In an ongoing mystery, a Denver couple says they became seriously ill after arriving at the same Dominican Republic resort where three people died in the last few weeks.
The couple was vacationing at the Grand Bahia Principe La Romana resort. They say their symptoms began when they returned to their room, which they told investigators smelled like paint.
"We were drooling excessively, my eyes would not stop watering. I was having the worst intestinal cramping. It felt like a chainsaw going through my gut," Kaylynn Knull said. The couple says they changed room, but the smell continued.
The couple left the resort and returned to the U.S. to be seen by a doctor. The doctor's records show the couple was exposed to Organophosphate, a pesticide used on plants throughout the resort.
On May 28, a couple from Prince George's County died while on vacation at a Dominican Republic resort in the same family of resorts that the Denver couple was staying in.
Sixty-three-year-old Edward Nathaniel Holmes and 49-year-old Cynthia Ann Day were found dead in their room after a short stay at the hotel.
Five days before Holmes and Day were discovered, Miranda Schaup-Werner of Allentown, Pennsylvania, was also found dead at the same resort. Authorities said she died of "respiratory failure and pulmonary edema." Werner was celebrating her ninth wedding anniversary.
The Denver couple is suing for $1 million after the resort refused to tell them about the pesticide or refund their money. The case is moving through the Dominican court system.
"Because I honestly believe the truth needs to be told. This sounds way too similar at the same resort. I don't know, I can't keep my mouth shut," she told Denver7.
Felecia Nieves' the sister of 51-year-old Yvette Monique Sport, of Glenside, says she wants answers too -- claiming Sport died in June of 2018 at the same resort as the other three Americans. Sport's death certificate lists "heart attack" as the cause of death.
Nieves says her sister had just arrived at a Bahia Principe resort in Punta Cana, when after having a drink from the mini bar inside her hotel room, she went to bed and never woke up. She says the family is still waiting for her sister's toxicology report.