Press "Enter" to skip to content

Investigation started into U.S. college student’s allegations of drugged water at Isla Mujeres hotel pool bar

Isla Mujeres, Q.R. — UPDATED: Local authorities have begun an investigation into the allegations of two college students being drugged while on Cancun vacation. One of the girls remains hospitalized in Dallas after being flown there from Cancun due to the seriousness of her condition.

The group arrived in Cancun August 1 and checked into their hotel, which according to local authorities working the investigation, was in Isla Mujeres. The group were staying at a resort in Costa Mujeres, a white sandy beach area on the mainland of Isla Mujeres located north of Cancun.

The day after they arrived, students Zara Hull and Kaylie Pitzer had a pool day. After swimming up to a pool bar, the pair ordered a glass of water at which time they lost consciousness.

“We just had a pool day,” Zara told U.S. media from her hospital bed. “We both got water and within two minutes (…) we both hit the bar, heads down at the same time,” Hull said.

Both girls believe the water was drugged. One of the two girls was taken to a private hospital in Cancun where her condition deteriorated. On Saturday, she was flow in a private plane to a Dallas hospital where she remains.

Hotel surveillance cameras of the friends at their pool day.

According to U.S. media, she has had 18 stomach convulsions, but doctors have not found anything wrong. Doctors attending to the young student say it is possible she was drugged.

Since their story, the State Attorney General (FGE) of Quintana Roo has begun an investigation into the alleged poisoning of the two students after learning of the events through news media.

According to the Fiscalía General del Estado (FGE), the girls were staying at an Isla Mujeres hotel in the continental zone known as Costa Mujeres, not at a Cancun hotel. They have said an investigation has been started even though an official complaint has not been filed.

“Upon learning of the event in the media, since there is no official complaint, we immediately began, through the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Drug Dealing Crimes, the investigations to clarify the alleged poisoning of two women.

“At the moment it is specified that the location of the possible hotel where the events would have been recorded is in Costa Mujeres, in the continental zone of the municipality of Isla Mujeres.

“The State Attorney General’s Office is working to clarify this event and bring to justice the person or persons responsible for this event,” the FGE said in an official statement Friday.

The friends were staying in an Isla Mujeres hotel, not a Cancun hotel. Photo: Costa Mujeres 2024.

UPDATED: (August 14, 2024): After an investigation into the allegations of drugged water, the State Attorney General (FGE) has reported a clean toxicology test. According to FGE head Raciel López Salazar, an investigation has determined neither of the students had drugs in their system.

López Salazar said the toxicology tests on the girls yielded “clean” results with no trace of fentanyl or any other drug. “It is ruled out that they consumed fentanyl in their drink,” he said. According to the head of the FGE, their case was due to simple drunken intoxication, calling the case “exaggerated”.

The State Secretary of Tourism, Bernardo Cueto said in an interview this week that attempts to reach the families for more information through the U.S. Consulate went ignored, stressing that no formal complaint has ever been filed.

“Through the consulate we requested more information from the relatives, but there was no response, there was no interest or intention from the relatives to give us more details of what happened.

“I have to tell you in no uncertain terms it seems very strange to me, a very strange situation because if someone’s health is affected in some establishment, the first thing you do is report the establishment where you were possibly or supposedly poisoned,” he said.

Cueto went on to say “it seems to me very irresponsible of the media to broadcast or replicate a story without doing investigative journalism. If you are going to replicate a story where a poisoning is being reported in a tourist destination, let’s investigate where it was,” he said.

“That is all we have on the matter. We have nothing more. Unfortunately it is a story that was used to affect the image of a destination.”

Since the allegations, the surveillance video from the Isla Mujeres hotel pool where the girls were staying has been released. Their surveillance cameras show the group of friends allegedly drinking tequila shots and tropical cocktails for several hours before they leave the pool.

The pool area cameras show one of the friends stagger out of the water toward an open door to a bathroom before a wheelchair is brought by a hotel staff member for her to sit in as she’s returned to her room. The hotel surveillance also shows the group of friends staggering in the water, and at one point, hugging a concrete post to stay upright.

Local authorities have said drug tests administered at the Cancun hospital came back clean for both, not only for fentanyl, but for any drugs. According to the FGE, their allegations of being drugged are an “exaggerated” case of alcohol intoxication.