Urine tests brought back from Mexico by a Weyburn couple have so far tested negative, but they are still hoping to get their drink sample tested as well. Insp. Russ Chartrand, and his wife Const.
Urine tests brought back from Mexico by a Weyburn couple have so far tested negative, but they are still hoping to get their drink sample tested as well.
Insp. Russ Chartrand, and his wife Const. Caroline Chartrand, both with the Weyburn Police Service, recently returned from a "nightmare" of a holiday at a five-star resort in Mexico, and were able to bring back samples of their urine and of a drink that caused Russ to lose consciousness for about a six-hour period.
The couple were in the Mayan Riviera in mid-February, at the Gran Bahia Principe Tulum resort near Playa Del Carman.
While Russ was knocked unconscious by the drink, Caroline had had an initial sip and didn't finish the drink, but still felt strong effects of disorientiation; Russ and a friend from Red Deer, Alta., who also had the same drink, ended up in a private hospital where they had blood tests done, which did not show any of the usual drugs, such as cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines and opiates.
The urine was tested in a lab in Regina for a wide range of drugs, but came up negative.
Insp. Chartrand said the lab indicated the sample may have degraded to the point that any drugs may not show up in their tests.
As far as the drink sample, he was hoping a crime lab might be able to test it, but so far has not had success in getting it tested. He was told a crime lab would do a far more extensive range of tests for drugs than the public health lab would.
Meantime, he received word from an Ontario couple who stayed on at the resort after they left, and was told a 22-year-old man died at the same pool where they had gotten their drink, from the same swim-up bar.
The Ontario resident told Russ in an e-mail "he was disturbed how the resort moved in and cleaned up" the scene where the 22-year-old had died after being worked on, and the man was unable to find any report of any kind afterwards about what happened to him, or where the young man was from. This occurred some five or six days after the Chartrands had had their incident and left.
