independent investigation
MEXICO (KABC) -- The hotel where a Newport Beach couple was found dead in their room has closed, sources and Hyatt, the hotel's management company, told ABC News.
Abby Lutz, 28, and John Heathco, 41, were found unresponsive when paramedics entered their room the night of June 13 at Hyatt's Rancho Pescadero on Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
The hotel closed its doors on Sunday, June 18, according to a hotel employee. The hotel has been closed while Hyatt conducts an "extensive independent investigation of the incident, led by a third party," a Hyatt spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News Wednesday.
"While we wait for authorities to release their findings, together with the hotel's owners, Hyatt is conducting an extensive independent investigation of the incident, led by a third party," the Hyatt spokesperson said.
The hotel will not reopen "until the investigation is complete," the spokesperson added.
Hyatt is "fully" cooperating with local authorities while they conduct their investigation, the spokesperson said.
Below is the full statement from Hyatt:
"On behalf of the entire Rancho Pescadero team, we are deeply saddened by this tragedy and committed to caring for all those affected with understanding and compassion. The hotel promptly decided to suspend normal operations. While we wait for authorities to release their findings, together with the hotel's owners, Hyatt is conducting an extensive independent investigation of the incident, led by a third party. Our top priority is the safety and wellbeing of guests and colleagues and the property will not resume normal operations until our investigation is complete. Local authorities have not yet released the findings of their ongoing investigation, which Hyatt and the hotel's owners continue to fully cooperate with."
The couple's official cause of death has not been released.
When responding to the scene, paramedics said that they began to feel "intoxication symptoms such as hypoxia and racing heartbeat."
The paramedics said they decided to leave because they felt the scene was unsafe. They then took themselves to a local hospital for treatment, they told ABC News.
The victims had no vital signs when the paramedics entered the room at the hotel. The lifeless body of Lutz was found on the bed, while Heathco was found in the fetal position on the floor of the shower, which was still on when the paramedics arrived, they said.
Lutz "had been messaging her dad and told him she was feeling sick," her stepmother, Racquel Lutz, said in an ABC News interview. She "went to the hospital and stayed one night, on IV, and felt so much better."
The couple had been dead for about 10 or 11 hours when they were found and there were no signs of violence or an altercation. The cause of death was "intoxication by substance to be determined," the attorney general's office said in a statement on Thursday.
Gabby Slate, Abby's stepsister, said when the couple initially felt sick, they thought it was food poisoning. But after their deaths, she said, the family was given indications that there may have been improper venting at the resort and there could have been carbon-monoxide poisoning.
Rancho Pescadero is a Hyatt property and boutique beachfront hotel in the scenic village of El Pescadero, nestled between the Pacific Ocean and the foothills of the Sierra de Laguna mountain range.
The hotel's general manager, Henar Gil, said in a statement last week that he and his staff "do not believe that the cause of death was related to any issues with the hotel's infrastructure or facilities, including carbon monoxide or a gas of any kind."
ABC News contributed to this report.
