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The family of a Gatineau, Que., couple found dead while staying in the Dominican Republic is disputing the official cause of death given by local authorities.
On Dec. 26, Alain Noël and Christine Sauvé’s bodies were found inside the couple’s vacation home in Villa Riva on Boxing Day by their son Jonathan.
The initial results the family received from Dominican authorities said the cause of death was due to respiratory failure, pulmonary edema, high blood pressure and diabetes mellitus.
But Gilles Sauvé Jr., Christine’s brother, found it unlikely that the two would die from natural causes on the same night — and blames carbon monoxide poisoning.
A construction contractor, Sauvé Jr. brought a machine that detects gases to the room where his sister and her husband were found.
He said when he closed all the doors, the detector started going off and he started feeling sick.
Based on that, Sauvé Jr. said he’s convinced they were poisoned by carbon monoxide.
“It’s just terrible, because if Alain knew … he would have fixed [it] right away and shut everything down,” he said.
Neither CBC nor Radio-Canada can confirm whether Sauvé and Noel died by carbon monoxide poisoning.
Canadian pathologist questions conclusions
Dr. Yann Dazé, a forensic pathologist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal, told Radio-Canada he also questions the conclusions reached by Dominican authorities.
“The fact that the Dominican authorities concluded [the deaths] were natural and non-violent is extremely surprising from the outset. It’s even more surprising when you see the stated causes. They’re identical for both people,” Dazé said in a French-language interview.
“People don’t die of the same illnesses simultaneously.”
Luc Courtemanche, the developer of Tropical Paradise Liberté Résidentiel in the Dominican Republic — where the Sauvé family’s vacation home is located — said it’s not currently mandatory to have carbon monoxide detectors on the property.
But Courtemanche told Radio-Canada he plans to have detectors installed to prevent the situation from happening again.
An autopsy and a final report is still expected in a few months, Sauvé Jr. said.
