Family Vacation Ends in Tragedy, Two 20-Year-Olds Found Floating Face Down in Pool

A Wisconsin family is demanding answers after their luxury vacation in Mexico resulted in a brother and sister in their early 20’s being found floating face down and unconscious in the resort pool. The brother survived the incident, but the sister passed away.

At the five-star Paraiso del Mar resort near Playa del Carmen, Mexico, 22-year-old Austin Conner and his younger sister Abbey, 20, were having drinks at the pool bar. Shortly thereafter, Abbey was found floating in the pool with foam coming out of her nose.

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Austin was also found floating in the pool but was able to survive. Abbey passed away after being declared brain dead, according to Daily Mail.

Before the incident, Austin and Abbey were at the resort with their mother Ginny and stepfather John McGowan. Abbey and Austin had only been at the resort for a couple hours before being found face down in the pool.

The last thing that Austin can recall is doing a shot that looked like a “Jagerbomb,” which is a shot of Jagermeister typically mixed with beer or Red Bull.

“I’ve been in college for five years and had my fair share of drinks before,” Austin said. “No way in hell I’m putting my face down in a pool and going to sleep.”

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“Knowing that we got played or are victims of some sick person drugging us is almost surreal,” he said.

Austin says that he didn’t feel drunk before blacking out. He says that he and his sister weren’t looking to get drunk as they were meeting their parents for dinner.

The toxicology reports from the Playa del Carmen medical clinic show that Austin’s blood-alcohol level was 0.26 while Abbey’s was 0.25.

All the while Austin and Abbey were at the pool bar, Ginny and John were waiting in the hotel lobby for them to head to dinner. When they never showed, Ginny asked the hotel staff to ring their room. Eventually, the staff informed them that their children had been taken to the hospital.

When the McGowans arrived at the hospital, Austin was sedated. He was in stable condition but had a golf-ball sized lump on his forehead and suffered a severe concussion. As for Abbey, she was unresponsive and on a ventilator. She was in a coma and her collarbone was cracked.

Several days after the incident, Abbey and Austin’s stepdad, John, hired a translator to file a police report. John and Austin say that the police resisted launching an investigation into the matter, and insisted that Abbey accidentally drowned.

The McGowans have hired an attorney to help them learn more of the situation. The family was just able to see the police report for the first time this week.

Florentino Ramirez, the McGowan’s American attorney, says he believes that the police report may not be entirely truthful.

“It’s all too convenient,” he said. “If it was an accident, where was everybody? It just doesn’t make sense. There are too many open ends.”