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A Recap Of Recent Events At Royal Kahal Resort
posted (March 27, 2025)
Untitled Document Now we know that the three women in a San Pedro hotel room died of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Their grieving families have expressed satisfaction at the finding of the investigation - but still say they are displeased that a misleading narrative was put out there by police right after their deaths.

Jules Vasquez tracks the history of the story:

First it might have been gummies:

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"So we found some of those gummies inside the room. Now we're not saying at this time that the gummies cause the death but we're looking at every possibility."

Then tequila.

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"They purchased a bottle of tequila, which they took with them to their room. We have no video footage showing them consuming that tequila."

"So I did my research on tequila and my research did reveal that tequila, even the not so fake one can have deadly consequences at some point in time if it is abused."

But, it wasn't any of those which caused these three young women's death:

Gian Cho, Exec. Director - NFS
"There were no illicit drugs found in the toxicology results, the only thing that was at high or significant levels were the carbon monoxide levels."

"We did as well test the physical evidence that was seized from the room, the gummies, the suspected alcohol, some vape cartridges, all of them were negative for any illicit drug, except I believe one of the items contained some THC, which is the active drug in cannabis, and that was just one of the items."

"Regardless of whether it was found in one of the items that was recovered from the room. No illicit drugs were found in the bodies of the victims."

Yesterday, after receiving those results, the families of the victims issued a statement saying "we are incredibly heartened by the results of this investigation and grateful to those who completed it in a thorough and independent manner.

While today's official finding puts to rest those initial reports, we hope this will give authorities in law enforcement pause before they make similar suggestions during future investigations. Survivors such as our families deserve their best, honest work. We received it today but needed it throughout this investigative process."

So now the attention turns to Royal Kahal. The hotel was forced to abruptly close on March 07th and re-opened on March 19th.

The closure was forced in part because of this Trip Advisor post from a guest who stayed at the hotel from February 17th-21st. They noted "serious safety concerns.… saying, "On February 18th, our carbon monoxide detector went off with levels above 400. Despite informing the front desk, the staff seemed unfamiliar with the issue. Maintenance suggested turning off the gas, but the CO levels remained dangerously high. We were left feeling uneasy. The next morning, a friend reported dizziness, which we now suspect was from CO exposure. While the hotel is beautiful, the lack of CO detectors is concerning. I urge management to address this for the safety of future guests."

But, it was not addressed, and Kaoutar, Imane and Wafae arrived there around the very same time - on February 19th. They were last seen alive on February 20th - and most likely died that night from carbon monoxide poisoning with very high levels of exposure:

Gian Cho, Exec. Director - NFS
"Anything about 10% is where you start to experience adverse effects of Carbon monoxide exposure, such as headaches and nausea. 40% is typically the threshold where it becomes fatal. The victims had, one of them was about - I don't recall exact numbers - but at 60%, all of them had higher than 60% carboxyhemoglobin saturation levels. One of them had as high as 80%."

They most likely experienced unconsciousness and then death:

Gian Cho, Exec. Director - NFS
"And so at those saturation levels, let's say 50% just just for an easy ration - it means that over half, or 50%, half of your blood cells that should be carrying oxygen are now filled instead with carbon monoxide, and so now your body won't be reciting oxygen which it needs to function to survive for your brain to work."

"Eventually, in this case, the lungs would start filling up with fluid in a short space of time."

A sad end for these young women, and their families say "Our families and others who may have been harmed at this hotel deserve a full accounting of what happened…"

The hotel says "we have been taking all possible steps to ensure that the Resort is safe,…we have conducted multiple careful assessments of every unit on the property. These assessments have found no further indication of dangerous levels of carbon monoxide in any of the units."

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