The relatives of a Gatineau, Quebec, pair who died while vacationing in the Dominican Republic are challenging the official explanation of their passing provided by Dominican authorities.
Alain Noël and Christine Sauvé were discovered deceased in their holiday residence in Villa Riva on December 26, during the Christmas season, by their son Jonathan.
Initially, Dominican officials attributed their deaths to respiratory failure, pulmonary edema, high blood pressure, and diabetes mellitus. However, Christine’s brother, Gilles Sauvé Jr., expressed skepticism about the likelihood of both individuals succumbing to natural causes on the same night, suspecting carbon monoxide poisoning instead.
Sauvé Jr., a construction contractor, brought a gas-detecting device to the room where his sister and her spouse were found. Upon sealing the room, the detector alarmed, and he began feeling unwell. This led him to believe that carbon monoxide might have been the cause of their demise.
Neither CBC nor Radio-Canada could verify the carbon monoxide poisoning theory.
Dr. Yann Dazé, a forensic pathologist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, also cast doubt on the conclusions made by Dominican authorities, stating that it is unusual for two individuals to die from the same natural causes simultaneously.
Luc Courtemanche, the developer of Tropical Paradise Liberté Résidentiel in the Dominican Republic where the couple’s vacation home was located, mentioned that carbon monoxide detectors were not mandatory on the property but plans to have them installed to prevent a similar incident.
An autopsy and a final report are pending in the coming months, according to Sauvé Jr.
