The families of two Oklahoma college students who say they were drugged during a dream vacation at the Cancun resort have slammed Mexican authorities for claiming their horror stories are fabricated.
Stephanie Snyder denied authorities’ claims that Zara Hull and Kaylee Pitze were simply intoxicated and that toxicology tests came back clean.
“The hospital in Mexico didn’t even do a toxicology report for Zara. Kaylee wasn’t taken to the hospital and therefore no toxicology test was done,” said Snyder, who is the mother of Hal’s boyfriend, Jake. he wrote on Facebook on Thursday..
“They also claimed to have contacted the families, but we never received any. They even said there was no incident in Cancun. They stayed in Cancun, I can guarantee you. They also said other things that were false,” she continued.
Snyder added that the Mexican authorities’ response was “not a surprise” because it could have a negative impact on the country’s tourism industry.
Hull and Pitze, who attend Oklahoma Christian University, were in Cancun on a four-day trip with their boyfriends on August 2 when they went to the resort’s pool bar and ordered a glass of water.
Shocking photos of the young women sitting in the pool show them collapsing, drunk and face-down, moments later. Family members say they began having convulsions and were carried back to their hotel rooms in wheelchairs, unable to walk or talk.
In a panic, Hull’s boyfriend, Jake Snyder, rushed her to a local hospital, where she was put on a ventilator, catheterized and heavily sedated.
Stephanie Snyder suspects the students may have been targets of human trafficking.
But earlier this week, State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) Director Raciel Lopez Salazar said investigations revealed that no drugs were found in either student’s system.
“There is no fentanyl drug trafficking in Quintana Roo,” he asserted in a statement.
He added that the incident had been “exaggerated and would be categorised as simple alcohol abuse”.
Local authorities also discovered that the women were staying at a hotel in Isla Mujeres, off the coast of the city, and not in Cancun as had been reported. Salazar also claimed their drug tests came back negative.
State Tourism Minister Bernardo Cueto called it “a very rare case and a very strange situation that is under investigation.”
He also said he had contacted the U.S. consulate to get in touch with the student’s family but had not received a response.
Snyder said the students’ “stories are very real.”
“We refuse to stoop to the level of these accusers and have this discussion. There is no need to do that,” she added.
Hull and Pitze are back home in Oklahoma feeling better and recovering, but “they still have trouble remembering what happened to them and are suffering from side effects,” Snyder said.
She said they still have problems with “mental clarity and stamina” and suffer from bouts of depression. Even her son still suffers from the stress of dealing with such an emergency in a foreign country.
“They have very strong support from family and friends and they’re dealing with these issues,” she said.
