Brett Gardner’s family has been unable to retrieve son Miller Gardner’s body in Costa Rica due to red tape.
“The family have not been able to pick the body up yet because they are still waiting for all the procedures required by the American embassy here,” Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) Juan Pablo Alvarado Garcia told the DailyMail in an interview published on Wednesday, March 26.
Miller’s body is currently being held at the judicial agency’s forensic medical clinical section morgue at San Joaquin de Floris, which is just outside San Jose, according to the official.
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Garcia noted that despite the embassy issue, the OIJ is ready to release Miller’s body to his loved ones.
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“Miller’s body can be repatriated to the United States at any time from the autopsy point of view,” he explained, noting, “All the samples necessary for the results have been taken.”
Us Weekly previously reported that Miller died on Friday, March 21, while on vacation in Costa Rica with his family. He was 14.
Miller’s father, who is a former outfielder for the New York Yankees, mother Jessica Gardner, and older brother Hunter Gardner, 16, were all in town when the teenager died from unknown causes.
Miller was found dead in his hotel room at Arenas Del Mar Beachfront & Rainforest Resort in Manuel Antonio one day after he and the rest of his family suffered stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea following a meal at a nearby restaurant.
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Alvarado told the outlet on Wednesday that the family received medical attention at the resort on Thursday, March 20, and were given medication to combat the symptoms. The official explained that medical experts are now wondering whether Miller had an allergic reaction to the medication he received as treatment.
“We’re doing toxicology tests to determine if this medicine could have caused the death,” Alvarado added. (Officials have also ruled out asphyxia, which was listed as the preliminary cause of death.)
The family, however, will have to wait months to get the autopsy results because of a drug gang war in Costa Rica.
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“We’re having a hike in homicides as these drug gangs battle for territory and every one of them needs an autopsy,” Alvarado revealed, noting it could take up to 90 days for the Gardner family to get answers.
Alvarado confirmed that Miller’s autopsy “has been carried out,” he said the “full analysis and results, as in every one of them, will take at least two to three months due to these constant killings causing a backlog of cases.”
Costa Rica had more than 900 homicides in 2023, according to the OIJ, which was the deadliest year in the country’s history. The country’s homicides has since risen to nearly 1,800, most of which are attributed to “narco-trafficking groups.”
Us Weekly
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