Mother's nightmare at Mexico resort: 'There is more to this deeper, darker story than we know'

Raquel Rutledge | Milwaukee

Show Caption Hide Caption Mexico resort: Mother tells of her vacation nightmare Canadian mother Karen Newton recalls the frantic night she spent searching for her daughter while the pair were staying at a resort in Mexico.

MILWAUKEE — She didn’t walk out.

That much Karen Newton knows about the night her 22-year-old daughter went missing from their room at a luxury resort in Mexico’s alluring Riviera Maya.

She couldn’t walk. She could barely stand. It was 1:30 a.m. when her daughter had come back to the room from the beach bar — escorted by a friend — and it was clear to Newton her daughter had been drugged.

She wasn’t vomiting. She had no muscle control and couldn’t speak, couldn’t even hold her head up. Worried, but thankful she was safe in the room, Newton tucked her in and lay beside her, keeping watch. After a couple of hours, Newton drifted to sleep.

She’s not sure if it was the bathroom light, or noise from the fan, but something woke her around 4:30 a.m. She sat up.

Her daughter was gone.

It was a few days after Christmas — more than six months since the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a part of the USA TODAY Network, began reporting on alcohol-related tragedies involving American and Canadian tourists vacationing in Mexico.

Interactive: The victims

While the U.S. State Department, Canada’s department of global affairs, members of Congress — both Republican and Democrat — as well as travel websites and Mexican authorities vow they are making changes and doing what they can to ensure the safety of travelers, their slow, bureaucratic efforts have yet to prevent the harms.

The Journal Sentinel has identified an additional 10 people who reported terrifying — in some cases near-death — experiences while visiting Mexico over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays alone.

Like the more than 140 previously reported incidents, the newest ones include vacationers who blacked out after consuming a few drinks — sometimes just one. They regained consciousness hours later, many of them to learn they had been robbed, sexually assaulted, bruised, bloodied or otherwise injured.

“It has to stop,” said Newton, of Peterborough, Ontario. “Somebody has got to stop this.”

Feb. 12: 140 victims of Mexico resort blackouts. Now, Congress wants action

Dec. 15: State Department says it has begun tracking Mexico alcohol-related blackout incidents

The case of Newton’s daughter is among the latest to emerge and contains the strongest indication of sinister motives behind some of the incidents.

Karen Newton raced through the halls and down the stairs at the BlueBay Grand Esmeralda resort shouting her daughter’s name. She ran to the pool and along the tree-lined pathways that wound through the sprawling property. No sign of her. She ran into a security guard who, speaking English, asked if he could help. She told him her daughter was missing.

They hurried back to his security desk and he made a call, speaking to somebody —Newton doesn’t know who — for several minutes in Spanish. When he hung up, he turned to Newton and asked if she understood Spanish.

Not much, she said. She had not understood anything he had said on the phone.

He told her to come with him. As they walked along the path, a golf cart came speeding up behind them. It slowed in front of them but didn’t stop. The security guard began running behind it, then jumped on the back.

“It speeds up and takes off and leaves me standing there, in the dark, by myself at 4:30 in the morning,” Newton said. “No word of explanation.”

Newton sprinted back toward her room, frantic. Up four flights of stairs. At the top, at the far end of the hallway, she saw her daughter. She was stumbling, being dragged by two security guards, one on each arm. She was half-clothed. And chasing behind them, an angry man.

“He was irritated that they were taking her,” Newton said. “When I saw her, she only had on her skimpy little underwear, bare feet, a towel wrapped around (the top of) her, coming down the hallway and this guy looking, peering over top of her like ‘Who’s taking my girl!’ ”

Dec. 13: Mexico blackouts, injuries and deaths at resorts spark investigation of State Department

Nov. 21: TripAdvisor's business practices under review by FTC as more travelers say their warnings of rapes, injuries were blocked

Newton wrapped her arms around her daughter and pulled her toward their room.

As she turned back to question the men, they had all vanished, except the security guard who had left her standing in the dark.

“No English,” he told her. “I don’t speak English.”

Back in their room behind the locked door, her daughter fell against the wall and slowly slurred the words, Nine…hundred…fifty…dollars, Mom. Nine…hundred…fifty…dollars. She repeated it about three times.

“I said, ‘What are you talking about, Hon?’ ”

Cases show common factors

Like most of the other reports, the circumstances surrounding what happened to Newton’s daughter raise many questions. Hard proof of any crime — drugging, kidnapping, sexual assault — is nearly impossible for tourists in Mexico to obtain.

The Journal Sentinel investigation found that resorts are reluctant to call law enforcement or an ambulance and often tell guests they have to take a taxi to the police station or hospital if they want help. In the case of one young woman from Illinois who was raped at a resort in June, police did show up but refused to question bartenders or anybody who was in the area. Her mother told the Journal Sentinel they refused to offer any help whatsoever.

In addition, medical testing at the local hospitals is not consistent, the Journal Sentinel found. Health care workers don’t test for many of the common so-called date-rape drugs and frequently say the patients are simply drunk. In one case, they diagnosed an Iowa woman who had one drink and a few sips off her second drink with being extremely intoxicated. In the same medical records, examined by the Journal Sentinel, results of her blood alcohol test show her level was .02% — well below any scientific definition of intoxication.

Nov. 8: Woman who reported rape on TripAdvisor says company lied about apology for deleting post

Nov. 1: TripAdvisor removed warnings about rapes and injuries at Mexico resorts, tourists say

One of the facts backing Newton’s observation that her daughter was drugged surfaced when her daughter woke up in the morning. She was a little tired but felt nearly fine. She had no memory of anything that happened. She said she was not one bit hungover.

Her daughter’s knees were scraped and bruised. She doesn’t think she was raped, but she’s not certain.

Newton’s daughter did not want to be interviewed for this story or have her name published. To help confirm Newton’s story, the Journal Sentinel did extensive interviews and examined receipts, photographs and correspondence between her and the Canadian office of global affairs.

When Newton went to the resort’s managers and asked them to call police, they refused, she said.

“They make you feel like you’ve done something wrong,” she said. “They want you to feel like you were drunk and it was your own fault.

“I was thinking she needs to be checked … but I knew it wasn’t the safest to go off the resort … and she didn’t want to go. She said, ‘Mom, I don't want to do it. I don't want to go there. I just want to get the hell out of this country. I don't want to do it’ … She was really emotional.”

Her daughter couldn’t say what the $950 was about. Newton could only guess.

“I think she overheard a conversation of some sort, whether somebody had paid for her … I can’t even go there.

“It just blows my mind that they can get away with it,” Newton said. “I love Mexico, but not anymore.

“There's more to this deeper, darker story than we know.”

Targeted drugging vs. tainted alcohol

Among the 150 incidents identified by the Journal Sentinel, some believe they were targeted, as they awoke to find they were victims of crimes. Others found no motive for what happened. They got violently ill but were not robbed or assaulted. Some who were sick, however, were encouraged by resort officials to go to the local hospital, where they paid thousands — sometimes tens of thousands of dollars — for care.

Authorities in Mexico have long acknowledged a problem with illicit alcohol.

A 2017 report by the government and alcohol industry found as much as 36% of all the alcohol consumed in Mexico was produced under unregulated circumstances. A portion of that is product that escapes the tax stamps and a smaller percentage is counterfeit alcohol, industry representatives say.

Sept. 22: Travelers warned about meth-laced soda in Mexico

Aug. 16: Blackout victims at Mexico resorts have little hope of justice

Last week, the government seized more than 18,700 gallons of illegal tequila. Tests found more than 235 gallons contained dangerous levels of methanol.

Methanol is commonly used in windshield washer fluid and as a solvent and is extremely toxic. Like alcohol, it is a central nervous system depressant. But unlike alcohol, it is poisonous — and potentially deadly — even in small quantities.

Amitava Dasgupta, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston, said some of the cases detailed by the Journal Sentinel sound to him like methanol poisoning.

About 2,600 gallons of the supply was initially discovered on a freight truck headed out of the western state of Jalisco, one of a handful of places where tequila — in order to legally be labeled tequila — is made.

Officials from Consejo Regulador del Tequila (the Tequila Regulatory Council) said the trade organization participated in the bust but told the Journal Sentinel on Monday they didn’t know where the contaminated supply was slated to go. Two men were arrested in connection with the bootleg booze and the distillery was shut down, officials said.

“The tequila that was confiscated will be destroyed,” a spokeswoman wrote in an email.

An investigation into the operation is underway, she said.

Government authorities confiscated more than 10,000 gallons of illicit alcohol in August after a crackdown in tourist hot spots after the Journal Sentinel’s initial reports.

At the same time, leaders of the tourism ministry in Mexico insist there is no evidence of tainted alcohol at resorts. The ministry launched a public relations blitz in October to allay fears and assure Americans — who are the biggest contributors to the nation’s $20 billion a year tourism industry — that it’s safe to visit.

Aug. 12: Mexican authorities seize illicit alcohol in crackdown at resorts

July 28: Expert tips for avoiding tainted alcohol in Mexico

It’s difficult to know the scope of the illnesses and injuries vacationers sustain in Mexico. The U.S. State Department only recently began collecting such information, and travelers don’t always contact consular services when they encounter trouble in Mexico.

Dozens have told the Journal Sentinel they tried over the years to post warnings on the travel website TripAdvisor but that the company refused to publish them or quickly deleted them once they were posted.

TripAdvisor apologized to several people in the wake of a Journal Sentinel story that revealed how the company had silenced stories from travelers reporting harrowing experiences. The company said it would be changing its policies and stepping up training for its staff and moderators. Representatives of the company say health- and safety-related posts — as long as they are first-hand accounts — are welcome.

Newton posted the experience she and her daughter had on TripAdvisor days after they returned to their home, about an hour and a half outside of Toronto. It has remained published since.

The manager of the BlueBay Grand Esmeralda responded to Newton’s review, writing on TripAdvisor: “Hotel Administration do not support your comments.”

In another review of the BlueBay Grand Esmeralda, posted just a few weeks after Newton’s, a woman warned she was sexually assaulted by a staff member there and got no assistance from resort managers. The resort refused to call the police and defended the employee, the woman wrote.

That review, too, remains on TripAdvisor’s website.

Another woman who stayed at the resort in July told the Journal Sentinel she was certain she had been drugged after drinking several sips of champagne with her dinner. She quickly went to the resort doctor, who said she should go to the local hospital, which she did. And she complained to law enforcement in Canada as well.

Frederic Ceglarski, an official at BlueBay Grand Esmeralda, did not answer questions from the Journal Sentinel but said in an email they are looking into the cases.

Global Affairs Canada said the agency is checking into the issues. Like the U.S. State Department, it has no major travel alerts warning tourists about resort areas, though it mentions tourists have been victims of sexual assaults at popular tourist destinations. And its website doesn’t address concerns about tainted alcohol at all-inclusive resorts.

Mexico blackouts investigation: Full coverage from Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Office of Inspector General has opened an inquiry into how the U.S. State Department has collected data and handled the cases of citizens who’ve been victims of crimes in Mexico. The department was not tracking injuries and kept sparse details surrounding deaths until after the Journal Sentinel’s investigation.

The department continues to encourage tourists to report concerns to Mexican authorities and seek Mexican legal counsel if needed. Seventeen people have since contacted the agency complaining of alcohol-related troubles.

The department says it has no authority to investigate crimes in Mexico. Officials would not say whether the agency has asked the FBI or the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to investigate.

“We have raised this issue with Mexican counterparts on multiple occasions at every level. We continue to raise it,” a department spokeswoman wrote Monday in an email to the Journal Sentinel. “The Mexican government is responsible for the regulation and enforcement of alcohol laws in Mexico.”

Tourists at Mexico resorts suspect they were given tainted alcohol Families are coming forward saying they have experienced the same problems at Mexican resorts. Police are investigating the death of a young woman at the Iberostar Hotel & Resorts' Paraiso del Mar.

FBI officials, per policy, would not confirm or deny the agency’s involvement in any such investigation.

Marc LeBeau, a senior forensic scientist with the FBI, said the first thing to consider when trying to determine whether someone has been drugged is to start with the most common culprit.

“I always start with this: Could the alcohol alone cause those symptoms?”

He considers the amount, the pace of consumption, the percentage of alcohol, the size of the person and whether they had been eating, for example.

Americans have an international reputation for being rowdy and over-imbibing, especially while visiting all-inclusive resorts, but the cases investigated by the Journal Sentinel reveal something else at play.



The incidents involve tourists blacking out after drinking small and moderate amounts of alcohol. In many instances just one or two drinks. Most travelers say they have vivid memories of the last sips they took before blacking out. The cases include many where couples — or even three people — black out simultaneously. And the majority say they woke up hours later with no hangover whatsoever.

So, If alcohol alone could not cause the symptoms?

“Then I say, ‘OK, this is suggestive of another central nervous system depressant as well,’ ” Lebeau said.

The only way to really figure that out is to collect biological samples, such as urine and blood, within a reasonable time, usually 24 to 48 hours, he said. Even then, doctors would have to order proper tests for a vast number of drugs. There are many dozens of possibilities, and doctors aren’t typically aware of the emerging chemicals being used in Mexico.

Some of the drugs typically used to facilitate sexual assault are quickly metabolized and are excreted from the body in eight to 12 hours, experts say.

It is difficult to determine whether tourists are getting ensnared in sophisticated schemes involving resorts, police and hospitals working in cahoots, or are randomly falling victim and then encountering disjointed layers of corruption common in Mexico, experts on Latin American affairs say.

July 20: Tourists to all-inclusive resorts in Mexico suspect they were given tainted alcohol

July 12: A Mexican vacation, a mysterious death, and now endless questions for Wisconsin family

“I wouldn’t be surprised if cartels are involved,” said Shannon O’Neil, vice president of Latin American Studies and senior fellow with the New York City-based Council on Foreign Relations. “They’ve diversified their business models.”

Drugs aside, cartels are now heavily involved in human trafficking, stealing gas supplies, running taxi services and other crimes, she said.

It also could be as simple as resorts looking to cut costs, O’Neil said. The cost of top-shelf tequila has soared recently, creating an incentive to substitute lower quality spirits.

A new political climate in Quintana Roo, the home state of Cancun and Playa del Carmen, also could be a factor. Newly empowered government officials could be insisting resorts use favored alcohol manufacturers or distributors, she said.

“Having lived in Mexico a long time … it’s a place of incredible lawlessness,” O’Neil said.

‘You try to remember, but you can’t’

Kimberly Polley had read the stories. Her boyfriend’s parents worried about her going to Mexico with her two friends to celebrate her 31st birthday and New Year’s Eve. They urged her to reconsider. But Polley had been to Mexico many times and was confident she would be fine. She was ready for a break from the Illinois winter.

She and her friends arrived at the RIU Cancun around 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 27. They headed to the beach to sip a Corona, then went to the swim-up bar for a frozen margarita and to lounge by the pool. Over three hours, they had three fruity shots and two margaritas.

All three agree it was the third margarita that caused them — all three of them — to black out at the same time.

None of them remembers anything until about eight hours later, around 1 a.m., when they woke up in their room. Polley’s hair was soaking wet. She had water in her ears, though she had only waded into the pool. Her swimsuit top was all tangled and twisted.

Her friends had scraped faces and knees and bruises on their arms that looked like hand marks. Vomit covered the beds and floor. Their belongings were misplaced in each other’s suitcases.

They had no idea what happened.

“We’ve all tried to wrap our heads around it,” Polley said. “You try to remember, but you can’t burst through the wall.”

Feeling unsafe and afraid to get police involved, they took the soonest available flights home.

Polley posted her experience on Facebook but quickly took it down after people started making negative comments and blaming her and her friends, saying they should watch their drinks.

“I was well aware of what was going on down there but you don’t really believe it,” she said. “I was part of the problem, too, just blowing it off.”

Follow Raquel Rutledge on Twitter: @raquelrutledge