Costa Rican authorities say it could take months to determine Miller Gardner’s cause of death

By Ana Melgar Zuniga and Kyle Feldscher, CNN

(CNN) — Costa Rican authorities believe it could take two or three months for investigators to determine Miller Gardner’s cause of death because of overloaded forensic laboratories in the Central American country.

Miller, the 14-year-old son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, was found dead on Friday morning at a hotel in Manuel Antonio. According to Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Police (OIJ), the whole family fell ill, likely from food poisoning from something they ate the night before at a different hotel than where they were staying.

The OIJ’s Marisel Rodríguez told CNN that Miller Gardner was found dead by a family member in his hotel room at the Arenas Del Mar resort and that, although preliminary reports suggested the cause of death could be “asphyxiation due to intoxication related to food poisoning,” asphyxia was later ruled out by forensic medicine – a division of OIJ – as there was no obstruction of the airways.

Dr. Kevin Gannon, the medical director of Manuel Antonio Urgent Care, a health care service located on the same beach where the Gardner family was vacationing, told CNN on Wednesday that a team consisting of a doctor, a nurse and a driver traveled to the hotel.

“When the team arrived, they found a 14-year-old male, without vital signs in the hotel room, with indications of vomiting, but we cannot confirm that it was exactly from him,” he said.

Gannon said advanced CPR was performed by certified personnel for about 30 minutes without a response.

Gannon added that he had not seen Miller Gardner before and the teenager had not been given any oral medication. The medical team did not have Miller Gardner’s medical records.

Gannon said they don’t know the cause of death and are waiting for test results.

Investigators are also waiting on toxicology reports to determine whether food poisoning was the cause of death, Rodríguez said in a statement. Those results could take a while.

“It is expected that the results could be ready in about two to three months, due to the high demand for work in forensic laboratories, resulting from the increase in autopsies being performed in the country as a result of the rise in homicides that have been recorded,” Rodriguez said.

The teenager’s body has been released by the forensic medical teams in Costa Rica and the US Embassy in that country is handling the process of bringing Miller’s remains back to the US, according to Juan Pablo Alvarado, an official in OIJ’s press office. The embassy is not commenting on the case.

Brett Gardner and his wife Jessica announced on Sunday that their son Miller had died after a sudden illness while on vacation. In their statement on Sunday, Brett and Jessica Gardner said Miller “left us far too soon after falling ill along with several other family members while on vacation.”

“Miller was a beloved son and brother and we cannot yet comprehend our life without his infectious smile,” Brett and Jessica Gardner said of Miller. “He loved football, baseball, golf, hunting, fishing, his family and his friends. He lived life to the fullest every single day.”

Gardner played in Major League Baseball for 14 seasons, all with the Yankees where he was a part of the team that won the World Series in 2009. He retired following the 2021 season.

The Arenas Del Mar said in a statement that they are cooperating with authorities. The statement emphasized that the family did not eat at any of the hotel’s restaurants for lunch or dinner on the day before Miller’s death and noted that it passed a health inspection on March 14.

“The hotel staff dispatched a medical team immediately, including a licensed doctor, which arrived to handle the emergency situation. Any medical attention to the family was done by medical professionals. Our staff did not administer any medical treatment,” the statement read. “We understand the concerns being raised, and we remain committed to transparency and supporting those affected; however, our number one priority at the moment is respecting the privacy of the family.”

The OIJ is now looking for security footage and has started interviewing employees to see if they spotted anything unusual, according to Rodriguez.

Investigators have interviewed the hotel doctor and want to interview the family members virtually. The Gardner family left Costa Rica on Saturday.

CNN’s Ben Morse, Djenane Villanueva and Gerardo Lemos contributed to this report.

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