After officials ruled that 14-year-old Miller Gardner died of carbon monoxide poisoning, a forensic pathologist analyzed why his family didn’t suffer the same fate.
Miller, the son of former New York Yankees player Brett Gardner, died on March 21 while vacationing at a Costa Rican resort with his family, including his father, mother Jessica and older brother, Hunter.
“Various factors can affect how sensitive a person is to carbon monoxide in a room,” Dr. Maikel Vargas-Sanabria, a professor at the University of Costa Rica, exclusively told Us Weekly on Thursday, April 3. “For example, carbon monoxide is a gas that is believed to be denser than air, so it tends to accumulate in the lower parts of a room. So, for instance, if there are people standing and others lying down in the same room, the gas will reach the person closer to the floor first. The one who is lying down will be affected sooner than someone standing or positioned higher.”
Vargas-Sanabria, who is not directly affiliated with the case, used bunk beds as a hypothetical example, saying “the person on the bottom bunk would be exposed before the one on the top.”
It is not clear how many rooms the Gardner family had or what their sleeping arrangements were.
“There are also factors specific to each individual that can play a role,” Vargas-Sanabria added. “For example, if someone has anemia — which means a reduced amount of hemoglobin in the blood, fewer red blood cells, et cetera — that person will be affected more quickly or severely than someone with normal hemoglobin levels. Logically, a person with less hemoglobin requires a smaller amount to become saturated than a healthy person with more hemoglobin.”
Miller was found dead in his room at the Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort the morning after all of his family members became violently ill with “severe” symptoms.
It is unknown if the symptoms were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning, but Vargas-Sanabria said it was possible.
“If carbon monoxide concentrations are low, a person might experience symptoms that won’t kill them but will make them feel unwell,” the doctor noted. “Like headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, general discomfort.”
Vargas-Sanabria explained Miller might have been more impacted by the carbon monoxide because of how long he stayed in the room, which was reportedly next to a mechanical room at the resort.
“If they were present during a peak in carbon monoxide emission — let’s say the machine room was next door, and the equipment happened to be running harder than usual — then more combustion would be happening,” he said “If that combustion was incomplete and there was a leak into the room, the person could suffer acute poisoning right then and there.”
According to Vargas-Sanabria, the location of Miller’s room — next to the mechanical room — could have played a large role in the tragedy.
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A hotel owner from the same tourist region where 14-year-old Miller Gardner was found dead explained how her business has already been impacted in the tragic aftermath. Lamia Funti, who owns Casa Lamia Restaurant & Lodge in Costa Rica’s Manuel Antonio region, exclusively told Us Weekly how attitudes have shifted since Miller, the son of […]
He said, “It makes a lot more sense that if there was a leak, the carbon monoxide could have entered his room and filled it entirely, causing his death.”
The Costa Rican Judicial Investigative Agency (OIJ) confirmed Miller’s cause of death on Wednesday in a statement to Us Weekly, stating there was “a very specific layer” found on Miller’s organs that forms when “a person dies from carbon monoxide poisoning or gas inhalation.”
“In the carboxyhemoglobin test, a saturation level of 64 percent was found,” OIJ’s General Director Randall Zúñiga said. “In such cases, when concentrations exceed 50 percent carboxyhemoglobin, it is considered lethal. In this particular case, with a saturation of 64 percent, the level is clearly well above that lethal threshold.”
He continued, “Therefore, this confirms the police hypothesis that the death was caused by exposure to poisonous gases, specifically carbon monoxide. With this, the case is practically closed. The only step remaining is for the toxicology report from the OIJ Forensic Sciences Department to be forwarded to the Legal Medicine Department, so the expert can include it in the autopsy report.”
With reporting by Alejandra Araya Rojas
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