New York couple dies of carbon monoxide poisoning while on vacation in Mexico at an Airbnb and now their kids are having trouble getting the bodies sent home
- Edward Winders and Barbara Moller, both 76, of Burnt Hills, New York, checked into their Airbnb rental in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, on November 15
- After not hearing from them for several days, the owner of the property went to check on them and found them dead
- Officials say the couple died from carbon monoxide asphyxiation and the apartment where they were staying did not have a detector
- Their children are now facing legal and language barriers to bring the pair home
A New York couple has died of carbon monoxide poisoning just days after arriving in Mexico for a short vacation.
Edward Winders and his partner Barbara Moller, both 76, of Burnt Hills, were staying in San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico.
The owner of their Airbnb rental went to check on them on November 24 after she hadn’t heard from them in several days and found them dead.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless and odorless gas known as a silent killer because it is virtually undetectable by humans without technology.
Authorities revealed the apartment the couple were staying in did not have a carbon monoxide detector and now their children are facing legal and language barriers to bringing them home.
Edward Winders and Barbara Moller both 76, of Burnt Hills, New York, checked into their Airbnb rental in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, on November 15. Pictured: Winders and Moller
After not hearing from them for several days, the owner of the property went to check on them and found them dead. Pictured: Winders and Moller
Winders’s son Eric told WNYT that the couple checked into their apartment on November 15 but hadn’t contacted anyone for several days.
Eric said he thought this was unusual because his father usually called or messaged him every day.
He and his sister Jennifer received calls from the US Embassy in San Miguel the day after the couple’s bodies were found.
Privacy laws prevented San Miguel authorities from telling Eric and Jennifer much aside from telling them they needed notarized documents to prove they are the next of kin.
Eric and Jennifer were also told that if they didn’t claim the bodies in 48 hours, they would be buried in a common grave, as dictated by San Miguel law.
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‘Not knowing and not being able to talk to the police that well about it, we sort of went into panic mode,’ Eric told WNYT.
‘They both wanted to be cremated and so how do we make sure that we can claim the bodies?’
The children traveled to San Miguel where they learned police were holding onto the bodies while they conducted an investigation.
Officials in San Miguel have determined that Winders and Moller (pictured) died of carbon monoxide asphyxiation and that the apartment the couple was staying in did not have a detector
Authorities told them that Winders and Moller died of carbon monoxide asphyxiation from a heating unit.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas that is produced by burning fuels such as wood, oil, coal and gasoline.
When there is too much CO in the air, the body replaces oxygen found in red blood cells with the gas.
Symptoms of CO poisoning include headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting and blurred vision.
If left untreated, large amounts of CO can cause you to lose consciousness and suffocate to death.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CO poisoning contributes to more than 5,600 smoke inhalation deaths annually in the US.
The gas is referred to as a silent killer because it is virtually undetectable by humans without technology.
CO detectors analyze levels over time and set an alarm off if there are dangerous levels in the air, giving people adequate time to leave the space.
The Airbnb apartment the couple was renting did not have a carbon monoxide monitor.
‘This type of thing shouldn’t happen when it comes down to it,’ Eric said. ‘There’s no reason that anyone should die this way.’
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, odorless and tasteless gas. When there is too much CO in the air, the body replaces oxygen found in red blood cells with the gas, which can cause you to suffocate. Pictured: Winders with his children, Eric and Jennifer
The couple’s children are now facing legal and language barriers to bring the pair home so they can be buried. Pictured: Winder (second from right) and Moller (far right) with friends
Family and friends have set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to bring the couple’s bodies home.
So far, more than $12,000 has been raised out of a $15,000 goal.
Eric is urging everyone who may be traveling over the next month for the holidays to check that where they are staying has a carbon monoxide detector and, if not, to buy on themselves.
‘We put people in these places where there’s a perceived level of trust involved whether it be facilitating or having rentals facilitated online and also trusting a landowner or a building owner,’ he said.
‘Unfortunately their trust was broken in this manner and they lost their lives because of it.’
Eric says the family has not decided on whether or not to press charges.
This is not the first time vacationers have died from carbon monoxide poisoning in Mexico.
In May, a family of four from Iowa died from poisoning while staying in rented condo in Tulum, a town on the Gulf.
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