Wife of man who is among the American tourists to die suddenly in the Dominican Republic says resort staff pressured her to have him cremated before returning to the U.S.
- David Harrison, 45, died at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic in July last year
- Maryland man was on vacation with his wife Dawn McCoy and their son for their wedding anniversary
- He woke up on July 14 struggling to breathe and covered in sweat before dying just hours later of a heart attack
- His wife said staff at the resort repeatedly told her to cremate Harrison
- She initially accepted that her husband had died of a heart attack but is now questioning it following a string of other sudden tourist deaths
A woman whose husband is among the American tourists who have died suddenly while on vacation in the Dominican Republic says resort staff pressured her to have him cremated before returning to the U.S.
David Harrison, 45, died at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana in July last year.
The Maryland man was on vacation with his wife Dawn McCoy and their son to celebrate their wedding anniversary when he woke up on July 14 struggling to breathe and covered in sweat.
He died just a few hours later and his official cause of death was ruled a heart attack.
David Harrison, 45, died at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Punta Cana in July last year while on vacation with his wife Dawn McCoy for their wedding anniversary
His wife said staff at the resort repeatedly told her to cremate Harrison as she was paying multiple bills and working out how to get his body back to the U.S.
‘They kept trying to get me to cremate my husband. They kept telling me that it would be considerably cheaper to cremate him. I want to say they asked me probably three or four times before they sent him home,’ she told People.
‘I was like, ‘No, no, no.’ Send him home. I want to make sure it’s him that’s coming home.’
McCoy said the resort had asked her to contact them when she was preparing to leave with her son soon after her husband’s death.
‘The hotel asked me to call them when I was on my way out and that they would meet me personally, so I called them and told them that we were getting ready to check out,’ she said.
‘They pulled me aside and handed me a doctor bill.’
McCoy said staff at the Hard Rock resort where they were staying repeatedly told her to cremate Harrison as she was paying multiple bills and working out how to get his body back to the U.S
While McCoy said she initially accepted that her husband had died of a heart attack, she is now questioning it following a string of other sudden tourist deaths in the Dominican Republic
She had to pay for the hotel doctor, the ambulance, the hospital and the funeral home before leaving.
McCoy said her husband, who had been given a clean bill of health from their doctor prior to their trip, started to feel ill just days after arriving at the resort.
Harrison told her that he wasn’t going to drink anymore because he needed to rest his upset stomach.
His wife recalled that an odor started seeping from his pores before he woke up sweating, unable to move or breathe properly.
While McCoy said she initially accepted that her husband had died of a heart attack, she is now questioning it following a string of other sudden tourist deaths in the Dominican Republic.
‘When all these people started passing, I stopped and thought to myself, ‘How can all these people have the same cause of death as David?’ she said last month.
Seven other Americans have now died over the past year while on vacation and the FBI is investigating their deaths.
U.S. authorities who are scrambling to get to the bottom of the deaths are investigating whether they may have been poisoned by bootleg liquor.
The deaths have mostly occurred at two resorts: the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Luxury Bahia Principe Bouganville hotel.
The tourists who have died include: Joseph Allen, 55, Robert Bell Wallace, 67, Miranda Schaup-Werner, 41; Couple Nathaniel Edward Holmes, 63, and Cynthia Day, 49; Yvette Monique Short, 51 and Leyla Cox, 53.
Officials in the Dominican Republic have insisted that the deaths are all isolated incidents but most of the victims were apparently healthy adults before their sudden deaths.
Many others have also reported falling sick on their vacations but survived.
