Former Rare Staff
The last things 20-year-old Abbey Conner of Wisconsin would do in life were going on vacation with her family to a resort in Mexico, consume shots poolside with her brother, collapse and drown.
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That was in January.
Now in August, Mexican police have hit 31 resorts in Cancun and Playa del Carmen, and seized some 10,000 gallons of illegal alcohol, USA Today reported, for “bad manufacturing practices.”
The resort included the one where Conner stayed, Iberostar Paraiso Maya.
It’s a huge step in figuring out just why Conner and her brother Austin, 22, blacked out and hotel officials were mum when faced with questions, even though there have been other incidents like this one reported by vacationers.
Abbey Conner’s mother Ginny McGowan called the police activity “huge.”
“It’s needed. There is obviously stuff going on that needs to be cleaned up and looked into further,” she said. “They need to investigate and interview employees. This makes sense. This needs to happen.”
In January, Austin and Abbey Conner did shots at a poolside hotel bar while on a five-star vacation in Mexico with their mom and stepdad, just before they were scheduled to meet in the lobby for dinner.
Austin woke up in a hospital and his sister never woke up again.
Conner’s death was called “accidental drowning.”
The comprehensive Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story on Abbey Conner’s death and what’s happened since contains details of what was known to have happened that day, speculation about what might have happened and the remarkable journey of her biological father, Bill Conner, who traveled 2,500 miles on his bicycle to meet the man who received his daughter’s heart and to visit the Florida hospital where she died.
Austin had a lump on his head and suffered a concussion, but he would survive. His sister went into a coma and was taken off of life support days later after being flown from Mexico to Broward Health Medical Center in Florida.
Austin Conner recalled talking to a couple at a bar, surrounded by young guys who were drinking. He said they invited them to do a shot he thought was a Jägerbomb. Abbey Conner consumed four or five tequila shots and then had her last drink.
“I’ve been in college for five years and had my fair share of drinks before. No way in hell I’m putting my face down in a pool and going to sleep,” Austin would say.“Knowing that we got played or are victims of some sick person drugging us is almost surreal.”
Tests showed that both Austin and Abbey were legally drunk with at least .25 BACs. What testing didn’t show were substances commonly used when drugging drinks, though doctors did not test for every type of drug.
Not only does Austin believe he and his sister were drugged, so does his father, Bill.
“Somebody had to slip them some type of drug,” he said. In light of the seizing of tainted alcohol, they may not be far off the mark.
What didn’t add up about this theory is that there were no associated crimes like robbery or sexual assault, two things that might happen if your drink has been drugged intentionally.
Intent or not, bad liquor appears to have been served.
As the Journal Sentinel noted, incidents just like this one were detailed on blogs by others who have stayed at resorts near Playa del Carmen.
One married couple ordered a few drinks at the bar in Jan. 2015 and before they knew they blacked out. The husband woke up five hours later with a broken hand and none of their stuff was missing, even though it was left on the beach.
They felt that they had been “terrorized.”
Even more suspicious, further inquiry by the Abbey Conner’s family on May 30 revealed that police in Mexico had barely conducted an investigation, that only three hotel staffers had been interviewed, that medical details were incomplete, that the hotel said it doesn’t have surveillance video around the pool and that the hotel hasn’t offered condolences, reached out to the family or answered questions.
Beyond statements from two security guards and a pool manager, other guests, hotel workers, that group of guys drinking around the pool or possible witnesses have apparently not been interviewed.
Since her suspicious death, Abbey Conner’s father Bill has undertaken a 2,500-mile bike ride called “Ride for Life.”
He pledged to honor his daughter and grieve her loss by cycling more than 2,000 miles from Madison, Wisc., to the Ft. Lauderdale hospital where she died
Along the way, Bill Conner met in Baton Rouge, La., 21-year-old Loumonth Jack Jr. and listened to his daughter’s heart, which was beating in his chest.
Conner said that his ride was meant to bring “awareness to the impact of organ donation and how important the gift of life truly is when tragedy shows up on your doorstep.”
He said on the GoFundMe campaign for “Ride for Life” that four men between the ages of 20 and 60 years old have received organs from his daughter.
The GoFundMe has raised more than $24,000.
