Couple Recounts Illness At Same Dominican Resort Where 3 Died: 'We Were Drooling'

Kaylyn Knull and boyfriend Tom Schwander were eager for a romantic getaway when they went to the Dominican Republic. The couple from Colorado were staying at the Grand Bahia Principe resort in La Romana, and it seemed like they had lucked out in the vacation department. Things, however, later took a turn for the worst for the Colorado couple.

It all started when Knull and Schwander decided against buying a timeshare at the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana. The Colorado couple returned to their room during their June 2018 trip to find that it smelled like somebody had dumped paint everywhere.

As authorities investigate unexplained deaths of three Americans in the Dominican Republic, a couple who stayed at the same facility last year said they became violently ill after being exposed to what they suspect were insecticides spread through the A/C https://t.co/NPg8lYgmHA
— CNN International (@cnni) June 6, 2019

“As soon as we came back to the room, we noticed it smelled like somebody had dumped paint everywhere,” shared Knull. “We were drooling excessively. My eyes would not stop watering.”

The couple then did the only sensible thing they could think of, which was to switch rooms. Even after the resort staff gave them a different room, the couple’s health only got worse.

Knull began suffering cramps so painful that she described it as feeling like there was a chainsaw going through her gut.

“That night, we both work up soaked in sweat at like 4 in the morning and kind of terrified. And we booked a flight home before the sun came up,” Knull recounted of the vacation turned nightmare.

Once they got home, the Colorado couple then visited a doctor, who later diagnosed them with poisoning from organophosphate, a chemical found in insecticides. The couple then took legal action against the resort after it refused to refund them and tell them what chemicals were used on the hotel’s plants. Their lawsuit, seeking $1 million in damages, still remains unresolved.

Knull felt she could not stay quiet, especially after hearing about the news that three Americans mysteriously died in different hotels in the same resort within five days. Grand Bahia Principe La Romana, the resort in question, has released a statement saying the recent deaths are not connected.

At the moment, many are still waiting on the CDC’s toxicology report to shed some light on the situation.