The two Americans found dead inside their luxury hotel room in Mexico’s Baja California peninsula Tuesday night have been identified — as authorities revealed the pair had been dead for at least 10 hours before their bodies were discovered.
The victims were identified by the Baja California Sur Attorney General’s Office as John Heathco, 41, and Abby Lutz, 28.
The attorney general’s office told ABC News the pair’s cause of death was “intoxication by substance to be determined.”
Local authorities first said the pair’s cause of death was inhalation of gas, which has happened to other Americans in Mexico in recent years.
There were no signs of violence on their bodies.
Lutz, from Newport Beach, California, worked as Nanny while Heathco was a computer engineer and self-described “health and wellness junkie”.
Paramedics and police discovered the victims at around 9 p.m. Tuesday in their room at the Hotel Rancho Pescadero, a Hyatt property where rooms cost over $500 a night.
Authorities made the tragic discovery after receiving reports that the Americans were unconscious.
The pair were pronounced dead at the scene.
The local attorney general is currently overseeing the investigation.
Last October, three Americans were found dead at a rented apartment in Mexico, apparently of gas inhalation.
And in 2018, a gas leak in a water heater killed an American couple and their two children at a resort in Tulum.
The general manager of Rancho Pescadero, Henar Gil, said he would not talk about the couple’s cause of death, but issued a statement Thursday in an apparent attempt to reassure guests.
“The safety and security of our guests and colleagues is always a top priority. Local authorities confirmed there was no evidence of violence related to this isolated incident, and there is no threat to guests’ safety or wellbeing at this time,” he said.
