Costa Rica officials confirmed the official cause of Miller Gardner’s death, the 14 -year -old New York Yankees Brett Gardner player who died in mysterious circumstances on March 21 during family vacation.
The initial investigation in the days which followed Miller’s tragic death focused on asphyxiation, which was then excluded. The investigation then passed food intoxication as a possible death, but Wednesday evening, the director of the Costa Rican’s judicial investigation agency (OIJ) Randall Zúñiga, said that the results of toxicology confirmed that he died following the rest of the Carbon monoxide poisoning.
The Gardner family stayed at the Arenas del Mar hotel in Manuel Antonio. (With the kind permission of New York Yankees)
“It is important to note that alongside this room is a dedicated machine room, where there is a certain type of contamination towards these parts,” said Zúñiga.
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Zúñiga said Miller had been tested for carboxyhemoglobin, a compound generated when carbon monoxide binds to hemoglobin in the blood. The test showed a saturation level of 64%. It is considered fatal when the saturation of carboxyhemoglobin exceeds 50%.
The Gardner family stayed at the Arenas del Mar hotel Manuel Antonio.
Earlier this week, the OIJ suggested that carbon monoxide poisoning was probably the cause of death, but hotel officials denied these allegations. A spokesman for the hotel told PK Press Club Digital that the levels in the hotel room “were nonexistent and not lethal”.
Miller, 14, had a level of saturation of carboxyhemoglobin of 64%. (Thanks to New York Yankees)
The probe of the death of the ex-yankee’s son triggers carbon monoxide warnings from experts
PK Press Club Digital contacted the spokesman again after Wednesday’s announcement.
The Gardner family said in a statement after Miller’s death that several family members fell ill during the trip.
“We have so many questions and so few answers at this stage, but we know that he died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of Friday March 21,” said the statement. “Miller was a beloved son and brother and we cannot yet understand our life without his contagious smile. He loved football, baseball, golf, hunting, fishing, family and friends. He has lived life as much as possible every day.”
Brett Gardner of the Yankees left the field after the Tampa Bay Rays match on October 2, 2021 in New York. (AP photo / Adam Hunger, file)
Gardner was a voltiseur for Yankees for 14 seasons and was part of the team when they won their last World Series Title in 2009. He spent his entire career in the Bronx, for the last time in 2021.
